Reference no: EM132695175 , Length: word count:2500

Unit 29 Understanding Retailing - BTEC level 3 National Extended Diploma in Business

Assignment - Understanding organization structure , distribution , customer service and competitive factors of retailing

The main purpose of this assignment is to help the learners to understand the:
1. Know the structure of the retail industry
2. Understand the role of retailing in the distribution of goods and services
3. Understand the sales and service functions in retailing
4. Know how the retail sector responds to internal and external change

Two retrial companies are:
1. H&M (international clothing store)
2. Carrefour supermarket (an international french brand supermarket)

You are working as a Management Trainee for a large retail utlet. The outlet is thinking about expanding and your manager has asked you to conduct some research into the structure and organisation of the retail sector. They would also like you to judge how effective their distribution process is . All of your research will be given to the company directors who will then use this to help them decide where they should locate their next store.

Next, your manager as part of the training has asked you to undertake some research to ensure you are fully aware of the important role of customer service in retail and how different organisations provide customer service which also includes understanding how the retail sector needs to respond to internal and external changes. For this you manager will ask you submit your research of the retail sector in the form of a report.

Task 1

1-A) You are to make a booklet to be circulated among the new employees and trainees to help them understand about your company and the retail sector it operates. You must talk about the organization and structure of the retail sector of your company.

You must cover the following:
• Definition of retailing
• Identify and describe the different types of retailers that your organization and its competitors (atleast 3) fit into based on
(i) types of stores
(ii) types of products they sell
(iii) size, number of employees, sales area, number of enterprises, turnover, type of activity
(iv) location
(v) ownership types
• Draw a retail positioning map to show your organization and its competitors
• Product strategy that your organization and its competitors use
• What is happening to the size and amount of retail outlets in your selected retail sector ?
• Trends in sales, profitability, number of independent and multiple retailers and employability characteristics in your selected retail sector
• Summary - what recent changes have affected your selected retail sector ( Not-for-profit ,public places ,third places etc)

You must give visual materials that you have used to identify different store types

(1-B) Then, you will continue with your booklet to compare the function of any 4 different retail formats that you have mentioned above and the shopping locations. In comparing the different formats, you should identify why retailers prefer different locations and explain the retail functions they perform.

For each of the 4 formats you must :
• Explain the purpose of the retail format
• Identify 3 retailers that are in this format. Give an overview of the location and reasons why it is located where it is.
• Explain the similarities and differences with the other retail formats
• Remember compare means to mention the similarities and differences
Booklet
Criteria covered by this task:
To achieve the criteria you must show that you are able to:

Task 2

(2-A) As the next part in your booklet, explain the process of distributing goods through different channels from the manufacturer to the customer for your company and by a smaller independent retailer in another retail sector who uses a wholesaler .

• You should describe the different ways goods go from manufacturer to the customer for the two selected retailer giving reasons as to why the selected retailer uses this method.
• Don't forget to mention about the transportation methods, storage techniques, after sales service, logistics process, use of ICT and non-conventional channels used by the two retailers giving reasons as to why they use each method.

Task 3

Select two retailers- one will be your company and the second retailer must belong to a different sector .The second retailer need not be the one used in task 2.You are to continue with your booklet .

(3-A) Select a product or service of your company and of a retailer belonging to a different sector and compare the methods used to distribute them.

• What is similar and what is different about the way the 2 organizations distribute products, and why?
• To do this task successfully you need to look at the websites and company reports of both companies for information and use data to back up your comparisons.

(3-B) Evaluate the distribution system of the selected two retailers. Remember that evaluate means to make a judgement after looking at both the positive and negative aspects of an issue.
You could consider the following issues along with other points that you may have:
• Responsiveness to consumers' needs explaining how and why they do so.
• The costs incurred with data to support
• The use of international or domestic suppliers and how this affects the distribution methods used.
• The use of intermediaries
• The shipping arrangements involved
• In today's complex retail environment why is distribution vital to the success of different retailers?

Task 4

Write a report to help your company understand more about the retail sector it operates.

(4-A) For this task you are required to undertake two customer service surveys one for each of the two retailers used in task- 3 followed by a report , to explain to your company how focusing on the customer, by providing good customer service is essential to retailing.

In your survey there must be questions to cover the following aspects of your report for the selected two retailers:-
• Explain why the two organizations require different levels of service and how they do it.
• Say why focusing on the customer, by providing good customer service is essential for both the retailers and how they do it.
• Identify the two retailer's customer service policies and explain how they are applied at an operational (store) level.
• Identify and explain the different customer service elements categorized in terms of what happens before, during and after a sale.
• The different after-sales service of customer service should be identified .

Task 5

Identify the competitive factors in the retail environment that your multiple retail outlet faces. Investigate what drives change within the organisation. Continue with your report explaining the following factors and how your chosen organisation has reacted to them.

You must cover the following headings
1. Introduction of your organization and the retail sector it operates
2. PESTEL Analysis-
First explain each factor and then give examples of how political, economic , sociological , technological , environmental and legal issues has affected your organization with evidence of research .
3. Competitive Environment-Explain the following:
• Competitors (Who are the competitors and what strategies they are using)
• New products and services (Identify innovative products in your retailer and explain the role of these in creating a dynamic environment)
• Market Position (Explain where your company stands in terms of any two factors -It must be a diagram as learned in class followed by an explanation)
• Barriers to entry (Explain at least two barriers faced by your organisation)
• Use of ICT (Explain how ICT is used by your organisation for marketing and store management)

Attachment:- Understanding Retailing.rar