H & Dh : Failing For Achieving Financial Success

With the down turn in the economy, many consumers have turned to Dollar General and Dollar stores; this has caused a decrease in Target’s revenue. Another threat is Wal-Mart and their ability to offer lower prices on their products compared to Target which makes them the low cost leader. (ehow.com)

The home improvement retailer was hit with a double whammy last year: a housing market downturn and customer service problems that have plagued the company for years. Also on the company's to-do list: preventing patrons from fleeing to competitor Lowe's, which has been chipping away at HD's lead. In-store makeovers were a start, and the company also has been seeking skilled workers to replace inexperienced part-timers who'd previously been hired to help cut costs.

Company Q is a small local grocery store chain located in a major metropolitan area. They have recently closed a couple of stores in higher-crime-rate areas of the city, reportedly because these two stores were consistently losing money. After years of requests from customers, all of their stores have started offering a very limited amount of health-conscience and organic

Every retail location carries a variety of products that distinguishes it from other stores in the same chain. Not surprisingly, it is difficult to achieve economies of scale. Supply Chain Mackey describes his consumers as being “part of a cult”. Whole Foods believes that the company’s emphasis on perishables and locally-sourced produce differentiates their stores from run-of-the-mill supermarkets and attracts loyal and devoted customers. However, “fresh produce” is one of the most challenging product categories to operate due to limited product shelf life and high cost of spoilage. Whole Foods has tried to circumvent most of the problems inherent in supplying fresh produce to its stores by sourcing locally and having short and flexible supply chains. In the case of fruits and vegetables, Whole Foods has buying relationships with local farmers who supply the store with seasonal produce. Thus, if one farmer is unable to produce a sufficient amount of yellow corn or heirloom tomatoes, the shortfall can be made up by another farmer. Although challenging to perfect, these short supply chains are agile and difficult for other big retailers to duplicate.

In 1975, Hi-Value Supermarkets became a division of Hall Consolidated, a privately owned wholesale and retail food distributor. In 2002, Hi-Value had sales of $192.2 million, which was the smallest out of the three supermarket chains owned by Hall Consolidated. Although Hi-Value is considered small against industry standards, they were the number one or two ranked supermarket chain in each of its trade markets measured through market share. The primary problem that Hi-Value has developed is that they are the highest priced compared to the competitors within the region. The Hi-Value Supermarket Shopper Interview Results (Exhibit 7 in case) demonstrates this through the question “Liked most about other regular store,” the most popular answer across the board was “Price.” So what is Hi-Value supposed to do?

Nevertheless, H&M could keep progressing in its online store. Indeed, even if H&M is present in 44 countries, only 8 have access to the online store (Sweden, Germany, UK, Norway, Denmark, Austria, USA and Netherlands). Increasing it, H&M could increase its sales a lot.

By choosing to implement “Everyday low-pricing” strategy to all Hi- Value Supermarket products in Centralia, Missouri, Hi- Value would begin direct competition with Harrison’s via most reasonable prices. According to the Exhibit 6 found on page 506, data shows that, Harrison’s is a market leader with 36 percent of customers agreeing that Harrison’s has the most reasonable prices , while customers rated Hi- Value with only 7percent . Also in this data we can see that Hi Value scored lowest on best overall variety with 2 percent while Missouri Mart came in at 74 percent. With 13,500 households retaining an average income of a mere $36,000/ year,

With H&M’s many strengths come many weaknesses. Although buying in large amounts keeps prices affordable, it can also lead to overstocking, and later the lowering of an already affordable price, as well as a lack of control over product production. Uncontrollably, their target customer base is highly affected by the changing macro economic conditions. They are new to the United States online store compared to their competitors (Gap, Zara, Forever 21). Their clothing is usually not original due to how they follow the trends of luxury brands on

Based on analysis of the financials, HPL is an excellent business and shows maintainable and sustained growth. There has been growth in the areas of revenue, current assets, owner’s equity, sales and net working capital. As shown in Exhibit 4, sales across HPL retail

Produce more products so there is less restocking issues but not more than the market calls for (supply and demand),

1. What actions can Peanutty’s managers take to ensure the supply of raw materials for its operations, while reducing the risk of stockouts or high production costs?

Inventory control is the biggest challenge because of inappropriate inventory management system. There is a requirement of proper food service for better inventory control and also for identifying the important requirements. There is a need to develop the inventory methods for the products and with a standard inventory management company should try to minimize the wastes in terms of future. (Gartenstein, 2012)

Amazon, a powerful company, has challenged many of its competitors and nearly causing them to go bankrupt. Jeff Bezos has taken amazon through changes and seemingly all for the better.

H.E.B, the 11th largest grocery chain in United States, started 30 years ago. When the company was started, it was a predominantly private label company. Recognizing the customer drawing power of national brands, H.E.B took crucial steps to build a strong national brand presence. HEB was known for its superior quality products, its customer service and a broad assortment of merchandise. Additionally the company’s focus on delivering on its promise of everyday low prices, especially to the low income households that it catered to, was amongst its most critical success factors.

Numerous problematic aspects were shown throughout this film that needed to be resolved as quick as possible. It was mentioned that there are no seasons in the supermarket which is a very valid point that not a lot of people notice. All year round fruits are placed on shelves in our supermarkets. Since we are used to seeing this, we never realize that this is odd. For instance, Food, Inc. claims individuals can get tomatoes any time of the year. They are picked when they are green and ripened with ethylene gas. This is similar to apples that are sprayed with thiabendazole which causes birth defects. In order to resolve this is to stop buying conventional fruit. If there is a decrease in sale of these injected fruits it will lead to a decrease in production. A company is not going to continue releasing an item if they are not getting any sales.