Integration Of Advanced Technology On The Overall Operations Of Argos

As Aldi has already established itself as a large discount supermarket chain with over 10,000 stores in 18 different countries including Australia (2001), and holds a large market share in the grocery world due to its business culture and market leading initiatives. This report aims to provide the ALDI board of directors with:

1.3 Physical Resources & Capabilities The ALDI brothers took over the family business of their parents in 1946. World wide expansion led to enormous growth. This comprises around 9800 stores (1000 to 1500 SQM each). The layout is simple with wide ails designed to refill shelves in the fastest, most convenient way {Brands, D. 2003}. They offer a small assortment of mainly fast-moving items (approximately 700 food – including a slim and organic line- and non food products). Small warehouses are located at the back of each store. Affiliates are equipped with limited technology such as intelligent cash systems high-end product concerning quality and price and bottle deposit machines. ALDI won the 2008 energy management award for great results in terms of cooling systems, illumination etc. Most stores have about 100 parking space and a shopping cart area near the entrance. ALDI has a long history which implies that they have gained great experience over the years. The location and layout of stores are designed to support fast and efficient supply and not especially aimed at customer needs. This is a weakness. Stores advantageously located as there are in convenient reach for consumers. Their product range is adapted to various consumer needs (organic, healthy living). The technological equipments are of high quality enabling fast operations at the checkout (ALDI’s staff are two times faster compared with other similar operations). This is

Technology is/and still playing a vital role in any business. The growth of online selling in the UK and the world has led to large increase in its online sales. The raising numbers of people, who own computers, smartphones and tablets; and having access to internet which has a high positive impact for their online sales. As there is an increase in demand of new technology, developments of new tablets, computers are rising in popularity and John Lewis sells a wide range of these. For John Lewis to keep up with the demands of their customers they had to move in-line with the recent development of new

Recent advancements in technology offer the organizations of today and the future boundless opportunities for improvements in service delivery. Although experts agree that the alignment of technology and the overall business strategy is both necessary and imperative, no clear path to optimum alignment exists. Christopher Nuckles, a IT Director I interviewed demonstrated full awareness of this fact. he and the company’s CIO, Matt Carey, and the executive IT leaders and displayed optimism the “interconnected retail strategy” they have for the company will ensure that Home Depot remains the product authority for home improvement. As part of the technical team that developed, enhanced, or supported several of the technological systems at Home Depot, Nuckles believes that the key to a successful technological future is innovation. Nuckles recognizes that the biggest hurdle for the Home Depot technology is the emerging e-commerce and he adds that Home Depot is ready for the boom. He explains that plans are underway to optimize the Home Depot mobile application entirely and make it available on all platforms so that the company remains relevant as technology keeps advancing.

Best Buy Co., Inc. is currently the world’s largest retailer for consumer electronics. The company has 1,400 brick and mortar stores and is a popular online retailer as well. The stores serve as display room for various online retailers. Best Buy consumers can purchase electronic products such as mobile, corded and cordless phones, televisions, cameras, personal computers, laptops, appliances and more (David & F.R., 2015). Today’s society relies on convenience and technology, forcing companies to implement new ideas and projects in an effort to maintain their ability to compete with other companies. For continued success the company must look at the internal and external issues the company may face as well as their competitors and their best practices that are contributing to their success.

Technology is having an impact on businesses such as Tesco due to the ever changing nature of its uses such as the self-service tills that have been installed over the last several years in stores and new and updating security systems. Tesco needs to keep up-to-date with how it is constantly evolving and also must be efficient in its use as to not allow issues to arise with it.

‘We aim to return the UK High Street Retail business to its role as Britain's most popular stationer, bookseller and newsagent … Our plans encompass improved efficiency through cost savings and margin enhancement, while rebuilding the competitiveness and depth of our product ranges.' (Ms Swann BBC, July 2005)

Asos’ has widely selection of products that are considered to be consumer products, classified as shopping products, due to their higher prices, selective distribution, less frequent purchases and more shopping effort. Their core product is the purchase of esteem as well as respect and recognition , in forms of clothing in a wide variety in an online hub, right at your fingertips. This makes them gain brand equity in form of differentiation, as Asos has the largest product assortment of different brands online . Asos also does a great job by gaining brand equity by offering relevant services in their augmented product and service mix in form of free

Argos is part of Home Retail Group and is one of the largest retailers in UK serving customers through hundreds of stores across the country. Argos major core competency for competitive advantage is a successful multi-channel retailing strategy with strong project management office. However, some of the major findings of the study

In order to make this concept real, Staples has to build competitive advantage through finding the right management team who are experienced in this area, looking for the right location to open their stores in order to be close to the target customers, deciding on how many staffs needed in a store to be effective, establishing a distribution channel where suppliers will cooperate according to their operations, choosing the selection of the product required and the amount inventory to keep, managing costs and be efficient all the time, and communicating their value to the target customers. A key organizational capability that Staples realizes instantly is to have an information system that can help them to manage the process better in place, which greatly contributes to increase Staples' efficiency. Such system is able to help Staples to get the right merchandise mix in order to be profitable through monitoring customers' needs, and attain low cost structure by making sure that the inventories turnover accordingly. In sum, Staples is successful in building most of its intangible and tangible asset and develop organizational capability

The global supply chain in the retail industry has witnessed changes and shifts which have led to opportunities and challenges for the involved players. This has occasioned shifts in trade and consumer behavior patterns. Among these are global growth patterns brought about by explosion of more cities and thus growth in infrastructure. There have been flexible supply chain trends which have enabled retail operators to adapt effectively to unexpected circumstances and changes. Moreover, globalization has changed the way retail supply chain is managed as more mature markets emerge to provide logistic and standard solution needs of the businesses. Conversely, near-shoring has

It shows that between 2004 and 2007, total retail growth was only 4.6% while online retail was increased by 130% (The Times 100, NA) (Table 5). With no doubt, it seems more difficult for retail shops to survive, but Lindquist (2002) stated that shoppers prefer to integrate internet shopping with other forms of shopping (Lindquist et al., 2002). The supply chain of Topshop and its changes can help us to understand how retail shops nowadays adjust its position in the

In the year 2012, it was the fourth largest retailer in the world. It is represented in more than 2200 sites across Europe, proves the competence with concepts that meet the highest quality demands.

To run a successful business operation of Harvey Norman’s magnitude requires not only operational excellence, but also strategic insight and vision on macro economic conditions, market trends forecasts and also a distinctive understanding and implementation of the company’s business strength. The company’s strong business operations across multiple product areas/industries make Harvey Norman an interest case study to analyze – both from an operations point of view as well as strategic.

Consumers have many choices when deciding where to purchase their goods. While retailer managers are deciding how to win the consumer’s business and increase revenue, they are also constantly trying to figure out ways to reduce costs. Technology helps retail managers improve areas of inventory and supply chain management as well as customer satisfaction and loss prevention (Green, 2002). This paper explains how technology