The Introduction of Private Label Products at Walmart

During these times of change business may have to change its orgainsation, operation and its nature to deal with the challenges of each stage in the business life cycle. For business to be successful they must constantly develop and change strategies to deal with the growth of the business or the life of the business may be cut short.

This case analysis will be focused on the company QVC (Quality, Value, and Convenience). We will perform an analysis review, which, will provide a comprehensive insight into the company’s historical and current business structures, strategies and efficiencies in their operations. It will include a detailed SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) (Humphrey) and the primary activities of the Value Chain Analysis (Porter), to provide greater insight into the firms’ competitive advantage. These key concepts will be used to analyze QVC’s business model, define potential challenges and initiate a plan of execution. We will then recommend solutions

The company was recently presented an opportunity by its largest retail customer to significantly increase its share in their private label manufacturing. The prospect of growth was risky, since it

The purpose of this paper is to do a value chain analysis of Costco, identify their resources and capabilities, to conduct a SWOT analysis to identify the opportunities in which they are lagging and to form a strategy to move forward using the recourses and capabilities in the direction of utilizing those opportunities.

Trader Joe’s is a leading firm that is taking over the supermarket industry. The company completely altered the idea of a traditional supermarket and turned it into a whole new experience for consumers. Through Trader Joe’s strategic planning, they’ve paved a way for consumers to have high-quality products while paying low prices. Trader Joe’s provides fewer products that are health-conscious, unique and privately labeled. Trader Joe’s has utilized this, secrecy, employee job satisfaction, culture and starting trends to its advantage. Within its industry companies are divided into different strategic groups. Aldi, similar Trader Joe’s strategic planning, is apart of the cultured-discount neighborhood market. This firm continues the low-stock, less-waste, small store, and low price method. A Walmart express used a hybrid strategy that made it a cross between a grocery, pharmacy, and convenience store. Tesco is the third that falls with small neighborhood markets strategy and focused on organic products, similar to Trader Joe’s. As the company grows and expands, there is caution in change of Trader Joe’s processes. With growth, there comes new management and employees which can alter the way a specific store is ran and there is worry of change in the stores normal procedures. Change that doesn’t follow the process could ultimately result in a downfall, so this can be considered a key challenge to watch in the future. Increased bureaucracy is additionally a

The recession, which started in 2008, has helped drive the need for private-label products, or as they are more commonly called, store brand products. These private-label products generally cost the consumers about twenty-five percent less than the major national brands that are offered. Throughout the supermarkets and other types of food retailers, the private-label sales grew by more than 9% from 2008 to 2009, and these types of private-label sales accounted for about 35% of Kroger’s overall sales. Most stores do not operate their own processing plants for these private-label items; Kroger does however operate their own plants for the private-label products. [ (Senauer & Seltzer, 2010) ]

By not needing to maintain a high profit margin on the fooditems, this has allowed the supercenters to keep their food prices down in comparison with mosttraditional supermarkets.The recession, which started in 2008, has helped drive the need for private-label products,or as they are more commonly called, store brand products. These private-label productsgenerally cost the consumers about twenty-five percent less than the major national brands thatare offered. Throughout the supermarkets and other types of food retailers, the private-labelsales grew by more than 9% from 2008 to 2009, and these types of private-label sales accountedfor about 35% of Kroger’s overall sales. Most stores do not operate their own processing plantsfor these private-label items; Kroger does however operate their own plants for the private-labelproducts.

In this ever-changing modern day business environment, organizations should always be ready to adapt to the ever-changing concepts and customers’ needs. Both internal and external factors influence the kinds of changes that take place in any business or organization. As of the complex adaptive systems, in order to keep up with the constant upcoming changes, they need to keep on revising their goals and objectives. They can do this by assimilating to any current changes present in society.

Based on the events that have transpired in the United States over the past several years, including the US Recession and Recovery, discuss evidence you have seen of the imperatives for change, flexibility, and responsiveness faced by today's firms.

With giants such as Walmart, and Kroger running the grocery store industry it’s difficult for companies such as Smuckers to bargain for shelf-space and prices. Brand name items drawn to the center of the store are what leverages these companies to succeed in the industry. After numerous acquisitions and strategic alliances, Smuckers developed a solid core of product lines which experienced success rapidly. Product lines that experienced the most success as a result of strong positioning in the industry included their Coffee labels, flour and baking products, Oils and food spreads. A 9-Cell Industry Attractiveness/Business Strength Matrix shows that the Industry attractiveness is relatively moderate. With many competitors and strong buyer power from large grocery chains such as Kroger, companies such as Smuckers have explored different strategies that have proved successful in what can be described as a saturated industry. The case insinuates that there may be opportunities in the industry in regards to special markets and perhaps Oils and Baking with sugar free products, but otherwise the recession, although it drove families to buy store bought as opposed to eating out, has had its effects on the food service industry as well.

Since Wal-Mart is a mass market retailer, its primary source of value that it adds to the company is derived from its supply chain. Wal-Mart has suppliers located all over the world and it purchases goods from a wide range of different types of vendors. Many of the company's primary vendors are directly connected to Wal-Mart's IT systems through what is referred to as an electronic data interchange (EDI). An EDI can instantaneous transmit data between Wal-Mart and their vendors. Such information can consist of order information, stock supplies, demand forecasting and many other key supply chain metrics. The advantages of such a system are clear as they can greatly assist creating efficiencies in the supply chain. However, not all suppliers have developed sufficient IT technologies to participate in an EDI program with Wal-Mart. Another option for greater coordination between parties in the supply chain is web-based supplier integration. Although the web-based systems are not quite as sophisticated as an EDI, they are more accessible for many of the smaller suppliers and they have shown to improve long-term coordination, cooperation, and commitment.

Hansson Private Label (HPL) is a manufacturer of products such as soap, shampoo, mouthwash, shaving cream, sunscreen and other personal care products. Its mission is to be a leading provider of high-quality private label personal care products to America’s leading retailers. The main topic of this paper is to evaluate a new investment of 50 million for a private label manufacturing proposal by a key partner. This will increase debt but bring new customers and new opportunities. However it also brings risks to lose some existing customers on the long run. The project mainly spans in 3 years. So Hansson is evaluating the return on

This case involves a mid-sized, regional grocery store chain called Reed Supermarkets. Reed has 192 retail stores, two regional distribution centers and 21,000 employees in five states in the Midwest of the United States. This case discusses Reed’s market strategy for the Columbus, Ohio, market in particular, which is one of Reed’s largest markets. The Columbus market has grown slightly over the past five years, while Reed’s market share has dwindled slightly in the market. Reed has watched their market share stagnate with the entrance of new competitors (10% growth in stores) and a dramatic shift in customer preferences to value or

Croma in the consumer electronics chain of the Tata group. It was lauched in 2006 and was expected to compete against national brands and the private label of the store to account for 202-5 percent of the total revenue. In Croma, the private label products are imported from Hong Kong, Shanghai through partnership with Woolworths whose stake in the JV was bought by TATA group last year.

The contemporaneous business community is extremely challenging and dynamic and the managerial teams in the organizations are forced to respond to a wide array of threats. Some of the new challenges for instance include the shifting demands of the customers, the increasing domestic and global competition or the advancement of technology. All of these challenges are common to the entire business community and each economic agent has to respond to them in the best possible manner.