Business Operations And Systems Assignment
Introduction The assignment is about business operations and Systems management in which B&M group is been discussed which is a variety retailer in UK and wants to move its business online. By using various models, the challenges of moving the grocery business o online platform will be discussed in the report. Although, the usage of internet is increasing year by year, grocery business at online platform is not as profitable as other businesses are. A rich picture diagram will be discussed in the assignment for the business issue and business process plans are made which will help the business to achieve its targets.(Bandmretail, 2016)
About B&M Home Store UK Online B&M is one of the biggest variety retailers in United Kingdom and is formed in the year 1978. Its first store was in Blackpool and now the no of stores increased to more than 500 and it also provides employment to around 22500 employees. It sells the products which are of big brands which include FMCG and non-grocery products. The products are provided at discounted prices which attract more and more customers. Word of mouth is the main advertisement technique of B&M which increases the no of transactions o the stores. (Bandmretail, 2016)
B&M operations The brand has over 500 stores in UK and around 50 stores in Germany. The supermarket is doing quite well in the industry. The company is continuously earning high revenues and achieving sales growth. B&M follows multi price model which makes it different from the rest of the supermarkets of the industry in UK. The company has limited product lines which are increased to increase the interests of the customers. The company invests in its infrastructure which includes transport, warehouse, distribution activities to minimise the future costs. The group also has important IT systems which are helpful in maintaining data, protecting data and risk management. (Bandmretail, 2016) The approach of B&M is “keep it simple� because what the group believe is that everyone loves to bargain. The group opened its 500 th store in the year 2016 and aims to deliver best products at best prices to its customers so that they can have excellent shopping experience at its stores.
Challenges/ Issues in moving the business online B&M group is no doubt growing at a good speed in the supermarket industry. It has its own customers and own speciality but B&M might face some issues or challenges if it decide to introduce online platform for its customers so that they can make purchases online and the products get delivered to them at their doorstep. Some of them are:
Tough competition from existing online players: There are lots of online players which exist in the market. B&M group will have to face really tough and stiff competition from these players. Customers are not yet so familiar with online grocery shopping: The customers who belong to the older generations are not yet familiar with online purchasing of groceries. They still believe in buying the products in their physical presenceand some of them do not know the processes or methods of buying the groceries online so, B&M will have to face these issues at a large scale. (Pathak, 2012) Incomplete understanding of an online customer: The customers who are active online are differentand have differentexpectations from the business. So, B&M will have to gain complete understanding of the customer who are purchasing online. Logistics incapability: B&M is still unable to manage its inventory, data and much other type of transactions which are the core functions of any business. So, it will create problems when the business will be started online. (Pathak, 2012) The face of retail is changing and now internet drives the behaviour of consumers.
Different models for online business There are different models which can be used by B&M for going online. Every model satisfied different needs of the business. Different models are: Advertising: This model involves the display of the content on the website of the business with the advertisement messages. Merchant: In this model there are retailers and wholesalers involved which provides goods or services. Here, sales are made on list prices. Manufacturer model: This model is the direct model where the manufacturer directly reaches consumer so that the distribution channel can be made more simplified and costs may be minimized. In this model, the design and developmentof sites are done by the business itself which reduces costs. Subscription model: Here, the users/ customers are asked for charges to be paid to use the subscribed services by them. The charges can be monthly or annually. Outsource: here the services of design and development are outsourced by some other company and they are paid in return for the services taken. Here the expert services can be gained by paying a pre decided amount.
Rich Picture Impact of operations management on organisation’s performance Sustainabilityrefers to the designs and operations of the organisation which reduces the harmful impact of the operations of the organisation on the future generations and generate higher rate of return for the business. It consists of three elementsPlanet, People and Profit which aretogether known as Triple Bottom Line.
Planet refers to the environmental practices which aims at providing least harm to the environment and maximum growth to the planet like introduction of GPS systems to reduce the usage of fuel and emission of CO2 in case of multiple rounds for single delivery of products to customer. People refer to the responsibility of organisation towards its people so that well-structured and fair treatment is given to the employees. Profit refers to the profit and loss account of the business. It means how much economic value has been created by the company through its operations after deducting all the costs. In short this approach aims to measure the performance of business by three aspects people, planet and profit. Online Assignment Help provide assignment writing service based on case study requirements in affordable prices and we are providing most flexible online assignment writing help, so book your Assignment with us,Order Now