Friday, July 20, 2018

What's Next? - Dollar Superstore

Existing Market:
Step 1:
The next step in the business would be to allow customers to shop online and have the products delivered to them. This would allow the business to adapt as online shopping becomes increasingly popular.
Step 2:
The first person that I interviewed said that the business could be modernized. Because the dollar store is bigger, creating an app to locate items could add to the store's convenience. When I asked her about online shopping, she said she liked the idea. However, she believed that bulk orders would be better, because money could be saved on shipping cheap items.
The second person that I interviewed suggested expanding the business to include online shopping, just as I had thought. This could benefit the business by increasing the volume of goods sold.
The third person that I interviewed suggested that the business expand to include food service. By offering cook to order food, customers would purchase food while they were at the store. When I asked the interviewee about online shopping for the dollar superstore, she said it is a great idea. Just like the first interviewee said, interviewee #3 stated that a minimum order price would be necessary to ensure money was not lost on shipping.
Step 3:
Based on these suggestions, I have identified two ways to grow the business: online shopping and food services. To bring in more customers, I would expand the business to provide home delivery. Free shipping would be provided on orders above a certain price. Additionally, I would expand the business by partnering with a fast food restaurant, such as McDonalds, in order to sell ready to eat food to customers in the store. Both of these expansions could increase revenues for the business.

New Market:
Step 1:
My business currently sells products to consumers. However, there is a market to sell these goods in bulk to businesses instead. Goods such as office supplies and some food products would be the main ones sold.
Step 2:
By providing office supplies and food to businesses at low costs, smaller businesses could cheaply get the products they need in order to save money. This can help new or small businesses to save money in order to be successful.
Step 3:
The first person I interviewed suggested that I adapt the business to sell all products online instead of in person. The property where the products are located would be a warehouse, not a store.
The second person that I interviewed suggested that I adjust the business to produce less variety of goods, but more of the same goods. Because individual customers would not be browsing for goods in the store, it would not be necessary to have a large variety. By decreasing variety, production costs would be reduced.
Step 4:
This new market seems to be much simpler and more similar to a supplier of goods. This market seems to be more attractive than the previous market, because less customers would be needed in order to sell the same number of products.
I was surprised how much simpler this market was than the dollar superstore market. Additionally, the people that I interviewed seemed to believe that the new market could allow the business to be more successful.

2 comments:

  1. I think your concept of selling business to business at a discounted price could be really interesting. Your new market is a lot more applicable than mine was, I explored the idea of catering to graduate students. Your new market could cater to schools, churches, small local businesses. It would kinda be like a Costco or Sam’s it sounds like, but even more discounted.

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  2. I think your idea to sell to businesses is definitely one worth pursuing as it promises to get you regular buyers that buy in bulk from you, allowing you to also sell large amounts of product at a time, helping you to grow further. Moving online accomplishes many of the same things.

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