Reseach 2 - NTUC FairPrice

The Story of NTUC FairPrice... Singapore's Very Own
(Business Model: B2C, with brick-and-mortar storefront)












Introduction


FairPrice is one of the leading supermarket retailers in Singapore. It has a retail network of about 225 stores island-wide. It serves the needs of more than a million everyday and it’s known as “Singapore’s Very Own”.

The FairPrice main mission is to help moderate the cost of living for low income households in Singapore. In the financial year 2006/2007

Today, FairPrice has grown to become the leading supermarket retailer in Singapore. It has a retail network of over 225 stores island-wide. Owned by about 500,000 Singaporeans, it serves the needs of more than a million everyday, and is indeed "Singapores Very Own". Its founding mission to help moderate the cost of living for low income households in Singapore remains at the heart of its operations. With sales of more than $1.49 billion in the financial year 2006/2007 and a staff strength of over 5,000, the corporate mission of FairPrice incorporates an additional responsibility not only to its customers but also its staff, who have made its success possible. "NTUC FairPrice, Best Place to Shop, Best Place to Work and Best Corporate Citizen" underlines its commitment to bring value to the community, its customers, its staff, and ultimately to its co-operative members who by their support make FairPrice Singapore's Very Own largest supermarket chain. Over the years, FairPrice has continuously revolutionised its business to remain in the forefront of retail technology and innovation, and remain responsive to the changing environment and customers' needs.



(For this assignment we are focusing on http://www.fairprice.com.sg/)

History

During the early seventies Singapore faced with the oil crisis and rising prices due to inflation. Therefore the Labour Movement together with the determined Singapore government worked closely to find a solution to the problem, and the solution was eventually NTUC FairPrice.

In 1973, the National Trades Union Congress, Singapore Industrial Labour Organisation and the Pioneer Industries Employees Union launched individual co-operatives to run the supermarkets to help curb profiteering. The National Trades Union Congress supermarket co-operative was called NTUC Welcome which was officially opened by Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew to indicate the strong support from the government.

But in early eighties, the Singapore Industrial Labour Organisation and the Pioneer Industries Employees Union merged to form the Singapore Employees Co-operative (SEC) which eventually merged with the NTUC Welcome to form an enlarged co-operative known as NTUC Fairprice Co-operative Limited.

Since then, NTUC FairPrice has become the people’s supermarket and continues with its original mission to stabilise the prices of essential consumer products.

Business Strategies

One of the main strategies of the FairPrice Group is to have various store formats targeting at different market segments. With that in mind they ventured into new formats and services such as Cheers, Convenience Stores, FairPrice Xpress, FairPrice Homemart, FairPrice Online, FairPrice Xtra and FairPrice Finest.

Another important strategy they have is to cater to their shoppers needs. Examples are the halal fresh and deli items for Muslim shoppers, more healthy-choice products and nutrition programmes for the health-conscious shoppers, more exotic products that come from non-conventional sources like Chile, Hungary, South Africa, to cater to the adventurous consumers, as well as online-shopping for the Internet savvy shoppers.

The main reasons for this improvisations and additions to the traditional range of products and services is to better the customers better, especially when customers nowadays are much are well-travelled, better educated and lead increasingly modern and global lifestyles.


Characteristics

Strengths

Saves time

The website helps customers save time. Usually customers would have to do to a retail outlet to buy their computers (Brick and Mortar environment). Singaporeans nowadays are very busy with their individual work and personal commitments and it would be difficult for them to make it to the shop before 10pm at night to do their necessary shopping. With online shopping, it saves time and they will be able to short at any point of time.
And the items they have purchased will be delivered to the customers. It is not necessary for customers to make their way to the physical shop to collect their items.

There is also a listing of all the outlets in Singapore. Therefore instead of customers trying to find for the nearest physical shop available they will be able to locate the place through the website and make their way there faster.


Direct Business model

FairPrice has direct relationship with all of its customers, as they organize their business around well- defined customer segments to focus on and deepen those relationships. This direct model is the approach best suited to understanding and fulfilling customers’ needs.Insight to technology trends

The system that is design and build are consistently rated among the industries finest.There is Browse Quick Search Service which allows customers to look for the items they want. The items are separated in different categories which make it easier to chose the items, compare the prices of the same type of products and also select the total number of quantities they are want.

Feedback

Customers are allowed to give feedback regarding the website and the services provided to them. This way the company would be able to upgrade themselves and also see to the customer’s individual needs.

Contact Us

There is also a contact us link which allows customers to alias with someone when they are in doubt regarding any information. The only problem is that contact us is only available during office hours. Therefore after office hours customers will be required to email to the company and might have to wait for a reply only during the next working day.

Security

Only members who have registered with the website are allowed to make online purchases. Furthermore the customers’ information is protected.

Weakness

Payment is only via credit cards. Paypal services or cheques are not available.

The website’s layout is very crowded with too many information therefore customers might find it difficult to browse the website.

There are no images for most of the products. Therefore some customers might not be able to really see the product they are purchasing. This might cause problems when they are not sure about the products brand or name.

Conclusion

To summarize, the website provides an insight for its target market by providing the necessary information to provide convenience for its users. With the feedback system FairPrice is able to their services and products. NTUC FairPrice lives up to its name “Singapore’s Very Own” as it meets its objectives of providing good services to the customers and to always upgrade themselves in order to keep up to the fast pace lifestyle in Singapore.

Reseach 1 - Staples

Introduction

(Business Model: B2C, with brick-and-mortar storefront)

Staples, Inc. is the world’s largest office product retail chain, Staples sells supplies, office machines, promotional products, furniture, technology and business services. The company's first store was opened in Brighton, Massachusetts in 1986. The company is headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts. It also does business via the Internet, through Staples.com, its website.

With $27 billion in sales and more than 500 retail stores worldwide, Staples serves businesses of all sizes and consumers in 27 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

(For the assignment, we would focus on its main website, http://www.staples.com/)

About Staples’ History

The story for the beginning of the biggest office supply store can be trace back to 1985. It was USA Independence day and founder, Thomas G. Stemberg, was working on a proposal. When it came to time for printing, Thomas realized that the ribbon had ran out and he was not able to get any replacement due to the holiday. His frustration with the reliance of small stores for office supplies lead to him teaming up with Kahn, he came up with the idea for Staples, Inc. From a cost price of just 30cents, a pen could be mark up to $2-$3. With determination and previous experience working at Star Markets (a chain of supermarkets based in New England, USA), he knew that Staples Inc would be profitable and successful.

Characteristics

Staples.com is really an all rounded website providing services to all consumers and business. It provides a large variety from office supplies to furniture to medical supplies. It also provides important up-to-date information for investors.

For a customer (individual/company):-

Staples Price-Match Guarantee

For a consumer, it is all about the cost. Staples ‘Price-Match Guarantee’ challenge you to find a cheaper cost of a product and they will match it. Simple as that. Thus, if you find a lower price anywhere else on a new identical item, just show them the lower price when you buy the item at Staples and they will match the price, or within 14 days of your Staples purchase and they will give you the difference.

Product review

There is a section on product reviews. Of course it does not review on each and every type/brand of pen and that is being sold but there are quite a significant number of items in the review section. The section is clearly categorized into different 10 categories which are sub-categorized into many categories. For almost every item in the review list, there is a picture of the item with model no. and a short description. Users are allowed to comment on the pros and cons of the items which allow potential users to have a concrete idea on the item they are purchasing.

Rewards, coupons and rebates system

Usually these offers are limited to retail stores. However, at staples.com, membership is free for all consumers. No minimum purchase is required. Also there are links and steps for users to submit their rebates online. No clipping, no mailing, no hassles.

Payment

There is no need to sign up for an account to purchase any items. Customers can just ‘check out’ as a guest if they only want to make a one-time purchase. Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover Network, Staples credit cards are accepted.

20-or-More employee

This is for companies. All companies have an amount allocated for office furniture, stationeries and other office supplies like printers and shredder etc. Staples Inc came up with 2 general schemes based on company’s size and budget constraint.

FAQ and “Contact Us”

To some of us, the frequently-asked-questions (aka FAQ) section is considered as the most important section. It clears our doubts on online purchases and solves our queries on delivery. For staples.com, this is definitely not a section that was usually loosely compound. With 11 categories, the FAQ provided answers that customers have on every step of the order system, return policies, membership/newsletter and other miscellaneous questions.

After reading through the FAQ, if you still have any other questions, you can choose to contact them. You can direct your queries by locating and visiting the stores, logging on to the “Live Chat”, calling the 1800 hotline (different hotline no. is allocated for different type of queries) or email them. To ensure that your emails reach the correct department within Staples, Inc, you can pick from the topics provided (eg. Your Order, Payment/Credit, Website Assistance, Staples Rewards etc including ‘Something else…’) and email directly from the website.

For Investors:-

There is a section on “Corporate Information”. This section is generally dedicated to investors. There is the company history, the company ethics, goals and missions, the corporate responsibilities, committee members and boards of directors, annual finance reports, analyst coverage, news release, code of conduct and code of ethics within and in relations to the suppliers, media coverage, investor package etc. It even provides an updated stock exchange for Staples with a minimum of 20mins delay.

Weakness of Staples.com

All websites has their strength and weakness. Staples.com is no exclusion.
Staples’s slogan, ‘That was Easy’ might have can has slightly different meanings for different users. With so many categories for everything, users might get confused and/or frustrated with the number of steps required to file a simple query/complaint.

With a minimum 20min delay for the updated stock price, investors would hardly bother to utilize this facility should there be a need to have fast and accurate update.

Payment is only via credit card. Paypal services are not available.

Having retail stores in 27 countries, one would think that the websites would be catered to its mass market. However, there are only websites for the continents of North America and Europe. South America, Asia and Australia were completely left out.

Conclusion

Navigating through Staples.com, one would certainly notice the strong dedication to customers’ needs. It is almost as though they themselves are the customers! With increasing highlights on the convenience of e-commerce, the future of e-commence would only saw elevation in online purchases. Similar, if not better, websites would be sprouting over the internet in the years to come. Should Staples.com continue to strive and focus on “making it easy” for the end-users, it would not only be the biggest office supply retail stores, it would also emerge as one of the top leaders in e-commerce.