Safeway Store Interview

Store Visit: Safeway (Canada Safeway Limited)

Interview Section:

1. Who is your target market?

A: Safeway’s target market is basically anyone who eats food, Safeway also target certain segments through certain things such as Airmiles. We want to attract everyone in different income level.

2. What is your trade area?

A: Our trade area is retail grocery.

3. What type of ownership does the business have?

A: Canada Safeway comes from Safeway Inc. which is a publicly traded company in the U.S, it is a corporation. The company’s head office is in Pleasanton, California.

4. Do you use one supplier or multiple suppliers?

A: We have a retail department in this store, but we also have a backstage department that is located at the head office (Canadian division) in Calgary, Canada. The backstage department brakes up into different segments such as Advertising, Marketing, Produce, Meats, Milk, etc. Each department would have buyers who deal with companies and buy products from multiple suppliers. Therefore, at the store level, we do not buy anything particularly items from anyone by ourselves.

5. Do you have any exclusive distribution deals?

A: Any exclusive distribution deals are all taking cared of by the head office, but I am sure there are special deals.

6. Who are your main competitors?

A: Any grocery store retailer such as Superstore, Nofrills, IGA, Save on Foods, Walmart’s super center, and the Targets that is opening soon in the Prairie mall.

7. What do you consider your competitive advantages over your competitors?

A: First of all, we have Airmiles program, and Safeway stores that are in Western Canada have the exclusive contract with Airmiles which makes us very competitive; Secondly is our customer service focus, we are always making sure our customer are happy. These are the two main things would distinguish us from our competitors.

8. Do you have much employee turnover, and how do you keep them staying working for...