Joe's Grocery Case Study

Denise Taylor

Acct. 442-101

September 8, 2013

Joe’s Grocery Case Study

Strengths | Weaknesses | Opportunities | Threats |

Unique Product | Large Variety | Growing Demand for Organic Foods | Rising Manpower Costs |

Customer Loyalty | Lack of Advertising | Expanding into New States/Locations | Competitors – eg. Whole Foods, Wegmans |

New Store Openings | Waste Due to Overstocking | Development of Customer Loyalty Program | Increasing Product Costs |

Store Locations | Distribution of Products | Creation of Brand Recognition through Advertisement | |

| | | |

Strengths: Joe’s Grocery have stores in the Richmond, Virginia and the Washington D.C. area that specialize in organic and other specialty foods and products. They have built a strong customer base allowing them to grow as a company adding locations. The stores are in high income locations. The products they carry are unique and healthy.

Weaknesses: There are a few things that can be improved in order to increase profitability. Joe’s currently carries a large variety of items. To improve on profitability it will be important to decrease the variety of items being carried by only carrying one or two choices per product by choosing the best sellers. This will also cut back on the waste that takes place due to overstocking items which are not selling as well. Another way to cut back on waste in the produce items is to contract with a vendor who can deliver items a couple times a week to the stores. Taking this step will also increase customer satisfaction because they will always have the freshest product to choose from. Another area which needs to be looked closely at is the distribution of basic items throughout the food chain. Better prices can be negotiated with vendors if a company can buy basic items in bulk. This is possible if the stores either have storage space or the company looks into a warehouse. If a warehouse is the choice the company will then need to determine...