27 Jun RETAILING AND IT
Retailing and IT
The authors major theme was to articulate the importance retailers innovativeness as well as adopting the essence of information systems technology in the process of marketing at store-level.
The authors need to pass this message was to put across a strategically the objective of many merchandise retailers to always create as well as retaining their customers loyalty which eventually translates to increase in market share in retail sales. He also emphasizes on the importance of uniquely combining the aspect of information system technology and marketing in order to give the merchandise retailer a competitiveness advantage which is compelling.
The authors point of view concerning the overall implementation of the club Z project by Zeller store is that it is one of the most convenient and innovative marketing project the company has embarked on before. This is because it is open to all its customers and it leads to accumulation of points in rate which is fair to the customers leading to redemption of these accumulated points for unique and exciting gifts which are not regularly found on the store assortment. The other viewpoint is that for any effective marketing strategies, there is need to embrace the power of computing as it is evident in the Zeller stores who engages its entire information system (IS) division in to this marketing mix strategy as well as classifying the problems to be encountered as either technology domain or business domain indicating the importance of information systems technology to the club Z implementation. The author also views that for someone to bring forward ideas for major initiatives there must be a climate which is supportive as well as encouraging innovativeness and risk taking as shown by Zellers store who embraced the idea of club Z despite the risks involved.
However, the theme of the author whose main purpose is to articulate the integration of information system technology to retailing marketing at store-level can be supported through several evident facts. Firstly, due to the aspects of many merchants offering products which are very similar, in similar stores and same prices, club Z of Zeller stores introduces a new and fresh dimension of differentiation. This is because there will be excitement among the customers when they see their level of point grow as a result of their purchase anyway. The points which are online accumulated on the Zellers central database can then be redeemed any time for a gift. The implementation of club Z project which is purely information system oriented can then allow the Zellers store to attract the customers attentions who were not regular shoppers for the purpose of point accumulation.
There is also the factor of accessibility, whereby the club Z anticipates to reward all the frequent buyers and thus winning the loyalty of customers because gifts of broad range could be offered whereas the most important fact is that everyone could have expected access to those gifts as long as he/she buys from Zellers retail stores. In contract, when the flyer programs offered by many airlines are considered, it seems that they are only possible for business people because they are beyond many ordinary peoples reach. Also no airline could be in a position to claim competitive advantage which is unique over other, even the program originator.
As the information matrix intensity positions the retailing business as high-intensity in the information use, the creation as well as implementation of club Z by Zeller stores, which is one of the leading Zellers retailers indicated one of the major evolution in a sector whose information technology innovativeness lagged behind. Hence, this club Z initiative proved that the sector has extreme opportunities which are available for exploitation from IS technologies, thereby it can be considered as an integral part of the business strategies which are regarded core.
The authors arguments have been presented very well through out the article, that is, from the introduction part which gives us the background information of Zellers stores which critically analysis the action which preceded club Z as well as presenting it as one of the mass merchandise promotion which was very successful. The article also presents a very clear background towards club Z development as well as its implementation and consideration which has to be taken into account. There was also an initiative to address all the issues probably to be encountered in the implementation process. However, despite the arguments been sidelined towards one direction, that is, the success of it there is no clear picture of the extent of that success. The author indicates increased sales and winning the customers loyalty, but also is the success contributed by the existing customers increasing impulse buying or as a result of recruiting other customers on board. Also the author does not provide how the Zellers sales were affected by the introduction of the projects of the same kind by other retailers such as sears STAR, S&H Greenstamps and others. The challenges of club Z have been clearly argued out together with possible remedies.
This article presents out ideas which have a lot of managerial usefulness. Firstly, it portrays the aspect of innovativeness as very critical when the marketing mix is considered. This is because when you have unique and innovative ideas it is possible to gain competitive advantage in the market over your competitors. Also the aspect of preparedness comes out very clearly because when, a company decides to embark on such a large scale project there is need to put in place all the required infrastructure as well as logistical issues.
The idea of willingness to support the staffs is also argued in the article indicating that there is need for those who are in the managerial positions to support the ideas of their staffs if they are realistic. For example, this is clearly represented by the companys ability to implement the idea of club Z which gives the company a competitiveness advantage over the retailer merchants who are also forced to follow soot but too late to catch up with Zellers store club Z. There is also the issue of taking risks, that is, Zellers store took the risk to implement the club Z project irrespective of if it will succeed or fail. The failure of the project would have costed them a lot in terms of sales and customer loyalty but despite all these possible implications it embarked on the implementation which lead to unprecedented and overwhelming success.
One of these factors which is considered for achieving efficient and organized retail operations has been use of information system technology which enables the improvement of customer satisfaction, profitably as well as operational efficiencies. IS technologies has contributed a lot in business and more preferably in the retail enterprise.
In conclusion when an efficient and effective IS technology is in place, it is possible for the retailer to observe sales as well as consumer behaviors in a more efficient and accurate manner facilitating the planning of its sourcing, and also customer promotions in a more efficient manner. There may be also conclusion that embracing new technologies in retail merchandise contributes to increasing the customers loyalty and satisfaction as well as contributing to various benefits related to retailing operations.
Reference:
Wightman, K. R., 1990. The Marriage of Retail Marketing and Information Technology: The Zellers Club Z Experience. Retail Marketing and Information Systems Quarterly, 14(4), pp. 359-366
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