RETAIL EXPERIENCE

This week we have decided to visit Market Place Singapore which is a part store brand of Cold Storage. Market Place is a full serviced retailer dedicated to offer the widest range of quality, good value and international merchandise to satisfy the daily needs of its target customers in a relaxed and pleasant shopping environment.

Merchandise Management

It is a process which the retailer offers the right quantity of the right merchandise in the right place at the right time and meets the company’s financial goals.
Market Place tried to order the right quantity by analysing their sales data. They analyse the sales performance of the previous year and the past few months of the current year. They compared the sales figures for the same particular month from last year data. Further more, they also look at the performance from the current first few months. From there, they can adjust the quantity ordered so that it will match the expected demands and there will be no shortage or excessive wastage in resources.

Category Management

It is the process of managing a retail business with the objectives of maximizing the sales and profits of a category.
Market Place categorised their groceries items into categories such as washing detergents, canned meats and toothpastes etc. Category management works for the Market Place by improving the relationship between them and the suppliers through the exchange of information. With the category management in place, the focus will centred around the effect of the total turnover of the category and not just looking at the sales of the individual products. So the suppliers are largely encouraged to suggest new product introduction and also to implement promotional activities. The expected result is a beneficial effect on the turnover and profit of the total category and it will benefits the shopper of that particular category. It will also in turn benefits the retailer as they would expected more shoppers and sales when the suppliers took the efforts to implement new products or promotional efforts.