FastFit Case Analysis Essay

1. 1. Mark the main flows of goods and gold in the plot (above) and lease a key or table of descriptive elements to explain your answer.1. HQ contacts the supplier and tells them how some(prenominal) of solely(prenominal) crop the family needs.2. The supplier sends the goods to the FastFit storage wargonhouse.3. The warehouse notifies HQ ab pop receiving the goods and how oft of severally harvest is in storage.4. HQ tells the warehouse, which barge ins to send the produces to, how very much product to each one(prenominal) caudex needs and when the retentivity needs the products.5. The warehouse sends the proper amount of each good to the FastFit funds.6. Customers come into the FastFit stores and abide money to purchase the products.7. livestock sells the node the production, receives money and personal cultivation ab stunned the node and sends the happy client home with their purchase.8. Store sends money and customer information to HQ. Store also sends in formation about what products have been successful and which products are not selling.9. HQ tells suppliers which goods are going to be re-ordered. Also HQ pays for the goods that the supplier has supplied.10. HQ tells store managers how to dance orchestra up and run the FastFit stores to enable the highest level of success.11. Supplier sends information about the goods that have been shipped to the warehouse and how much money is owed for the goods.2. a) List the specialized distributor points of information that are usually gathered at the POS (Point of sales agreement net or cash register) and recorded when a customer checks out (excluding obtaining the identity of the customer which is covered in Q3)? b) What are three important uses of this information at the store by the store manager and by management at the headquarters a total of six uses? (use a table) (It is important that you give incompatible responses/uses for store manager and the HQ)Transactional have it away ledge POS Transaction ID Payment Type (credit/debit) engagement of Sale metre of Sale enumerate Paid Amount Due Store Details (Name, military position, Branch) Promotion/ Discount (if any) harvest reading Type of Product (Clothing/Accessory) Product ID Size of the Product Product Brand Price of the Product touchstone of ProductStaff Information Which employee sold the product to the customer Comparison on employee successStore Information Sales Promotions Occurring How long the product has been in the store How many of the same products remain in store How commonplace the product has been practice of Information by Store ManagersInformation Elements Needed explanation of the use Which Employee sold the product to the customer Quantity of items sold to the customer Date and clock of the operation Total Amount of money the customer paid Managers merchantman see which employees have been selling the some. They dissolve identify which employees have not been selling as much . They basis provide incentives to encourage employees to get much sales Type of Product Product Brand Quantity of Product Size of Product Managers can see which products are nearly popular in the store. Can execute new structures to display products in a desirable manner. Can tell employees which products to heavily advertise to customers. Can keep store stocked appropriately establish on which items are most popular. Amount Paid Date of Sale Time of Sale Managers can see how much money the store is making on a daily, periodical and monthly basis. If sales are slow during certain periods, management might make a determination to lay off some employees. If sales are strong, management might need to hire to a greater extent employees.Use of Information by worry at HeadquartersInformation Elements NeededDescription of Use Size of Product Product Brand-Type of Product Quantity of Product sold Sales Management can assess the information and understand which brands are popular i n which store locations. Knowing the popular brands they can contact the suppliers to replenish goods, and try implementing similar brands to certain store locations. Amount Paid Time of sale Date of sale Store details Payment TypeIncome Management can forecast at financial success in each store. If some stores are to a greater extent successful than others, they can move store managers around to try implement the successful tactics everywhere. Can also implement certain payment techniques if a credit notification brand is popular at a specific store Promotions Type of Product Product Brand Size of Product Quantity of Product merchandise Management can see which products are the most popular in each store. Can establish advertisements that are catered to each individual store location. Can create new store layouts to promote the popular items in store and draw customers in.3. a) What are some ways to obtain the identity of the customer at the POS and to associate this identity wi th more detailed information about the customer? b) What business actions could FastFit then deplete based upon this additional information?Obtaining Customer IdentityAssociate this Identity with more detailed informationActions based on Information GatheredHave the customer sign up for a FastFit customer cardCustomer created personal ID that gives the store information on all the customers purchases. Store will know what items are desirable to the customer and when they make the most purchases. FastFit can use this information to give the customer promotions towards their favorite items in the form of coupons and promotional emails. Also the store can email customer more information about their favorite brands, and suggestions of similar products the customer might like.Credit Card InformationThe customers credit card gives personal information on where the customer lives and what purchases they have made in the store. The store can put up more focused advertisements in the locati ons where their customers live.Ask Customers to fill out a surveySurvey will gain information about how customers feel about the store and FastFits products. They can see if customers feel like the store has issues, and what people feel needs to be addressed with the overall company. They can recognize certain issues and address them directly. These might include changing the overall store atmosphere or the quality of products inside. If customers like a certain aspect of the store, FastFit can express this. Maybe try and have a more diversified product mix or contrastive advertising routine.4. Assume HQ is responsible (HQ issues orders to suppliers and determines what warehouse should deliver to stores) for replenishing inventory at the stores. a) What information (elements) are needed and how are these used to decide what (the warehouse) sends to each store? b) Where do the information elements come from? (use a table to acquiesce the responses for a and b). c) List two reason s why we didnt have each store decide what (replenishments) to order from the warehouse?Headquarters ResponsibilitiesInformation Elements NeededSource of InformationProduct Information Type of Product (Clothing/Accessory) Product ID Sizes of the Product Product Brand Price of each Individual Product Quantity of Product neededComputer checkout arrangement takes all of this information, as products are creation purchased and returned in the store. Transaction Information Date of Sale Time of Sale Amount Paid Amount Due Types of Products cosmos sold at the timeComputer checkout system in store takes in this information about how much was spent at the store and at which times the most spending hands. Also managers can see tell when the busiest times of the day, month and year are undecomposed by observing customer patterns in the store. Customer Information Ages of customers coming into the store Which gender (male/female) shops most frequently at the store Which products the cust omers are purchasing the most Where does the customer base live When do the customers purchase the most merchandiseCustomer database formed by customers that are part of the FastFit customer card club. The personal ID gives info about customers past purchases and their preferences toward certain products. Surveys customers filled out which explains age, gender and store and product preferences. Computer checkout system also records customer purchases to see what people like and how often they reprimand the store.Store Information Sales Promotions occurring How long the product has been in the store How many of the same product remain in store How popular products have beenInventory tracking database in each store keeps track of which items have not been sold. Store management and employees keep track of trends and promotional mountains going on within the stores. They can also visually observe which items have been around for longer, and which items have been selling out very quic kly.c. Management at HQ controls the replenishments because they can oversee all operations across all of the stores. They have the power to make calculated decision about each store that would benefit the company as a whole. If each store were to replenish the products themselves, they would only replenish what is popular at each time. HQ ensures that each store is receiving the goods that will properly sell in the location that the store is in. HQ can analyze trends on a larger scale, and implement advertising strategies and product mix based on the data trends. If replenishing were left to the individual stores, sales and profit would be lost.5. a) Draw a system plot that shows the key information and product flows between FastFit (HQ and Warehouse) and a supplier, including the steps for ordering and invoicing and label each flow descriptively. This diagram will have three circles. b) Compare your drawing with the diagram showing the flows that occur when a customer buys someth ing at a (physical) store and explain why the former is more complicated.1. HQ decides what needs to go into stores and orders the products from suppliers 2. Supplier sends HQ a confirmation of the order and also sends an invoice for how much money is owed 3. Supplier sends the merchandise to the warehouse4. HQ pays the supplier for the products5. HQ contacts the warehouse and confirms that the products have been shipped and accounted for in the warehouse 6. The warehouse sends an invoice slip to HQ for holding the products and sending them out as necessary 7. HQ pays the warehouse the localise amount on invoice slip1. Customer goes into store and selects an item/items to purchase2. Store receives money from customer for the purchased product3. Store records information and sends the info to HQb. The diagram above shown in the first part of problem 5 is more sophisticated than the latter diagram because it involves many more transactions. HQ must go through a careful decision imp act even beforeordering the products from the supplier. After ordering the correct items, HQ must ensure that the merchandise reaches the warehouse, and then the store without any issues occurring in between. This entails that HQ pays the supplier and warehouse in time. HQ has to deal with all of the physical decision making as well as financial details of each transaction. HQ pulls each element together.6. Assume that FastFit headquarters receives and pays invoices from suppliers. a) How do they decide whether (i.e. which information elements does the HQ use) to pay and how much to pay? b) From where do they get the information to make this decision? (use a table to combine responses to a and b).Headquarters ratiocination MakingInformation Elements NeededSource of Information/ Decision determine Information Product ID Amount of Products being bought Price of each different product Amount of products being bought each season. Which products FastFit wants to sell and (in the future) which products the customers have shown fire in. Supplier would provide the price of each product.Decision HQ and supplier would agree on a set price based on how much of the product FastFit would be purchasing. FastFit would want to choose and continue doing business with the supplier based on what the customers have shown interest in Warehouse Information Warehouse checks to see that complete order has arrived Checks for quality of products Checks to ensure that the correct order has arrives Records the information about received inventoryWarehouse would provide the information about the order.Decision HQ would pay the warehouse when the information gets relayed that the order was complete and correct. Warehouse and HQ would decide on a set price beforehand for each transaction that the warehouse performs. Delivery Information Date and time products are needed by How quick the deliverance takes place Location of stores from warehouse LocationSupplier would set a price for the d elivery of products to the warehouse. Warehouse would set a price for the delivery of products to the stores.Decision HQ would potentially try and negotiate the price for deliveries with the warehouse and supplier. If the delivery services prove to be reliable HQ would feel satisfied with the price and process. Supplier Information Where the supplier is set Reliability of supplier How quick the supplier can get the product to the warehouse Supplier provides information about their processes and how much they charge for the products.Decision HQ would pay the supplier based on how much product they are ordering and if the suppliers asking price is reasonable.