Natures Neighbor Business Plan: A Retail Grocery Store in Mumbai

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TROPICS ASSESSMENT
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Contents
NAME OF THE BUSINESS................................................................................................................3
TYPE OF BUSINESS......................................................................................................................... 3
LOCATION...................................................................................................................................... 3
NUMBER OF STAFF AND POSITION................................................................................................4
VISION STATEMENT....................................................................................................................... 4
MISSION STATEMENT.................................................................................................................... 4
CORPORATE CULTURE................................................................................................................... 5
CREATIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT AND INNOVATION....................................................................6
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................8
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NAME OF THE BUSINESS
The name of the start-up business is Natures Neighbor and it is a retail and grocery store which
includes all the essential items of daily routine such as soaps, shampoo, kitchen supplies, and
other items.
TYPE OF BUSINESS
This venture is related to grocery and retail store where all the necessary items are available for
the locality. The retail industry is the fastest growing industry in the Indian market and the main
reason is population. The products included in grocery and retail store is confectionery items,
house-cleaning products, local snacks, tea, coffee, nuts, nonalcoholic beverages, canned foods,
sweets, fresh fruits and vegetables and many more (Doshi et al., 2019).
The unique selling points of this store is that easy and quick payment system to avoid
inconvenience caused due to queue, proper visual merchandising of products, high quality at
low prices, low prices as compared to competitors and supporting and experienced employees.
The company is not selling the goods through online stores because of low investment capital
and a huge risk.
LOCATION
The good location of the business is the primary condition of the success of the organization.
The location selected for this business in India and more specifically Mumbai because the
population in Mumbai is very high i.e. it is more than 20 million according to Indian Population,
2018 and routine household’s things are the basic requirements of every person. The raw
material and the supplies are easily available in India and it is very easy for the firm to sell it at
the competitive prices to earn maximum profit. It is the nature and consumer behavior of
Indian people that they purchase grocery in large quantity for a month or two months so a
small drop in the prices of the grocery or similar products can give tough competition to major
player and the company can successfully increase the profits. These people are highly educated
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and most people also migrate to Mumbai due to employment opportunities (World Population
Review, 2019).
NUMBER OF STAFF AND POSITION
The total number of staff needed in the store is 50 and positions are sales associate, cashier,
customer service representative, visual merchandiser, store manager, assistant store manager,
helper and inventory control specialist. All these employees are hired for full-time and they all
are having the minimum experience of 1-2 years in this field. The reason for choosing
experienced employees to know the culture and behavior of the consumers so that it becomes
easy to operate (Walmsley et al., 2018).
VISION STATEMENT
The vision statement of the Natures Neighbor is, “to become an innovative, sustainable and
honest cooperative where customers can choose different products at the lowest and
reasonable pricing.
MISSION STATEMENT
The mission statement of the Natures Neighbor is, “to fulfill the needs and wants of the
customers as well as partners by giving them unique shopping experience based on quality,
quantity, price, variety, and service, etc. given by our experienced and committed employees.
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CORPORATE CULTURE
The corporate culture of the Natures Neighbor analyzes the strengths and weakness of the
organization. The strengths and weaknesses of the company are represented as a whole and it
is used to identify how the business can grab the opportunities by using their strengths and
avoids threats of the external environment.
Strengths of Natures Neighbor
The strengths of Natures Neighbor are as follows:
Excellent staff members
All staff members of the Natures Neighbor have the experience of minimum 1 year and it
becomes easy for the company to deal with customers. The employees know the products of
the retail store and easily convince the customers to purchase the product (Wrigley et al.,
2019).
Strong internal communication
The internal communication of the organization is very strong which can be used as a
competitive tool for gaining competitive advantage. Strong communication is built from regular
meetings and get-together of employees.
Successful marketing strategies
The marketing strategies chosen for the company to increase the sales are to transmit
advertising and discounts. Among these two, discounts are the most effective one which
increases the sales and profitability of the company. The pricing strategy for the store is price
penetration which means lowering the prices at the initial level and then gradually increases it.
Weaknesses of Natures Neighbor
High operating cost
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At the initial level, the owner faces the problem of high operating costs such as rent, salaries,
furniture and fixtures and many more. These prices take a long time to cover and the owner has
to bear the expense by his capital.
Poor record-keeping
It takes time to understand the behavior, attitude, and nature of customers and their buying
behavior. The needs and preference of customers are different for each other and it is difficult
for the inventory stock specialist to stock right products (Mujtaba and Johnson, 2016).
Weak CSR activities
Due to the scarcity of funds at the initial level, it is difficult for the Natures Neighbor to invest in
the CSR activities and therefore, it is not able to hold customers for a long time.
CREATIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT AND INNOVATION
However, the work environment of the Natures Neighbor is healthy and positive but to increase
the employee’s commitment and loyalty the company has to provide all facilities which will
increase the productivity of employees. The owner can develop a creative work environment by
adopting the following approaches:
 The company should arrange for celebrating the success of any employee or their work.
 Creative work hardly happens individually and the owner must initiate a program so that
all the employees should work in coordination and communicate with each other to
improve brotherhood in the organization.
 The work environment of the Natures Neighbor should be positive and all employees
should be ready to learn and help each other in their work so that they learn new skills
and knowledge (Haynes-Maslow et al., 2018).
 The owner should give complete freedom to employees to share their ideas and
implement them in the business. The organization can only grow if it takes a risk and
learns from failure.
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 The organization should also put some extra efforts for encouraging employees by
showing that they are an important part of the company and their contribution is
properly rewarded.
The best innovation for the company is to deliver the goods at the doorstep of the customers
and to start their business operations at the online platform. Most of the people in Mumbai
belong to the service sector and they do not have sufficient time to visit the store and purchase
the daily routine items. After considering this factor, they must start their business through the
online platform by increasing the expertise employees in this field and hiring a delivery boy to
provide this service. The company should regularly update the website or apps to give
satisfactory services to customers.
The second option to increase the business is through private label merchandising but it can be
applied only after some time i.e. after gaining the loyalty of customers. Private label branding
will give more choice to consumers and allow them to build a strong relationship with the
company. Private label branding can be started by making a tie-up with other manufacturing
company which can produce goods for them (Calvo Porral and Levy-Mangin, 2016).
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REFERENCES
 Calvo Porral, C., & Levy-Mangin, J. P. (2016). Food private label brands: the role of
consumer trust on loyalty and purchase intention. British Food Journal, 118(3), 679-696.
 Doshi, R., Kelley, J. G., & Simmons, B. A. (2019). The Power of Ranking: The Ease of Doing
Business Indicator and Global Regulatory Behavior. International Organization,
Forthcoming, 19-05.
 Haynes-Maslow, L., Osborne, I., & Jilcott Pitts, S. (2018). Best practices and innovative
solutions to overcome barriers to delivering policy, systems and environmental changes
in rural communities. Nutrients, 10(8), 1012.
 Mujtaba, B. G., & Johnson, W. C. (2016). Creating an Organizational Culture of Delightful
Customer Intimacy at Publix Super Markets, Inc. International Journal of Marketing
Practices, 3(2), 47-67.
 Walmsley, R., Jenkinson, D., Saunders, I., Howard, T., & Oyebode, O. (2018). Choice
architecture modifies fruit and vegetable purchasing in a university campus grocery
store: time series modeling of a natural experiment. BMC public health, 18(1), 1149.
 World Population Review, 2019. Mumbai Population 2019 online available at
http://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/mumbai-population/ (last accessed on
6th August 2019).
 Wrigley, N., Wood, S., Lambiri, D., & Lowe, M. (2019). Corporate convenience store
development effects in small towns: Convenience culture during economic and digital
storms. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 51(1), 112-132.
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