Digital Business Design & innovation - Theosophical Society Bookstore and Readers Feast Bookstore - Case Study Example

BOOKSTORES Student’s name Code & Course Professor’s name University City EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report is prepared by business analyst for the Theosophical Society Bookstore and Readers Feast Bookstore. The main purpose of the report is to introduce new technological measures as a paradigm shift from the current manual system in your Theosophical Society Bookstore regarding its competitor Readers Feast Bookstore. The main agenda of introducing the new management system is to attract more customers and increase sell from your Theosophical Society Bookstore. INTRODUCTION Theosophical Society Bookstore, from the establishment, it encourages the study of philosophy, comparative religion and science. Your business sells broader categories of books & products. Some of the books on sell cover areas like Health issues, Psychology, Alexander Technique, Art of War, Anatomy and Astrology. For spiritual purposes the bookstore stokes products like candles, spoken word CDs, incense, jewellery and crystals (Theosophical Society Bookshop 2013). Readers Feast Bookstore sell all genre of books covering all area either fiction or nonfiction (Readers Feast Bookstore 2014) CURRENT SYSTEM The part of your business our recommendation addresses is to display the current system working for customers. As such the bookstore needs to embrace efficient and effective e-commerce services like providing efficient support to customers, working on customer’s feedback, ensuring timeless of data available to customers especially for online ordering, monitoring and evaluating merchandise from vendors before displayed to customers to ensure the products are appealing and customer-friendly. Diagram Representing Efficient and Effective E-Commerce Selling worthy products Sells Person Monitoring and evaluation Customer Vendor Additionally computerizing the bookstore is an added advantage in retail management solution. Installing the system advocates for having right products at the shelves at the right time, making better decisions hence increasing the bookstore sales to profitability. The retail management solutions fit in any bookstore irrespective of the store sizes. Engaging into partnership with Amazon is an added advantage (Mendelson 2012). Using the system, majority of customers purchase the books due to believes of fair prices and standard technology system on use. Contrary to the system, still books can be used as gifts if partnership with Amazon is complicated (Mendelson 2012). Books issued as gifts displays an important part of business especially to majority of customers shopping at the last minute. The free gift wrapping and free delivery attracts more customers since Amazon cannot perform such an activity. Targeting the diversity of social media is important. This includes sites like twitter and facebook and YouTube. The bookstore displays ads on the social network site whereby majority of the demography participate in conversation. Genuine ads receive more likes hence people will stream to the store to purchase the products. The diagram below indicates the way you currently work with customers. As such it shows the customers loyalty program. Customers shopping from Theosophical Society Bookstore either purchase through online or counter. Continual purchase for the previous six months worthy a minimum of $20.00 leads to customer loyalty program. The program sees customers receiving a voucher twice a year, on 1st June and 1st December worthy 10 % for the value purchased in past 6 months. Additionally your bookstore runs various social welfare services. This includes Day care centre admitting around 85 children between the age of 2 and 5. The reason behind it is to develop child intellectuals, personality and social development. Vocational training centre helps to develop skills for youths through trainings hence attaining certificates. Free medical treatment to mothers and children is an imperative of Theosophical Order of Service from Theosophical society Bookstore. Purchase and Selling Diagram from Theosophical Society Bookstore Sold out Requests delivery Customer Sales Person Manager Placing new orders Vendor Customer Loyalty Purchase Program Selling of the books from customers voucher Customer Sells Person Loyalty Customer Manager Business Process Modeling (Recommendation) Delivery Department Sales Department CATWOE DIAGRAM RICH PICTURES Customers Personal Assistant Staff Members Secretary FISHBONE DIAGRAM Enivironment People Students Politics Christians Family Location Children Size Manual System Books Re-sell of 2nd handbooks Jewellery Candles Limited collection of books Incense Management Materials WEAKNESS AND OPPORTUNITIES Internet retailing through technology pose various advantages. The advantage to focus on is the increasing sales through internet retailing (Schufreider 2013). Increased sales arises since readers browse for the needed books while searching for contents within hours hence generating interests that contributes towards high purchase power hence increasing sales. The increased sales also arise after publishing the contents on social media network using the current technology hence increasing awareness of the materials to clients that eventually boosts the power of sales. As such, the Readers Feast Bookstore has embraced the system hence a competitive advantage to your Bookstore. The current technology provides the ease and speed of ordering any book irrespective of location as seen in readers feast bookstore. Using catalogs at this phase is important since consumers get to know where to purchase new or used books at a fair price. As such sales are likely to be higher since the systems is more friendly to the customers while selecting the purchase site which can either be Amazon or Christian book distributors. Online bookshop retailing is essential in displaying higher number of book titles and products compared to that on shelves. The increased products variety of the Theosophical society bookstore through internet will attract more customers due to diversity of books and products hence increase in sales. As such, consumers prefer a variety of products to make purchase hence use of technology positions more products online hence greater purchase power resulting to higher sales. Point of sale is an added advantage of increasing sales for Theosophical society bookstore when embracing technology. As such, the bookstore avoids the system whereby customers make line at the counter when purchasing which mostly influences the customers to abandoned the shopping and move to a different bookstore due to long line. The situation mostly happens during holidays and study seasons whereby purchase power is high. Implementing point of sales through internet, make it easy for customers to purchase the products (Aruba White Paper 2013). Creating websites to offer customers feedback assessments boost purchase power. Customers easily communicate with the bookstore in case of any complications or new products needed for purchase. The system makes work easier both for clients and managers through efficiency and making orders for vendors hence selling any products anytime and anywhere. Continual purchase due to availability of needed books and products incur higher selling percentage. SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths As you know your Theosophical Society bookstore offers variety of books. As such, your bookstore does not only sell Christian books, journals and articles but it also sells other genre of books for students, novels, for entertainment, medical purposes and research. The books at your store target all demography. Therefore it implies that parents should not worry what their children purchase at your Theosophical society bookstore. Most gift books are always found in Christian Bookstore. As such, customers would trust your bookstore and purchase inspirational and motivational books and give out as gifts to the loved ones. Your store also engages in customer loyalty programs which attracts more customers due to vouchers given out after purchasing for 6 months. Through this, the system wins the hearts of customers hence loyalty to your bookstore. Your bookstore releases every month newsletters regarding new books on release. The system keeps customers updated especially with the new arrivals that sound more interesting. Your bookstore engaging with community through social welfare is a quality strategy. Offering day care service and vocational training make more people to be associated with the bookstore after which they become loyal customers. Weaknesses Your store has no financially capabilities to keep up with the trending technologies. The reason behind it is that the store is too small to accommodate higher number of books in shelves. As such, your store only makes limited sales at a time hence complication arises during transformation from manual system to technologically management system. Selling of second hand book is always advocated for lower prices. The lower prices are a setback for enough funds to implement the technological system in your theosophical bookstore. Majority of your bookstore offers are more of gifts than bookstores. Purchasing of gifts only occur during holidays and festive seasons. So your bookstore sell power does vary depending on peak seasons and flat seasons. Such a system is not an impressive marketing strategy. Your bookstore need to expect continual purchase power every month hence strategies of what product to offer on display. Additionally majority of the giftware are delicate. Without your proper instructions, the possibility of the damages from the kids is very high. As such your bookstore encounter looses since it takes longer to be approved for refunds. Your store works through purchase order placement by the customers. As such, the store does not adequately have enough stock especially for impulse customer buyers. Additionally, during the placement of the order it always occur that customers need to wait longer to be submitted with the order. In this most of the customers probably cancel the orders and your bookstore encounter financial losses with continual losing of customer’s loyalty. Threats Majority of bookstores like the Walmart and Costco have already embraced the technological system of using internet to display books especially used old books that require easy retrievals. As such, more people prefer to purchase books from internet due without rely traveling to the bookstore and make orders which are not available at shelves. This pose threats to your bookstore with the paradigm of technology (Bresnahan 2012). The target segments especially the youths who are students prefer reading books through online hence purchase of the hardcopy materials stay longer your bookstore shelves. Additionally, the ability to download information and data has decimated the use of CDs in your bookstore. Statistics have shown that the number of Christian visiting the Christian bookstore is decreasing (Lindquist 2012). The reason behind might be due to globalization that individuals work harder to meet their daily needs but don’t have time to purchase Godly materials or visiting the churches. This pose a threat to your bookshop since if the statistics continues to show the same then there is no need to ask vendors to supply Christian published books & the outcomes will be decrease in sells from your bookshop. Various institutions and churches prefer bypassing your bookstore and visit the publishers to make bulk orders. At this phase churches and various institutions are main beneficiaries due to cheaper prices from publishers. Critically thinking, the system mind not end soon not unless strict laws and regulations are in place to curb such practices. Additionally churches prefer to use projectors as for of technology to conduct hymnals or chorus books and biblical verses hence customers loose interests of purchasing the materials at bookstore and not forgetting that the institution have their on-site bookstore (Bresnahan 2012) Opportunities The SWOT analysis the opportunities for your business are available in variety of ways. Your bookstore needs to strategize on how to embrace and implement technology through its services. The benefits are bulky sales, efficiency, effectiveness and easy to manage. Continue creating atmospheric and conducive environment for those preferring reading of books using the hardcopies against purchase through internet. Your bookstore should continue fostering to clients through more loyalty programs who has made it a reason for your store to be open. As such, your store will be purposefully to reasons why newer customers start visiting it. RECOMMEDATIONS I recommend that your business should change from the manual system process by embracing the new technology management. Through technological system your business will make enough sells since the system assist in efficient and effective e-commerce services like providing efficient support to customers, working on customer’s feedback, ensuring timeless of data available to customers especially for online ordering, monitoring and evaluating merchandise from vendors before displayed to customers to ensure the products are appealing and customer-friendly (Research Studies by Ricoh 2013) Computerizing your business is also an added advantage to increase quick sales since the system advocates for having right products at the shelves at the right time, making better decisions hence increasing the bookstore sales to profitability (Leonard 2012). Technology enables the creation of Ads to look attractive to customers. The Ads spread quickly and can target different segments in wider geographic locations. As such, the attractive and well suited attracts more customers hence purchase sells will be expected to rise within limited time. Continual strategies of creating Ads will always boost the bookstore sells. List of References Aruba White Paper. (2013) Technology Arises in Bookstore Retails. Bresnahan, F. (2012) Valuation of bookstore products and goods under unregulated Competition from publishers. The Economicsof New Goods Leonard, G. (2012) The competitive dimensions of Computerization strategies. Research studies on New York Times Lindquist, J. (2012) There is Still Purposeful Reasons to Have Christian Bookstore in Australia. Mendelson, M. (2012) Amazon network. The machine towards business profitability. Readers Feast Bookstore. (2014) snow flake studio creative Research Studies by Ricoh. (2013) The Evolution of the Book industry through IT strategies. Schufreider, B. (2013) MPS Technologies. Bookstore Discoveries. Theosophical Society Bookshop. (2013) The Theosophical Society Bookshop News. Read More