Automated Retailing; a Driver of Profits and Cost Savings

BUAD474

Comp Case pg. 342

Automated Retailing; A Driver of Profits and Cost Savings

1. Any retailer can learn many things from this case study. Convenience is the key driver behind customer satisfaction. A customer wants to go shopping and get what they want in the easiest way possible. Retailers should also consider ways to incorporate automated kiosks into retail offerings. Also, technology can improve efficiency and reduce costs.

2. Looking at Table 1 a few of the main points I noticed were that only 8% of C-stores were offering coin-counting while 100% were finding value. Also, 72% of supermarkets were offering soda machines but only 39% of them were finding value. I don’t understand why you would spend the money to have a vending machine if you are not making very good money off of them and vice versa for the coin machines.

3. Automated retail machines can be best used in human resource management by reducing costs. It is a very black and white way of selling goods and that is helpful for human resources.

4. Automated retail machines can be best used in operations management for many reasons. There is very little maintenance with automated retail machines. It also allows for a store to be able to sell a wider variety of products as well as save space. In table 2, we see that 43% of stores value the maximized retail space.

5. The impact of company size on the use of automated retail machines differs between convenience stores and supermarkets. In table 3, it shows that the percentages for any automated retail increase as the convenience store size increased. For supermarkets the percentages for any automated retail decreased as the store size increased.

6. Based off the data in Table 4, I would select Redbox to be placed in a supermarket. The pros consist of the high brand awareness, guaranteed