MKT444 Project Document #1

Scenario

Worldwide Foods, with locations in four Texas cities, is a retailer of hard-to-find ethnic foods from around the world. With a growing clientele in their own retail markets, as well as a booming mail order business, Worldwide Foods has decided that it is time to use a multichannel retailing approach. In addition to maintaining four brick-and-mortar stores, they have decided to have an online presence at www.worldwidefoods.com, and also use a holiday catalog to showcase featured festive foods.

Your project includes the following:

  • written document detailing plans for all aspects of the multichannel strategy.
  • store strategy (merchandising, atmosphere, etc.)
  • website strategy (how it will function, what you will sell, basic look and feel, etc.)
  • a catalog

Management has determined that they would like to launch a website within three months, and put 100 different products onto the site as a test to gauge consumer sales and acceptance of the medium. Items offered on the site will be limited to shelf-stable goods, meaning that no immediately perishable items like fresh fruits or vegetables will be available.

It has been decided that Worldwide Foods would like to include the following features (at minimum) on their site:

  • A basic home page, perhaps with photo of a selection of ethnic foods
  • A store locator page with addresses and maps to the four locations (addresses to be supplied later)
  • A page with recipes of selected ethnic dishes
  • A page with ordering capabilities for the 100 +/- items, including some photos of selected items
  • A page with some featured products and related information (e.g., "Products of the Week")
  • A "Contact Us" page
Of course, you are not limited to just this. You can feel free to add as much additional information as you would like. The goal is to enhance the customer's experience at your site, and (hopefully) induce him/her to buy.

Your role is that of an internal marketing department that will develop the various elements of the multichannel strategy needed for Worldwide Foods. Your audience is top-level management. You may also wish to visit some retailers of ethnic foods to find out a little more about this line of business.

In the mean time, you should start looking at commercial e-commerce sites to learn how they are organized and structured. One of the key aspects of yor project will be the navigation of the site, which is a function of how it is structured.

You must also develop a prototype of a catalog that will be sent to Worldwide Foods' mailing list, as well as a written strategy document that demonstrates your strategy reecommendations for their stores, catalog, and website.

The catalog should feature selected items, have photographs, product descriptions, etc., and some mechanism for ordering. Ideally it should tie all aspects of the business together. In other words, it will list the physical stores and website, but also provide a phone-in ordering option.

The written paper should address all issues of retail management and operations, including (but not limited to):

  1. each of the 4Ps
  2. hiring and compensation
  3. store atmosphere and decor
  4. merchandising decisions
  5. a merchandise budget
  6. customer relation management

 

Back to Project Page

Back to DrGerlich.com