FREE STRATEGY CASE OF THE DAY:
Constance L. Hays, "Retailers Seeking to Lure Customers With Service," New
York Times, December 1, 2003.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/01/business/01shop.html
[The Times is free (though you have to register without charge) when newly
released. Archived articles are then retrieved for a fee only.]
EXCERPT:
"Try as they might, they don't have the buying power to meet Wal-Mart on
cost and prices," said Kusum Ailawadi, associate professor for business
administration at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. "So one of the
things they can do, along with improving the product assortment, is
improving customer service in the stores."
NEW England grocery stores that quailed at the thought of competing against
Wal-Mart have discovered this for themselves, she added. Hannaford Brothers,
a regional chain in Scarborough, Me., zeroed in on customers a year or two
ago, querying them about what they might like to see in their stores. How
the chain responded may have helped it not only survive, but move ahead.
"You see a very significant expansion of their organic and natural food
sections," Professor Ailawadi said. "They are improving their farm-fresh
produce, doing the kinds of things that Wal-Mart would find harder to
imitate."
FULL ARTICLE IS AT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/01/business/01shop.html
Charles Wankel
wankelc@stjohns.edu
RMED series co-editor:
http://management-education.net
/