Assume you are the consultant for Gambill Jewelrs, and aim to provide strategies

Question

Assume you are the consultant for Gambill Jewelrs, and aim to provide strategies/ suggestions on helping the store deal with its problems and meeting its needs.

Following are the basic information of Gambill Jewelrs:

1. This relatively small jewelry store is owned by David Gambill and is located on Southwest Drive in a strip mall.

2. David began as a jewelry apprentice with a major upscale jewelry store in Jonesboro when he was in high school and then full-time after graduating from high school. David learned not only the retail side of the business, but also jewelry repair and custom design. He worked in this capacity for approximately 21 years, and then decided to open his own business. He started Gambill Jewelry in 1999, so he has been in business for about 19 years, first on Nettleton Avenue, and since 2005 in his current location on Southwest Drive.

3. When he first started business he did only jewelry repair as he had become very good at it. As more and more people came to him, they began asking for new jewelry so he started stocking, or custom ordering items for them and finally decided to go into the retail and custom design business.

4. Today Gambill Jewelry does it all, except watch repair, and they send these off to get repaired.

5. David leases the building he is in, and says his landlord has not increased his lease in the 14 years he has been there. He first signed a 5-year lease, but since that one expired there has not been another lease, the landlord saying she is more interested in keeping him there than trying to raise his lease and possibly losing him, then having to find another tenant.

6. The showroom is rather small, I did not get the exact square footage, and the inventory of off the shelf items is rather small compared to some other jewelry stores.

7. It seems that David does a significant business in custom design, especially wedding ring sets, and he says he is the only jeweler in NE Arkansas who has the technology to do everything in the store. Other jewelers can provide custom design, but they have to send it to another place to do so. This in-house capability results in a solid customer base, so much so, that David says the only complaint he has received from customers is it may take too long to get their rings as he gets backed up with orders.

8. There are only 3 full-time people in the store, David, an jewelry repairmen who can also serve as a salesperson and one full-time salesperson, who is actually retiring. David is looking to hire someone to replace her.

   9. David says he hires seasonal part-time people, especially during Christmas, but it is difficult to judge when he needs them at other times. At times the store is so busy that people are waiting to be waited on, and at other times there may not be any customers in the store for several hours.

10. David advertises on KAIT-8, the local TV station, and in the Jonesboro Sun, but he says TV seems to produce the best results. He recently put up a digital sign in front of the store which seems to have worked well in attracting attention. Southwest Drive is a very busy street, and the store is very non-descript, and it blends in with the other establishments in the strip center. This makes it difficult for passersby to notice the store, and this is where the sign helps.

   11. David is making good use of Facebook and some Instagram. He said he does not have time to keep up with it, and his website crashed and he has not gotten it fixed. He has used billboards, but these seem not to be too effective.

   12. David's clientelle run from teens to the elderly, in the mid-income range, which puts him in competition with chain stores in the Mall at Turtle Creek and a few other small independents in the area. When it comes to upscale, higher priced jelwelry, this market is dominated by Cissy's Log Cabin and Pagan's, so these are not his direct competitors.

   13. All jewelry repair is done in-house by Kevin, who actually had worked at the store where David worked. Kevin has 25 years experience in jewelry repair, and he has been with Gambill's for 10 years for a total of 35 years repairing jewelry. He is good at what he does and this attracts a considerable amount of jewelry repair business.

14. David wants to increase his customer base and increase market share.

A. What opportunities does the store has? list at least 4 opportunities wirh following 4 parts:

1. Description:

2.How accomplished:

3. Resources needed:

4.Justification for pursuing this opportunity

B. Write 4 objectives which will help the organization fulfill its mission ( gain more market share and customer base).

Objectives should be aimed at exploiting opportunities. For each objective must have following 2 parts:

1. Statement of objective:

2. Strategies to achieve the objective:

Explanation / Answer

Opportunities

1. Open more branches in the city. It will work on a hub and spoke model. Functions the add value, including repairing can be done at a central location ( maybe the place where it operates now), whereas the other outlets will be dedicated to retail sales only. He will need a salesperson and an assistant at each of these locations to take care of retail operations and logistics. By doing so, he will be able to reach out to more number of customers in the region as well as increase his visibility in the marketplace.

2. Go online. He can start selling jewellary online to the new age customers who look forward to internet for buying innovative products. For this, he needs an IT infrastructure, a website initially, that displays various products and services offered by the company, making it possible for the customers to order the products online and ask for a repair quote. For this, he will need an IT expert whose services might be hired on need basis. He will also need service executives ( initially 2 will do) who pick and deliver the item at the customer's place. The online presence is must for any progressive company to be visible and accessible to the customers in this age of internet where everyone wants to save on time and money.

3. Expand out. This strategy involves opening stores at different cities, starting from adjoining states. David should do a market research and identify the most lucrative opportunities nearby and start with them in the first round of expansion. He will need a salesman and an assistant for each of these stores. Again, the repairing and value adding workshop should be only one ( at the exiting location), where items can be delivered through an express courier and returned after value addition. For this, the company have to tie up with a fast and reliable courier company. The rationale for this is the coverage of market in nearby areas where jewellary repairing and value adding facility may be far and few, besides expanding on the retail business.

4.Tie up with huge retail stores, souks and jewellary chains. This will first include repair work that many souks will be willing to outsource to industry experts. Later the manufacturing works can also be taken up. It will not only give the company a rich exposure, it will create huge business opportunities locally and overseas. For this, the company will need a fleet of salesmen who will bring business from these units. The numbers will depend on the geographical coverage.

B.

1. Company will strive to deliver excellent quality of sevice to the customers. This will be achieved by continuous improvement of the systems and procedures, training, and up skilling of employees and minimising the incidents of service deficiency.

2. Comapny's operations will be customer focused. It will be achieved by nurturing a culture of service and ensuring customer satisfaction at all costs. The means of achieving this will be a service policy that covers every customer related aspect.

3. Observing highest degree of ethics. This will be achieved by formulating an elaborate policy of ethics that will include points of possible violation of ethics and the ways to curb them through monitoring, checks and balances, audits and other preventive procedures.

4. Honest practices. Company will observe highest degree of honesty and commitment towards the customers, shareholders, government authorities,, legal system and everyone else who is affected by its actions. This will be accomplished by bringing transparencies in the processes, reporting procedures and points of monitoring and checks to detect and address any violation in nascent stages.

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