Channel Institution: Retailing Activity

Analyze the Sunrise Store in terms of the following:

1. Type of retailing
2. Form of ownership
3. Operational structure
4. Service and price orientation
5. Merchandise offering
6. Where the sale takes place
7. Who are its target customers?
8. What benefits it provides to its customer. Name only five (5)

Sunrise Stores Sunrise Stores (SS) is a well-known retail store in a major tier-two city located in a prominent residential area. Sunrise has been operating in the same location for over 36 years. It is presently owned and managed by Gopal, who inherited the store from his father. Over the years, Sunrise has grown manifold thanks to many of their regular customers. Two supermarkets have sprung 3 km away but they couldn't sway Sunrise's customers. Sunrise deals in all house-hold goods, groceries, food grains, frozen foods, etc, but not fruits and vegetables. Some of the factors which customers like about Sunrise are: . Availability of choice of products/brands/pack-sizes. If a particular product is asked for regularly, but is not available in Sunrise, Gopal will make the efforts to get it for customers. Fair prices, assured good quality Personalized touch-in spite of having three employees, Gopal likes to attend to customers himself also Credit facilities and home deliveries to select regular customers Correct implementation of any company promotions on brands Goods can be returned if customers are not happy with the quality. Gopal estimates that his store has over 6000 SKUs and about 300 regular customers. He normally sells on cash but in the last one year, Sunrise has started accepting credit/debit card payments. All the financial accounts of the store are maintained manually by Gopal himself; he is proud of his ability to keep correct updated accounts and he pays all taxes promptly. Many of his vendors have appreciated his efforts on book keeping. However, Gopal is not willing to share any of Sunrise Stores financial information with anyone. A month ago, Gopal had a visit from Patrick, a software engineer from a company called Retail Mantra which provides IT enabled solutions for small enterprises including independent retailers. After learning about the operations of Sunrise, Patrick said that Retail Mantra can help Sunrise streamline its business by offering the following IT solutions: . A cash register based system for billing, accounts receivable and sales A POS system for stock management and control and financial book keeping . A customized POS solution for automation of purchases and payments. The meeting was a preliminary one. Even costs and benefits were not discussed. Patrick promised to come back in 10 days with some live examples on how these systems have helped retailers like Sunrise. Gopal is in a dilemma whether he should opt for such a simple system to IT enable most of his routine operations that would give him enough free time for enhancing sales and customer service