Bob's Supermarket Case Study

Bobs Supermarket is now faced with the emergence of ‘Big Box Retailers” that will challenge this food retailer who is based in Indiana. After purchasing the fledgling supermarkets in 1988 the two owners who were brothers basically reinvigorated the operation. To do this they focused on updating the stores appearance as well as operational issues that resulted in “putting in a great deal of time and attention the bothers were able to increase store sales by 40% in the first year and triple its profits” (Parnell, 2014, p. 395). With profits realized in this magnitude one would think that Bob’s would quickly be on track to gain additional profits over a long period of time. Despite Bob’s foothold on the local market, Walmart in 1995 arrived in the area with their new supercenters and has emerged as a formidable challenge and seems to be drawing on their local sales. …show more content…
In spite of trying to open a total of three stores Bob’s was failing at their expansion efforts. Notwithstanding, these simple improvements to upgrade their appearance with exterior renovations and some “RTE” ready to eat offerings Bob’s has simply been stumbling. Additionally, Bob’s has added a POS system to gain real time accountability of their inventory but to no avail Bob’s seems to be floundering with losses. Their two original stores were in the small towns of Hanover and Jefferson county Indiana where the surrounding area is both rural and a small town environment. The net effect originally on the Walmart invasion has resulted in a 20% loss for their Hanover store as well as a 30% loss for their Hope store (Parnell,