The thesis "Supply Chain Management in Furniture Retail Industry" tries to determine the current status of an integrated supply chain management in the furniture industry. The importance of the supply chain in the modern economy is discussed as well as the difficult economical conditions for furniture dealers, with consumers spending more on cellphones, the national lottery and transport. The importance of the supply chain as a vehicle to optimize shareholder funds is stressed. The literature study sets out to prove that as a result of the new paradigm that exists within the organisational system, that the supply chain system needs new ideas, thought process and structures to ensure that the full potential is realised. In order to maximise returns from the supply chain business process, re-engineering and design will have to take place. Organisations must be willing and able to radically re- think and re-design the existing process. A paradigm shift is absolutely essential to obtain the maximum returns for the organisation. Certain pre-designed supply chain models are discussed and advantages and disadvantages are analysed. The models are the, the Growth Model, the Supply Chain Management Systems Framework, the Semantic Model for Internet Supply Chain Collaboration and the Supply Chain Operations Model. The models differ in their approaches and is an effort to expose the reader to current best practises in integrated supply chain management. Thirdly, key factors for supply chain success are discussed. Research has shown that if organisations fail to meet certain basic requirements, any attempts at influencing or improving the process are doomed. Internal excellence is a basic requirement followed by external integration and excellence. Two other important issues are supplier relationships, and the critical importance of information technology in assisting organisations to obtain supremacy. The literature study ends with the discussion of a financial model for measuring the success of supply chain interventions. The final word in any change process is financial. If Economic Value is not added, then the process can be seen as a failure. Chapter Three discusses the methodology that was followed in conducting the research. Chapter four analysis the findings and make certain recommendations for the furniture industry in South Africa that will assist in improving supply chain management. / Thesis (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Graduate School of Management / unrestricted

This research investigated the service offering in appliance sales departments of prominent retail stores in an emerging economy to ultimately indicate whether stores‟ customer service, i.e. their presentation of the marketing mix is conducive for informed, responsible buying decisions. The study was prompted by significant changes in the profile of South African consumers since 1994 when a new socio-political dispensation was introduced. A sharp increase in the middle-income group since has resulted in an increased demand for housing, electricity and consequently also major household appliances. Retail responded more than willingly. Unfortunately the consequences of limited product related consumer socialization for millions of previously disadvantaged consumers and subsequent lack of structural and transactional knowledge in terms of their ability to cope in the market place was given little attention. The research involved four phases of data collection and the participation of five prominent department stores in Tshwane, RSA that was arranged through liaison with industry. Phase 1 involved an in store survey: store managers assessed the customer service in the stores in the presence of the researcher, according to indicators that were based on the marketing mix. In phase 2, respondents (n=296) were recruited in the stores immediately after closure of a sales deal: questionnaires were completed on the spot. It involved (1) an investigation of their satisfaction with the customer service; (2) an investigation of their perception of the service quality through a SERVQUAL scale and (3) a product knowledge test that pertained to the functional and performance attributes of the appliances that they purchased. During phase 3, experienced salespeople (n=18) were involved in a projective technique that expected of them to act as the managers of their respective stores and to propose recommendations to augment their stores’ service offering to be more conducive for informed, responsible buying decisions. Finally, in phase 4, representatives from industry explained their potential contribution to augment customer service in retail stores. Findings revealed shortcomings in the customer service in retail that should be addressed to enhance informed, responsible buying decisions. In phase 1, store managers candidly admitted that in general, price was attended to more attentively than elements such as processes that could enhance informed buying decisions. In the customer survey, exploratory factor analysis revealed a collapse of the original customer service scale from six elements to three, which suggests a more integrated judgement of customer service in the context of this research. Emphasis on price and product was diminished and directed towards value for money and personnel orientations. Similarly the five dimensional SERVQUAL scale was reduced to two dimensions (Supportiveness and Impressiveness). The product knowledge test was used to indicate whether consumers’ judgement of the service offering was supported by evidence of informed, buying decisions. Consumers’ scores contradicted their apparent satisfaction with customer service and their positive perception of service quality. Sales personnel unequivocally accentuated their potential to augment customer service but revealed conditions that limit optimal performance. Representatives of industry acknowledged areas of concern and recommended concerted effort by retailers due to their direct interaction with consumers as well as personnel. The findings of this study provide invaluable evidence that consumers “not necessarily know what they do not know”. Shortcomings in the customer service in retail are revealed and guidelines are provided to augment the service offering to the benefit of the parties involved. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Consumer Science / unrestricted

The focus of this study is the provision of refreshment, retail and supporting facilities at Gautrain stations. This forms part of an overarching strategy called for the deployment of refreshment, retail and supporting facilities at stations. For the purposes of this thesis, the concept of refreshment focuses on the aspects of bodily / physiological and mental refreshment, whether this be through sale of beverages and snacks or distribution and availability of information, news and mental stimulation through design. The strategy is explored in more detail through the design of a multifunctional kiosk for medium term deployment at any of the Gautrain stations. The Hatfield Gautrain station building interior forms the backdrop of an the in depth design and technical development of the intervention. Important factors in this scheme is the identifying of the most popular refreshment and ancillary facilities at other similar train stations as well as the integration of such facilities into the existing Gautrain system identity. The design approach is formulated on the three levels of scale and revolves around the creation of places and the railway station as public meeting place; tectonic expression and various factors relating to cost and sustainability. The aim is to contribute to the understanding of user needs in terms of refreshment, retail and ancillary behaviours (e.g. access to info) at transport interchanges. The thesis contributes to the general field of the environment and cultural landscapes as applicable to the discipline of interior architecture. / Dissertation (MInt(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Architecture / unrestricted

This thesis is concerned with making an empirical test of a probabilistic model of intra-urban retail trade interactions. The model, termed a probabilistic model of consumer spatial behaviour, is related to a series of models in social science known as gravimetric models. The particular model considered used store area and distance in time units as its major variables. It also includes an exponential parameter, the value of which must be estimated from empirical data. The major hypothesis on which the model is tested is based on the behaviour of this parameter. The hypothesis states that values of this parameter vary significantly, depending upon the type of shopping trip being considered. The type of shopping trip is determined by the particular type of shopping goods apparently sought by the consumer. The hypothesis is tested by means of empirical data on consumer purchasing patterns gathered in the Vancouver Metropolitan area through the use of an interview survey conducted randomly by census tracts. The data are analyzed in an especially written, iterative computer programme. Statistical tests usually applied to such data are found to be inadequate to the analysis of the results. A special test which is intended to show the sensitivity of the model to the parameter is presented and applied. An independent test of the representativeness of the data is presented. The data are found to be representative, but the model is found to be insensitive to the behaviour of the parameter. Further, measures of variation in observed behaviour explained by the model are generally low. It is concluded that the model in its present form does not apply to Vancouver. The thesis is unable to conclude whether changes are required in the factors of the model or in the relationship specified, though there is evidence which shows that both may require attention. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

The target of this master thesis is to map situation of food traceabilty in European Union and in the Czech Republic, document food traceability systems and its echo testing. International and Word organizations which focus on traceabilty and the system of control cannot be left out of consideration .

First of all I have focused on introducing Vietnam and its economical developmnet. Secondly I have subcrised the level of retail in Vietnam and I have come to the conclusion that Vietnam is an atractive country for the retail investment. Finally I have mention my own experience with shopping in that country.

This thesis discusses the use of innovative technologies in retail companies. The second chapter describes the basic concepts of retail and marketing, which are a key basis for understanding access to innovative technologies. They are presented in the 3rd section including a description of their use in this area. Then in the 4th section is verified using these technologies in retail stores dealing mainly selling food. In the 5th chapter describes the implementation of electronic shelf labels, which is then verified by a verified implementation of Tesco in the 6th chapter.

The aim of this thesis is to use gained knowledge for the valuation of the chosen company. The specific company is Kaufland ČR v.o.s. The result of the financial and strategic analysis is to determine the specifics of the retail market. The basic method for valuation is method DCF entity, the secondary are method of comparable companies and the accounting method.

In this thesis, we study the statistical issues in lost sales inventory systems, focusing on the complexity arising from the stochastic demand. We model the demand by the Zero Inflated Poisson (ZIP) distribution. The maximum likelihood estimator of the ZIP parameters taking censoring into account are derived separately for the newsvendor and the (s, S) inventory systems. We also investigate the effect of the estimation errors on the optimal policies and their costs. We observe from a simulation study that the MLE taking censoring into account performed the best in terms of cost as well as policy among various estimates. We then proceed to develop a Bayesian dynamic updating scheme of the ZIP parameters. It is applied to the newsvendor system. We perform a simulation study to investigate the advantage of the Bayesian updating approach over the traditional MLE approach. We conclude that the Bayesian pproach offers a better learning technique when one lacks of good understanding of the demand pattern in the first few periods. Since inventory policy affects the information acquisition and-the demand distribution updating process, how to determine the optimal inventory policy when the demand distribution is yet to be learned is the focus of the latter part of the thesis. We investigate the effect of demand censoring on the optimal policy in newsvendor inventory models with general parametric demand distribution and unknown parameter values. We provide theoretical proof of the conjecture that it is better off to adopt a higher than the myopic optimal policy in the initial periods when demand is learned in a censoring system. We show that the newsvendor problem with observable lost sales reduces to a sequence of single-period problems while the newsvendor problem with unobservable lost sales requires a dynamic analysis. We explore the economic rationality for this observation and illustrate it with numerical examples. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

The thesis argues that the distribution formats can be significant strategic communication and differentiation tools for luxury brand and that the intangible determinants within the space can provide balancing link between company trying to manage its brand expression and consumers search for the meaningful experiences. The dissertation uses a luxury retail setting, as the highest in distribution hierarchy to analyze these relations. This ensures a level of diversification from mass retail approach. In addition, this brings back to the store as source of value creation and experiences that one should expect from a luxury brand. The aim: To explore conceptually the nature of value creation and how the relationship gets between a retailer and customer translated and communicated by a means of store, also to identify the key determinants for the value creation within the formats while looking at which levels it brings to ability to co - create the experiential value with consumer. Method: The two primary methods used are: in-depth, semi-structured interview with professionals or key informants and field notes in ethnographic context with a sample of 52 international marketing students. The secondary data collection draws upon extensive, relevant and significant academic literature review including books, professional journals, online resources, etc. Findings: The work identified two value drivers: Symbolic Desire and Exclusive Excitement. Excitement and Desire were found to be the main emotions to trigger the consumer within the luxury setting and to translate a product into service or experience of a kind. Second, research identified the two experiential prospects of: Become and Belong. These show all the way the interaction builds and develops to immerse the customers in a branded world and experiences. As a result the thesis suggests two new approaches; Experiential Value Co-Creation and In - Store Typology. Such orientation offers an outline for adjusting the service and mapping the generic groups of luxury consumers. Moreover, in-store experiential typology offers four types of spaces and/or segments within the setting: Expertise, Exclusivize, Aspirational and Popularize.