Business Methodology and Description
Grocery shopping has become commonplace, as simple and expected as getting gas or needing to feed
yourself and your family members. People want to come in, grab things, and get out and move on with
their day. Our business will aim to serve the nearby residential community and working-class of Orapa
by providing them all they need under a single roof.
1. Business Outline
Although there are grocery stores already established in the town along with the Engen convenience
store, we have several competitive advantages over other competitors;
- The first one is integrating our store with the WhatsApp Business mobile to create an in-app grocery
store and catalog, which can be used to make payments, order the goods for home delivery, or pre-book
the goods. This app is strategically built to facilitate the ever-busy working class of society, thus making
shopping easy as chatting on WhatsApp.
-Our second competitive edge will be the availability of everything, every time. Unlike other stores, we
will make sure that our stock never runs out and everything our customers may need is available to us.
This will be done, by having a re-order point level for each of our stock, so that by the time the current is
nearly depleted, products will be delivered on time and re-stocked.
2. Customers
The company aims to serve the community living in the residential zones of Orapa and the people
working in the commercial and business centers located near us. The community living in our vicinity is
financially established so we hope to have a lot of sales as soon as we are launched. There are also a lot
of working-class people who are extremely tight up with their busy routines and prefer to go to a place
where they can find everything under a single roof. We will provide the perfect place to our busy
customers where they can find a huge number of products as well as services. This diversity of products
and services will be one of our primary competitive advantages over other competitors.
We will provide every basic necessity goods to our customers under a single roof so that they don’t have
to visit various stores in search of their needed goods. Some categories of the products offered by us
include but are not limited to fresh and packed foods, beverages, dairy products, stationery, personal
care, over-the-counter medicine, baby items, pet items, newspapers, magazines, batteries, greeting
cards, etc. We will also provide home delivery services for online purchases to the nearby resident
community. Customers can also pre-book their goods by using WhatsApp.
3. Services for customers
We plan to offer a huge number of products as well as services to our consumers. This diversity of
products and services will be one of our primary competitive advantages over other competitors. We
will provide every basic necessity of life to our customers under a single roof so that they don’t have to
visit various stores in search of their needed goods.
Some categories of the products offered by us include but are not limited to:
Dry and Canned Goods
Our convenience store will carry a range of bread products, including loaves of bread, scones, and
hamburger buns. Limited canned goods, such as soup, common vegetables, canned meat. There will
typically be one or two brands on hand at most.
Dry good items include limited cereals, pasta, mixes, flour, sugar, and beans. Tomato sauce, mustard,
and mayonnaise will also be stocked on convenience store shelves.
Sweets and Snacks
Our store will devote an entire section of the store to a range of candy products, both in single servings
and bulk, serving a range of chips, dried meat snacks, chewing gum, chocolates, and sweet cakes. A
variety of nuts, drinks, and juices will be available as well.
Toiletries
There will be a full range of toiletries such as shampoo, sanitary pads, toothpaste, tissues, diapers (and
much more) making it more appealing for customers with last-minute needs. Drugstore cosmetics such
as lip-gloss and razors are also extremely popular. The combination of cost and convenience will make
them an irresistible deal.
Hot Food
Many hungry customers breezing through the shop who are on a time crunch or taking a break during
lunch, will be looking for something quick and easy to eat. Foods like hot dogs, sandwiches, fat cakes,
fries, sausages, etc.
Additional Items
Tobacco products, airtime, batteries, foam coolers, plastic gas cans, flashlights, candles, are some of the
additional items that may be found in the store because they are products consumers may need in an
emergency or impulsively purchase because they happen to be in the store.
4. Online Services and Deliveries
Our store will be an offline-to-online grocery service, which lets you order online after which the product
is delivered from the available options in our store or a nearby local supermarket. The service will be
limited to only the Orapa location. Customers will be able to order fresh fruits and vegetables, packaged
food, dairy items, household cleaning items, and personal care products, among others.
Customers will need to add the store’s WhatsApp number, following which they get a link from the store
to order through chat. After the customer fills in basic details (like address and name), they will be
directed to the store’s in-app catalog page to view the items available in-store, or they will be directed
to a Google doc to view selected items from local supermarkets that will be available for delivery. After
the client completes shopping, their order is directed to one of the available drivers who fulfills the
order.
WhatsApp will also supplement this model by providing an interface that will allow customers to make
payments via FNB pay2cell, Orange Money, and MyZaka so that payments can be done without being
redirected to a bank's payment gateway. After payment is made, the customer will send a screenshot
in-chat as proof of payment. The key advantage that will make this model a success is not only the large
base of WhatsApp users in Orapa but the time spent on the app daily per user. With the store number
already saved as a contact on people’s time, it will also provide a free marketing opportunity for the
business to self-promote.
