Week 6 Assignment: Checkpoint 2

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Running Head: REPORT ON HOW TO IMPROVE DISTRIBUTION OF OUR PRODUCTS

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REPORT ON HOW TO IMPROVE DISTRIBUTION OF OUR PRODUCTS

Report on how to improve the distribution of our products

Britnie Greene

MHA/598
Dr.Sloan
April 24, 2021

Report on how to improve the distribution of our products

Summary

This report covers a Gemba walk which a made to our various customer points concerning the issue of how we as a company will be able to improve the distribution of our products. I work as an assistant sales manager part time for Kings Company that deals with all types of electronic products. For some months back, our department has experienced low sales on our products, this is not usual because we are used to selling more and we are the leading electronic company in our area. This issue on lower sales attracted the attention of my boss, the sales manager, and asked me to carry a Gemba walk to determine the possible solutions on how we can be able to improve the distribution of our products. This report contains the introduction, the observations of the walk, and the preliminary analysis of my observation, the takeaway points, evaluation, ideas, conclusion, and recommendations.

Introduction

Many companies desires to have a good product distribution to their customers, this not only benefits the company to increase their profit margin but also to create a great customer experience and the awareness of their product to the potential customers. Poor product distribution is a major issue affecting many operating companies. (Heibati, et al. 2018) Poor product distribution can be a result of a lack of commitment from the sales department of the organization. Having a sales department or a team that doesn’t know which distribution strategies to employ to improve the distribution of the organization products. Can cause a major problem in the distribution of the various products of the organization to their customers. Hence leading to poor distribution of company products that result in loss to the company because the company will not be able to generate profit. Also, it will create a bad customer experience because the customers will feel that they are not valued by the organization.

Observation of my Gemba walk

On my Gemba walk, I was able to visit various areas that are under our target distribution strategy. What I observed from these areas is the customer choice of our products, I observed that there was stiff competition from our competitors in terms of product choice. The customers can choose or buy our competitor’s product because of the unit value of the product. I observed that our products were costly compared to the products of our competitors. (Wahyuni, et al. 2017) Our competitors can cut the costs on their products that make them sell more while our products remain stagnated.
I also observed that many customers in the area I conducted my Gemba walk, had little information about our products. Many of the customers didn’t know about our products, and the less who knew when asked they said our products were too expensive.

Goals of my Gemba walk

The goals of my Gemba were on how to improve the distribution of our products and also to be able to know how our customers feel about our product. Also to be able to determine the needs and wants of our customers.

Preliminary analysis of my observation

Through my observation through our targeted areas for our product distribution plan. I was able to identify some of the opportunities. The opportunities I identified are, we can be able to increase our distribution percentage from 50% to 80% because of the increase of the customers. I was able to observe the opportunity of increasing our sales if we can create good product awareness to the existing customers and also the potential customers. Another opportunity that I observed was we can open a branch at the center of our target areas of distribution to bring our products closer to our customers.
For us to reduce inefficiencies of our product distribution, we should have a means of distributing our products to our customers. For example, the opening of the stores nearby our customers or providing deliveries any time a customer purchases our products in bulky. We can also reduce the wastes by coming up with a correct strategy that will enable smooth distribution. In terms of improving our product, we can improve in the quality of our products and also set prices that cannot exploit our customers. In streamline process as a company, we should employ modernized techniques, technology and other possible approaches to the distribution of our products. This can be the use of trackers so that the customers can be able to monitor the delivery of their requested products.

The takeaway points

Through my Gemba walk, I talked with our regular customers, potential customers, and the community where I conducted my Gemba walks. The individuals with who I interacted were our customers, the potential customers, and the community. Their responsibility is to use our products and also to sell our products on our behalf. (Al-Sa’di, et al. 2017) What I learned from our customers, potential customers and the community is they require our products, they are unable to get our products because of our poor distribution. All they said is that we should open even one branch at the midpoint of our distribution plan that will enable them to be able to get our products easily without any inconveniences

Evaluation

Customer interview sheet

Date: 12-03-2021
Please fill the questionnaire, if you spend time to complete all the items you give us the background information necessary to determine how we can improve the distribution of our products.

Personal details

Name: John White

e-mail: [email protected]

occupation: seller

state: Chicago

ways on how we can improve the distribution of our products

way 1: pick the right channel of distribution

way 2: lower the price of your products

way 3: employ technology in your product distribution such as putting trackers on your delivery trucks

Ideas of the project

The short term ideas on how to improve product distribution in our company, we should make the distribution of products to be our main priority. This is through putting all our resources to enable the distribution channel of our products to move efficiently. Also, we should develop measures and track the performance. The long-term idea is, we should open various stores at our various customer points to enable them or be able to purchase and access our products. My employer is responding well to this project because this is an opportunity to identify the various strategies that we should implement to improve the distribution of our products to our customers that will result in our company operating on profits.

Conclusion

In conclusion, improving product distribution in the company has benefits for both the company and the customers. The company will be able to increase its sales which will lead to them making profits. On the customer’s side, the customers will be happy with the company because the company will be able to provide goods and services that satisfy their needs and wants.

Recommendations

For our company to improve on our distribution of products we should employ the following recommendations. (Wu, et al. 2020) By choosing the channel intermediaries, we can increase the efficiency of our distribution channel by maximizing the benefit of the channel intermediaries we have. We need to choose the intermediaries that align with our business models and goals.
Create a supply chain, the supply chain represents the process of taking raw materials and transforming them into a finished good. Through this, we will be able to improve the distribution of our products that will be able to ensure that there will be consistency between manufacturing and selling.

Reference:
Heibati, B., Shokrzadeh, M., Yetilmezsoy, K., Fingas, M., & Mohammadyan, M. (2018). EVALUATION OF OCCUPATIONAL BTEX EXPOSURE TO OIL PRODUCTS FOR OIL COMPANY DISTRIBUTION WORKERS IN IRAN.
Wahyuni, S., & Ginting, M. (2017). The impact of product quality, price, and distribution on purchasing decisions on the Astra motor products in Jakarta. Arthatama, 1(1), 18-26.
Al-Sa’di, A. F., Abdallah, A. B., & Dahiyat, S. E. (2017). The mediating role of product and process innovations on the relationship between knowledge management and operational performance in manufacturing companies in Jordan.  Process Management Journal.
Wu, B., & Ye, Y. (2020). BSPR: Basket-sensitive personalized ranking for product recommendation. Information Sciences, 541, 185-206.