The new business idea is for the business to start door to door delivery of customers’ order. Target customers who may not be having the time to do their shopping

Pressure of work

Live far from grocery stores may find it helpful

How it will be done

Customers make an order by phone or hand delivered orders

Details of the location and house are furnished to customer service staff

This is passed on to the sales staff who do the selection and packaging of products   after which a staff is dispatched to make the delivery of both goods and invoice.

Payments is by cash on delivery or credit cards. Cheques are acceptable from established customers

This will push up sales because:

Save customers time to go shopping

We are the first business to do this in this area

Customers may be willing to pay a premium price for this extra service

Response rates are higher and quicker than other forms of advertisement

Sales personnel can use that opportunity to sell and win more sales through selling to neighbours or referrals from client

Client knows where to find goods that were delivered in his absence.

Challenges

Uncertainty on the part of customers

Cost may go up due to the need to hire more staff

The idea to be introduced is the door to door delivery of customers’ orders. This idea is bound to work given that we will be the first store to offer this service in this locality. Our target market will be those customers who lack the time to go out shopping due to a number of reasons such as the need to spend more time at home with the kids or the nature of their jobs that leaves them with little time to go out shopping besides attending to other personal matters.

Those interested in this service will be required to pay a small fee over the cost of the items ordered. This will go into covering the extra cost that the business may be forced to incur such as transportation. The fee should be reasonable so as not to encourage potential customers.

The customers will first present their orders by either a phone call or hand delivery to the customer service desk. Another information we will require is the details of the house and who will receive the goods or where the goods should be left. This order will be confirmed and passed on to the sales department who will pack the goods and dispatch a staff to do the delivery. Such a staff should wear a branded t-shirt and have a branded bicycle.

Customers may pay when submitting the order or immediately the order is delivered, either by cash or through their credit cards.

This idea is likely to be popular with customers and even lead to more sales because of a number of reasons. First, it is going to save customers the hassles of balancing between travelling to the store and other responsibilities they may be having. Secondly, for an extra service, customers may be willing to pay a premium price, especially if quality goods, in accordance to their expectations are delivered on time.

Response rates are also expected to be higher and quicker than other advertising methods the business has undertaken in the past(Roth, 2008).This is because the sales staff dispatch to do delivery will have the opportunity to further sale our brand to the customers and his neighbours and the general public they meet on the way and who may be interested in what they are doing. The business may also benefit hugely from our satisfied customers recommending our services to their friends and family members.

The only challenge here is that we are going to be the first business to do this and may face many uncertainties. The idea may take longer to be accepted our target customers, and we have to start promotional activities in earnest. The business may also be forced to hire more sales staff to cope with the expected increase in demand further pushing prices up.

Works Cited

Roth J.D.,(2008),How to Handle a Door-to-Door Salesman, Accessed on 26 September, 2013,

From http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/02/17/effective-techniques-for-handling-door-to-door-salesmen/

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