Reference no: EM133827428
Case Study: The Chocolatier
Imagine that we are the logistics team for a large confectionary retailer that has locations in shopping malls across Canada. You are participating with marketing, sales, and finance managers in the planning and preparation for the upcoming Valentine's Day selling season.
Valentine's Day is enormously important to chocolatiers. In early January, once the stores have finished the busy holiday selling seasons, retail operations set up the store shelves to display Valentine's Day gifts. Boxed chocolates, sometimes in heart-shaped boxes, sometimes in gift baskets wrapped in pretty ribbons, sell furiously during this season.
While the displays of Valentine's Day related products need to be set up in retail stores in the first week of January, actual sales throughout January tend to be low volume. The frenzy does not start until the second week of February, roughly February 7.
Gift-givers are notorious procrastinators-if stores do not have everything they need by the beginning of February, they will miss their sales budgets! Even the best plans are not perfect, so sales in some stores will trend better than expected, and sales in other stores will be worse than forecast. Some items will sell better in some stores than in other storesWhat role would each of the Seven Rs play in helping a logistics manager focus on supporting the chocolatier as it tries to maximize sales and profits during this busy season?
Imagine that we are asked, as the logistics team, to ensure that the first shipments of new 2018 Valentine's Day products are due to arrive in retail stores in Week #52 of the year 2017. Given the lead times shown above, when do you think the marketing plans for the Valentine's Day program should be finalized?
When do you think the marketing planning meetings should begin?
Do you think stores should receive all of their products and requirements at once, or should the shipments and deliveries be staged over a period of time?
Do you think any extra time (slack time) should be built into the project plan.