Supply Chain Management For B&M Bargains

Research aim:

The research aims to identify some of the effective and important factors that improves the supply chain management for an organization.

Research objectives:

• To identify the strategies for supply chain management.
• Identify the ways those factors influence supply chain management.

Research questions:

• What are the methods through which supply chain might be improved
• How supply chain must be designed and executed to obtain maximum profit for business

Data collection:

Secondary data will be collected in this research. Data sources include official financial reports, published by B&M bargain.

Supply chain management is the process including detiled planning, control and execution of product flow which includes raw material acquisition, production and distribution of products to the consumer(Christopher 2016). The primary requirement of a supply chain management is to make this process streamlined and cost effectiveness in the process for efficiency and profit (Govindan, Soleimani and Kannan 2015).   In order to ensure success in retail business, it is important to have a proper supply chain management system.

In order to have an extensive supply chain process, it is important to various stores in both local as well as in international market. In ensures delivery of product to the consumers thus maintaining supply demand balance.

• 2015/16 fianncial year has been an outstanding year for B&M. it has invested £38.2m for inaugurating 79 new stores in the UK and an additional 6 new stores in Germany (Bandmretail.com, 2018).
• In 2016/17 finnacial year 50 new stores have been opened in UK and 19 stores in Germany.

As part of its extension program to international market beyond UK, the company has partnered with Jawoll in Germany. Due to the collaborative program, B&M bargain allows Jawoll to have access to the products that is sourced from China. The products include garden furniture, homewares and small electrical appliances (Bandmretail.com, 2018). Jawoll now sources more than 2000 products through B&M supply chain network.

Corporate social responsibility is an essential aspect of the sustainable supply chain process. B&M bargain has well designed CSR program (Bandmretail.com, 2018). As part of the commitment,

• B&M bargain has created total 3,463local jobs in the UK as well as in Germany through expansion programme.
• The company has achieved an impressive record for supply chain waste reduction. This has been possible because of the recycling of trade packing. The recycling rate is 99% for UK and 79% for Germany. This high level of recycling rate has been maintained as reported in 2016, 2017 and 2018 consecutive financial year reports.

1. Enough stock for meeting consumer demand:

One of the most important and effective strategies in retail supply chain is the balance between consumer demand and the stock for product. Without ensuring enough stock for the product, it is not possible to ensure proper consumer service. In fact it is very much required for ensuring effective supply chain management (Jacobs, Chase and Lummus 2014). Due to this, retail industry should evaluate the demand in the market and review whether they are able to create supply demand balance. The best strategy here is to keep the supply demand gap, if any, as low as possible for enhanced productivity and supply chain process.

1. Convenient delivery:

Another important step here is to ensure convenient delivery to the customer. It is also regarded as one of the important performance metrics for the supply chain management. Consumers want to get product delivered as it is more convenient for them. It is also an important part of supply chain management to ensure that the products are getting delivered to the right consumer at the right time. That is why it is important to have a dedicated delivery service and integrate it with the supply chain management. This not only ensures enhanced consumer service but competitive advantage as well as profit as well (McCormack and Johnson 2016). Due to this, it is an important performance metric to assess the supply chain management of any retail organization.  

1. Quality for product:

Corporate Social Responsibility in Supply Chain Management

Quality of product considered to be an essential component of any supply chain evaluation process. Supply chain process has a direct impact product quality and influences the way company ensures profit (Monczka et al. 2015). Therefore quality control in supply chain is a critical aspect to maintain competitive advantage while reducing the operating cost. When quality control is not effective in supply chain, it means product wastage. Hence an effective supply chain should always ensure that not only the supply is effective in meeting the demand, but at the same time there is no compromise in the quality of the product. As a result, quality control is an essential part of an effective supply chain process.  

1. Variety of retail distribution points:

In order to keep up with the product demand it is important to have more than one Variety of store acquisition (Ptak and Schragenheim 2016). It has certain advantages too. It helps to store product in more volume, thus ensuring that the product is never out of stock. It also helps to serve customers with more efficiency as the distribution is managed from various distribution points. Therefore variety in distribution stores also have an impactful effect on the quality and efficiency of supply chain.

1. Healthy relationship with supplier:

In strategic supply chain management, relationship with customer plays an important role. Relationship with suppliers should not only been limited into just buyer and seller relationship. It should be extended beyond deal acquisition and deal finalisation. There should be opportunity for two way communication as this ensures that the relationship with the supplier is an effective one (Schönsleben 2016). There should be proper mechanism for the same which ensures that relationship with the suppliers is not only effective, are scope for continuous improvement with proper performance measurement with support for critical evaluation. Conflict with suppliers is a critical issue in supply chain management. Therefore there should be strategy to resolve the conflicts and improve the relationship with the suppliers. Without proper strategic partnership with the suppliers it is not possible to design efficient supply chain management.  

In order to comapre supply mangement strategy betwenn these two companies, it is important to comapre financial performnace of these two companies.

The financial performance of B&M bargain has been as follows:

Year ending	Revenue (£ million)	Profit
Operating (£ million)	Pre-tax (£ million)	Retained (£ million)
25 March 2017	2,430.7	204.5	182.9	144.0
26 March 2016	2,035.3	174.5	154.5	125.8
28 March 2015	1,646.8	132.9	61.7	39.9
29 March 2014 (65-week period)	1,509.1	123.5	135.4
31 December 2012	935.2	88.1	88.3	66.3
31 December 2011	712.6	52.0	51.7	38.0
31 December 2010	538.3	35.4	35.2	25.3
31 December 2009	426.6	34.0	33.8	24.5

(Sources: “B&M European Value Retail S.A. – Annual Report and Accounts 2017”. bandmretail-ar2017.html.investis.com.   “Preliminary Results 2016” (PDF). B&M. “Annual Report 2015” (PDF). B&M.

 “B&M Retail – Companies House”. Companies House. 26 March 2016. Sengun, Tunc. “B&M’s Financial performance 31/12/2012” (PDF). bandmretail.com.)

Ensuring Quality Control in Supply Chain Process

The financial performance of Poundland has been as follows:

ear ending	Turnover (£m)	Profit
Gross(£m)	Operating(£m)	Pre-tax(£m)	Net(£m)
31 March 2016	1310.5	488.82	56.9	30.3	−12
31 March 2015	1111.5	412.36	59.4	32.8	13.9
31 March 2014	997.8	368.5	54.0	27.3	−4.7
31 March 2013	880.5	323.5	30.1	26.5	23.4
1 April 2012	780.1	287.8	32.0	23.5	17.5
27 March 2011	518.4	190.8	15.7	8.5	5.1
28 March 2010	509.8	192.6	21.5	19.8	13.0
29 March 2009	396.2	150.3	11.8	8.6	4.8
30 March 2008	329.7	123.5	8.0	4.2	1.9
1 April 2007	310.7	112.9	3.6	−0.38	−1.2
2 April 2006	281.2	100.4	1.9	−1.6	−2.1

(Sources: “Poundland Annual Reports and Financial Statement 2016” (PDF). “Poundland Annual Reports and Financial Statement 2015” (PDF). “Annual Report 2014” (PDF). Poundland. “Poundland – Companies House”. Companies House. “Poundland financial statement 2010”. Free Company Accounts. 28 March 2010. “Poundland financial statement 2008”. Free Company Accounts. 30 March 2008. “Poundland financial statement 2006”. Free Company Accounts. 2 April 2006.)

From the table the analysis of the financial performance shows that, B&M bargain has better annual turnover compared to Poundland. Not only that, B&M bargain has better net profit than Poundland. In fact for the financial years 2006, 2007, 2014 and 2016, Poundland had negative net profit means loss of 12, 4.7, -1.2, and 2.1 £m  respectively. It is seen that B&M bargain have always performed better in terms of annual turnover and revenue.

In order to gain competitive advantage, B&M bargain, one of the leading and global leader in the field of product retail and bargain, implements a strong supply chain for the business. Therefore in recent years B&M bargains has made some significant strategic changes in the supply chain management (Hugos 2018). The focus is to increase sales and revenue. Although B&M bargains has enhanced marketing plan, but a marketing plan is only effective if the company has an enhanced supply and distribution chain, followed by improved production capabilities. In order to understand the supply chain management of B&M bargains, it is important to review the business scope of the company.

• To offer best value for money for the product
• To gain completive advantage in the bargain market
• To ensure profit in the business

B&M bargain is one of the leading variety retailers in the United Kingdom with more than 28,000 staff. In order to evaluate the supply chain strategy it is important to review the best practices that are relevant in retail industry.

Around 30% of all B&M bargain products are directly sourced from china. It is done to ensure that there is no compromise with product stock and ensure better customer service. However it has an increased import change that B&M bargain need to spend for the supply chain (Bandmretail.com, 2018). According to the company, even after the high import tax, they are able to make profit as they increase their sales volume. Another thing according to B&M bargain that makes this profit possible is that compared to their direct competitor Poundland, less than 10% of their products are sold for £1. This gives them advantage over Poundland.

In order to ensure that the sourcing is effective, B&M bargain have developed very strict policy at a high level. It limits the range of the SKUS to 5,500 SKUs with a strict “one in one out” policy. It helps to avoid complexity both at the warehouse and store level (Bandmretail.com, 2018)

Customer Delivery and Supply Demand Balance in Retail Industry

It helps company to only focus on products that are most preferred and accounts for highest selling. Sales figures are constantly monitored and suppliers are also assessed so that products that does not have demand are removed from the store.

The sourcing are categorized into grocery and non-grocery products. Grocery products are sourced from UK FMCG firms and third-party distributors. This helps B&M bargain to provide better terms to suppliers than larger grocers like Tesco. B&M bargain provide option to pay in cash for mid-sized order and for larger volume, offers suppliers to get the best prices with impressive payment terms (Bmstores.co.uk, 2018). Due to the popularity of the B&M bargain, in the discount market, it attracts larger FMCG players like P&G and Coca-Cola. It provides B&M bargain to opportunity to ensure impressive SKU sizes at competitive price. It helps B&M bargain to ensure that the product sourcing is at the lowest price possible while ensuring product stock and quality.  Association of B&M bargain with larger FMCG helps in selling cheapest branded products while ensuring profit in larger FMCG products. Hence it is an effective strategy for sourcing that has been ensured by B&M bargain.

The company has separate strategy for sourcing of non-grocery products. B&M bargain has a purchasing and design team comprising of 100 member who are responsible for sourcing non-grocery products. In addition to this team they have employed 35 employees in Hong Kong. While most of the B&M bargain competitors have opted for sourcing through agents, whole sellers and third parties, it is a huge investment compared to that. B&M bargain retains the design right while sourcing the product from the factories of china. As they have direct link to the sourcing it helps theme ensuring that they are purchasing the product in the best price possible.

Another benefit of direct sourcing according to the company is that, they don’t even require to obtain information that which company has exactly produced the product which Walmart insist on. Additionally, decisions and commitments are made without delay and that too in in full container sizes (Bmstores.co.uk, 2018). Compared to competitors, who need to wait for weeks, and in some cases for months as well, before they acquire a quote while placing an order. It implies that having a direct sourcing is an effective strategic decision for B&M bargain to ensure product stock, best quality and budget.  

As the company considers to directly purchase form the factory to ensure quality in supply chain management. It has certain benefits such as:

The Importance of Variety of Store Acquisition in Efficient Supply Chain Process

It is particularly important when company wants to make modification to the product. In order to modify the product the company wants to modify a product, it is important to fast track the schedule of the production (Park 2016). Sometime when companies want to seek answer about quires about product qualities, especially ones which is only possible to answer if someone is at factory on-site. Hence working directly with a factory is an effective strategy for ensuring product quality.

Response time is another essential factor for ensuring quality in product manufacturing. It is equally important for production both in domestic as well as in international setup. The direct factory purchase provides B&M bargain direct access to the designers and engineers. It helps the company to reduce the lead time significantly and that is a huge advantage for the supply chain management.

Purchasing directly from the factories gives B&M bargain an opportunity to work more closely with the suppliers. It helps B&M bargain to ensure all the products not only met the quality but it also has the detailing that the products require. When the purchase is made through the agents and trading companies, most of the times they are not interested in providing detailed attention to each and every product, which is necessary for ensuring product quality (Park 2016). As the agents need to manage several contracts, there is possibilities that the product quality will not be thoroughly checked.

Factory direct purchasing means there is no middleman who accounts for significant cost expenditure in the supply chain process. It helps B&M bargain to ensure that the cost per unit is lower than the average. It also helps to eliminate the overhead cost such as commission that is required when trading companies are involved in the supply chain process.

There is issue as well as with this approach. B&M bargain need to hire own quality control team which means additional cost expenditure. Here B&M bargain need to outsource this process to 3^rd party vendors for quality check and quality assurance. Not only that B&M bargain also need to pay for freight forwarding and logistics support needed for the supply.

In order to ensure product stock, the company has opted for expansion of retail stores so that it is easier for B&M bargain to stock product in bulk and increased volume. In the 2017 financial year the company has expanded its stores in various places across UK. It includes 20 new B&M UK store with 3 relocation. The company has even planned for inauguration of 50 new B&M stores with 7 relocations. B&M strategic partner Jawol has opened 7 new stores in Germany and even has acquired approval for opening of 11 new stores (Bmstores.co.uk, 2018).

Effective Supplier Relationship Management for Supply Chain Strategy

Heron Foods, a discount convenience retailer, has acquired 251 new stores in 2017 financial year. It has provided B&M bargain a complementary brand, format and additional growth opportunity while ensuring profitable business through extensive product stock across various retail and supply chain.

In order to manage the suppliers, B&M bargain have supplier management program. It particularly looks for strategic relationship with suppliers with extensive support provided for product shipment and distribution. The supplier management program also looks for issues with suppliers like products dispute, payment delay so that the strategic relationship with the suppliers are effective which is important for retail supply chain management.

Poundland also consider factory purchasing for their product. It has some similar strategy as that is adopted by B&M bargain for product purchase. The reason being the same, to have better control over product quality and shipment. Majority of the product is purchased from china in direct factory purchase mode.

Compared to direct sourcing of B&M bargain, Poundland is in favor of third party sourcing. According to the company, third party sourcing is often beneficial when sourcing is done with outsourcing. Poundland specifies that the major benefit of outsourcing is cost saving. Compared to direct sourcing outsourcing is more beneficial than the direct sourcing mode where the buyer needs to provide expenses for each and every process like product acquisition, product distribution and product shipment. Along with that companies need to have dedicated quality control team to ensure quality in the products that is acquired through sourcing. Hence outsourcing the process is more effective. It even helps to focus on core competency and provide the required attention in meeting the consumer demand more effectively which offers better flexibility to maintain and manage the supply chain.

According to the director of Poundland, in addition to the benefits that outsourcing offers, there is another reason that the company prefers outsourcing for product acquisition from outside UK. The reason is simple as specified by the company director. As the company sources half of its product locally in UK, they do not want to spend extra in direct sourcing from outside UK. Local sourcing for majority of the product, acquisition as specified by the director provides better control in product acquisition and cost effectiveness. The company prefers outsourcing rather than direct sourcing so that it is possible for them to keep the price low and offers quality products to the customer to ensure better consumer retention.

Like B&M bargain, Poundland also offers its products in reatil only mode. although it has online website but just like B&M bargain, It is only meant for the product browsing, customer can not directly buy from that. In order to purchase the product the customers have to visit the stores in person for purchasing. Both the companies here have similar strategy for distribution of the product. According to the company, the way they conduct their business, the online retailing model will not be an effective for the same. The director of the company also specifies that, with popularity of the business model among the consumer, there is no plan to opt for online retail business model as they do not feel that there is any requirement for strategic modification in the already successful and effective business model.

The Poundland has an efficient strategic policy for stakeholders and suppliers management.in the supply chain management, suppliers are an integral part. Proper strategies for managing the suppliers is an important aspect of effective supply chain process. Poundland arrange yearly and monthly suppliers meeting to identify issues and concerns that the suppliers have so that it easier for the company to assess the supply chain process while developing strategy for improvement. Poundland has an effective dispute resolution board comprising of directors and mangers to resolve queries regarding supply chain management and disputes among suppliers and company if any. About the relation with the suppliers, specified by director of the company that Poundland respects each and every suppliers as they play an important in the retail business, and any dispute between the company and the suppliers is resolved with highest priority.

In retail supply chain management it is important to have an enhanced QA support. QA support is important for quality assurance of the products. In the retail supply chain the products need to be stored in the warehouse, before it is shipped to the retail stores. Due to this, it is important to have quality assessment of the products, when they are stored in the warehouse. It should be noted that without proper QA strategy at place, it is not possible to ensure effective quality assessment (Xploretech.com, 2018). This have been well acknowledged by Poundland as they have designed their QA strategy in such a way that assures enhanced quality for the products. Some important points to note here:

• The most interesting and effective strategy that has been adopted by Poundland is to integrate technology in the QA. They have acquired The Motion F5 by Xplore Rugged Tablet PC for the employees in the warehouse to help them to increase their efficiency in quality checking.
• Traditionally the quality assurance operations are often affected due to installation of the bulky system in the warehouse. This is why the company has opted for the state-of-the-art mobile technology to bring more productivity and portability in the QA process.
• The main concern of Poundland’s QA teams is that the supply chain is efficient enough to keep the gap between demand and new shipments as low as possible (Xploretech.com, 2018). In order to serve this purpose the company has two warehouse and fulfillment hubs. It is the responsibility of the QA team to confirm availability of the stock with proper delivery so that the products are distributed to all Poundland stores throughout the region.
• Previously Poundland made partnership with Xplore for the mobile technology, all the QA process was maintained through inefficient hardware and most of the tasks were manual which not only affected the productivity, but also made the process less efficient (Xploretech.com, 2018). The QA teams were dependent on a on a trolley-based system with which a laptop was carried with other additional accessories like camera, scanner, and mobile battery pack. Equipment was attached to a trolley made of stainless steel which had to be pushed manually.
• Switching to the Xplore mobile technology, it was possible for Poundland to replace all the separate hardware as the mobile PC has all the essential components like integrated camera, digitizer pen and barcode scanner integrated into a single system (Xploretech.com, 2018). Hence there is no need to carry spate hardware in the warehouse.
• Pete Lewis, vice president of international sales, Xplore Technologies mentions that integration of mobile technology in the warehouse activities is a strategic advancement for the retailers as it helps to streamline backend operations with proper acceleration that is needed for warehouse activities, which is often complex in nature yet requires accuracy for productivity in the retail business process.

The strategic partnership with Xplore Technologies has helped Poundland in various aspect such as

The downtime required for the Warehouse workers for completing daily tasks have been reduced significantly, thus ensuring more seamless operations across warehouses.

Motion by Xplore mobile technology only requires a single platform, there is no need of a trolley-based system that previously contained a laptop, camera, scanner, and battery pack.

Motion by Xplore mobile technology offers seamless integration with existing Windows software and it also requires less bulky equipment, thus less expense for hardware purchase. This technology helps Poundland to reduce expenses for warehouse activities. It means that Poundland is able to ensure cost saving in this context.

In order to improve the supply chain management it is recommended that B&M bargain review some of the best strategies as opted by Poundland. It is also recommended that B&M bargain improve its delivery chain in order to gain competitive advantage:

It is relevant from the comparison that integration of technology in the QA process has provided an added advantage for the supply chain management. B&M bargain should consider integration of technology for QA process for increasing productivity, cost effectiveness and enhanced profit in business.

Whether to consider direct sourcing or outsourcing, it depends on the priority of the company. Although direct sourcing has various benefits, it has some limitation too. As Poundland considers outsourcing for acquiring products that are not locally sourced. B&M bargain needs to distribute the sourcing process. Some portion of the sourcing process should be outsourced to achieve the benefits of both the process. Additionally they should increase local sourcing too that is done by Poundland as part of sourcing strategy to ensure maximum cost benefit.

Although the variety of products and aggressive product pricing attracts a lot of consumer to the B&M bargain retail stores, but it still does not have am very impressive delivery chain does making the logistic aspect of the supply chain management less improved. B&M bargain retail stores do delivery furniture and large orders, but having a dedicated delivery chain for every kind of order is an advantage. In reference to that the company justifies the choice with the fact they do not have online retail business, and dedicated delivery chain for every kind of order is not that much necessary and it does not affect the business (Bandmretail.com, 2018). Instead they focus on product quality and price which is the key to their business success.

The primary objective of the supply chain management is to ensure the continuous supply of the materials at 5R that is:

1. The right place

It means that the product has to be delivered at the appropriate delivery point. The product needs to be properly packed and transported so that the products arrive at the delivery point without damage (Schönsleben 2016).

B&M bargain ensures this with direct sourcing of products and factory direct purchase from various supply chain.

1. The right time

It means product need to be stored in the distribution points only when there is a demand (Schönsleben 2016).

B&M bargain ensures this with detailed tracking of product demand. They only fill the stores with products that are high in demand. This ensures that inventory cost is less as warehouse is not filled with product that are not in demand.

1. The right quantity

Product needs to be in adequate quantity so that there is no demand gap (Snyder et al. 2016).

B&M bargain ensures this with larger retail distribution point and effective product sourcing.

1. The right quality

It means that the product that are stored in warehouse and distributed to customer is of highest quality (Snyder et al. 2016).

While B&M bargain opt for direct sourcing and factory direct purchase, they have a lot of scope for improvement. One of the strategies is to integrate the technology into quality assurance process as considered by Poundland.

1. The right price

Providing the best price to the customer is another important aspect of supply chain management.

B&M bargain already have an attractive pricing strategy. Still Direct sourcing increase the product price as additional cost is included in the supply chain when direct sourcing is considered which needs to be improved to ensure that the 5R principle is properly followed.

In order to ensure and build quality into supply chain, it is required to have a proper strategy.

The strategy should include three components:

It is often common to have issues in supply chain, which might be associated with any point. From supply chain to production, there might be issue at any time. Henceearly identification of issues is required which requires close communication with the suppliers (Wisner, Tan and Leong 2014). Some large companies are even considering cloud computing for better efficiency and effectiveness.

As a strategy to integrate value, it is not an effective choice to connect the suppliers with the typical internal-only management process (Wisner, Tan and Leong 2014). There should be standard workflow with quality process which provides suppliers the opportunity to participate in the quality assurance process in a consistent and centralized way. It ensures that whenever a quality issue is identified, suppliers are able to create, track and manage quality related information and provide full collaboration in resolving the product related issue.

Companies should be proactive in reporting on trends, opportunities as well as issues for ensuring that the quality process is being managed properly both in internal as well as with the suppliers external to the company (Schönsleben 2016). This proactive attitude of the company helps in ensuring that the quality of the product is being built and maintained properly.

Conclusion:

From the discussion it is identified that proper management in the process of supply chain is an essential requirement in the retail industry. For ensuring better market position, companies need to have an excellent supply chain which should be managed by an improved and efficient strategy. Therefore, companies have to ensure that proper supply chain management has to be designed and integrated along retail chain. In this context as two companies have been compared and contrasted it is seen that although B&M bargian have a better market presence, the other company is not far behind. Without innovation in the supply chain it is not possible for B&M bargain to reatin top market position.

A detailed analysis have shown that , in terms of supply chain management B&M bargain has some excellent strategies. Strategies like direct factory purchase, store acqusition, direct sourcing, strategic partnership with large FMGC are some important ones. It ensures larger product stock, better product distribution, better quality in product, but there is scope for improvement which should be considered by B&M bargain.

An comapriosn with the Poundland strategy shows that there is scope for improvement for the B&M bargain. some features include application of technology in quality assurance as opted by Poundland, investment in delivery chain as done by Poundland. B&M bargain should integrate these streategies into the supply chain to improive the efficiency in the supply chain process. innovation in supply chain is necessary to retain competitive advantage in the reatil industry. This means that  B&M bargain should look for strategic improvement in the supply chain management.

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