Bateleys continued to enjoy its monopoly status until 1999 when Mr Duncan Steward purchased the shop for an amount in the region of £500,000. Since Mr Stewards take-over he has affected various changes in the business and I will investigate these in detail.
Recent/Planned Changes - Since his takeover in 1999 Mr Steward has made a number of significant business changes that have radically altered the way the business works -
Post Office Buyout
When Mr Steward bought the shop the post office which was a part of the shop was not wholly owned by the business. One of the first decisions Mr Steward made was to buy out the Post office and become his own post master. This was very important as it meant that Mr Steward could completely control all aspects of the shop without outside influence from other parties. Indeed in Early 2000 the Post Office in the shop was bought out by Mr Steward and he became Head Post Master.
Delivery Service
When Mr Steward first bought the shop he found that a lot of the old age pensioners who came to rely on the shop for all of their groceries and PO business had found it hard to get to the shop in all weathers. Mr Steward has introduced a system whereby if someone wants their goods delivered to their house, (which must be situated in riseley for the goods to be delivered,) Mr Steward has a small amount of teenage employees who will be called upon to deliver the goods to people who have trouble getting to the shop. As well as groceries the deliveries also extend to things such as pension books. Mr Steward did this to both help the older population of the village and also to improve the Public Image of the business, which had become tarnished due to the high prices of the previous owner due to his monopoly status.
Customer Relations
One of the main things that Mr Steward is incredibly focused on is his customer relations. He refuses to allow people to be employed if he feels that they do not have the personal skills to be able to converse with the customer. He does this because he believes that even if the customer buys nothing when they walk into the shop as long as they left smiling then he is happy because he knows that that customer will not hesitate to come back.
Causes of these changes - a lot of these changes were necessary to allow the business to regain a lot of lost business through the poor management of the previous owner who had poor relations with his customers and exploited his monopoly position a lot. Without these changes Mr Steward believed that it would be very simple for a competitor to set up in the village and steal a large chunk of his customers.
Effects of these changes - The changes that have been implemented have had a lot of effects on the stakeholders of the business. Because of the changes that have occurred, business has dramatically increased throughout all areas of the business and, although prices have been lowered to keep the business competitive, profits are up. The only stakeholder however is Mr Steward, who is in an enviable position as he does not have to listen to outside influence such as shareholders or the bank.
Also because Mr Steward has a strong interest in the welfare of his customers his customer relations have improved massively and the shop is now a major focal point to the village.
Conclusion
