Today Sainsbury’s have 4 main competitors in the supermarket business, those being Asda, Tesco, Safeway and Morrissons. In retail banking the main competition comes from Tesco financial services, M&S financial services, the traditional high street banks, Egg, Capital 1 and Halifax.
What does Sainsbury offer its customers?
Sainsbury is a UK leading food retailer offering 34 000 products, 50% being Sainsbury’s own brand, including fresh produce. As well as a wide range of quality food and grocery products, many of the store across the country offer bread baked on the premises, a delicatessen, meat and fresh fish counters, pharmacies, coffee shops, restaurants and petrol stations.
Sainsbury’s supermarkets, not only have interests in food retailing but in a much wider range of services, including property, banking, Bell’s and Jackson’s stores.
Business Aims, objectives and mission statements
What is an ‘AIM?’
An AIM expresses in general terms what the business sets out to do in the long term.
What are ‘Business objectives’?
AN OBJECTIVE IS A GOAL THE BUSINESS WISHES TO ACHIEVE.
What is a ‘mission statement’?
A MISSION STATEMENT IS A WRITTEN DOCUMENT SETTING OUT THE ORGANISATIONS PURPOSE.
Business objectives are medium to long term targets that can give sense of direction to a manager, department or whole organisation. When a team is given this sense of direction it becomes much easier for the business to coordinate actions and create team spirit and moral.
A business may have many different objectives to achieve their overall business mission. These objectives would include;
- Profit making
- Increasing sale
- Beating competitors
- Expanding the business
- Proving good customer service
- Ensuring the highest quality products are provided
- The lowest prices
Business objectives many be long term or short term objectives.
An example of a long term objective;
‘To improve customer service and quality of goods’
An example of a short term objective;
‘To reduce the number of customer complaints by 5%’
The aims express the long term intention of the business to develop in a certain way. The purpose of having them is to create a common vision which everyone in the business can work towards achieving.
(Business for you, Davis Needham and Robert Dranfield, in 1996)
To be effective, objectives should be SMART. SMART is an acronym for:
SPECIFIC- The objective should be clear and precise.
MEASURABLE- The objective should include a quantifiable element.
ATTAINABLE-The objective must be achievable.
REALISTIC- Is the objective achievable?
TIME CONSTAINED- The objective is achieved within a set time period or deadline.
A mission statement is a written document setting out the organisation’s purpose. A good mission statement should :
- Be well written, simple and direct
- Identify the values and culture of the organisation
- Define its purpose
- Identify its target customers
- Identify the scope of its activities, e.g local or ‘world class’
- Set out its standard and qualities that distinguish it from its competitors
While it can be a major driving force, many mission statements tend to be too vague and bland.
Sainsbury’s mission statement
“OUR MISSION IS TO BE THE CONSUMER’S FIRST CHOICE FOR FOOD, DELIVERING PRODUCTS OF OUTSTANDING QUALITYAND GREAT SERVICE AT A COMPETITIVE COST THROUGH WORKING FASTER AND SIMPLER TOGETHER”
Sainsbury’s strategy
“WE ARE FOCUSED ON OUR UK BUSINESS. WE MST BUILD ON THE RECENT INVESTMENTS MADE TO RECLAIM THE MARKET POSITION THAT BELONGS TO SAINSBURY’S; GREAT QUALITY FOOD AT GOOD VALUE PRICES IS WHER THE COMPANY STARTED. IT IS AT THE HEART OF WHAT SAINSBURY’S STANDS FOR AND IS WHAT OUR CUSTOMERS STILL WANT US TO PROVIDE”
Sainsbury’s business objectives
In order to deliver our mission and restore profitable growth Sainsbury’s are focusing on three core, interrelated areas:
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Outstanding quality and choice
We are committed to providing our customers with quality and choice in both food and non-food areas. We are constantly looking at ways to innovate and improve own brand products so that we can provide our customers with food, beauty products, homewares, general merchandise, banking and customer services. All of which make the weekly shop more convenient.
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Delivering great service
Our number one job is to serve our customers well. This means we must look to provide a consistent level of good customer service across all our activities whether this is customer contact, product availability, food quality or banking services.
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Competitive costs
We have recently completed our modernisation programme and are working to ensure we get maximum benefit from these investments.
