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Introduction

Product L & C's extensive stock is constantly changing but they supply a range of new, reconditioned and used garage equipment. They supply new and used Garage Equipment to the whole of the U.K. but are conveniently located in the North West of England to serve surrounding areas. They use a well-known distributor called Sealey, who give a wide choice of equipment with fast delivery.*** Product Life Cycle I believe that this product at the moment is in the growth stage of the product life cycle, as the manager stated in the interview that he has recently had a decline in demand due to the credit crunch but now profit is steadily growing. After consumers see that product is worth having and suites them the product can now be classified under the Growth Stage where sales start to increase quickly and more distribution channels are establish. L & C is in growth stage of product life cycle analysis. This is because L & C only has one outlet, which has only a few distributors in one country so far that is England. L & C has the potential to do well if it expanded if it had the right amount of funds a foil proof business plan and the will power to take the risk. ...read more.

Middle

****** There is room for improvement for the quality of the products, as most of the customers said it was only ok, only 2 said it was excellent and 9 said it was good. Quality is very important to the customer and if the business wants to capture the customer loyalty this is an area it will have to work on. The most successful organisations are those that give customers what they want. Satisfied customers are loyal to those suppliers they feel best understand their requirements. As a result they will make repeat purchases and will recommend a business to their friends. Businesses that do not focus on quality will quickly find that there are costs to be paid. Examples of these costs include waste due to products being badly made and therefore not being able to sell them. The reputation of a business will quickly deteriorate as a result of poor quality work. So therefore the quality of the products L & C have to improve if they want to maintain a loyal customer base and maximise profit. When asked, the manager said that customer loyalty is one of the main aims of the business. This is important in small business as the best way they are promoted in word of mouth. The graph shows that the product range would suite any customers as they try to supply any product the customer asks for. ...read more.

Conclusion

But a quarter use the business as it is local this has both a positive and negative effect. The positive is that the location of the business is good and useful for many as Stockport, where the company is based, is a commercial area.** But the negative is that those customers did not look round for the best deal and only used L & C as it was local and convenient even though they may be happy with L & C's services but now that times are herd in the economy many people will want the lowest prices at the best quality so L & C may see those customers leaving as they have found somewhere else which is cheaper and better quality even though they might have to travel a bit to claim them. Not one customer I asked made any suggestions for improvements of the business; this is a positive sign, as it shows they are pleased with L & C garages service. But this was only a small amount of customers also they might have been in a hurry and not wanted did not make the effort to answer this question or was intimidated by the manager being so close and didn't want to say any improvement the business might improve from with him standing a few feet away. ...read more.

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