The organisation I have chosen to investigate is Europes leading specialist retailer of computer software and video games, GAME. They operate from over 500 stores, concessions, and franchises in four territories in Europe. As a specialist, they have ce

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INTRODUCTION

INVESTIGATORS NAME: ALOM UDDIN

COMPANY INVESTIGATED: GAME

The organisation I have chosen to investigate is Europe's leading specialist retailer of computer software and video games, GAME. They operate from over 500 stores, concessions, and franchises in four territories in Europe. As a specialist, they have certain unique attribute that gives them the edge over their competitors. They are mainly due to:

* Their customer friendly policies - in the GAME store, all members of staff are required to be friendly and polite to customers; even to customers that are rude and unpleasant.

* Unrivalled product knowledge - the GAME Company has knowledge of all the latest products before their rivals. Especially because the company is the top seller of games and consoles. The manufacturing companies want to sell their products to companies that solely do retail in the visual entertainment department and the games/consoles department. They want companies with these requirements because they don't want other products that do not relate to the product that they are selling. They do not want the customers to be distracted by other items. GAME has met these requirements with ease.

* Pre-owned programme - this allows customers to bring in old games or consoles or accessories that they no longer use, but are fully functional, for an exchange for something else. They would be given a value for their product and then the customer will be allowed to deduct that amount away when they are making their purchase of the in-store items.

* Pre-orders - customers are allowed to pre-order their product, so they are guaranteed a copy of their product. They are allowed to receive their products on the day it was released. This ensures the manufacturers of how many copies of their product they have to send to the GAME store for the customers that pre-ordered and also extra for the customers that go to the store to purchase their products.

* Local price promise - this offer allows the customers to be assured that they are paying a reasonable price for their product and are not being made to pay more than the value of the product. Sometimes the GAME Company makes the price of their products lower than other companies to make sure more customers come to their shops.

* 10-day returns policy - GAME has this unique offer, which allows customers ten days to try out the game or hardware they have bought. If the customers are not satisfied then they can return they're product for something else or a refund, providing they have their receipt.

* Widest range of software and accessories - the GAME Company has access to all the current software and accessories that are currently out.

* Console value and choice deals - the price value of the consoles GAME sells, never exceeds its value and with every purchase of a console the customers are guaranteed a range of choices that lets the customer decide what they want with their particular console.

* Constant offers and promotions - GAME is constantly offering customers new deals and offers to allure the customers into buying their products. These offers could be anything to double reward points on their Reward card up to a free game when the customers buy a certain product.

The GAME store also boasts about its reliability and loyalty to the customers. This is mainly due to the sophisticated and strategic board of directors. The board of directors consists of three chief executives. These directors are; John Steinbrecher who is group chief executive for the company; Martin Long who is chief executive designate and chief financial officer and Lisa Morgan who is the deputy executive designate for the company.

OVERVIEW

As a specialist it is their continual aim to develop their business, providing their customers with the best shopping experience possible.

They aim to constantly review and improve the unique offerings and services that customers see as their unique selling proposition, and therefore maintain their position as the leading specialist retailer in this growing market.

In the coming years this will include:

* People - They are expanding the range of training opportunities for all their staff, and developing their management teams in the UK and Europe.

* Stores - The controlled expansion of their store base in Europe, including the refurbishment of their French stores, and the store-opening programme in the UK, Spain and Sweden, will ensure customers have easy access to their stores, in all territories.

* Logistics - They are building a state of the art Distribution Centre to service the UK & Eire stores, to be opened in 2004, which will give them the most effective and responsive logistics operation in the industry.

* Communication - Installing broadband in all their stores and upgrading their IT systems in the UK & Eire will allow them to communicate more effectively, and understand even better what their customers require.

The four main basic functions of an organisation are sales, purchasing, finance and operations. These main functions are maintained effectively and efficiently in the GAME organisation, this ensures the companies survival.

SALES

The sales department of an organisation processes transactions involving the sale of goods or services provided by the organisation. Also the sales department deals with customers ordering over the Internet. The money the organisation produces from the sales is the main income the company needs to pay its expenses. The business makes a profit if the income is greater than the expenditure.

The company has to market it goods so as to impress upon the public they are open for business. This also lets the company research on what the general public want. The company would also find out what the publics' mood is like and they would use this information to reflect upon their mood. For example in the Christmas period their advertising would surround that theme. If in the media there were a certain icon being emphasised, they would use that in their marketing to attract customers. For example David Beckham would be used in their marketing if he was recently under the media limelight.

The company GAME uses the EPOS (Electronic Point of Sale) system like most other companies to deal with the sales. This system reads the barcode on the item being purchased and then identifies how many of the item is still in stock. The system decreases the purchased item from the stock and then also notifies the company whether they need to restock on the item. It also lets the company know how many of the item they need to restock on. It does this by analysing how fast the previous stock of goods sold and then uses the information from here to judge how much of the goods should be restocked on. Their main target is to put enough of the goods on the shelves so that there is still are a few left at the end of the day.

Activities in the Sales Department

Communication - the sales department offers day-to-day communication to their customers. This service is mostly used by customers to find out information about the various services and products in GAME.
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Customer Orders - customers can take orders through the sales department through various methods. For example, through the phone, through the internet or actually taking orders from customers when they come to the GAME shop, which is consequently the most common way of ordering and purchasing products.

Liaising - the sales department keeps in contact with the other departments to check various things such as price changes, product availability, new releases and certification of certain products.

Database - keeping a database of customers is regarded very highly in the sales department. The sales department can keep ...

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