 Offer one specific way Family Dollar fulfills each of the four principles of the

retailing concept (Page 13) discussed in chapter 1. 

o One specific way that Family Dollar fulfills each of the four principles to its

retailing concept is that in each Family Dollar store, all stores are laid out exactly

the same way to allow customers to navigate more easily through the store so that

way they are not endlessly searching for an item that would normally take them

three to minutes to find, when the customer(s) can find it within a matter of

seconds. When it comes to one of the four concepts that the store uses, it displays

the customer orientation principle to allow the customers to know where each

item is and Family Dollar takes it into account to where it then satisfies the

customer(s) needs to the fullest.

 What elements of Family Dollar’s services would you consider expected? Offer

three specific elements and briefly describe why you consider each an expected

strategy. 

o The elements that would be expected to be pursued by Family Dollar would be

the following:

 All stores being laid out in the same way (to enable customers to easily

find merchandise) – This is a practice that a lot of company’s try and do to

make their customers more familiarized within their stores – I see this

technique has a big advantage for those of new customers and whenever

they travel across the nation and they see the same store that they use to

shop at, they would already know where all the merchandise is at without

asking a store clerk.

  A high-value orientation – High-value orientation is a must in some cases

when it comes to a brand new store opening right in the neighborhood and

making sure that before opening, everything has already been set up and

making the store look nice and appropriate for the customers to shop at –

presentable would be the most accurate word for this element.

 Good customer service – Customer service is a necessity, no matter what a

company specializes in, whether it be fast-food, retail, etc. Customer

service is a must-have skill when speaking and defusing situations with

customers that, at times, will become upset over something the store had

before their customer’s visit or like it.

 What elements of Family Dollar’s services would you consider augmented? Again

offer three and include a brief explanation for your selected elements.

o  All stores being laid out in the same way (to enable customers to easily find

merchandise)

o A high-value orientation

o Good customer service

 Good customer service would have to be augmented since that is a service

that all companies strive from, is that customer service and that positive

feedback that feeds the company more customers and profits more from it.

This increases the loyalty and the sales of the business.

 Discuss the pros and cons of Family Dollar’s brand strategy – reducing the number

of brands but increasing selection within the brands.

o Pros

 Increased sales for frozen foods and refrigerated due to its popularity

 Simplify its stock and ordering process

 Bargain with 3rd party vendors to negotiate what prices would be

affordable for customers

o Cons

 Some customers may not follow suit with the redesign of the 5 to 10 units

that Family Dollar puts in their stores

 Family Dollar may be taking away brands that customers love buying and

is cost effective for them to afford than going to another store and paying

more for what they need than not

 Increased demand and questioning as to why Family Dollar are changing

up its layout and getting rid of certain things that customers may need,

thus costing the company thousands of dollars without a proper strategy

plan already thought of

 Describe Family Dollar’s competitive advantages and disadvantages with respect to

full-line discount stores (e.g. Walmart).

o  Competitive Advantages

 Cost effective items that customer may want to go to the dollar store and

buy on a time-crunching day and or budget

 The smaller the store, the easier it is to navigate through

  Almost making it as if Family Dollar is an actual retail store that people

would shop on a daily basis – has the essential personal, home, pet, and

cleaning items on a cost-effective budget for customers to afford than that

of going to Wal-Mart or Target and spending $3 on milk when the price at

Family Dollar may just be $1

o Competitive Disadvantages

 The bigger the store, the better selection of items it is going to hold for a

regular day of shopping for appropriate groceries or even shopping

 The more customers in a well-known, super store, the more money the

company takes in on day-today basis

 Bigger retail stores may hold essential items for customers that need that

specific product and cannot get it anywhere else other than that store

 How could an independent retailer compete with Family Dollar?

o  An independent retailer could compete with Family Dollar by paying close

attention what Family Dollar strives for while analyzing different data for them to

meet the expectations and guidelines to better assist their customers – customer

service plays a big role in this scenario because without customer service, there is

no Family Dollar.

o That store competing with different 3rd party vendors and bargaining prices to

combat of that with Family Door – that independent retailer having a lot more to

offer for its customers and what type of quality of goods it can offer to the

community that it serves.

 Will Family Dollar’s retail strategy work in both good and bad economic times?

Numbers from the past few years should be included to support your arguments.

o  Family Dollar will work in both of decent and poor economic impact. Back in

2012, Family Dollar had continued to serve its customers with by transforming

the customer’s overall shopping experience by doing these:

 Expanding the key consumable categories and to create more of an

intuitive merchandise shopping experience

 Improving its navigational signage and leveraged new fixtures that

had later exchanged its customer sightlines, increasing the capacity to

simplify and restock from the recovery processes

 Increased operating processes and leveraged technology to increase

the workforce productivity

o “Private brands represent an opportunity to increase sales and profitability. In

fiscal  2012, we made further progress in increasing our penetration of private

brands. For the year, private brands sales increased approximately 9% over

fiscal  2011. Private brands consumable sales performed especially well,

increasing 16% over fiscal 2011. In fiscal 2012, private brands sales represented

approximately 25% of total sales and approximately 17% of total consumable

sales. To drive this growth, we added nearly 400 private brand consumables

SKUs to our assortment in fiscal  2012. Building on this momentum, in

fiscal  2013 we intend to increase our penetration of private brands even further,

with a continued focus on expanding our assortment of private brands

consumables. We expect to launch new brands that will offer our customers more
quality and value while also refreshing a few of our existing brands to broaden

their appeal. And, we intend to drive greater awareness of our private brands

program through increased marketing and visual merchandising support.”

 Cited Sources

FDO-2012.8.25-10K, www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/34408/000003440812000007/fdo-
2012825x10k.htm.