Dollar General Corporation Essay

Abstract clam usual sight is United States largest small-box discount retailer headquartered in Goodlettsville, Tennes happen upon 1. clam General offers both name brand products and generic merchandise 2. Its competitors include Family dollar, one dollar bill point which as easily operate in deep discount segment of US retailing. The following in theme study discusses about the various political, economic, social and expert forces that sawhorse General work faced and their impact on the lodge. The cut across also talks about the critical advantage factors of dollar General. The brood is concluded by summary of key learnings from the carapace study. PEST Analysis for Dollar GeneralPolitical In the division of 2006, Janet Calvert, a former ancestry manager, fi take a complaint that she was paid less(prenominal) than the male storage managers because of her gender, in violation of the Equal Pay shape and title VII of Civil Rights act of 1964. There were other plain tiffs which were added to this case. This case resulted in Dollar General reaching a settlement in principle, by which it would comprise $15.5 million to the plaintiffs and their legal charges speak toing around $3.25 million. The party was expected to receive reimbursement of $15.9 million from its Employment Practices Liability Insurance if these payments were sanctioned by the court. This case did impact Dollar General Approach towards pay setting policies and procedures for new store managers 3. Economic During the street corner period from 2007-2009, the nodes of Dollar stores suffered from unemployment and lower purchasing power. And even the people from higher income brackets started purchasing the clam store products for seeking larger bargains. This led to the increase in the client traffic and larger gross revenue for Dollar stores. Dollar general entrance upon this scenario and continually reviewed its merchandise mix, and adjusted it accordingly. It expanded its of ferings of consumable tidys to serve customers postulate and increased its sales 3.Dollar General captured trade- grim shoppers who came from middle and higher take aim of incomes (who generally had not shopped at dollar stores for all these years, but came during the recession to find bargains). Over the time the company adjusted its pricing schema for items by pricing it from $1 to no more than $10. And managers of this company also believed that the companys ability to attract customers of varying economic stance depends on offering both national and store brands 3. This sort Dollar General was able to satisfy the customers of varying economic status, which resulted in more sales and profit for the company. Social Consumer psychology during the recession period was to queer the products at a lower price and the store to be operable at a convenient distance (not too far). During this time Dollar General varied its price from $1 to no more than $10 and offered consumable g oods at a very reasonable price. And it has also overt new stores within the reach of 3 to 5 miles, so that all customer is able to get easy access to their neighbourhood store 3.This resulted in satisfying customers need as well as increasing companys sales. Technology During the year 2008 when the cost of the fuel increased, the Dollar Generals distribution costs went up and the companys gross profit was affected. In order to excuse this problem, the company completed the installation of a voice pick organization by the year 2010 in all the distribution centres, so that the employees in the distribution centres can communicate with warehouse software systems by address recognition 3. This was a good strategic move by the company as its use is expected to increase rapidly over the succeeding(prenominal) few years with evolving technological advancements. The company also installed new analytical and monitoring tools to assist with inventory shrinkage reduction efforts 3, which was a study part of companys effort to increase gross margin. little SUCCESS FACTORSs for Dollar GeneralIn this case for instance, good leadership and way was a CSF for Dollar General. As we can see that, there was major expansion of business activities and stores with the entry of David Perdue (the companys newgeneral manager) in the year 2003. In addition, the company finished his leadership also initiated Project Alpha, which was based on extensive compendium of performance of each store and the companys inventory management model. Few of the structural changes that company undergone during this project include shutting down over 400 underperforming stores and writing off old inventory. These strategic alignments have been the major part of companys CSF, as it was able to focalise more on most viable stores and new inventories which have led the company into high effectiveness in their business activities 4. Moreover, the company narrow down in low, middle and fixed income families as their major customers. This has been used as the companys CSF, as this group forms the largest proportion in the market. still though the purchasing power of this category is low when compared to the higher segments in U.S. but their huge population is a contributory factor for success of the company 4. Dollar General Social responsibilityRick Dreiling, head and CEO of Dollar General, explained the companys commitment towards literacy through the Dollar General Literacy root word program. The company actively engages customers in a way At each and every cash register of a Dollar General store, customers get to learn about the Dollar General Literacy Foundation program through brochures with a postage-paid reply card that can be mailed in for a referral to a local organization that offers completely free literacy services. Further, they also have the opportunity to donate money to this suited cause. In 2012, Dollar General Customers donated more than $10 million to straight benefit the Dollar General Literacy Foundations efforts in circumstances people learn how to read, speak English or get their General Education Diploma (GED) 5. Key learnings from the caseFrom this case one can clearly understand that Dollar General compete its cards right. When there was recession, the company retained its regular customers and attracted new customers by adjusting sales mix in order to drive more customer traffic and larger purchases. It expanded its stores by taking the advantage of tender real estate market to lower its operating costs for future day years. Careful management of merchandise categories had allowedDollar General to increase its same-store sales. insular label brands during recession helped increase the growth of the company. These all strategic moves which were do under efficient leadership and management transformed the company into a leader in the dollar store retail sector with sales of more than $13 billion by 2011 3.References1 Dollar General, Retrieved October 11 2014, http//www2.dollargeneral.com/About-Us/pages/Index.aspx 2 Dollar General, Retrieved October 11 2014, http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_General 3 Parnell, John A. (2014). Strategic Management Theory and Practice. 4th edition. apt Publications. 4 Dollar General Case Memo Marketing Essay, Retrieved October 11 2014, http//www.ukessays.com/essays/merchandising/dollar-general-case-memo-marketing-essay.php 5 Amway, GM, and Dollar General among corporations making Good A Goal, Retrieved October 10 2014, http//www.forbes.com/sites/devinthorpe/2013/08/29/amway-gm-and-dollar-general-among-corporations-making-good-a-goal/2/