Fusion Consulting team led a project to review the operations and benchmark a major WA based independent grocery supermarket chain. The goal for the client was to lift the performance of all stores to the level of the best store with the highest profitability.
Fusion applied a benchmarking approach and analysed turnover SKUs and point-of-sale results for the preceding year. The store and department analysis extended to:
- 13 product departments
- Supply chain efficiency
- Ordering and stock receipting
- Preparation and pricing
- Shelf filling
- Rostering and timekeeping methods
- Staffing roles and levels
Fusion developed and set realistic and innovative benchmarking indices which related labour (direct and indirect) to units of product moved for the leading store and made adjustments to propose achievable benchmarks for all remaining stores. Through several interviews with various store managers and department leaders, Fusion was also able to make a number of operational and improvement recommendations to the business owners. Customer trends were also identified with the opportunity to apply advanced analytics and machine learning to predict customer purchasing behaviours.