Week 5 Assignment – Alliance Supermarket and Point-of-Sale (POS) Systems

PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT A BID FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT IF YOU DO NOT HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH GRADUATE LEVEL WRITING TERMS AND CONCEPTS. ALL DIRECTIONS MUST BE FOLLOWED AND NO PLAGIARISM. MY SCHOOL USES SOFTWARE TO DETECT COPIED MATERIAL.

Read the “Alliance Supermarket” case study in Chapter 10 of your text.

Alliance Supermarkets has been using a point-of-sale (POS) system for some time to track its inventory. The system uses a laser scanner to read the universal product code (UPC) on each item at the checkout container. The UPC is a number that uniquely identifies the product on which it appears. Currently, Alliance is using the UPC information to update inventory records for each item. Although the system has greatly improved the company’s ability to replenish inventory promptly, the company still has some problems. For example, sudden changes in demand for a particular item can catch the company by surprise as it bases inventory replenishment on historical demand patterns. Further, demand patterns and preferences may vary from one store to another depending on the customers served by each, but the inventory system groups all demand information together and treats each store equally. Finally, the manufacturers that make the products stocked by Alliance Supermarkets are always pressuring Alliance to help them target appropriate customers for special promotions and sales.

The chief information officer (CIO) of Alliance realizes that much more could probably be done with the data collected from its POS system. For example, the company could analyze the relationship between each product’s sales and weather patterns. It is even possible to analyze an individual customer’s buying habits and identify instances in which a customer may be persuaded to try a different brand of a certain product.

For this assignment be sure to address the following points:

  • Study this situation      and formulate new and innovative uses of the information from the POS      system. Ideally, these ideas should help Alliance better serve its      customers by ensuring that adequate quantities of each item are available,      that costs are kept low, and that customers are made aware of new products      that may interest them.
  • Describe any      information that may help Alliance reduce costs while providing better      service.
  • Propose a new      approach that could be used by Alliance by using the purchase information      that can be obtained on individual customers.
  • Assess ethical and      privacy considerations of information gathered from the POS system or      purchased items.

Your paper should be in paragraph form (avoid the use of bullet points) and supported with the concepts outlined in your text and additional scholarly sources.

Submit your three-page paper (not including the title and reference pages). Your paper must be formatted according to APA style must cite at least three scholarly sources in addition to the textbook.