Its been more than two months since the presence of a popular business competitor in the village. It's opening week alone has affected ours so much that we thought for awhile that it would topple us and force us to wind up our establishment.
Recently however, we see our store moving on, like a baby taking slower steps because it can't walk straight on its own yet. But it is moving forward, it's getting there for sure, at least to a point where it is worth our while. It's nowhere near a hundred percent relative to what it used to be but with adequate inventory and a good spin, hopefully it won't backslide before it is up on its toes again.
Every week, we observe a different trend but it is never going down to where it started since the competitor. We do have many customers, the foot traffic is there but definitely not like it used to be. We did lose some, those that would really make up for the difference.
On the first week after the competitor opened one loyal customer told our cashier that if we want to stay in the game, we should have an adequate inventory. She was referring to the items that ran out because I did not stock up. And we know that too, but as I mentioned earlier, I played it safe.
Recently we see customers crawling back occasionally and they account for keeping us afloat. They tell us about the lack of inventory at the new store, they couldn't get all their requirements there; besides items are not as cheap as they expected.
As Jim pointed out earlier, one major reason that customers are slowly coming back is vicinity. Yesterday, a lady was exasperated to walk further to the new store after learning that we run out of gravy powder. I heard her tell her companion: "ay naku, mapapalayo tayo" (we have to go further for that).
Regards our store staff, we now have the required number and they are proving capable in more ways than one after they had the proper orientation and training. They seem to be even better than their predecessors especially attitude-wise.
One of them is a handyman, who is matured and even-tempered, experienced helping in construction and therefore can do minor carpentry work and has a bit of knowledge in electrical system. This guy is a quiet worker, what's more, he can cook, how about that?
The two new cashiers are now up to speed having familiarized themselves on current prices since we are still manual, we don't use the POS system yet. But I'm thinking about that too, once we get our fair market share.
In the meantime, I can relax a bit but I continue to monitor inventory closely, making purchase orders and relentless to expedite arrival of goods. This is an advantage over our major competitor who rely only on what's available in their warehouse since their purchasing is centralized for all their outlets, superstores and junior stores alike.
Another good news is that I now have my Friday day-off back and my Sundays are free to recharge and enjoy the outdoors; to garden and to rest, replenish food for the week, try new recipies, read, relax and write my blog under the mango tree.
But I still manage to monitor the store by remote control on those days. No problem there since my staff know when to consult me and they can call me anytime.
At this point, I'm still up in arms on this crusade until I know I'm beat, but I don't think this will happen, at least not yet. The store will run as usual and hopefully with the right focus we can think of better ways to manage it. Who knows, it may even grow, and why not?
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