I used to work at this sushi restaurant all throughout Grade 9 until the beginning of university. Before the summer, we used to be located on a corner of 152nd and 16th, which is a very busy intersection. What set us apart from other stores was the giant fireplace that sits right in the center of the restaurant. There are windows that provide a 180+ degree span of the busy intersection for customers to people watch. All of these were a competitive advantage, and value proposition for us, compared to the seven other sushi restaurants around in a one kilometer radius (White Rock is very small with a population of around only 20 000).
However, this summer, the leasing ended and the restaurant decided to move right next door, into a location that is far less visible than the last. The sales had significantly decreased by a whopping 30% and ongoing construction of our old location as well as right next door, impacted the image and quality of our restaurant.
Not only did our loyal consumers fail to find us in our old location due to the construction, they didn’t even know that we had reopened! The owners of Kuroishi invested a lot of money into a larger space, new employees, and new accessories. To add to their costs, Kuroishi also has a very low employee retention rate. Hired employees are usually high school students who leave or quit before they graduate to go to university. The total costs that go into training these employees are high since the turnover ratio is also very high. It will be a long while before the owners of Kuroishi get a positive net return on investment due to the decreasing consumer base and a high turnover ratio.
Check out their latest investment: a new website!
Image Reference:
Amazing Sushi! Digital image. Kuroishi Sushi. N.p., n.d. Web. Nov. 2013. <http://kuroishi.ca/>.
Kuroishi Japanese Cuisine – Tuna Avocado Salad. Digital image. Urbanspoon. N.p., n.d. Web. Nov. 2013. <http://www.urbanspoon.com/rph/14/1493952/963632/vancouver- kuroishi-japanese-cuisine-tuna-avocado-salad-photo>.
I definitely agree with Alex, when he says that they should not Starbucks their image, and instead stick to their own value proposition where they offer cheap and convenient coffee. Playing into a image of higher quality and perhaps higher price for the higher quality may change the brand image and brand value. Additionally, this leads into what Alex mentions about a possible menu overload. Numerous people may be resistant to change, and may switch to an alternate source of cheap coffee, like Macdonalds, if Tim Hortons start to over-complicate their menu. Tim Hortons should stay the way they are and continue providing superior and fast customer service by sticking to their one coffee blend!
don’t own your own car? Car2Go, of course! I’m sure you have seen plenty of the little smart cars, with the Car2Go logo, zooming around downtown and even at UBC. The Car2Go company has many strengths; they are very convenient, easy to use, affordable, easily accessible, and a well known brand! The ease of accessibility is due to their many Car2Go station locations and their squad of over 300 cars in Vancouver. The smart cars can be found all over Vancouver downtown and even at the UBC campus. Not only are they convenient, they also take care of your parking costs! Although Car2Go has a unique idea, they have a new competitor: Zipcar. This company is similar to Car2Go, but they have a competitive edge to them: they offer a different variety of cars to suit anyone’s taste. This is an external weakness that Car2Go has to overcome or top, with their own competitive advantage.
