Factors in the external environment

What factors in the external environment provided the opportunity for NOM to develop a new and potentially successful retail chain in Canada?

The natural supplement market is a growing $3 billion industry in Canada, which sees 70 percent of Canadian citizens taking supplements regularly. The company also understood that there was plenty of room for another retailer of vitamins and health products to play. Nature’s Own Medicine (NOM) has targeted the Canadian market in 2013. The company main focus is on the health and wellness category. Nature’s Own Medicine has opened its first two stores in Canada, both in the Greater Toronto Area. The company wants to provide the best wellness and health services to the citizen of Canada like they are providing in the United States of America. (Levy, Weitz, Watson, & Madore, 2017).

 What are some of the major challenges that NOM faced entering the Canadian retail market?

One of the major challenges that Nature’s Own Medicine (NOM) has faced while entering the Canadian market and the reason to implement the direct to store shipment of product, is in addressing challenges posed by Health Canada regulations, which differ significantly from those south of the border. In Canada, retailers offering supplements and other health food and vitamin products are required to sell only products that have been registered with Health Canada and that have received what’s called a national product number. In addition to that, the full chain of control from manufacturing to delivery of the product to the store needs to be licensed by Health Canada.What challenges does NOM face in the future? Explain how the company can meet these challenges and sustain its competitive advantage.

Nature’s Own Medicine has opened its first two stores in Canada, both in the Greater Toronto Area. They managed to tackle the initial challenges and they are now focussing to handle the upcoming challenges in the future. These challenges can be in terms of finance or production or meeting the desires of the citizens of Canada. To ensure this the company has started a special training program of their employees that will help them to tackle any kind of hurdle in the future. (Levy, Weitz, Watson, & Madore, 2017).

 What are the potential growth strategies for NOM’s Canadian operations? Explain.

Nature’s Own Medicine (NOM) has made certain policies against the challenges faced in Canada. The NOM is providing store training exercises that focus on three things: (1) building category health knowledge, (2) building specific brand and product knowledge, and (3) focusing on developing empathetic customer engagement skills. This has made them unique from the existing companies. Their policies are effective and helping them to grow their business efficiently. Therefore, they (Nature’s Own Medicine (NOM) company) are planning to open new branches in Vancouver, as they have already two branches in the Greater Toronto area. (Levy, Weitz, Watson, & Madore, 2017).

 Identify three factors in the external environment

The first external factor was the natural supplement market that is a growing $3 billion industry in Canada, which means seventy percent of Canadian citizens taking supplements regularly. The external factor was the availability of plenty of room for another retailer of vitamins and health products to play. The third external factor was the need for sports supplements by Canadian citizens which grab the interest o Nature’s Own Medicine (NOM) company. Therefore, Nature’s Own Medicine has opened its first two stores in Canada, both in the Greater Toronto Area. The company wants to provide the best wellness and health services to the citizen of Canada like they are providing in the United States of America. (Levy, Weitz, Watson, & Madore, 2017).

 Identify three challenges

The first challenge for Nature’s Own Medicine (NOM) company was to penetrate their products of the health and wellness category in the Canadian market. The gained the customers trust in a very effective way. The second challenge was to follow the terms and conditions imposed by Health Canada regulations which were completely different from the American medical market. The third challenge was finding local partners, our legal counsel, marketing partners, and folks that could build construction for Nature’s Own Medicine (NOM) company. (Levy, Weitz, Watson, & Madore, 2017).

 Identify two future challenges – bring in at least one outside resource (cite and reference) and explain and relate to NOM’s competitive advantage

One of the major future challenges that Nature’s Own Medicine (NOM) company will face will be the shortage of employees. As Nature’s Own Medicine (NOM) company has planned to open more stores probably in Vancouver, therefore they will need more employees to provide quality service to their customers. The next challenge will be hiring new suppliers or vendors that will fulfill the demand created by the newly opened stores in Vancouver. For this, the company will collaborate with new suppliers and vendors and sign an agreement. The company will pay attention to improve its training system of employees by providing them good teachers or extending their training period. (Levy, Weitz, Watson, & Madore, 2017).

 Identify and explain two growth strategies (including why you think these suggestions have potential) – refer to exhibit 4.5

The company has adopted effective growth strategies to excel in the Canadian market after getting huge success in the American market. The NOM is providing store training exercises that focus on three things: (1) building category health knowledge, (2) building specific brand and product knowledge, and (3) focusing on developing empathetic customer engagement skills. This is one of their best strategy to grab the interest of their customers. These trained employees will deal with the customers in a very professional way. This strategy has played an important role in increasing its growth in a very short interval of time. Another strategy the company made to comply with Health Canada regulations is working primarily with Canadian distributors. The company aimed at over 80 percent of its product will be sourced locally. (Levy, Weitz, Watson, & Madore, 2017).

Reference:

Levy, M., Weitz, B., Watson, D., & Madore, M., (2017). Retailing Management (Canadian 5th Ed.) Toronto, ON: McGraw Hill Education. Case studies p. 546 548