Major Aspects of Online Shopping Cart System - Need To Know

The Online Shopping Cart System: A Case Study On Amazon, has created a massive change in the world of online shopping. People are now up for online shopping as it allows them to pick things from various choices sitting at home only. It does not consume their energy of fighting for bargaining etc. And Amazon always tries to implement new technologies or adopt some changes with increasing customers.

Such a new Blockchain technology adopted by Amazon to comfort their huge e-customers is the online shopping cart system.

1. Importance of online shopping cart system

A large-scale database management system is required for maintaining the data of customers. On the other hand, the online shopping cart system has been implemented to gather the goods they want to buy now or in the future. Technical experts keep track of the safety of the customer's data and the occurrence of any issue. As a student of computer science, looking for Humanities Dissertation Topics, the online shopping cart system of Amazon will be an excellent choice for you.

Also read: What is the average cost of creating a website in India?

2. Outline of online shopping cart system of Amazon

• An online shopping cart system enables customers to store their selected items in a particular section. And they can buy them, whenever they feel appropriate.
• It also allows the customers to store their favourite items or things they can purchase in the future.
• Besides, it gives a chance to the customers to compare the price of the things with others before buying them. They can accumulate their favourite things in their cart.
• The main goal of installing this system was to increase the number of customers, loyalty factors, and organisational costs. This system utilises technologies like coding of web pages, proper databases etc. In addition, this system has popularity as an help with assignment.

3. Analysis of online shopping cart system

Here are some ideas why it is essential to analyse the online shopping card system of Amazon.

• To understand the online shopping cart system implemented by Amazon.
• To evaluate the need and importance of implementing the online shopping cart system.
• To elaborate on the impact of the online shopping cart system on the organisation and customers attached to it.
• To scrutinise the technology used for setting up the system.

For students who are looking for Swot Analysis Assignment help, the online shopping cart system of Amazon will be a wise option for them.

Also Read: Top 10 Unity 3D Game Development Companies In India (2022-2023)

That's how this online shopping cart system is so vital for e-customers.

Have a good day!

APA and MLA Paper Format Basic Guide: Updated By Experts [2021]

 As an understudy, arranging your article appropriately and following a particular reference style is more troublesome than composing a whole paper. You must be quite certain about each seemingly insignificant detail from headings to write essays for me. Everything appears to be an enormous wreck to figure it out. There are many paper design styles yet generally scholastic composing is finished after either MLA or APA arranging style. 

A few understudies effectively compose a paper yet fall flat at formating their exposition appropriately which drives them to get lower grades. In the event that you think that its hard to organize your expositions in MLA and APA design then you don't have to stress since it will assist you with understanding the distinction between APA versus MLA and every one of the unobtrusive contrasts between them to control you how to write my essay. Practice makes an individual awesome and yes with training it will get simpler for you to organize your paper expertly.

 

I will impart an essential manual for you in regards to the APA and MLA paper configuration to help you make a beginning.

 

APA Format Guidelines

 

You need to utilize the textual style Times New Roman and 12 pt Size of the text style

 

Cover sheet

 

You need to set one-inch page edges

You need to add a running head on each page of your exposition

The main line of each section ought to be indented ½ inch

Heading 1 ought to be focused, Bold, Title Case Capitalization '

Heading 2 ought to be left-adjusted, striking

Heading 3 ought to be indented, strong and sentence case capitalization

Heading ought to be italics, strong and indented

The in-text reference style needs data about the creator's last name and the time of the distribution. For instance (Lisa, 2020)

 

MLA Format Guidelines

 

One inch edges on the base, top and sides

Add the name of the understudy, establishment name, educator name, and date of accommodation at the most left.

The report ought to be twofold separated

Add the last name of the creator and page number as the header

The principal expression of each passage ought to be indented

Utilize one kind of textual style for instance Times New Roman

The text dimension ought to be 12

Headings ought to be strong and focused

The in-text reference requires the data of the last name of the creator just for instance (Lisa).

 

Composing an ideal paper with legitimate reference and your reference records should appropriately coordinate with essay writing service. Numerous understudies picked paper composing sites to get help to compose an expertly designed article. These site administrations guarantee to give you superior grade and unique substance.

 

On the off chance that you search on the web you will discover so many composing organizations that case to give the best work to their clients yet picking real, dependable, and best administrations among every one of them are the genuine battle "write my essay for me". On the off chance that you have tracked down a genuine true and dependable composing organization, you can simply feel free to put in your first request on their site.

 

You simply need to open their site, click on the information exchange button, add your qualification subtleties, and get pursued free. Presently you gotta enter every one of the insights about your task, cautiously notice the arranging style, number of pages, scholastic level, portrayal of your work, and cutoff time of your work "write my paper". Whenever you have entered everything now you can basically tap on the request put in button and your request has been set. It was really that basic. Presently you don't need to stress over arranging your exposition and trust that your work will be conveyed to you.

6 Hacks That You Should Know to Complete Your Urgent Assignment on Time!

 Students get worried about how they would complete an urgent assignment on time. If they do not do it, they may lose high marks in the assessment. Because of this reason, many students ask the experts for urgent assignment help. But before asking for help from professional writers, you should read this article. This write-up will help you to learn the hacks for completing the assignment on time. Also, you will not lose your marks just because you are not able to finish on time. So, let’s get started! 

 

Make an Outline 

 

It is necessary to give importance to the urgent assignments as if you do not complete them on time; it might be possible to fail in the assessment. So if you do not want to get an F grade, the first thing you should do is make an outline. It is the base of the assignment. Without this, you can not write the paper further.

 

Search for a Comfortable Place

 

The second thing you need to do is find a place where you feel comfortable. It will make you feel less stressed and help you to write the paper effectively. If you do not find a comfortable place, it might be possible to get distracted every minute. Also, it will not be possible to complete the urgent assignment on time. 

 

Collect All the Helpful Books 

 

To write a perfect assignment, you need to do powerful research on the topic. For that, you need to collect all the books and sources that will help you write the essay perfectly. So, remember to gather all the information before you start writing your assignment. 

 

Listen to a Smooth Music

 

You must be thinking about how music can help you to write the assignment. Listening to soft music like classical or music that does not have lyrics can actually help you in writing. Also, a survey has shown that the students who listen to music tend to get high scores in the assessment. 

 

Take Timely Breaks 

 

For writing effectively, it is necessary to have breaks in between the writing because sitting for hours can make you vague. Also, you will not be able to write it concisely and clearly. So, make sure you have a timely break in between the writing. Those breaks should be healthy and short. 

 

Reward Yourself

 

The last thing you should do is reward yourself for getting motivated for writing the urgent assignment. It will help you to keep motivated to complete the task on time. So, before getting the final rewards from the professor, you can reward yourself after completing each task. 

 

So, these are the hacks that you should learn to complete the urgent assignment on time. This article will surely fulfill your requirements. So, if you want to write the paper on time, you can apply these hacks. But if you still face any issue, you can seek urgent assignment help from the experts. They will give you better guidance on how to complete the document on time. 

6 KEY CONTENTS OF A TIME MANAGEMENT ESSAY YOU SHOULD KNOW!

 "Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time." - Jim Rohn. 

Time management is an important aspect of not only the lives of students but each one of us. It is the building block of being successful and achieving your goals. Therefore, students are often assigned the task of writing a time management essay to learn more about the topic.

 

If you wish to score high grades in your essay, you must be clear about its contents. This article will find what exactly you must include in your time management essay to make it perfect. All these have been suggested by the Global Assignment Help Australia experts, who have come up with them after years of research. Have a look –

 

1. Define – The first thing should be a clear definition of time management. Most people are aware of the basic meaning of time management, and thus you must be specific in your description. Clearly explain what it means to manage your everyday choices and managing time for your schedule.

 

2. Talk about the importance – You must tell the reader about the importance of time management to induce motivation. Tell your audience how time management can help them achieve their goals. You can give examples of famous and successful people who reached heights with effective time management.

 

3. Theories – Discuss the various time management theories like pickle jar theory, the Pareto principle, time matrix, etc., to further emphasize the importance of time management.

 

4. Explain the connection between time and goals – You may have conscious or unconscious goals in your life. In order to achieve them, you need to invest time. You can explain what role time management can play in the achievement of different types of goals and how it should be done.

 

5. Tools of time management – There are various time management tools; some are modern while others are being used for ages. You can discuss the most relevant ones and explain how they can be used in a particular situation.

 

6. Systems and strategies – There are proven strategies and systems for time management that have the power to get the work done. Give an outline about the most effective systems which are effective in overcoming procrastination and achieving targets.

 

Although it is difficult to write a perfect time management essay, if you include the above things in it, you can achieve your targets. If you still have issues, you can contact the experts at Global Assignment Help Australia. They are aware of the minute details about time management essay writing and can assist you in the best possible way.

5 Common Communication Assignment Mistakes That Student Needs to Avoid

 Many of the students are still there who needs communication assignment help as they make very common mistakes and lose their marks and appreciation. They surely need to avoid these mistakes while making an assignment. If they keep doing these mistakes, it will put them into trouble and they might need to rework on the whole assignment. This way they will lose their time also. So for not doing this, you need to make sure that you avoid these mistakes and be a smart student in the class.

The usually made mistakes are usage of language, tone, format active voice and intellectual skills. This way the students can surely miss the appreciation from the professor.   

 

Here are 5 common mistakes that students should avoid while making communication assignment!

 

Unclear Language - Some of the students while making their assignment fast, forget to use clear language and make their assignment all messed up. This way you can lose your marks and not be able to attract the audience to read your assignment. So make sure you do not use unclear language but use right words at right places to make your paper flourish.  

 

Improper Tone - Use of improper tone is another mistake that a student makes while writing a paper. The tone you use should be proper and in effective manner. This will make your document look impressive and attractive with correct use of tone. It is necessary to use proper tone in your work and create a good communication assignment on time.

 

Unorganized - Not writing an assignment in organised manner can make you fail in your assessment. If the formation would be not proper, your won’t be able to understand what you need to say. So make sure you arrange your writing in organized way. Using proper format or structure will help you to write a perfect document for your assessment and get high grades.   

 

Improper Active Voice Usage- In assignments, using of passive voice makes it a disaster. You need to use active voice with proper inclination. The more you will use active voice the more you will be able to have a perfect document. If you don’t use active voice then surely the professor would guess that you have copied from somewhere. So research about it thoroughly and then write it.  

 

Improper Intellectual Skills - Intellectual skills means gathering the data in systematic way. But most of the students does not have this skill. So before you start writing it, you need to learn intellectual skills and apply them in your assignment. To have a proper intellectual skills you need to make the assignment informative.  

 

There are the common mistakes that a student needs to avoid while making a document. After reading this article, you will surely fulfill your communication assignment help requirements. So make sure you avoid these mistakes and get popular in the class for securing high scores and appreciation from the professor.

Most Important Business Strategies with Examples and Much More....

A multi-national organisation operates in various countries including Australia, Vietnam,India, Oman, and Nigeria. The organisation manufactures and distributes agricultural equipment’s to local and international clients. In total the organisation has 8,000 employees in five countries and more than 1 million customers worldwide. The head office is based in Australia. In recent years the organisation is facing a number of communication challenges.

They include:
• Timely communication to all staff and clients
• Communication breakdown from top management to staff in the front line and vice versa
• Feedback from clients on ways to improve product quality and service delivery
• Issues around local language
• Cross cultural issues in different contexts
• Limited development in digital literacy in some countries and use of social media in communication Your manager has asked you to develop strategies to improve communication at all level. The manager has directed you to suggest strategies that has proven to work well in large multinational organisations.

You are required to undertake the following:
• Prepare a written report
• Benchmark what other multinational organisations are doing to improve workplace communication. This could be done be reviewing literature of successful case studies available
• Identify the strategies the organisation could use to address each of the above five challenges.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the communication problems that are faced across organizations and the challenges that have to be confronted. The case study provided to guide for this paper tells that the multinational organization works in the many countries like Australia, Vietnam, India, Oman and Nigeria. This shows that the organization has to work in territories that are socially, economically and culturally completely different from each other. Some challenges have been faced by the organization and these challenges have to be overcome by them by using some clever strategies by their management.

Good practices

Whenever an international organization undertakes to provide their services across the globe, it is very evident that they must have a very wide supply chain network. The supply chain management of the company has to be very efficient if the company wants to reach its target and meet the organizational objectives (Yeh & Hong, 2012). In this company the management seems to face many challenges worldwide. The headquarter of this company is situated in Australia. So, they will not have any problems in getting the proper resources and talents. They have sufficient resources but their clients and customers have been complaining about some of their strategies. This will not be goodfor thebrand image of the organization (Maor, Gilad & Bloom, 2012).

Challenges

In this segment of the paper the main topic of discussion is about the challenges the organization is facing at this moment and the ways these challenges can be overcome by them. This resolves to the fact that their current global market stretches from Oceania to Asia and then Africa as well (March, 2013). This reflects the fact that the employees must be having difficulties in communicating with the local people and many barriers to communication must be present there.

Challenge 1: Timely communication to all staffs and clients

The alarming problem here is the fact that the employees and the clients are lacking in proper communication on time. The clients are ordering for certain things to be delivered on time (Cheung & Yiu, 2014). The staffs are not working at their best to deliver the goods. Around 8,000 employees are running short to deliver the services on time. The clients are dissatisfied with their services.

Challenge 2: Communication breakdown from top management to front line staff and vice versa

The communication between the top level management and the front line staff is deteriorating. This may be because there is a communication gap or miscommunication between them (Daim et al., 2012). This will be very risky for the image of the organization and clients will get a wrong message.

Challenge 3: Feedback from clients to improve the product quality and service delivery

The clients have been complaining that the product quality is not up to the mark as it was used to be some times ago. This will be very harmful for them because the clients will not compromise a bit with a bad product quality (Cummings & Worley, 2014). They are not being able to send the services on time as well. If the customers do not get the products on time, they will automatically switch their preferences to other brands.

Challenge 4: Issues around local language

There are certain serious issues in managing their people in diverse linguistic ambiences. The target audiences in other countries speak different languages and they have a verbal communication problem with the local people. They might even miss even some important deals because of these problems.

Challenge 5: Cross cultural issues

The different language speaking people follow different cultures as well. The Asians and Africans will not surely follow the same cultural values and the employees of the organization belong to different cultures and communities as well (Thomas, & Peterson, 2017). This will be a barrier from them.

Challenge 6: Limited development in digital literacy in some countries and use of social media

Some countries like Vietnam and Nigeria are not yet that much developed and the literacy rate is not so high. The people there are not aware of the use social media and digitally they are not so developed as well. This is a challenge for the organization for making their advertisements (Radovanovi?, 2012).

Future Strategies

Some strategies have to be taken in the future so that these hazards can be avoided. Many multinational organizations have faced these kinds of problems too and they have succeeded in eradication these problems.

Strategy 1

The clients should be informed about the product delivery time through proper communication. The employees should be able to send text messages to their numbers or send e-mails so that the clients can be communicated and the reason for late can be informed (Skovholt, Grønning & Kankaanranta, 2014).

Strategy 2

The employees should be able to communicate with the higher authority in case of any problems. The top management should also send feedback forms to the employees to mitigate this challenge. Sports Direct had faced these challenges and issues as well and they overcame with distributing survey and feedback forms ("SportsDirect.com – The UK’s No 1 Sports Retailer", 2017).

Strategy 3

The clients should be able to feedback to the employees about the product quality (Nicholas & Carswell, 2013). The company should use latest technologies to produce agricultural equipments. Woolworths has used this method of new technologies so that they can improve the service delivery and product quality ("Woolworths", 2017).

Strategy 4

The employees who will be sent to those internally expanded target markets should possess a thorough knowledge about the language of that place. Or else they should look to recruit employees from that place only. Tesco, the British retail company had faced these problems also so they resolved to train their employees and familiarize them with that language ("Tesco - Online Groceries, Homeware, Electricals & Clothing", 2017).

Strategy 5

Many companies have faced the cross cultural issues. Wesfarmers faced such troubles when they expanded to China ("Wesfarmers", 2017). This challenge was mitigated by adjusting with these issues and making the employees aware that strict punishments would be given for violation of racism issues and other cross cultural issues. This concerned company should do this as well.

Strategy 6

The digital literacy issues are faced by companies when they expand to a less developed market. The Australian mining company BHP Billiton faced such problems such problems when they expanded to foreign undeveloped countries ("BHP Billiton | A leading global resources company", 2017). They resolved it by training the local people the use of social media for advertisements. This company should follow these footsteps as well.

Conclusions

The paper can be concluded by saying that the concerned multinational company should train their employees properly so that they can align themselves with the objectives of the organization. The organization should be able to overcome the challenges by applying proper communication methods and eradicate the miscommunication between the top management and employees. They should also get rid of these cross cultural issues and local language issues by inflicting ethical morals into the minds of the employees. They should also train the employees to use the social media and build a proper network for their marketing and advertisement. Thus they will strive in this competitive business environment.

Dream Beauty Case Study

Based on the case study, Dream Beauty (DB) is a company which manufactures and distributes cosmetics across the United State. There were changes in their supply chain operations after a new supply chain expert took over. Although costs of supply chain had been increasing, the company annual sales are also increasing, peaking at $130,000,000 for the first time. However, it is recorded that supply chain costs ($50,000,000) and costs of goods sold ($52,000,000) alone are accounted for more than three-quarter of sales ($102,000,000).

There are totally three channels of product distribution for DB and they are retailers, convenience stores and mass merchants. All three channels are profitable for DB while retailers, convenience stores and mass merchants are respectively making 50%, 30% and 20% of the total sales. The products are sold to all three channels on credits, taking a maximum of 45 days although the duration DB desires is only 30 days. DB is employing a three-day fulfilment cycle which consists of order processing, packaging, labeling, and delivery. Although orders are shipped unlabeled to retail and convenience stores, the orders made by mass merchants are needed to be labeled due to the intense pressure given. The company even had to purchase a labelling machine which can process 30 labels per second.

As their three-day fulfilment cycle can fulfill the demand of customers within faster period, DB considers that this cycle should become an industry benchmark. However, to be able to offer this level of customer service, it is estimated that DB has to store 15 percent of total average annual inventory as backup products for customers. The cost of capital is also increased due to these costs. In overall, although DB is performing well from the aspect of customer service, it is witnessed that the company was incurring the following problems:

1. Increased cost for supply chain
2. Extra work of labelling
3. Need to wait for a long period to receive cash, and
4. Inventory cost of holding excessive products for three-day cycle.

From the case study, it has been found that Johnson is a Skin Care company that manufactures women’s and men’s organic skincare products. It is Kentucky based company, which develops exciting products for sales through the U.S. retail stores. The company has also distributed its products in international market. The direct customers of the company includes hair salon, spa that provide different wellness services like facial treatment. Due to all these enthusiastic customers, the sales performance of the company is quite impressive.

It has been found that sales figure of the company in recent years is $36 million and the operating profit is over $4.8 million. It has also been found from the case study that product line of the Johnson Skin Care Company is over 100 SKU’s. However, the majority of sales of the company were accounted by three major products. They are such as women’s foot care (WFC), men’s foot care (MFC), body butter (BB). The company is now trying to sell its product through retail stores. It had been estimated by the sales team that the annual sale figure for WFC, MFC and BB would be $15,000,000, $4,500,000 and $2,000,000 respectively. On the other hand, average unit price for these products will be such as $5.00, $4.50 and $6.25 respectively.

Now, after conducting a market research, the company has decided to enter market that is more traditional. The company has decided to sell and distribute its products with the help of retail store for the sales of consumers. As the company is new to this type of channel, the company has developed a new position at the company, Director of logistics. The company has three staging warehouses (SWs) located in New Jersey, Kentucky and California. Regional demand has been aggregated into five regional distribution centers (DCs). It has been assumed by the Director of logistics that overall inventory turnover of the company is 5% per year. Along with that, the company historically had inventory carrying cost of 18%.

2.0 Plan to include optimization of operation

2.1 Ordering process 

It has been found that, the company has only two contact manufacturers. Women’s foot care products are produced in the California plant. Om the other hand, men’s foot care products and Body Butter are produced in the New Jersey plant. All these products are single sourced. It has decreased the productivity, speed of workflow and efficiency. In order to overcome this flaw, the company can increase investment in order processing. The company can install a sales order processing system. It can help the company to take benefit of online processing and high frequency direct contact with customers. It can be integrated with other systems like cash, inventory and ledger system. It can also make sure that online transaction provides faster transaction to users compare to manual order processing system (Varley 2014).

2.2 Labeling products

Menon et al. (2016) stated that, in the era of intense competition, companies are trying to introduce value-added services (VAS) to promote their products. Form the case study, it has been found that all the products of the company in two different manufacturing plants and label them as well. Now, the company can purchase an integrated labeling machine for all products, which will operate only mass merchants. It will help to increase value of products for customers and customer loyalty. It will also help the company to increase price of the products, as to cover increased cost of supply chain.

It has been found form the case study that, the packaging cost of the Johnson Skin Care company is $0.50 for each products. It is more than labor cost for each product, which is $ 0.40. Average unit per carton for WFC, MFC and BB are such as 27, 12 and 20. In this section, the company has huge opportunity to make improvement and cut down the cost. The company can install integrated packaging system to develop standardized master carton that are packed to their maximum capacity, while products are not mixed at the same time. Although, the company needs primary investment for the installation, it will reduce the total supply chain cost and increase efficiency of packaging.

From the case study it has been found that, the company has decided to sell and distribute its products with the help of retail store for the sales of consumers. It will increase the allocation cost in supply chain. Al though, the company is still profitable by using this cost allocation framework, there is some areas that can be improved.

3.1 New framework of cost allocation 

In accordance to the optimization plan proposed in the section 2.0, a new framework for cost allocation has been provided below.

Shipping cost: Furuichi and Otsuka (2015) mentioned that, if a supplier uses a specific company to distribute all its products, then the supplier possess a great bargaining power over the price of shipping. Johnson Skin Care Company has to consider their factor. It needs to develop new contract with companies that provide cheaper shipping cost or, it can negotiate rate of shipping with the current company.

Selection of delivery style: Gunasekaran et al. (2015) mentioned that, an appropriate choice of delivery system can reduce the cost of the company and increase customer satisfaction. There are various modes of delivery available for the company such as train, bus, planes and ships. Train is the most cost effective one, while plane is the fastest but expensive as well. On the other hand, ship is neither slow nor very expensive. Johnson Skin Care Company should strategically select delivery framework to reduce cost of supply chain.

The changed proposed in the current cost allocation framework will be like below

4.0 Pricing point of product

There are three types of price, which a company can use in market. They are given below in the table:

Cost Price	Closs and Bolumole (2015) stated that, it is a bottom-line selling approach, which only consist the cost of product manufacturing. However, labeling, packing and distribution costs are also included in it.
Retail Price	According to Dallmeier (2016), retail price is which end customers have to pay for purchasing a product. It is higher than cost price leaving some profit margin to the retailers. Keystone pricing is the most common method employed by retailers. In this case, price of retails are 50% higher than original cost price (Khan 2016).
Wholesale price	In this case, an intermediary purchases products from the manufacturers (B2B) and sell them to customers (B2C). Although, intermediaries are only allowed to sale products at a fixed price, a moderately higher margin of profit has been provided to them, in order maintain relationship (Dallmeier 2016).

Table 3: Different types of pricing

(Source: created by Author)

It is essential for a company to understand that, various factors can significantly affect the price of a product. According to Bansal (2014), there are some major areas, which required to consider while setting the price of a specific product. These factors are such as level of competition in a market for a specific product, market demand, product positioning and level of disposable income of customers. If the customers have good level of disposable income and the product has good position in the market, a company can select high pricing strategy to increase its profitability in the market.

Among all the different pricing policies such as psychological pricing, penetration pricing and cost-oriented pricing, cost-plus pricing is the most commonly used pricing policy used by companies. In this pricing strategy, costs of products are determined first, and then a specific percentage of original cost is added to the sales price (Monger 2012). As the production cost and overhead cost fluctuate significantly due to different type of products, the Johnson Skin Care company should use cost-plus pricing to reduce loss of profit.

5.0 Supplier Selection Policy

In order to survive in the intensely competitive market, organizations need to realize the importance of creating supplier base, so that they can meet the requirements of products. Niine and Koppel (2014) mentioned that companies should not only consider about the development of existing supplier base, but also need to consider new suppliers. Because, new suppliers can provide benefits such as higher commitment to meet deadline and low labor cost. Bowersox et al. (2013) mentioned that development of this kind supplier base can reduce the bargaining power of suppliers. In addition, it can increase the potential on fresh and quality certified suppliers and reduce the risk of supply failure.

In order to develop such supplier base during the screening phase of suppliers, buying organizations adopt different types of assessment methods. Supplier audit program is a major example of supplier assessment methods used by companies. It helps a buyer organization to understand the capabilities of its suppliers and the nature of the organization. Cross-functional teams of buyer organization usually conduct this supplier audit program. This team includes members from different functional areas such as quality control, purchasing, logistics and manufacturing.

Quality management

In order to meet the quality of products, all the materials provided by suppliers have to be evaluated consistently. It is required for all suppliers to have ISO 9000 certification (Bowers ox ET AL. 2013).

Cost

As there are many suppliers, Johnson Skin Care company has to evaluate the cost of employing them. It includes cost materials and goods, logistics costs, ordering costs and material costs are included in it (Chopra and Meindl 2013).

Capacity and reliability

The buying company has to assess supplier’s capability. They need to determine whether the supplier can meet large order, or they need to select other suppliers to subsidise when the order is large. It includes factors such as conformance of products and lead-time (Lapin? and Luckily? 2014).

Financial capability

In order to develop long-term financial relationship with suppliers, it is required examine its financial capability. Carter ET AL. (2017) stated that various financial ratios can help a company to determine whether suppliers can afford price of materials and lobar costs to fulfil huge orders.

5.2 Monitoring Performance

After selection of the suppliers, it is required to evaluate the performance of the suppliers continuously. Heide et al. (2014) stated that, most of the companies set a performance goal for their suppliers and measure their performance against that goals. Many companies use scoreboard that contain valuable attributes for them. Based on that, companies measure the performance of suppliers and provide feedback for improvement.

5.3 Supplier Development 

Hashish ET AL. (2015) stated that companies needed to make investment to enhance the capabilities and performance of the suppliers. Through supplier’s development, a company can get better opportunity in cost negotiation, cost reduction, and streamline operation. It can also minimise the development of defective products from suppliers.

5.4 Suggestion for Johnson Skin Care Company

Before selecting supplier, the Johnson Skin Care Company has to strategically and carefully evaluate supplier’s statistics. After that, the company has to develop performance goals for their suppliers and measure supplier’s performance against the set goals. Depending on the performance of suppliers, management of Johnson Skin Care Company needs to provide feedback to the suppliers and encourage them to enhance their performance. The company can also invest to improve the capability and performance of the suppliers. It can enhance relationship with suppliers and help the company to get benefits such as better cost negotiation, cost reduction.

6.0 Inventory control method

It has been found that many companies focus on using high inventory to get rid of risks related with shortage of materials. However, it is a costly process. In the present world of business, the role of procurement process is to maintain continuous supply along with maximum investment on inventory (Bowers ox ET AL. 2013). A company can use different inventory control strategy. For example, a company can maintain different levels of stock to avoid over stocking or under stocking of materials. Some specific inventory control methods have been suggested for the Johnson Skin Care Company. They are such as Two Bin method, Just-In-Time approach and Vendor managed inventory. They are discussed below:

6.1 Two Bin Method

In this method, two warehouses or locations are utilised for inventory storage. When the stock of the main warehouse is totally consumed, it is refilled with stocks from the reserve bin (Valid ET AL. 2015). All the reserve bins are refilled by purchasing product from suppliers. From this case study, it has been found that the company is trying to find out alternative networks related with assignment of staging warehouses to the distribution centres. Hence, Two-bin method can become useful for the company.

6.2 Just-in-Time Approach (HIT)

Chen ET AL. (2014) mentioned that, without any holding period or much lead time, HIT approach can help to deliver inventory to manufacturing sites within time for use. From the case study, it had been found that the new logistic manager Bob had assumed that the overall inventory turnover rate would be five per year. He also came to know that previously the company had inventory carrying cost of 18 percent based on average inventory for the year. Implementation of HIT approach can increase the inventory turnover. It in terms will reduce inventory-holding costs.

6.3 Vendor Managed Inventory 

VMI is a supply chain model, where the respective buyers provide information related with level of material to the suppliers. In this case, buyers give full responsibility to supplier to maintain the desired level of inventory (Romano 2015). By implementing this model, buyers can get many benefits. They do not have to maintain significant safety stock. In addition, it can enable buyers to gain more profit, as lower inventory is required. In order to make this model more cost effective, Johnson Skin Care Company needs to implement Warehouse Management System (EMS) or Enterprise Resource Planning (REP) system.

7.0 Network Distribution Framework

Fang ET AL. (2014) argued that, distribution framework is not only the steps in which materials can be moved from suppliers to manufacturers, but also includes steps to deliver finalized products to customers form warehouses. It has been found that distribution framework can directly influence the customer value and cost of supply chain. Hence, in order to reduce costs related with supply chain, the Johnson Skin Care company needs to focus on developing new distribution framework.

Yuan ET AL. (2015) stated that, in order to develop an appropriate distribution framework, there are some specific factors need to be considered. They are such as mode distribution, cost of transport and type of carriers. It has been found that there are mainly five modes of distribution available. They are such as air, rail, ship, motor and pipeline. It has been found that different modes of distribution have different benefits. For example, rail is most cheap and cost effective, motor is reliable, air mode is for fast and premium service, and shipping mode is used for global commerce. On the other hand, pipeline is used mainly for the distribution of fluid products.

It has been found from the case study that, the Johnson Skin Care Company mainly uses truck (motor) for product distribution. In order to increase efficiency of distribution network, the company needs to use rail and shipping carrier alongside motor carriers. In addition, the company can also use aero planes to send products swiftly to premium customers. Hence, the company needs to develop strategic plan to make effective utilisation of distribution framework and reduce the cost of distribution.

7.1 Introduction of online distribution channels 

Valid ET AL. (2015) stated that, with technological advancements, many companies are using online selling strategy to increase revenue. It has been found that major proportions of the cosmetic sales are made through online. Hence, Johnson Skin Care Company can add online distribution channel to improve its sales performance. It can provide various competitive advantage to the company such as cheaper price, customer convenience, more personalise experience and connectivity with customers from social networks.

8.0 Recommendations

The company has decided to provide three-day fulfilment cycle to all the three channels of distribution without any discrimination. However, the company itself has some confusion related with this practice. In order to maintain 20% of total average annual inventory in the warehouse of Johnson Skin Care Company, this three-day cycle is definitely triggering the high cost of capital. In recommendation, it can be suggested that,

• Johnson Skin Care Company should only use three-day cycle only for premium merchants that take huge amount of orders.
• For channels such as retail stores and convenience stores, Johnson Skin Care Company has to encourage them to examine the product level in regular basis. The company has to make these stores understand that they should make new orders before they run out of products. It can help the company to cut down the inventory storing cost drastically while making equal profit at the same time.

9.0 Conclusion 

In conclusion it can be stated that Johnson Skin Care Company is facing issues related with high cost of supply chain. It has reduced the profit margin for the organisation. In order to solve reduce the cost of supply chain; the company needs implement some major strategies. The company has to make optimisation of operation, strategic selection of suppliers and develop efficient inventory control method. The company also needs to think about pricing strategy and cost allocation framework to increase level of profitability level.</