Operations blueprint

To visualise better how RF’s Bookstore will achieve the goal of sustainability I’ll a word representation my operation blueprint. Operations blueprint is a way to forecast the workflow in a organisation. Starting from 8am to 12:30pm and from 1: 30pm to 10pm the morning team will be asked to arrive at 7h30 to leave them the time to put the system on and preparing their workplace and the room. Only two of them will be requested for the opening and a waiter will arrive one hour after to start his morning shift. A barista (with serving it right) and a book clerk both owning a cash handling post. Before the afternoon shift they will be in charge of closing their stations noticing every lack of products or information the afternoon team will have to use. The afternoon team, one barista, one bartender (with serving it right), one book clerk and a waiter. Each of them also given with cash handling posts. for the closing only the bartender and the book clerk will be requested. They will be in charge of the cleaning and the last inventory. A manager will be in charge of the stock, the relationships with the suppliers, the training of new employee and the overall customer service experience.  

Customer Service and Challenges

RF’s Bookstore being a retail project, delivering effective customer service is a priority. Handling related challenges will be crucial for the sustainability of the project because it is directly linked to the quality that I need to deliver in order to create a good reputation and loyalty. those challenges can be about internal and external customer. 

In terms of customer service challenges for internal customer service there is one question that is crucial if I want the employee to be satisfied with their position : How do I keep them passionated? 

First they are the ones directly in contact with the customer and the store facilities. I need to give them the tools to do their job with the idea of exceeding expectations. With that objective in mind I will use first a good communication. Not only with the employer or manager but also between them. « Every employee should be accessible to each other » (MSG Experts). The idea here is that as a team we should work together in order to create something that the employee will also be proud of. This theory will also be useful in terms of empowerment :  an employee will feel respected if he can talk to someone about a situation and that I make everything in my power to resolve or improve the system in place. 

Another internal customer service challenge will be to keep the employee passionated. RF’s bookstore proposing three area (books, warm drinks, alcoholic beverage) there is a lot to be passionated about. In order to do that I plan to create with them goals to achieve, encourage them to propose new products or to invite new speakers. 

In terms of external customer service the main challenges can be problems related to products, response time and quality of the services. To overcome those problems first and more important of all, I will keep my employee trained so they can answer or by the policies or by their own judgement to the customer concern. It will insure service quality. In terms of concern directly related to the quality of the product I will as Neil Kokemuller recommends, « back every one of my services with guaranteed satisfaction or equal commitment. »  This theory means for RF’s Bookstore return policy for the books, discount for the drinks or invitation to events.  And of course the creation of a customer loyalty program. 

References: 

MSG Experts, Employee Relationship Management. Retrieved from http://www.managementstudyguide.com/employee-relationship-management.htm

Kokemuller, N. (n.d.). What is external Customer Service? Retrieved from http://work.chron.com/external-customer-service-6662.html 

Market Strategy Analysis & Target Customer Profile

To be able to create a tailored experience a project have to focus on a target consumer profile. 

My first focus will be college graduated adults. « Separately, the results show that the more highly educated the respondents, the more likely they are to have read a book, with a similar positive correlation evident with income »(MarketingCharts staff, 2016).

Another reason is that if I plan on proposing alcohol I will have to focus on the legal age.

So the project is to offer primarily print books since « print books remain much more popular than other format » (Andrew Perrin, 2016, p2). Another reason to that is that it is the biggest market share because « nearly four-in-ten Americans read print books exclusively » (Andrew Perrin, 2016, p4). 

About the age I will focus on young adults who are more likely to read than older (Andrew Perrin, 2016). I will also have to be aware that « Women are more likely than men to read books in general and also more likely to read print books » (Andrew Perrin, 2016, p5). 

To be able to target them the project is to create a cosy, casual but fancy environment. The project also includes a culture a warm drinks and alcohol in which they will be able to get interested. since we are focusing on wealthier people I will also provide professional excellent customer service more likely to tends to their request and needs. The customer service representative are going to be trained to answer precise questions about every services the project is offering. 

Reference :



Pew Research Center, September 2016, “Book Reading 2016”. Retrieved June, from http://www.pewinternet.org/files/2016/08/PI_2016.09.01_Book-Reading_FINAL.pdf


MarketingCharts staff (2016, September 12). Who reads books in the Us ? . Retrieved June 28, 2017, from http://www.marketingcharts.com/traditional/who-reads-books-in-the-us-70503/

Store lifecycle

A store lifecycle includes every aspects including every steps before the opening to the progress of the company for the viability and his sustainability. 

First for a project like mine it is crucial to find an appropriate location. It need to be large enough to host a sitting area, a bookshelves area and a bar area. With the location appears the first stakeholders. If a rent is chosen it is going to be a landlord. If the purchase of a location is chosen the shareholder will be the bank or the partners who provide the money. 

Then to be able to have my products I will need suppliers. One for the coffee, one for the alcohol area and one for the books area. I will also need to think about the technical part witch is going to include suppliers for the machine used and their maintenance. 

To be prepared for the opening i will need a capital new stakeholders : the employees. The last one will be the stakeholders in charge of the communication. A creation of a website will require a web designer. Those elements reunited the opening phase can run through. 

Then when the projects his on his progress, viability phase and since The projects includes events, new stakeholders will appear. The guests and the customer. 

All of the previously mentioned aspects will take part in the finality of the projects : his sustainability. 

Competitive Analysis

Vancouver propose two archetypes of bookstores: the franchised modern bookstore represented by Indigo and the little family owned store represented by Macleod’s books. 

Indigo is modern, they use informatics efficiently to research or commands books directly in the store. they have a wide selection of recent best sellers and more classics books. They are the biggest part of the market since they have a large clientele target, the ability to order a lot of books from their many suppliers and stores in the entire Canada. They also have a website supported by their budget and a few really active social media account witch are also used for customer service. Their strengths is that they are already expended, their known for offering many services. It’s a company also having partnership with other big company. For exemple their store on Granville and Broadway also host a Starbuck coffee shop. Meanwhile we can describe their clientele as beginners oriented or even people coming for the home furnitures they are also selling. Because their well known they also have to respect a certain degree of political correctness and transparency that can create additional time, budget or just a small contraint in the image of their stores. 

Macleod’s books represents the little family owned bookstore.Their clientele is more aficionado oriented. They have a plurality of books too but more old pieces the collector are looking for and ready to pay a good price for it. Their market share is the smallest one since they are more a loyal customer oriented store and their new customer are mainly obtained by word of mouth. To merge with their clientele their services are also really casual, friendly and tend to tailor every experiences. 

However they rarely have a website witch is crucial in the 21th century. They have smaller stores. They also use their owned inventory system that can make the research harder and they can lack of tidiness. 

My project will be focused on using both of their strengths allowing me to counter their weaknesses. 

By having a big cosy store with seats I will be able to support a big clientele. I also plan to have suppliers for my bookshelves but also a rent, sales and buy area so I also offer older rarer books. Those two point are targeted to have a big clientele target. Then my customer service is going to be in store with passionated well-trained employee able to help you and and informatics part offering faster research options. To finish my loyalty plan is the choice of warm and cold drinks such as alcohol. An event planning section will also be on the program. 

References : 

Indigo. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/

Yelp Rewiews. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.yelp.ca/biz/macleods-books-vancouver

Mission statement

I am Rodrigo, 20 years old French guy currently living in Vancouver. 

As my first name  indicate I am also Brazilian although I do not speak portuguese because I have been adopted at a very young age. Like a french cliché I am in found of food, wine, coffee and literature. You will see that my project is actually linked to those passion.