In 1971 , the original Cataracts opened in Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington y three partners named Jerry Baldwin, Cave Siegel, and Gordon Booker. Their focus was to sell coffee beans and equipment. They purchased green coffee beans from Pet’s, a specialty coffee roaster and retailer, during their first year of operation. Later, they began buying coffee beans directly from the growers. In 1983, an entrepreneur by the name of Howard Schultz joined the company; Schultz felt that the company should sell coffee and espresso drinks as well as coffee beans.
The partners felt that selling coffee and espresso drinks would take away from their primary focus of selling coffee beans. Since the idea did tot work, Schultz started his own company called II Georgian coffee bar chain in 1985. In 1987, the original owners of Cataracts sold their chain to Schultz II Georgian. Schultz changed II Georgian outlets to Cataracts chains and quickly began to expand. Cataracts primarily operates and competes in the retail coffee and snacks store industry. Singapore is the third international country outside North America alongside Japan to introduce Cataracts.
The first outlet opened at Lilt Towers on 14 December 1996, serving the entire stretch of Orchard Road. Today, there are over 84 outlets spread across the country, has its own Singapore Bessie and a Faceable page. It is one of the biggest and most well-known coffee outlets in Singapore. The nature of coffee and the entire cafe© industry in Singapore is one that has been growing and it still is due to rising demands. Competitors like Coffee Bean and ETC, price their products similarly to Cataracts’ Price Strategies Prestige Pricing 2.
The Information System Transaction processing system Transaction processing system is the most widely used information system in businesses. The main purpose of it is to record the data related to the business transactions made with other parties. When used in Cataracts, it helps to record every the sales, costs of goods sold and wastage. The only transaction processing system that Cataracts uses would be the Point-of-sales (POS) machine. Supply chain management system Supply chain management system’s main purpose is to provide information to support the supply chain processes.
The term “supply chain” refers to the sequence of activities made in producing and selling a product or service. Organizations that utilizes supply chain managements would be able to access important information such as production costs and number of employees on tanned thus allowing the organizations to make effective decisions with its staff. Cataracts would be able to properly assign the staff into various stations meant for different drinks. Customer relationship management system Customer relationships managements help manage the organization’s relationship with its customers.
They can go from as simple as simple customer record maintenance solutions to refined systems for collecting and evaluating online transaction data. Cataracts uses Faceable to communicate with its customers and allows its customers to provide feedback to them via social media. Another way Cataracts uses customer relationship management would be the Cataracts membership card whereby members would receive updates about new drinks and deals via email. Decision support system Decision support systems help managers and executives in decision making that are knowledge-intensive.
It relies on models to help guide decisions and find answers to hypothetical questions. It can be used to come up with precautionary steps to prevent anything bad from happening such as accidents that might result into lawsuits. It can be used to ensure that no accidents were to happen in he cafe©. 3. How information system is benefiting the end-users and Is-related enhancements, which may enhance the organization’s ” value chain” Transaction processing System The key in having an efficient POS is vital in Stardust’s role in appealing to business personnel and students who frequent it for the beverages.
It reduces the time consuming aspect of having to make payments in the counter while recording the product sold for the company’s reference. The POS can record the data and collate it while operators need only to key in the details of the sales as the customer makes payment. This reduces length of queues and assures that Cataracts remain efficient and competitive with regards to the provision systematic and pleasant services for customers.
While Stardust’s direct competitors have implemented a POS system, having them is vital or Stardust’s survival in the market as it allows Cataracts to remain neck and neck in the efficiency in providing services. Cataracts is known to have utilized a wide variety of social media and multimedia to reach out to consumers. Such a strategy is important as it allows Cataracts to maintain relations with its customers through providing them with latest information and events, such as the introduction of a new brew of coffee or a new limited time beverage that might pique interests of customers.
The use of social media also helps Cataracts gather reviews from its customers and understand the customer base better. This is important to Cataracts who has several close competitors such as Gloria Jeans Coffee, and Coffee bean & Tea leaf. In such a market, branding and customer loyalty is key, active reliance on social media allows Cataracts to become more personal in the provision of its services to its customers. Membership card system bolsters the strategy, by providing hem with additional benefits while purchasing coffee in Cataracts as opposed to other brands.
This plays an important role in retaining customers, especially in areas where its competitors are close to one of its outlets. Cataracts also has its own website that provides further information about the company while providing the location of its outlets and other relevant info. It allows potential customers to locate its outlets and know more about the company, thereby allowing them to become closer to the company. WIFE Customers have access to Cataracts WIFE, allowing easy access to the internet whenever they are in the outlet.
The coffee culture, while hastened by the pace of the society, is still slow, there are those who prefer to savor the beverage at their own pace. Easy access to the internet is vital to capture these niche groups of customers as they may go about doing their work or study while drinking their drinks. In this case Cataracts has an edge over some of its competitors as they may not provide this service. However in this day and age, provision of WIFE in outlets are becoming less expensive, Cataracts may need to further enhance this service or to increase more means to attract customers.
Supply Chain Management Cataracts use of supply management software such as High jump (2) ensures both efficiency and competency in the procurement of its raw materials and processed goods. It helps to track the inventory’s progress, worker’s productivity and more information in Cataracts, allowing the company to achieve greater efficiency with regards to the logistics aspect. This reduces time for preparations and more time for servicing and attending to orders from the customers. Less workers needed to be employed for the recording of such information, reducing costs in this aspect.
To maintain its competitive edge over the competitors, Cataracts ensures that the software it uses has the relevant functions to help in organizing such data. Most Supply Chain managements also include demand forecasting, this allows Cataracts to gauge the amount of inventory to purchase, this is based off statistical data which is more reliable, accountable and less prone to human errors, cutting losses incurred due to callous predictions made by workers. Machinery Cataracts utilizes cutting edge technology to brew its coffee. Allowing them to brew coffee at a precise temperature (1).
This ensures quality in their products, ND that the quality of their products can be maintained easily. Training baristas to use the technology would be quicker and simpler, this allows Cataracts to employ more baristas as it expands its business, cutting costs in the process. Hence Cataracts can remain competitive in the market. Decision support system: Cataracts uses the Oracle software for its Decision support system. Simple decision making based off statistical information gathered from the sales, and other business data aids the company in becoming quicker to respond to changes.
It quickens the pace of decision making and ensures hat standardization is maintained. This increases efficiency, saves time for the company while freeing more important time for more dynamic decision making by the staffs and managers. The efficiency and quickness in responding keeps Cataracts ahead in the market as more can be planned and executed within a short time.
