About Metcash and its products and services

Intense competition in the market is acting as a driving force behind the companies to modify their business process. The companies are also showing extreme commitment towards ensuring smooth supply of products and services in accordance with the requirements of customers. This is the mode of generating satisfaction among the customers which is very much needed in terms of increasing statistics of sales (Christopher 2016). Present paper deals with in-depth discussion of the e-supply chain management in the context of Metcash. The first portion of the assignment deals with the supply chain strategy of Metcash. The transportation network of the company will be discussed in the paper. Brief history along with the products and service along with its key suppliers will be explored. A comprehensive diagram of the suppliers will also be presented.

Figure 1: Logo of Metcash

(Source: Metcash. 2018)

Metcash is one of the leading wholesale distribution companies In Australia with a sales of $14 billion during 2018. This also a major marketing company, serving high quality of food, liquor and multiple number of hardware. A strong basis of independent retailer is one of the most significant aspects of Metcash which are mainly family owned. Therefore, the company has become the greatest source of local employment. The fundamental aim of the company is to provide immense support to the independent retailers and thereby becoming the best store in the entire town (Metcash. 2018).

Great contribution to the diverse community is the greatest strength of the firm which is playing a key role for the firm to strengthen the local businesses. Currently, the company is also operating their business in New Zealand in its food, grocery and the hardware sector. The company has secured 25^th position in the list of top 200 companies in Australia. The total number of employees in Australia is 6378. Being the leading wholesaler in Australia, the company is extremely committed towards providing high quality of services among the customers through a strong network of potential and independent retailers (Ibisworld.com.au. 2018).   

The fundamental mission of the company is to produce high quality of food and beverage, liquor along with hardware. The company serves products in these sector. The company supports more than 1500 family owned retailers in the entire country. Metcash is gaining wide admiration for years for serving high quality of food brands. Knowledge, convenience and charm of the local stores is one of the most significant aspect of the independent retailers, controlled by Metcash. The IGA retailers are serving the products at a very low price in order to cope up with the price of every day products at the supermarket chain. Serving locally made food products is the core objective of the company (Metcash. 2018).  

Supply Chain Strategy of Metcash

Metcash is one of the largest suppliers of liquor and the second largest wholesalers across the country. There are multiple brands such as Cellarbrations,  Porters, Thirsty Camel, Big Bargain, IGA Liquor and The Bottle-O, which are being served by Metcash across 12,000 hotels in the entire nation. A strong base of independent local retailers is being controlled by Metcash in order to compete with the key rivals in the market and thereby attain sustainability from the business (Metcash. 2018). High-end hardware is also a major product served by Metcash. The company is being considered as the largest hardware group in Australia, serving hardware brands like Home Timber & Hardware, True Value Hardware and Hardings. In the case of hardware too, the company serves almost 12000 stores throughout the nation. The company is also serving the trade market with utmost proficiency.

Being the largest wholesaler of Australia, Metcash is highly committed towards attracting wide range of suppliers and thereby promote sustainable growth of their business. The company holds a strong network of suppliers in both national and international domain. G&K Fine Foods is one of the major national suppliers of Metcash, providing unique food and beverages in the nation. Henkel Australia is also a major supplier of Metcash. It has been awarded as the supplier of the year.  Excellent sales, support and innovation are some of the major aspects of Henkel Australia, for which they have acquired this award (Retail World Magazine. 2018). The suppliers of Australia are highly committed towards working efficiently with the independent retailers and intended to put extreme hard work for the sake of gaining success from business.

Being the biggest grocery wholesalers in Australia, Metcash has recently made a buying alliance with the Foodstuff of the nation in order to run their business in a cost effective manner. According to the Australian stoke exchange, the fundamental aim of Metcash behind making alliance with the biggest grocery retailer is to attain a collaborative buying power of $15 billion. Woolworths is also a major international supplier of Metcash (The Sydney Morning Herald. 2018).

Figure 2: Supply Chain diagram of Metcash

(Source: Monczka et al. 2015)

According to the supply chain diagram of Metcash, it can be said that, the company is extremely committed towards supplying their products through a strong network of distribution channel in order to satisfy the changing demand of customers. With the assistance of supply chain optimization process, Metcash is becoming able to improve their network and thus distribute their products among the end customers. This is the way, through which consistent monitoring and adjustment can also be initiated.

Transportation Network of Metcash

Production planning, material sourcing and warehouse management are some of the greatest aspects of Metcash, through which, they are ensuring smooth flow of products in a timely and cost effective manner. Streamlining the process of order submission is the core objective of the supply chain strategy of Metcash, through which they are becoming able to handle the order appropriately as per the requirements of the customers (Boonjing et al. 2015).     

Transportation is one of the key elements of Metcash, through which they are ensuring effective flow of products. This is the way, through which Metcash is generating satisfaction among the customers by providing them with high quality of products. They generally ship their products through trucks within the national boundary. Online product delivery strategy is being followed by them in order to deliver products to the customers in a timely manner. In this case also, trucks are being used by Metcash in order to reach to the customers.

In order to distribute the products across the international birder, Cargo ships are also being used by them. They pack their products in intermodal containers to ship them appropriately. This is the inexpensive mode of transporting products. However, it is a very slow process, which often makes it difficult for Metcash towards responding to the requirements of customers (Brandenburg et al. 2014). As the Air freight is one of the fastest way of shipping products, Metcash is also accessing this way. Through this way, they are shipping high dollar products to other countries. As food is one of the most important products of Metcash, with the assistance of Air freights, they are shipping fresh food products to other countries. This is the way, through which fresh food products are being kept under right temperature, which is highly significant for protecting its freshness and nutritional value (Wisner et al. 2014).

Metcash delivers their products through strong channel of independent retailers that are mostly family owned.  There are almost 10,000 retailers in the grocery, food, liquor and hardware sector of Australia, who are being served by Metcash. During 2018, the company has experienced effective financial growth in-spite of the ongoing uncertainty in the market. The profit tax of Metcash has been increased by $194.8 million, with a sustainable growth in the liquor sector. At the same time, successful acquisition with Home Timber & Hardware has also played a significant role for them to increase their statistics of profit.  

Rapid development of technology is driving the corporate entities to initiate speed in their business process. Being the largest wholesalers of Australia, Metcash is using high end technology. They have implemented strategy in terms of automating the order writing process in terms of tracking the order of the customers (Heizer et al. 2017). At the same time, Stepped-up enterprise resource planning (ERP) software has also been executed for them to manage their sales order and production for maintaining healthy relationship with the customers.  

Conclusion:

Based on the discussion, it can be concluded by saying that, strong supply chain strategy has played a significant role for strengthening the position of Metcash in the Australian wholesale market. With the assistance of strong supply chain, the organizations are becoming able to attain competitive advantage over the rivals. The company is extremely committed towards accessing a strong network of distribution to ensure effective flow of products as per the requirements of the customers. Airfreight is also being accessed by them in terms of shipping the food products by protecting their freshness and nutritional value. 

Reference List:

Christopher, M., 2016. Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK.

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Metcash. (2018). About Us – Metcash | Australia’s leading wholesale distribution and marketing company. [online] Available at: https://www.metcash.com/about-us/ [Accessed 15 Sep. 2018].

Metcash. (2018). Food – Metcash | Australia’s leading wholesale distribution and marketing company. [online] Available at: https://www.metcash.com/our-businesses/food/ [Accessed 15 Sep. 2018].

Metcash. (2018). Liquor – Metcash | Australia’s leading wholesale distribution and marketing company. [online] Available at: https://www.metcash.com/our-businesses/liquor/ [Accessed 15 Sep. 2018].

Monczka, R.M., Handfield, R.B., Giunipero, L.C. and Patterson, J.L., 2015. Purchasing and supply chain management. Cengage Learning.

Retail World Magazine. (2018). Metcash Supplier of the Year Awards – Retail World Magazine. [online] Available at: https://www.retailworldmagazine.com.au/metcash-supplier-year-awards/ [Accessed 15 Sep. 2018].

The Sydney Morning Herald. (2018). Metcash joins forces with NZ distributor. [online] Available at:https://www.smh.com.au/business/metcash-joins-forces-with-nz-distributor-20060331-gdn9yn.html [Accessed 15 Sep. 2018].