How to Successfully Set Up an Online Sales and Delivery Service for Wholesome Ltd.

Planning and Decision Making Process

You are required to work in pairs to answer the following. Please limit your answers to the categories listed below.

Wholesome Ltd. is a natural products retailing company that operates an organic store located in Maida Vale, London. It sells a wide range of organic products such as health and wellbeing, skin care and beauty, and food and drinks. It also serves a selection of freshly prepared lunches at the in-store deli counter. The lunches are prepared on site, in the shop’s kitchen. Over the past 18 months, the company’s profitability has suffered greatly as a result of operating at reduced capacity - sales across all product ranges were down by at least 5%, with ‘food and drinks’ suffering the least decline. This was due to their local customers remaining loyal during the pandemic.

After a year and a half of uncertainty and financial worry, management is reviewing its business strategy. They recognise the need for technological adaption as this will develop their capacity to reach their target market without a physical presence. As a result, they want to expand their operations and customer base by offering an online sales and delivery service. They are considering developing an online platform (with all management and support tasks dealt with in-house), investing in vans and employing drivers to ensure a robust delivery network.

Required:

Assuming the role of the company’s management accountant, you have been invited to write a detailed report on how the company might be able to successfully set up an online sales and delivery service.

When writing your report, you should consider the following:

1. Your report should take both an inward and an outward looking stance and set out key aspects of the planning, decision making and control process to implement the company’s new strategy.

2. In identifying your targets/objectives, you should include financial and non-financial targets/objectives. When listing the activities that the company might carry out in each of the stages of planning, and decision making, explain and give specific examples on how management
accounting may help in directing attention, keeping the score or solving problems.

3. You report should propose control systems to be set up to monitor the implementation of the decision and compare actual targets with planned ones.