Dollar General Store
Introduction
The mission of Dollar General Store to their “customers is a better life”, their “strategy; a customer-driven distributor of consumable basics”, their “niche; profitable small stores delivering convenience and value” (Dollar General Corporation, 2008a).
A better life refers to the fact that the company offers the most popular brands of consumable basics such as; laundry detergent, toilet paper, soap, shampoo, socks and underwear to name a few, at a low price, 30% of the products are $1.00 or less (Keegan, 2005).
The company has targeted the small rural areas that are not normally served by larger retailers and the customer focus is on low, middle, and fixed income households. The store accepts cash, checks, PIN-based debit cards, and Visa, Discover, EBT (electronic benefits transfer) and food stamp benefits (Dollar General Corporation, 2008b, ¶ 6). The store offers quality products as well as their own private label, Clover Valley, whose intent is on saving the consumer money (Dollar General Corporation, 2008b, ¶ 4).
Dollar General Store has kept their store sizes small compared to those of Wal-Mart, only 9,000 square feet. The company currently has over 8,000 stores in 35 states with reported sales in fiscal year 2007 at $9.5 billion. Dollar General Store currently offers over 5,400 core products from America’s most trusted manufacturers, such as, Procter & Gamble, Kimberly Clark, Unilever, Kellogg’s, General Mills and Nabisco (Dollar General Corporation, 2008c).
One of the most admirable things that Dollar General Store