Loblaw Companies Limited is a subsidiary of George Weston. The company distributes: food products, general merchandise, drugs, and financial services through retail, wholesale, and discount stores. It is headquartered in Toronto. * Employee Amount: 139 thousand 1. Present Situation of the company (financial results, trends, etc. - whatever you feel is important) * Loblaw has a strong portfolio of private label brands which provides a margin advantage. However, a substantial portion of annual revenues are derived from its franchisees. The company has no control over franchise’s business operation which may impact the company’s future revenue growth.
Strengths
* Loblaw has a strong portfolio control on private label products (5700) in various categories. (President’s Choice, Organics PC, Blue Menu PC, Joe) * A strong portfolio of control on label products enables Loblaw to offer cheaper price points which enhances customer loyalty and provides a competitive price advantage to the company. It also provide better margin that result a higher profits. * According to Data-monitor, President’s Choice was recognized as the number 1 consumer packaged brands based on revenue.
Weaknesses
* A majority of Loblaw’s workforce is unionized. Due to this situation, the company has to renegotiate collective labour agreements periodically. For the long run, this will result in work stoppage and slowdown that will further impact the company’s financial performance. A majority of Loblaw’s competitors operate in a non-union environment, which helps them to benefit from lower labour costs and efficient operations. * According to Data-monitor, Loblaw currently has a complex business process and poor IT (information technology) system. The IT systems are out-dated and do not support the current business processes. Poor IT systems have resulted in excessive workloads and too many errors.
Threats
* Like most businesses, Loblaw’s