On the Meaning of “Supply Chain” The term supply chain describes the entire process of producing, selling and handling products. Therefore, this not only includes the selling company, but also all the steps and companies involved in manufacturing, transportation, warehousing, sale and, depending on the product, perhaps even recycling. General Introduction to the Importance and Development of Supermarket Logistics Many logistics processes need to take place in order to ensure that customers can purchase thousands of different products in supermarkets. The availability of each product is obviously very important to achieving high profit margins and customer satisfaction, as customers might already be unhappy if just one product is out of stock. Therefore, complete control and knowledge of the supply chain and data on each product is essential. the product is a key factor in business success. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get an original essayIn the retail industry, many changes have been and are still taking place regarding logistical processes, in order to achieve very high product availability. According to Fernie and Sparks (2004) British manufacturers delivered their products to individual stores themselves before 1980. Since the 1980s, retailers began to build their own distribution centers, which served to merge deliveries from different manufacturers. A key change within the supply chain, as retailers have been able to organize the supply of their stores themselves and are therefore less dependent on manufacturers, as they can maintain a safety stock level for the most important in distribution centers. Distribution centers allowed retailers to have a more centralized and therefore easier overview of warehouse stock (cf. Fernie/Sparks 2004: 16). Tesco PLC also started doing this in the 1980s, where they replaced small distribution centers with larger centers that were capable of handling products with different temperature levels. Additionally, they have upgraded their delivery vehicles to ensure simultaneous transportation at different temperature levels (cf. Harrison/Van Hoek/Skipworth 2014). In 1982, Tesco PLC also introduced computerized checkouts (see Tesco PLC website 2018), which is obviously a milestone not only in terms of speed of checkouts, but also the entire checkout chain. supply in general, as it eventually allowed Tesco to directly measure its sales and therefore streamlined the entire distribution and logistics process. Since the 1990s, retailers have begun to increasingly take control of the entire supply chain/logistics processes of each product (rather than manufacturers having control) in order to achieve even greater control. best of each logistics process (this even opens up the use of just-in-time) and thus increases customer satisfaction and profit (cf. Fernie/Sparks 2004: 16-17). Such a development is visible, for example, within the structure of the German discounter “Aldi Süd”, where they today control most of the logistics processes alone. For example, they promote their products in their own flyers instead of letting manufacturers do the advertising. Without near-total control of supply chains, companies would be unable to achievecertain objectives. Such objectives are, for example, reducing delivery times, increasing the level of service or even broader objectives such as reducing C02 emissions. Tesco PLC being the largest user of biofuel in the UK directly reflects the importance of the development explained above, as they would not have achieved this status without having their own fleet of trucks which they can equip as they wish. wish (cf. Harrison/Van Hoek/Skipworth 2014). Today, many companies are trying to implement or even already implemented online stores. This obviously generates some problems, for example the need for new infrastructure to manage online orders, delivery to customers or unknown competitors who might focus only on online commerce. Tesco began selling online in 2000 with the launch of 'Tesco.com', where now over half a million customers purchase products per week (see Tesco PLC website 2018). According to Fernie and Sparks (2004), Tesco began by using its existing infrastructure to fulfill online orders. So, at first, they did not set up dedicated centers but instead used an in-store order picking system. This was particularly important when online shopping was introduced, as low customer numbers did not justify the high costs of launching dedicated fulfillment centers. Additionally, in-store picking guaranteed a shorter delivery time, since each existing store could send delivery trucks instead of sending them from a dedicated center, which would likely not be centrally located. town as were the existing Tesco stores (cf. Fernie/Sparks 2004: 18/19). With an increasing number of online customers this strategy was adapted in 2006 when Tesco launched its first distribution center entirely dedicated to fulfilling online orders. In addition to hundreds of stores with in-store order picking, there are now several “dark stores” that focus entirely on online orders (cf. Thompson 2012). The advantages of these dark stores are obviously the emphasis on online orders, since the order picking infrastructure can be automated within the stores and in addition, dedicated trucks can be used, capable of handling multiple deliveries and can therefore benefit from economies of scale. Additionally, online selling allows Tesco to analyze the entire purchasing process and gather insights into the decision-making process of customers purchasing the products online, which can then be used to optimize marketing and sales. 'supply. However, in the summer of 2018, Tesco closed its online shopping site "Tesco direct", which was used to sell non-food products, because operating costs were too high. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers.Get a custom essayAccording to Charles Wilson (former CEO of Tesco UK&ROI, 2018), Tesco instead wants to focus on an online shopping website (tesco.com) in order to offer customers the opportunity to purchase food and non-food products. on one website. He further confirmed that “this is a vital step towards establishing a more sustainable non-food offering and growing our business for the future” (cf. Rigby on internetretailing.net 2018) . This once again shows how complex online retailing can be for experienced retailers like Tesco and that effective in-store selling does not guarantee a system. 2017: 60-64).