The Grocery Store

To engage attention, increase interest, and establish the purpose of the task, after reading the story of Mateo’s Grocery Store, some questions are asked.
Guide questions:

• How long has Mateo’s grocery store been around?
• Have there always been stores in the town?
• Do we know if anything existed before Mateo’s store?

After working on the history of Ultramarinos Mateo, two activities are proposed:

1.1. Individual work: Conduct a short research project (asking family members and walking around town) in your neighborhood, answering three questions:

• What types of businesses are there in my town or neighborhood?
• How many businesses have closed in your neighborhood or town? What types were they?
• What types of businesses are left?

2.2. Class group work, commenting on and explaining the answers with the help of the teacher. Contributions can be collected from students whose families own a business and discussing their importance in the local environment.
Each group will summarize the information and make a map of the businesses in their town or neighborhood. The map will show both businesses that are operating and those that are closed. Photos and additional information about the business (type of business, open or closed, opening and closing dates) can be added to the map.

Using the completed map of the town or neighborhood’s commerce as a reference, conduct a small field study to complete the information on the map. Focusing on your neighborhood or town, we propose gathering information to complete the map created in the . To carry out this activity, we will use the following script:

Teamwork to collect the “Field Study Report” with the help of the teacher. To complete this study report, we propose a script.

Group work in class, commenting on and explaining the information collected to draw some relevant conclusions, which are included in the field study report, under the guidance of the teacher.

Taking into account the area’s retail map and the “Field Study Report”, which is collected through direct observation and surveys conducted with the teacher’s help, we will decide the location of the retail store and the type of store we want to open. To do this, we propose the following activities.

Teamwork To make an informed decision, the group will have to agree on the following aspects:

• • Perform a decision-making exercise: Some activities can be carried out to help decide on the type of store, taking its function as a reference. “Varied tasks for activities”
  • Decide on the type of business. Each group member will present their proposal, which they will need to justify taking into account the following points:
    • Why is my business suitable for this area?
    • What does my business offer to the area?
    • What type of customers would come to my business?
    • What are the chances of success of my proposal?
  • Decide on the location of the business using the map made earlier and taking into account aspects such as traffic in the area, the characteristics of the premises, possible rental or purchase costs, etc. With the help of the teacher, we will decide on the location.
  • Decide on the location Group trade. Taking five aspects into account, each member of the group will evaluate all the proposals, which they will share with the rest of the group. The trade with the highest rating will be the one proposed by the group. Each aspect will be scored from 1 to 4, and the total will be calculated to obtain the result. “Evaluation of the business proposal”

Group work in class, discussing and explaining the proposed proposals. The location of our new business will be marked on the map of the business to locate and position it.

• • Stakeholder group in the area. We will call the school or interview between 4 and 6 people who could be potential customers of the businesses, and we will present the different business proposals to them. The invited participants will assess the proposals, indicating their suitability.
  • With the help of teachers, the assessment received from the interviewed group will be compiled in “Trade Proposal”, and the proposals’ strengths and weaknesses will be identified.

This activity aims to help us consider several aspects for starting up the store, and to plan organizational and financial matters for the store to operate. Therefore, we will have to answer some of the questions posed here.

Teamwork

• How much does the rent for the premises, electricity, and water, etc., cost? In the group, we will make a list of possible expenses incurred when starting up the store.
• Do I need to hire someone for the store? As a group, we will explore the possibility of hiring someone to help us run the store.
• What products do I sell and at what price? List of the products I sell and the price at which I buy them and the price at which I sell them. What would my profit margin be to pay the bills and earn one or more salaries?
• How many days and hours should I open the store? List of products I sell and the price at which I buy them and the price at which I sell them.

To carry out these activities, with the help of the teacher, we can use these templates.

Proposal for opening a retail space. Marketing and customer acquisition, and relationships with suppliers, promoting the innovative aspects of your business.

You must choose your target customer, the group or groups you want to target as a priority, and then tailor your marketing actions to their characteristics and consumer behavior. Remember that the market increasingly demands greater specialization, and a good way to do this is to specialize in a specific type of customer.

The best methodology you can use is to define your buyer persona, a representation of your ideal customer in which you analyze their demographic, sociological, and behavioral profile. It is a very useful exercise for delving deeper into their purchasing motivations and will help you empathize and connect with the customer, always knowing what they need and how we can help them.

Teamwork
Designing a marketing campaign where, through different proposals such as posters, brochures, videos, and advertising spots, the name of the business, the type of business, etc., are captured and explained. To achieve this, in addition to the name, a slogan referring to our business can be thought of. The objective would be to hypothetically disseminate it through social media, the press, the media, etc.

Group work in class
The work carried out through different advertising and marketing proposals will be presented at the cycle or level through a presentation.

In this final activity, we will attempt to compile all the documents created in the seven activities into a portfolio. This document will include a section where the final conclusions and lessons learned from this learning situation will be recorded.

Teamwork
With all the documents created in the seven activities, a portfolio will be created. This portfolio will draw conclusions about the practice and lessons learned by answering the following questions: Is the proposed business viable? What added value does the proposal have? What lessons have we learned? With the teacher’s help, we will compile the conclusions in a document.

Groupwork in class
The work completed will be presented through a presentation at the cycle or level through different portfolios, and the conclusions drawn will be highlighted.