CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW

Hypermarket has been selected to study the layouts available in this industry. The idea of
everything under one rooftop, self-benefit, rebate cost and free stopping have developed
another word in the business – hypermarket. A hypermarket can be characterized as a cutting-
edge family unit retailing idea that offers a mix of retail establishment stock and foodstuffs in
wide collection, inside a store of in excess of 2,500 square meters (27,777.7 square feet) to
more than 8,000 square meters (86,000 square feet). According to Hassan (2013), there are
numerous assortments of items in hypermarkets with assorted quality and value, which has
made hypermarkets the most appealing spot to shop, particularly for basic need items.

As to upkeep the customer flow into the hypermarkets, the store layout is an essential piece of
the store atmospherics and assumes a noteworthy job in the client's store experience. According
to Inglay (2010), the store experience determines whether the clients will revisit to the store.
From a retailer's point of view, the store design decides the introduction to products and in this
way influences the odds of client purchasing the products. There is a requirement for building
up an efficient technique of design arranging in retail locations which can give an upper hand
to the retailer. Store Planning is viewed as a greater amount of a craftsmanship. Presenting a
methodical strategy in the store format arranging can make the procedure comprehensive and
acquire objectivity. The essential components in any design arranging are PQRST – Product,
Quantity, Routing, Supporting Services and Time. These are significant in hypermarket format
arranging. In any case, the implications of these components should be investigated as far as
hypermarket format requirements. Consumer discernment assumes an essential job in
consumer loyalty. The components that antagonistically impact the retail purchaser view of a
retail location arranged by significance are work force related, item and estimating related,
cleanliness related, store climate, stopping comfort and shopping accommodation [2].

According to Barghash et al (2017), he stated six types of layout typically found in this industry.
They are grid, loop, free, spine, Herringbone and geometric layout designs. A grid store layout
is an exceptionally famous outline that is commonplace to the greater part of clients. In this
grid format, apparatuses and shows are laid parallel to dividers. A grid floor plan expands every
last trace of accessible floor space, including the corners. Grid designs make it simple for store
proprietors to order. What's more, they offer a lot of end top and highlight divider introduction
for limited time things and regular items. Loop store design opens clients to each thing in plain
view. In a loop floor plan, the border dividers are utilized for item show and exceptional offers,
while the focal piece of the store can be set up in a lattice or free-flow design or some other
format varieties. A free store layout utilizes effectively changed apparatuses to draw in clients
towards stock. A spine store design depends on a solitary primary path running from the front
to the back of the store, which enables clients to transport in the two bearings [3]. On either
side of the spine, stock branch off toward the back or side dividers. A herringbone store format
incorporates paths that look like bones in a fish. This design is exceptionally good with most
extreme 40 feet width. A geometric store format utilizes racks and apparatuses to make a
fascinating and strange kind of store outline inside a little spending plan.
CHAPTER 2 BUSINESS OPERATION AND PROCESS FLOW

Figure 1 MYDIN Process flow

MYDIN is one of the largest hypermarkets in Malaysia. From a little privately-owned company
to emporium, it is presently going into the hypermarket chain framework. MYDIN isn't only a
standard contender to all neighborhood retailing organizations. Other enormous players in the
neighborhood retail industry are possessed by outside elements, for example, Carrefour, Aeon,
Tesco and Giant. According to Muhammad et al. (2011), these remote claimed megastores can't
treat the presence of MYDIN daintily and must acknowledge that MYDIN is a forceful and
dynamic neighborhood retailer that is gradually disintegrating their piece of the pie in the retail
business.

Today, MYDIN is known to Malaysians not just for its esteem for cash stock, however has a
top-notch mark among clients and neighborhood makers. The neighborhood producers have
discovered a favorable and proper road to channel their items. The organization began with a
modest start. A long time before the freedom of Malaya in 1940, a vendor by the name of
Mydin Mohamed began a private venture in Penang offering stock and toys to clients in the
close-by neighborhood of Georgetown. Detecting an opportunity in the east drift coming about
because of inflow of merchandise from the neighboring country Thailand, MYDIN moved to
Kelantan to set up his first shop in the year the Malaysia gained its independence, 1957. The
year 1979, 20 years after Syarikat Mydin Mohamed was shaped in Kota Bharu, Kelantan by
Mr Mydin Mohamed, his oldest child, Tuan Murad Ali proceeded to fire up a part of Syarikat
Mydin Mohamed in a neighboring province of Kuala Terengganu, denoting another turning
point in the privately-run company's development plan. For the network of Kelantan and
Terengganu, MYDIN has set up itself to be a solid and dependable brand, or, in other words
their heart, offering an assortment of stock at moderate costs [4]. Regardless of having two
branches in two distinctive east drift states, MYDIN remained broadly mainstream just in the
east drift. It took an additional ten years previously they chose to dare to a more jammed city
in the west drift state, Kuala Lumpur for their third branch in year 1989. It was an earth-
shattering takeoff regarding a move in area aggressive elements as MYDIN adventure past its
natural foundation of the east drift to demonstrate its backbone against bigger retailers in the
developing city. MYDIN's significant impediment is the frequently limited definition and
naming of ''Muslim Goods''. Its necessities to split far from the generalization and urge non-
Muslim shoppers to buy products in a ''Muslim''store. The name MYDIN, itself, indicates a
Muslim outlet. Occasionally completes one see a non-Muslim customer shop in MYDIN. This
discernment alone frustrates MYDIN the chance to expand their objective market. With buying
power laying for the most part on non-Muslims (generally Chinese minorities), MYDIN needed
to break positions with religious and racial boundaries inalienable in Malaysia's way of life.
Today, MYDIN Holdings is the glad proprietor of a few structures in Jalan Masjid India that
houses the store. Anyone shopping there will incorporate MYDIN as their most loved shopping
goal. Throughout the years, the little family exchanging organization has developed into a
mammoth retailer with incomes achieving RM 1 billion out of 2007. They have a dependable
client base comprising of the different races that exist amicably in this nation and who consider
MYDIN to be their elective shopping goal for their day by day necessities. This noteworthy
outcome won't have emerged without the bent, administration and the capability of Dato'
Ameer Ali from his long stretches of working in the keeping money segment, in this manner
making ready for him to be a pioneer in the retailing business [5].

Furthermore, MYDIN's accentuation on mass purchasing and mass offering additionally have
a positive effect in their support. Hypermarkets have an infamous notoriety of uprooting little
time organizations from every global market. In Malaysia, little food merchants, handyman
shops, stationery shops, garments boutiques and other medium scale undertakings assume a
vital job in prodding enterprise movement. MYDIN's reasoning in supporting these nearby
organizations, through their estimating plans, enhances MYDIN's social duty in setting the soul
of enterprise. Alluding to MYDIN's hypermarket's prosperity, Dato' Ameer Ali characteristics
the general achievement to the uniqueness of its business design; an organization that is
essentially (if not by any stretch of the imagination) concentrated on the value structure.
Customers today are exceptionally touchy to value variances and they need items that have an
incentive for cash. This powerful promoting technique mirrors his ability in being a market-
driven pioneer who comprehends customers' needs and needs and obliges to fulfill them
utilizing MYDIN's key showcasing approach. Mydin Mohamed Holdings Bhd., under the
administration of Dato' Ameer Ali, has numerous developments intends to execute. Among
them is an arrangement is to assemble eight more hypermarkets, which will be spread
everywhere throughout the nation. This is one of his corporate dreams. He emphatically trusts
that having the organization run professionally and with his relatives in charge in the HQ,
incorporated basic leadership powers is the best way to guarantee MYDIN's development and
along these lines empowering higher execution [4].

In MYDIN, they have a similar process flow as in other hypermarkets. MYDIN has a fixed list
of suppliers for variety types of products. As above, their headquarters will be having the
central control of all the supply chain management. As in Figure 1, once each point-of-sale
submit their sale volume daily, the headquarter will quickly analyse and plan the subsequent
stocking plan. Then, they will place order and payment to the suppliers. After this, the suppliers
will deliver the goods to the specific MYDIN stores in Malaysia.
CHAPTER 3 TYPE OF LAYOUTS IN MYDIN

Figure 2 Typical layout in MYDIN hypermarket

Figure 2 shows the typical layout used in MYDIN hypermarket. We can observe there is one
entrance at the leftmost of the figure. As we simulate the path of the customer, we can notice
the various sections of the hypermarket are separated into two sides of this layout. As the
customer enters, he can see health, beauty, electrical, dining, homeware, toys and clothing
products at the left until the end. Whereas the customer can find most of the grocery goods at
the right side, such as frozen foods, dairy, meat, fish, fresh produce and others. As the customer
walk until the end of the store, he will be led to turn right where there are bakeries, Uncle Lim’s
café, fast food corner and toilet. After that, one row of cashier counters is at the right of the
customer before leaving the MYDIN hypermarket. Based on the literature review done, the
layout used by MYDIN hypermarket can be deduced to be a spine layout.
CHAPTER 4 IDENTIFICATION AND ASSESMENT OF THE LAYOUT

Based on the figure 2, the MYDIN hypermarket make use of the spine layout to enable clients
to see stock effectively. This format increment drive purchasing in light of the fact that since
the store is all the more free streaming, clients meander and discover things they wouldn't
purchase more often than not. However, this layout might not be as efficient as applied in a
small store according to the studies done. Since MYDIN hypermarket is a big store which
having not only grocery products but also the bakery, café, apparel and many other products
under one roof, having very specific cell along the only one main aisle might not be as efficient
as everyone thought. Customers might feel the difficulty in the browsing activity as the whole
layout appears as a L spine, which one who wanted to get to bakery from entrance have to walk
along the long path as crossing shortcut through the smaller aisles along the sections might not
shorten the travel distance anyway. Apart from the travel distance issue faced by the customers,
this format design may also cause the inefficient of workers when they have to replenish the
stocks on shelf. Movement of big shelf trolley might be restricted to only at the main L shaped
pathway as it cannot passes through the smaller aisles. In addition, MYDIN hypermarket may
also need to buy different sizes of such trolleys to assist the workers’ daily routine. This is
limiting the productivity of the inventory replenishment. Besides, having thought that
customers might come in empty stomach, hence the current location of the bakery and café
might be too far to exercise its function to keep this group of customers. Next, it is also noted
that the cashiers’ counters are very close to the product shelfs behind them. This become a
problem especially during the peak hour in this hypermarket. As queue becoming long and
long, queueing customers could block other customers who wanted to browse the section
nearby to the payment counters. In contrast, it is noticed that the pharmacy and health and
wellbeing sections are next to each other near to the entrance. This should be welcomed by the
customers who visit the market only to buy pharmaceutical or relevant products. This could
shorten their travel time to the unnecessary items. Moreover, the location of the Food to go
section right next to the checkout counters also encourage the customers to grab them who may
feels hungry after a long walk in the shopping premise. This promotes the impulse buying to
the customers just before they ready to leave the MYDIN hypermarket. Besides, the location
of the fresh produces, meats and fish section which are near to the checkout counters is
considered strategic as the customers not only able to grab them right before payment to go
home but MYDIN hypermarket able to maximise the exposure of their products to the
customers. Consequently, the problems that found to be not maximizing the efficiency of this
hypermarket are the one directional L spine, location of eateries, and the distance between
product shelves and payment counters.
CHAPTER 5 PROPOSE ALTERNATE LAYOUT

Figure 3 Proposed alternative layout

The figure 3 shows the proposed alternative layout that should be able to solve the problems
encountered in the existing layout design applied by MYDIN hypermarket. Firstly, it is the
relocation of bakery and Uncle Lim’s café from the furthest location from entrance to just next
to it. Whereas the beauty and wellbeing as well as beauty and personal care will be placed
closer to the checkout counters. This is to ensure that this group of “empty stomach” customers
will stay and take their meals then continuing their shopping journey in MYDIN hypermarket.
Moreover, it is also to ensure that fresh meat and fish from MYDIN itself will be served in the
café, this is to promote the customers to further get them in the fresh section later. Then, the
spine layout will be modified to a hybrid layout by having not only the one very defined main
aisle in the store but a racetrack-like main path. Instead, the customers can opt to go straight to
the payment counter from the entrance. This also provide a loop arrangement in this layout.
This promotes the wandering of customers around the store, improving the shopping
experience, maximizing their browsing of products throughout the store as they do not have to
travel long way to back to the first point. Hence, the customer path will not as be defined as
before. Then, the gap between smaller aisles will also be improved to tolerate the use of big
shelf trolley for stock replacement by market’s staff. This in turn improving their work
efficiency. Besides that, the number of payment counters will be increased and their distance
between the product shelves will become further than existing layout. This is to ensure there
are sufficient room for a long queue and more counters to cater the peak season in this
hypermarket. In a nutshell, it is suggested to apply the loop and grid layout on top of the spine
layout in the MYDIN hypermarket in order to maximise its efficiency.
CHAPTER 6 THE BENEFITS OF PROPOSED LAYOUT
Besides to solve the problems as presented in previous question, this proposed alternative
layout is having more benefits. The switching between the café and bakery with the health and
personal care sections will also allow more potential purchases from the customers as they can
see many more offers along the way to theses sections. This is because health and personal care
that consists of shampoo, body wash, facial cleanser and many others are considered the
essential toiletries. In other words, this boost the sales and increase the gains. Besides that, once
the distance between product shelves and checkout counters become further away, MYDIN
hypermarket can place some delicatessen along that path. This can induce some impulse buying
to the customers and thus boost the profitability. Moreover, since the L shaped passageway has
been modified into a loop way, the customer traffic pattern is more predictable. Hence, MYDIN
hypermarket can analyze and put suitable promotional items such as food samples, product
demonstration and free-floating displays along the path. This is because we are almost assured
that customers will pass by that way before they head for their essential buying items. This also
improve the exposure of new and non-essential products to the clients. On the other hand, the
ends of the aisles surrounding the central area may also place some endcap display. Endcap
display can be the promotional items or to highlight the lowest price from the items of the
particular shelf. This is able to attract the customer and most probably they will stop to take a
look on the items offered. This is then perceived to give a competitive advantage to these
particular products. Therefore, we may expect that the products placed here will be sold off
faster than anywhere else. Then, the replenishment of them can also be done easily as they are
not between the smaller aisles, leading to a higher productivity and maximizing the
profitability. Moreover, these sections can also be leased to third party supplier. Then, they
might be sending their own promoter to the store for the promotion of this specific product.
Therefore, MYDIN hypermarket can save on the cost in having manpower to do any promotion
as they will be done by the supplier themselves. In conclusion, the changes proposed in this
alternative layout not only take away the problems noticed but also provide additional benefits
such as higher exposure of products to customers, more defined customer flow for better store
marketing plan and lower promotional budget but higher gain.

(2946 words)
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