Enhancing SME Café Sustainability through Inventory Management and Customer Retention Strategies: A SULAM Case Study

Abstract

This study examines how inventory management and customer retention strategies can enhance the sustainability of an SME café through a SULAM case study. The study adopts a qualitative case study approach using secondary data from a SULAM business advisory project involving a local food and beverage SME café in Johor, Malaysia. To protect confidentiality, the business is referred to as Café A. The study is guided by the Resource-Based View, which explains how internal resources and capabilities contribute to business sustainability. The findings reveal two main challenges faced by Café A. First, limited storage capacity and reliance on frequent small-quantity procurement increase operating costs, transportation expenses, inventory shortage risks, and exposure to price fluctuations. Second, the absence of a structured customer retention and feedback system limits the café’s ability to monitor customer satisfaction, understand customer preferences, and encourage repeat visits. The study finds that practical and low-cost strategies, such as acquiring additional freezer capacity, implementing bulk purchasing, using stock cards, introducing loyalty cards, adopting WhatsApp Business, and collecting feedback through Google Forms, can strengthen operational efficiency and customer engagement. The study also demonstrates that SULAM can serve as a meaningful platform for connecting academic learning with real SME problem-solving. Overall, this research highlights that SME café sustainability can be improved by strengthening basic internal resources and applying practical strategies suited to small business limitations.