Retail Management Project

Retail Management : MKT340 Graded Project

Lesson 5 Overview

You’ll select a retailer and research, examine, and report your findings in the

following three areas:

1. Strategic analysis

2. Store layout, design, and visual merchandising

3. Internet retailing

You’ll answer a set of questions for each of the above-mentioned areas, using

the information in your textbook, information from your research, and any other

information you’ve learned to support your positions.

5.1 Prepare a report on a retailer's strategies, layout, design, visual merchandising, and internet retailing Retail Management

READING ASSIGNMENT

INSTRUCTIONS

Project Specifications

For this graded project, select a retailer that you’re interested in from the

following list:

American Eagle Outfitter Ann Taylor Apple

Autozone Bed Bath & Beyond Best Buy

Page 1Copyright Penn Foster, Inc. 2019 Course Version: 1

Costco CVS Caremark Dollar General

Family Dollar Finish Line Foot Locker

Home Depot Kohl’s Kroger

Lowe’s Macy’s Men’s Warehouse

Michaels Nordstrom Office Depot

Pep Boys PetSmart Pier 1 Imports

Ross Stores Safeway Staples

Target Tiffany & Co. Walgreens

Wet Seal Whole Foods Market Zales

You’ll prepare a paper and presentation using APA format about your chosen

retailer.

Your project will contain the following sections:

1. Title Page

2. Strategic Analysis

3. Store Layout, Design, and Visual Merchandising

4. Internet Retailing

5. Works Cited

With the exception of the title page, each section should begin on a new page

and should be labeled with the appropriate header. For example, the header for

the Strategic Analysis section would be Strategic Analysis.

The questions for each section should be typed using a word-processing

program. Each answer for that section should be labeled by its

number/designation and question and should be answered in an

essay/paragraph format.

Page 2Copyright Penn Foster, Inc. 2019 Course Version: 1

This project requires you to research your chosen retailer, and you’ll need to find,

cite, and reference a minimum of three sources of information using APA format.

Do not summarize information without giving credit to the source from which it

was drawn.

Be sure to double-space your answers with left and right margins of 1 inch, flush

left and ragged right. Use a plain 12-point font, such as Times New Roman.

Section 1: Title Page

The first section of your graded project is the title page, which requires the

following information:

Title (Retail Management)

Your name

Your student number

Graded project number: 08068700

The date

Section 2: Strategic Analysis

Research

All of the previously listed retailers are publicly held companies, meaning that you

can access financial statements and annual reports. Many reports can be found

at the SEC’s website, https://www.sec.gov (www.sec.gov/) , and annual

reports can be found online at the company’s website or by calling the company

and requesting a report be sent to you as a potential investor.

You’ll find the information you need to complete the assignment using databases

and resources, including the following:

Magazine articles, such as those in Money

Television, including channels such as MSNBC

Page 3Copyright Penn Foster, Inc. 2019 Course Version: 1

Websites such as Google Finance, CNN Money, Bloomberg, Forbes,

MarketWatch, E*TRADE, and Scottrade

Any provider of financial and industry news information, such as the Wall

Street Journal and Investor’s Business Daily

Cite and reference the original sources that your information was drawn from, not

the database where you found the source.

Questions

Answer the following questions in your project:

1. Provide a brief overview of the retail sector in which the retailer

operates.

a. What economic factors and environmental factors (if any) are affecting

the retailer?

b. What are the competitive pressures, evolving and emerging

technologies, effects of online selling, changing demographics and

buying preferences, consumer behavior issues, and image issues

affecting this retailer and how it conducts business?

2. Describe your retailer.

a. What is your retailer’s primary business?

b. What is its business model—how does it choose to operate?

c. What is its corporate strategy?

d. What are its goals?

e. How has your retailer changed and evolved over time?

f. What parts of the business are growing and generate the most

revenue?

g. How is your retailer seeking to increase revenue in the future?

3. Complete a corporate analysis.

a. Has the retailer been profitable during its last fiscal year?

b. What are its projections for the future?

Page 4Copyright Penn Foster, Inc. 2019 Course Version: 1

c. Is the retailer expanding or contracting its operations?

d. How does this retailer compare financially to other retailers in its

industry?

4. Do a financial analysis of your retailer and two to five of its top

competitors.

a. What is the revenue growth, return on assets, gross margin, net margin,

gross margin return on investment, and inventory turnover?

b. What does this analysis say about how your retailer operates and its

profitability?

c. What can your retailer do to improve its profitability?

5. Analyze the competition.

a. Who are the retailer’s competitors, both direct and indirect?

b. How does your retailer compare to these competitors in terms of its

size, market dominance/share, sales, profitability, and so on?

c. What is your retailer’s competitive strength?

d. Are there strategies that haven’t worked for the retailer?

e. What retailers have the retailer identified as competitive threats? Why?

6. Determine the retail market strategy.

a. Who is the retailer’s target audience? (Describe the audience

demographically and psychographically, if possible.) How does this

compare to the competition?

b. What image does the retailer want to convey? How does it compare to

its current image in the industry and in the minds of consumers? How

does it compare with competitors’ images?

c. How has technology affected the way the retailer conducts business?

How does it make use of the Internet, e-commerce, supply chain

management, information systems, and so on?

d. What is the retailer’s global presence and strategy? Has it been

successful? Why or why not?

e. What is the retailer’s location strategy and why?

Page 5Copyright Penn Foster, Inc. 2019 Course Version: 1

f. Describe their merchandising strategy: how they buy, what they buy,

breadth versus depth of merchandise, and so on. How is it reflected in

their financial strategy?

g. What is the retailer’s pricing strategy, and how does this affect

profitability?

h. What is the retailer’s approach to advertising and sales promotions?

Has it been effective?

i. What challenges does your retailer face in terms of the retail strategy

variables just described? Do some appear to be working better than

others?

7. Summarize your retailer’s primary strengths and weaknesses and

support your assessment.

a. What are the retailer’s largest opportunities, both now and in the future?

b. What are the retailer’s biggest challenges, both now and in the future?

How is it preparing to meet those challenges?

8. Describe what you think the future holds for this retailer.

a. If you were hired as the CEO, what specific strategies would you pursue

in the future for this retailer?

b. What opportunities would you capitalize on? Why?

Section 3: Store Layout, Design, and Visual Merchandising

Research

Go to one of the retailer’s physical locations and evaluate the store layout,

design, and visual merchandising techniques employed. Be sure to reference the

concepts you’ve learned in your chapters.

Select a particular product. (You’ll be using this product to compare with your

Internet shopping experience.) Review the next section on Internet retailing to

understand the information that will need to be gathered to complete the next

section of the research project.

Page 6Copyright Penn Foster, Inc. 2019 Course Version: 1

Questions

After you’ve done your research, explain your answers to the following questions:

1. Appearance

a. Are the store layout, design, and visual merchandising techniques used

consistent with the exterior of the store and the location? What does it

say about the type of store this is and the market it is trying to attract?

b. Is the store’s ambiance consistent with the merchandise presented and

your expectations as a customer?

c. Does the store need a face-lift, update, remodel, or renovation? What

improvements would you suggest?

2. Fixtures

a. Does the lighting highlight merchandise, structure space, capture a

mood, or downplay unwanted features?

b. Are the fixtures consistent with the merchandise and the overall

ambiance of the store?

c. What type of image do the fixtures portray?

3. Promotions

a. Does the store’s signage effectively sell merchandise?

b. Has the retailer used any theatrical effects to help sell merchandise?

c. Does the store make creative use of wall space to sell product?

d. Does the sales staff use suggestive selling?

e. Is the sales staff friendly and helpful?

f. Is the image of the staff consistent with the image of the store?

4. Layout

a. Does the store layout help draw people throughout the store? Why or

why not?

b. How does the layout facilitate purchases?

c. What type of layout is used? Would another type of layout be better?

5. Merchandising

Page 7Copyright Penn Foster, Inc. 2019 Course Version: 1

a. Has the retailer employed any techniques for achieving greater space

productivity such as using the “cube,” downsizing gondolas and racks,

minimizing no-selling space, and so on?

b. Are there any displays that increase interest in the products being

offered? If not, would you recommend any?

c. How has the retailer organized merchandise? What improvements

could be made?

6. Critique

Summarize your suggestions on how this retailer can improve the shopping

experience for its customers, increase sales, and improve its image.

Section 4: Internet Retailing

Research

Go to the retailer’s website and shop for a product. Select the product and place

it in the shopping cart. Go through the checkout procedure up to the point where

you’re asked to enter credit card or checkout information. Important: You don’t

actually need to purchase any products or services.

Questions

After you’ve done your research, answer the following questions in detail:

1. How do you compare your experience shopping on the Internet to shopping

in a local store for this type of product?

2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Internet shopping

experience?

3. Describe the Internet shopping experience using the following criteria:

Price

Suggestive selling

Website features

Page 8Copyright Penn Foster, Inc. 2019 Course Version: 1

Design of website

Ease of website use

Closing of the sale

Section 5: Works Cited Page

Be sure to include a works cited page at the end of your project. Using APA

format, include a list of all the sources you consulted. Visit Purdue Online Writing

Lab, https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/10/ (owl.english.purdue.e

du/owl/section/2/10/) APA-formatted works cited pages.

GRADING CRITERIA

The following rubric will be used to grade your project.

MKT340 Retail Management Graded Project

Skill/Grading Criteria

Exemplary (100– 90)

Proficient (89–80) Fair (79–70)

Poor or Not Evident (69–0)

Section 1: Title Page

3 points

The title page includes the following information in the following order:

Title (Retail Management) Your name Your student number Graded project number: 08068700 The date

2 points

Title page includes the following information in the following order but has minor errors:

Title (Retail Management) Your name Your student number Graded project number: 08068700 The date

1 point

Title page includes the following information with minor errors or may not be in correct order:

Title (Retail Management) Your name Your student number Graded project number: 08068700 The date

No points

The title page doesn’t include the following information in the following order:

Title (Retail Management) Your name Your student number Graded project number: 08068700 The date

Page 9Copyright Penn Foster, Inc. 2019 Course Version: 1

Section 2: Strategic Analysis

40–38 points

The student provided thoughtful and thorough responses to each of the eight questions. The student cited sources in correct APA format.

37–35 points

The student provided mostly thoughtful and thorough responses to each of the eight questions. The student cited sources in mostly correct APA format.

34–31 points

The student provided somewhat thoughtful and thorough responses to each of the eight questions. The student cited sources in mostly incorrect APA format.

30–0 points

The student didn’t provide thoughtful and thorough responses to each of the eight questions. The student didn’t cite sources in correct APA format.

Section 3: Store Layout, Design, and Visual Merchan- dising

30–28 points

The student provided thoughtful and thorough responses to each of the six questions. The student cited sources in correct APA format.

27–25 points

The student provided mostly thoughtful and thorough responses to each of the six questions. The student cited sources in mostly correct APA format.

24–21 points

The student provided somewhat thoughtful and thorough responses to each of the six questions. The student cited sources in mostly incorrect APA format.

20–0 points

The student didn’t provide thoughtful and thorough responses to each of the six questions. The student didn’t cite sources in correct APA format.

Section 4: Internet Retailing

12–11 points

The student provided thoughtful and thorough responses to each of the three questions. The student cited sources in correct APA format.

10 points

The student provided mostly thoughtful and thorough responses to each of the three questions. The student cited sources in mostly correct APA format.

9–8 points

The student provided somewhat thoughtful and thorough responses to each of the three questions. The student cited sources in mostly incorrect APA format.

7–0 points

The student did not provide thoughtful and thorough responses to each of the three questions. The student didn’t cite sources in correct APA format.

Section 5: Works Cited Page

5 points

The works cited page is well- organized, in correct APA format, and includes all the consulted and referenced sources. There are at least three citations.

4 points

The works cited page is mostly organized, in mostly correct APA format, and includes all the consulted and referenced sources. There are at least three citations.

3–2 points

The works cited page is somewhat organized, in mostly correct APA format, and includes all the consulted and referenced sources. There are fewer than three citations.

1–0

The works cited page is nonexistent, or is poorly organized, in incorrect APA format, and doesn’t include all the consulted and referenced sources. There are fewer than three citations.

Page 10Copyright Penn Foster, Inc. 2019 Course Version: 1

Written Communication

10 points

There are no or very minor errors in gram- mar spelling and mechanics The project flows well, helped by usage. Each section begins on a new page and is labeled at the beginning.

9 points

There are a few errors in grammar, spelling, and mechanics, but they don’t detract from flow of the project.

8–7 points

There are many errors in grammar, spelling, and mechanics, which detract from the flow of the project.

6–0 points

Many errors on grammar, spelling, and mechanics, which truly disrupt the flow of the project.

SUBMITTING YOUR PROJECT

Save your project as a Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) file or a Rich Text Format

(.rtf) file. Then follow these steps to submit your graded project:

1. Go to http://www.pennfoster.edu. (www.pennfoster.edu/pf-homepage/in

dex.html)

2. Log in to your student portal.

3. Click on Take Exam next to the lesson you’re working on.

4. Follow the instructions provided to complete your exam.

Be sure to keep a backup copy of any files you submit to the school.

Page 11Copyright Penn Foster, Inc. 2019 Course Version: 1