SuperHumanAlpacaPerson578
) On the topic of unplanned and planned retail locations, please…
) On the topic of unplanned and planned retail locations, please watch the following
video and answer the questions below:
a) In the early 1960s, a bridge was built linking downtown Seattle to Redmond.
This caused an influx of residents into which of these two cities?
b) Describe traditional main streets, and how they changed once they grew
within suburban areas. Then, describe how suburban main streets changed again.
c) Describe two ways in which lifestyle centers differ from main streets or
shopping malls.
2) On the topic of shopping malls, please read the following article and answer the
questions below: https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/23/business/mall-of-america-health-
clinic/index.html
a) Why are mall landlords/operators open to the idea of opening health clinics
inside malls?
b) Where inside the mall are health clinics more likely to open?
c) How are CVS and Best Buy (!) trying to enter the health care sector?
d) What are your opinions on the topic of health clinics inside malls? Good, bad,
pros vs cons?
Unit 8
On the topic of trade areas, go to the U.S. Census Bureau website at
https://data.census.gov/cedsci/ and search for “Milwaukee city” in the Search box, then
click on View Profile on the right side of the screen. Suppose three college graduates
want to open a fast food retail location in Milwaukee, but don’t know anything about
what type of food to offer, area demographics, etc. Using any of the data source types,
make three recommendations to them in terms of important things they should know
about Milwaukee and its people, and why this matters. Include your data/numbers.
Note: please do not simply state statistics/numbers with general statements, such as
“Milwaukee is a big city with 600,000 people, so they should open a large store since it
could fit more people inside”. Rather, look more deeply into the data to see what
interesting stories it might tell. Perhaps counter-intuitive or surprising data, time-
varying/trending data, etc.
Unit 9
1) Tell me about a time that you, as a customer, experienced a stockout. What impact
did it have on you immediately, and later on? If the retailer offered you a rain check and
told you when it would be in stock again, and even gave you a 10% discount, would this
have helped? Why or why not?
2) On the topic of outsourcing supply chain functions, please read the following article
and answer the questions below: https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/07/business/fedex-
amazon-ground-shipping/index.html
a) The first few paragraphs offer FedEx’s explanation for cutting its Amazon
contract. What is the primary reason it states?
b) The article states that Amazon accounts for 1.3% of FedEx’s revenue, which is
actually quite high for a single retailer. Why do you believe FedEx is cutting its
contract, then? Do you think there may be other factors/reasons at play, which
FedEx isn’t directly mentioning?
Unit 10
1) Please describe a frequent-shopper (aka loyalty) program that you participate in as
a customer, with any retailer. Describe what you like about the program, and what you
don’t like. Then, based on what we covered on the “Developing CRM Through
Frequent-Shopper Programs” slides (and any other thoughts you may have), conduct a
brief analysis of the program and make a recommendation to the retailer, based on your
thoughts. (Note: if you don’t participate in a loyalty program, tell me why and describe
what a retailer should do to get you to join).
2) On the topic of loyalty and the customer pyramid, please read the following article
and answer the questions below: https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/24/business/costco-
connection-magazine-retail/index.html
a) Which segment(s) of the customer pyramid do you believe Costco’s “executive
members” fall under, and why?
b) What percent of Costco’s overall profit comes from its membership fees?
c) How does The Connection magazine increase sales, as described by the article?
d) Who advertises in The Connection, and why?
e) Instead of print magazines, what are other grocery retailers doing to promote
themselves?
3) On the topic of RFID chips, please read the following article and answer the questions
below: https://medium.com/@dannyhaak/considering-privacy-when-using-rfid-in-retail-
stores-33dffd5f51
a) What does the GDPR define as personal data?
b) If RFID chips only contain product-specific information, how do they result in
personal data that retailers can use?
c) Describe the “untraceable function” of the recent RFID update, and how it
reduces privacy concerns.
d) Based on the recommendations that the article mentions for RFID chip use in
retail, explain whether you think it is enough to combat privacy concerns, or if
you think more should be done.
Unit 11
1) Pretend that you’re a merchandise planner for an electronics company, trying to
forecast category sales. Choose one staple merchandise category and one fashion
merchandise category, and offer some points on how your planning process would differ
for each category.
2) Recall Step 7 (Analyzing Merchandise Management Performance) of the merchandise
planning process. List some pros and cons of each of the three methods we discussed,
based on how they are conducted, what information is needed/used, etc.
