Retail Consulting (MAR 4232/MAR 6905)

Retail Consulting (MAR 4232/MAR 6905) Spring 2016 Tuesdays and Thursdays Periods 7-8, MAT 120 Instructor: Hyunjoo Oh ([email protected])

Course Synopsis:

Spring 2016 Project Sponsoring Companies (see project descriptions):

Eligibility:

Graduate students and undergraduate students of Junior or Senior standing with strong analytical skills will be qualified for consideration. This course requires student teams to apply their retailing, marketing, finance, business strategy, communication, and analytical skills to help a retail organization with a specific need. A strong work ethic, innovative ideas, as well as critical thinking and analytical skills are required. Students should make themselves available for team meetings in addition to attending the class. Travels for site visits may be required.

The attached application must be sent to the instructor in order to be approved to take this course. Preference will be given to students who have required skill sets and experiences. If you are interested in this course, please send the completed application along with a copy of your resume to [email protected] no later than by November 12th. You will be notified by November 27th or earlier regarding registration of the course. You may be called for interviews. Please apply early. Students with the required qualifications will be accepted to the course early.

Project Descriptions:

TJMaxx

High sales volume for a product is linearly correlated to the amount of theft of that product. To explore ways to increase sales and prevent theft, this project analyzes video recordings to investigate the differences of shopper behaviors (shop time, dwell time, product interactions) and shopping paths related to the items sold and the items lost along with sale promotion strategies and current theft-prevention technologies.

Analytical programs to use: Excel, Statistical software (SPSS, SAS, JMP, or Stata), Video analytics Method: Analytics with video recording of shopper behaviors and object movements along with transactions and inventory data (travel to site locations required)

Luxottica – Sunglass HUT

Sunglasses are more vulnerable to shoplifting because they meet all criteria for stealing: Concealable, Removable, Available, Valuable, Enjoyable, and Disposable. The practice of enclosing merchandise in a locked case reduces theft, but also decreases sales. To figure out how to promote sales without locking products out, the first step will be to understand how shopper foot traffic volume to a store, in-store shopping path and dwell time are related to sales, profits, and loss. Students will be analyzing multi-year data to identify factors and patterns that determine sales, profits, and losses in addition to observing in-store shopping behaviors.

Analytic programs to use: Excel, Statistical software (SPSS, SAS, or JMP), Tableau Method: Multiyear data analysis and in-store observations (travel to stores in Orlando required).

Fracture

Fracture is a start-up company in Gainesville, specialized in innovative photo printing on glass. The objective of this project is to determine not only the target market for their product, but also how to effectively market their product to this market along with additional areas of growth. The majority of research for this project will involve focus groups as well as surveys to answer these questions. Students interested in learning the dynamics of growing a company and scaling product sales will benefit most from this project.

Analytic programs to use: Statistical software (SPSS, SAS, or JMP), Qualtrics Method: Market research with focus group interviews and online surveys

Fossil Group

Fossil Group Inc. is an American designer and manufacturer of clothing and accessories, primarily watches and jewelry. Its brands include Fossil, Relic, Abacus, Michele Watch, Skagen, and Zodiac Watches. Fossil also is a private label producer of major designer brands such as Adidas, Emporio Armani, Karl Lagerfeld, Michael Kors, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Burberry, DKNY, Diesel and Armani Exchange. As a wholesaler, many of the branded products from Fossil Group Inc. have been sold through Macy’s. The goals of project is to investigate and evaluate the purchase journey of Millennials for watches, wallets, bags and accessories in omni-channel environments and recommend the field management service model that can to create a best in class interconnected shopping experience.

Analytic programs to use: Statistical software (SPSS, SAS, or JMP), Tableau Method: In-store observations (travel to stores in Orlando required), focus group interviews, and online survey. Student Information Sheet

Please complete the information sheet if you want to take the Retail Consulting course.

Send the completed form to [email protected].

Name: UFID: Email: Telephone: Year:  Junior  Senior  Graduate Student Major: GPA: Expected Graduation Date: Work/internship experience to in relation to projects

Programming skills and experiences

Data analysis skills and experiences

List the courses that you have taken (relevant to the project)

Preferred project in the order of your preference

Strong areas in skills, knowledge, and experience that can contribute to the project Weak areas in skills, knowledge, and experiences that you want to gain from the course

Other comments: