DRAFT

Retail Management & Merchandising MKTG-UB.0089.02 Fall 2017 – Wednesdays, Oct. 25 – Dec. 13, 6:20 – 9:00 p.m. Professor Manini Madia, Adjunct Professor of Retail [email protected]

Course Objective

The objective of this course is to provide a holistic view of retail, merchandising, and store management in order prepare undergraduate students for roles in merchandising buying/planning, retail consulting, and the retail vertical of private equity firms and investment banks. In this course students will learn how the merchandising process works, the role of the merchant, retail metrics, test-and-learn in store, and how to use retail data and trend spotting to predict future sales and trends.

About the Instructor

Manini Madia is a subject matter expert in retail and consumer/shopper behavior. She works with retail, CPG, and technology clients to generate new customers and drive loyalty within existing ones. Manini worked at MasterCard Advisors, where she commercialized data products to help retailers and financial institutions to use big data to engage their customers. Manini spent 11 years leading brand marketing for L’Oréal, Estee Lauder, and Kraft, successfully driving global product innovation that resulted in market share growth.

In addition to her brand management experience, Manini spent 6 years in strategy and retail consulting, at PwC and Kantar Retail. She helped clients with strategic and general management challenges, in the CPG and retail verticals. She advised clients on retail and merchandising strategies, leveraging analyses of point-of-sale, panel, and loyalty card data.

Manini received her B.S. in psychology and economics from Northwestern University, and an M.B.A. in marketing from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

1 Class Procedures

In order to create a successful learning environment in this classroom, each student is expected to come to class prepared, having read assigned reading and completed assignments prior to class. This is a case-based course that leverages significant classroom discussion. Participation is essential. Classroom participation will be evaluated on quality of comments, insights, and questions. Questions on the reading assignments will be posted on Classes prior to each lecture.

Attendance at all classes is expected. Absences will impact the final grade. Absences due to illness or emergency must be communicated to the professor.

Use of electronic devices is not permitted. Note-taking must be done on paper, and not on a laptop.

Honor Code

Students must adhere to the honor code. All students are obligated to report to the instructor any suspected violations of the code. For details regarding the honor code, please visit: http://www.stern.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/assets/documents/NYU_Stern_Code_of_Co nduct%20Feb16.pdf

Students with Disabilities

If you have a qualified disability and will require academic accommodation during this course, please contact the Moses Center for Students with Disabilities (CSD, 212-998- 4980) and provide me with a letter from them verifying your registration and outlining the accommodations they recommend. Please do this prior to the first class.

Course Grading

Class participation 30% Written assignments 40% Final group presentations 30%

Course Materials

The course will cover both classical and latest thinking and texts on retail trends, merchandising mechanics, and store management. The course will also feature guest speakers with industry expertise.

Course reading materials follow below:

2 • Underhill, P. (1999). Why we buy: The science of shopping. New York: Simon & Schuster. • Hoyt, D. and Nair, H. “eBay’s Connected Technologies: Innovating Customer Engagement in the Retail Industry.” Stanford Graduate School of Business Case M-349, December 2014. • Raman, Ananth, and Colin S Welch. "Merchandising at Nine West Retail Stores." Harvard Business School Case 9-698-098, May 1998. (Revised May 2001.) • Wells, J., Danskin, G., and Ellsworth, G. “Amazon.com.” Harvard Business School Case 9-716-402, May 2016. • Arthaud-Day, M., Rothaermel, F. “Best Buy Co, Inc.” McGraw Hill Education Case MH0038-1259420477, September 2015.

Final Group Presentations

The final group assignment, taking place during our final course meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 13th, is as follows: You are the merchandising team for one of Amazon’s categories. Using concepts and readings from the course, design a merchandising plan for your category. Your group must decide on the category that you will create the plan for. Your objective is to get the right set of products into the hands of the right shoppers. You must hand in your PowerPoint slides by Dec. 12th.

Oct. 25th: The Art of the Store

This module covers the basics of retailing – how merchandise is budgeted, purchased, and displayed, and what drives shopper to buy. We will look back to our own experiences as shoppers and consumers – what made certain shopping experiences memorable, for both positive and negative reasons? We will also look broadly across careers in retail (merchandising, management consulting, finance, and private equity).

Sarah LaFleur, founder and CEO of MM LaFleur, will speak to our class about retailing and e-commerce merchandising at her company.

Your groups for the final presentation will be assigned on this date.

Guest Speaker: Sarah LaFleur, Founder and CEO of MM LaFleur

Reading: Paco Underhill, Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, Sections I, II, and III

Assignment: Select one brick & mortar and one online retailer that you will analyze using the principals learned in Underhill’s book. Your choice of retailers must be submitted to me for approval no later than Nov. 1.

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Nov. 1st: Shopper Marketing, The Role of Buyer vs. Planner

Shopper Marketing: Shopper marketing influences purchasing decisions at the point of sale (POS). According the Grocery Manufacturer’s Association, 70% of a customer’s purchasing decisions are made in store. Unlike advertising or other forms of consumer marketing which aim to promote messages that will be remembered for a future purchasing occasion, shopper marketing aims to capture the person in the moment of making a purchase. Shopper marketing using consumer behavior and psychology to drive incremental purchases. Some examples include analysis of which products are most likely to be purchased together, and then merchandising those products adjacent to each other, in order to make the shopper’s experience more positive (and to drive that incremental sale).

Buyers and Planners: Outside of a formalized merchandising training program at an established retail company, it is difficult to learn the fundamentals of retail buying and planning. In this module, we will study the Open to Buy planning process, the budgeting process in which a retailer decides how much money to invest across the categories that they buy. We will understand the key roles in the process, the merchandise planner and buyer. These two roles usually report into different functions of the company (buyers report into Marketing and planners report into the CFO function in most cases), but should challenge and question each other to ensure that the company is making the most profitable decisions with respect to inventory, markdowns, and other metrics. Buyers are accountable for consumer trends, predicting what will sell well based on these trends, and marking down inventory that is close to becoming obsolete, or is not selling to forecast. Planners typically have a more analytical role in forecasting sales and managing inventory of basic in-stock items and seasonal/trend items.

Reading: Paco Underhill, Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, Sections IV, V

Nov. 8th: Social Media and Retail

Social media has changed the way advertisers reach potential consumers and the way that shoppers make purchasing decisions. Technology changes the way that shoppers engage with brands in stores and online. We will hear from Rachel Cohn, Group Director at Facebook/Instagram, on how social media is influencing patterns in retail.

Reading: eBay’s Connected Technologies: Innovating Customer Engagement in the Retail Industry

Guest Speaker: Rachel Cohn, Group Director, Global Accounts, Facebook and Instagram

4 Written Assignment: Due on Nov. 15th. Using your pre-approved retailers, analyze these retailers’ ability to engage their shopper, using principles learned in Underhill’s book. (No more than two double-spaced pages in 12 pt. Arial font.)

Nov. 15th: Retail Math and Using Data to Forecast and Mitigate Risk

We will study the fundamentals of retail math, including volume measures, profitability measures, and asset efficiency measures. Retailers compare data vs. prior year, usually on a quarterly basis (particularly true for apparel retailers who buy for a particular season). Retailers compare POS sales in terms of currency and units. They track inventory (weeks on hand), and the average cost of that inventory. We will review the calculations of margin (initial margin, cost, retail margin, markdown, and maintained margin). We will review asset efficiency metrics (inventory turns, return on investment, and average cost of inventory).

Forecasting demand is both an art and a science. While past purchase behavior can be a great indicator of future behavior, many other factors can impact a forecast. We will study how pricing and behavioral economics impact demand. We will also explore the impact that marketing and advertising have on a forecast. Macroeconomic trends impact a forecast but can be hard to predict. We will learn how experts have done this in the past. POS and loyalty card data can also be great assets in building a tight forecast. We will learn the basics of panel and scanner data from A.C. Nielsen, NPD, and IRI, as well as how to analyze store loyalty card data. We will look at test-and-learn analytics and methodologies that retail consultants use to help planners forecast better.

Reading: Best Buy Co., Inc.

Optional: Dan Ariely’s TED Talk - Are we in control of our own decisions?

Tools: Walmart Retail Math Cheat Sheet

Nov. 29th: Analyzing Retail Trends and Visual Merchandising

Creativity is important in solving consumer pain points, or giving consumers new products and services that they never would have guessed that they needed. We will learn from examples of how retail leaders used creativity to problem-solve and innovate. We will also discuss frameworks and tools for building creativity.

In the forecasting unit, we learned about trend forecasting. Now we will dig deeper into how trends are created, spotted, analyzed, and built into product and buying plans. We will learn frameworks for bringing systematic, analytical thinking to something that is hard to quantify. We will learn how to study adjacent categories to learn what the future might hold for the category in question.

5 Visual merchandising, the display and setup of goods and services in store, is crucial to winning at retail, both online and in bricks/mortar. We will study how assortment, levels of choice/variety, and visual displays impact sales. We will also learn metrics for SKU rationalization, and how retailers make decisions to list and delist SKUs.

Asking consumers and shoppers what they think is important and not difficult to do in most cases, but watching what they do and how they behave in a real-life environment is more difficult to study. Virtual reality provides a more affordable way to study and predict behavior. Virtual reality and simulations make retail more efficient in two major ways: they provide an affordable testing method for retailers to predict future sales, and they also give consumers access to trying out the features and functions of a product before they make a purchase. We will learn how Target customers were studied while they shopped for eye care products using virtual reality technology, and the resulting merchandising decisions that were recommended to the retailer.

Reading: Merchandising at Nine West Retail Stores

Written Assignment: Think back to two memorable shopping experiences (one positive and one negative). List the reasons that these experiences were memorable. Be prepared to discuss your experiences in class. (No more than two double-spaced pages in 12 pt. Arial font.)

Dec. 6: Omni Buying/Digital Merchandising, Product Development

Conventional wisdom suggests that retailers should invest in bolstering the omnichannel experience they offer consumers on the basis that more channels will result in increased sales. But retailers can either invest in an omnichannel strategy and technology because it seems like the right thing to do, or invest based on data that details the value to be gained from key customer segments. We will learn how omni buying differs from brick/mortar buying, and will explore more deeply how digital merchandising impacts sales and profit margin. We will study a framework for assessing the dollar value of the omnichannel vs. single channel shopper.

Sales of private label products are critical to a retailer’s bottom line. The margins on private label products are considerably higher than retailer margins on branded products. What makes a successful private label portfolio? Which retailers are able to win in private label? We will learn how retailers create private label products, and study winning private labels vs. less successful attempts.

Reading: Amazon.com

Dec. 13: Final Presentations

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