COMPARATIVE RETAIL ANALYSIS EXERCISE
– Bricks and Mortar Store vs. Online Store
This is your Major Assignment for the semester you will need to drawn on much of your learning throughout the semester in order to complete it successfully.
For this exercise you will need to choose a well known retailer who has both bricks and mortar and online presence.
You will need to:
� Identify what they are doing in regard to retail management practises
� Compare and contrast the traditional bricks and mortar store format vs. online store format
� Critically analyse each individual store format that you studied and make recommendations for improvement
For each retail format you will need to consider the following areas:
Retail Format � what is it?
Retail design and visual merchandising � Atmosphere � what have they done to create this? Store exterior � design, image, anything special or noteworthy here? Visual merchandising – How is product displayed? What, if any, fixtures and fittings (or merchandising techniques) have been used?
Store traffic pattern and space allocation � How is the store designed? How are departments and products laid out? What are the adjacencies? Ease of navigation?
Building customer relationships � What is their customer service model? Have they augmented their offer in anyway? How do they build relationships with their customers? Do they have any loyalty programs?
Staff management � Do they have any training programs in place? Staff benefits and incentives? Staff retention strategies?
Stock management and monitoring performance � What is the stock level they carry? How often do they get new merchandise? Does this vary from product type to product type? Do they have a clearance strategy? How do they clear stock? If markdowns are taken, how, where, when is this done? What security measures are in place? Do they have a loss prevention strategy?
Supply Chain � How is merchandise received/delivered? What supply chain technologies are in place?
Advertising and Promotions � What is their current promotional calendar? What advertising and promotional activities are they running currently? Are there any other promotional activities that they have recently been involved in? Have they embraced experiential retailing at all?
Non Store retailing � Are they multi channel or Omni channel retailers? If so what other channels are they involved in and how if at all are they integrated? (a diagram may be useful here)
NB: this list of questions is designed to get you thinking and is a very good guide to the content required but is not exhaustive. You must also consider what other specific issues/information is relevant for the specific retailer/s you have chosen and include it as well. Don�t forget to include store images where relevant to support your discussion.
Report Format (bound hard copy)
Title Page
Table of Contents
Introduction
Brief introduction to your chosen retailer/s.
Identification of current practices � Bricks and Mortar Retailer
Compare and contrast Bricks and Mortar vs. Online
(NB: don�t forget to include your Names and Student Numbers on the Title page)
Research Required: You will need to utilise store visits, current articles and reports as well as academic and field research to complete this task successfully and illustrate the key retailing concepts for both channels in detail. Interviews with the retailer/s will be highly regarded.
(NB: your comments need to be justified with research and referenced accordingly)
Acknowledgment of your of your research references must be cited within the report and listed in your Reference List using the Harvard Referencing System. Plagiarism is taken seriously and you may be penalised for not referencing correctly.