The Effects Of Store Remodeling On Sales

analyze sales data to find ways to improve store performance. Over time, however, Wal-Mart had

The industry we have chosen is the department store-retail industry. Within this industry, we have chosen the department stores of JCPenney and Macy’s. We find this industry, as well as these two companies, interesting from a strategic perspective. JCPenney has recently undergone a massive strategic restructuring in regards to its pricing, brand offerings, and store layout, pushing it away from the typical department store strategy of discounts and coupons. Its new strategy has become much closer to Wal-Mart’s strategy of every day low prices. Macy’s, on the other hand, has restructured with a push from the economic

4) Location- Decisions about where to locate a store are critical to any retailer’s success. Location decisions are particularly important because of their high cost, long-term commitment and impact on customer patronage. Choosing a particular location type involves evaluating a series of trade-offs. These trade-offs generally include the occupancy cost of location, the pedestrian and vehicle customer traffic associated with the location, the restrictions placed on the store operations by the property managers, and the convince of the location for customers.

Companies are growing by bringing in new stores to new locations rather than come up with innovation in the terms of bringing the products to the consumer. As written in business insights, the industry is recession proof but personally we believe that the companies’ sales are

According to the textbook, the retail life cycle consists of the introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. (Perreault, Jr., Cannon, & McCarthy, 2011) To keep a local suburban regional shopping mall from reaching its decline, one must spend time and money during the maturity phase to keep with today’s trends.

While I neither personally know nor got a chance to interview any Home Depot managers at local stores or corporate headquarters, Home Depot’s eroding market share is a clear indication that management is no longer well aligned with consumer’s perceptions, expectations and beliefs about The Home Depot brand. A May 4, 2008 article in the investor website SeekingAlpha.com entitled “Home Depot Slows Down: Still Losing Customers to Lowe’s” argues that for several years The Home Depot management invested heavily in new store openings (capital spending) at the expense of employee training, store upkeep and inventory. As a shopper I have experienced this classic compromise of quality for the benefit of top-line revenue growth. I witnessed the degradation of store caliber as my local Home Depot store became progressively dirtier and more

For this research assignment, I chose Big Lots. The reason I decided on Big Lots is primarily, because I am very interested in home decorating and in High School I lived very close to a Big Lots store, so I shopped there often. While in college, I moved from campus to my apartment and I visited them quite a bit. In this paper I’ve described the history, retail strategy, and competitive advantage of the Big Lots store I researched.

Denver Department Stores, a Colorado retail store chain, is an entity that was suffering from the effects of decreased sales volume. Jim Barton, the supervisor of four departments within the main location in Denver, was struggling with developing a process to improve the store’s sales. Barton identified with the notion that the decrease in sales volume was a simple matter of a slowdown in the economic landscape, and that the downturn would effect all stores in the retail business. However, Barton’s superior, Mr. Cornwall, the general merchandiser of Denver Department Stores, told Barton that some stores have experienced a 15% gain in recent sales. Cornwall made it clear that he expected Barton’s segments to have sales equal to the other

Reading Kohl’s K-10 report and learning more about their new initiative, The Greatest Agenda, I identified several of Kohl’s top assets. It was easy to see how important Kohl’s customers are to their profitability and sustainability. Customers equal sales and sales equal profit and growth. Unfortunately, conditions such as customer’s spending habits, income levels, and economic factors could have a negative impact on Kohl’s sales .1 The condition of the economy is outside Kohl’s control, however, loyalty programs and quality merchandise offerings encourage customer loyalty.

1. Williams-Sonoma has experienced strong growth in the past year, but this is on the back of a strong economy and in particular a strong new home market. The furniture business is strongly correlated with the strength of the real estate market. In this respect, the company's strategy is largely irrelevant, because within the next five years the real estate bubble will burst and Williams-Sonoma will suffer a major downturn in its own results as a consequence. However, this reality shows that the company perhaps lacks sufficient differentiation, and can only be expected to perform roughly in line with the housing market. It is neither outperforming competitors nor is it underperforming. W-S has sufficient differentiation within the furnishings and home products segment, and has a fairly strong brand name in the segment. The company's status as a mass-market premium company allows it to grow strongly in strong economic times, but also makes it particularly vulnerable to economic downturn, because not only do consumers redecorate at greater intervals, but they will trade down to more affordable stores when they do.

When companies fall behind in the market share, there is no magic wand to wave around, and with intense competition in the department retail business, it is a struggle to maintain profits, expand and modernize.

The tenant structure of the shopping center is an important factor in ensuring rent is adequate to make the project viable. The fact that Philipp conceded the hypermarket could have a negative effect on the overriding success of the project. ECE strategy typically relied on these large self-service retail stores. Hypermarkets are very desirable to customers since the warehouse structure enable the stores to offer a wide variety of products (i.e. fresh food, beverages, home supplies, electronics, clothing, car accessories, garden furniture etc.) at discounted prices. This lack of a hypermarket must be offset by assurance and

Best Buy, a familiar retailer in the technology world, is struggling to stay on top. Online and mass stores have cornered the market in terms of convenience, customer service and price matching. The recent closing of over two hundred stores alongside falling sales has experts predicting that the giant won’t be in business long. Using a results-only work environment (ROWE), Best Buy has removed the customer from the equation and forced many employees out. A marketing disaster, Best Buy must change its marketing strategy from sales-based to a customer-based to stay afloat.

The product life style of the department store is in the mature or declining phase of its product life style, because of the declining sales. Furthermore, according to estimates, market share has eroded away to 7 per cent, as of 2010, and is far below the desirable rate 15 per cent (Johnson, 2011, p. 3). Also, the brand image is being heavily relied upon and the bottom line is not showing significant increase in the years presented in the journal article. Macy’s is afloat due to a strong management team and the aggressiveness to deal with problems as they arise. For example, continuing to adjust its portfolio of stores, focusing on fashion, and developing private labels in bedding, outerwear, ‘tween’ clothing, increase national advertising and using celebrities. Additionally, Macy’s advertising is combining the national department store image with July 4 and the Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, which appeals to the American citizen. Solution

The recent recession has hurt the entire retail market and regaining profits will be a constant challenge for the entire industry. In order to remain competitive, Ann Krill states,” value and versatility have become very important. She needs an incentive to shop.” (Hymowitz, 2012) Ms. Krill goes on to say,” I think in uncertain economic times, value becomes more important...” (Hymowitz, 2012)