Merchandising and inventory management are key success factors for firms in the retail industry. The two ideas are tied together. Merchandising reflects in the product mix a store offers, but also in the ways in which that product mix is presented. Inventory management in part reflects the merchandising needs of an organization, but it also reflects on the optimal profitability that a company can have.
Merchandising tactics allow the store to optimize its retail space for revenue and profit generation. Effective merchandising will allow the store to have the products that are in demand at the time that they are in demand. Furthermore, the choice of how certain goods are displayed, where in the store, at what level, and beside what other products, all influences consumer buying decisions. Part of merchandising is simply understanding demand and ensuring that the supply is there to meet that demand -- a basic example would….

Fashion Merchandising
Fashion Group International ebsite for Students of Fashion Merchandising

ith a major in fashion merchandising, it is important to keep up with the latest trends in the industry. The website for The Fashion Group International (FGI) provides a great deal of free content and offers additional features for members. FGI was founded in 1930. According to its website, FGI is a "global, non-profit, professional organization with 5000 members in the fashion industry including apparel, accessories, beauty and home. [Its] mission is to be the pre-eminent authority on the business of fashion and design and to help its members become more effective in their careers. To do this, FGI provides insights on major trends in person, online and in print; access to business professionals and a gateway to the influence fashion plays in the marketplace."

The site is very easy to navigate. The default location is "New York," but users have….

Retail Environment and the Merchandising Techniques
Foot Locker, Inc. is one of the leading companies in the global retail environment for sports apparel and accessories. The company has remained profitable across nearly all its operations and expanded into different countries worldwide. Actually, through its global expansion initiatives, Foot Locker currently owns and/or manages several subsidiaries in different countries such as Australia and New Zealand. One of the key factors that have contributed to the success and profitability of Foot Locker throughout the years is the establishment of a suitable retail environment and the merchandising techniques. This environment and techniques have been utilized to encourage consumer buying, which has in turn contributed to increased profitability and growth.

Displays, Aisles, and Merchandise

One of the crucial aspects of Foot Locker's retail environment and merchandising techniques is the arrangement of displays, aisles, and merchandise. The store has clean display cases, shelves, and aisles that make it….

Accounting for Merchandising Business: Purchase Discounts
Purchases Discounts

Purchase discounts are used in credit purchases by sellers to encourage buyers to pay before the credit period is over, as they reduce the total amount to be paid. According to Kieso, Weygandt and Warfield (2011), some companies consider purchase discounts as losses, and use the net method to account for them in financial statements to correctly report an asset and the liability that arises. Management can also use the net method to assess efficiency as discount offers that are not taken represent additional costs to the business. Small businesses benefit more from these discounts as they deal with numerous payables and receivables and when discounts are given to customers, journal entries are used to indicate the amounts debited and credited to each account. A discount is often expressed as x/10, n/30 means that the customer is offered x discount if they pay within….

Apparel Mechanizing Book Review: hy e Buy: The Science of Shopping
Go shopping and see the malls through the gaze of Paco Underhill. You may feel so manipulated you never anything again -- what a saving! The author's name may sound like that of an exclusive men's clothing retailer but actually, he is a professional merchandising consultant who advises sellers how to draw consumers into their stores and more importantly, make them buy what is within. Firstly, the book makes an important distinction between marketing, which is increasing the number of people who come to the door with interest, in contrast to merchandising, which is everything you do after the consumer enters the store/

Being 'let in' on the tricky little secrets of merchants resonates with readers, who gaze upon New Jersey teenage girls shopping at California-style surfing shops to buy fashionable board shorts that the young ladies will never wear in….

Since the supply is being specifically restricted, only a price increase could occur. Thus, creating exclusivity creates value to the seller.
The third reason why exclusivity is valuable is that it creates differentiation (Finkelstein, 2009). Differentiation is a key driver of value for many products and services. Exclusivity does not equate to differentiation, but it does increase the perception of differentiation, simply by virtue of the fact that the product is not mass market. The perception of differentiation is sufficient to drive value, regardless of whether or not there is actual differentiation. Thus, exclusivity drives value by being a means to achieve the perception of differentiation.

4. Senk argues that shopping in largely entertainment, a point to which I agree. Entertainment is simply something that amuses, diverts attention or pleases. In that respect, shopping is very much entertainment. As with any form of entertainment, shopping meets other purposes as well; and….

To do otherwise would create problems with the company's accounting.
Cosigned goods are also included in the merchandise inventory (Elliot & Elliot, 2004). Even though they are out on consignment, they are still a part of the goods that belong to the company (Elliot & Elliot, 2004). If these goods have not been included in the company's inventory, it becomes difficult to account for their sales and can cause serious problems with accounting. Not including cosigned goods would make it appear as though those goods have already been sold, but there would be no income for them. When they did sell, the income would appear to come from goods that were not shown in inventory. That can take time and effort to sort out, and can leave the company looking as though it was trying to hide something when, in fact, it simply listed its goods incorrectly. By making sure….

California Labor Laws
The state of California possesses some of the strictest labor laws and enforcement tactics in the United States - a factor that largely affects the business climate of the state. County health departments, such as the California Department of Industrial Relations - Occupational Safety & Health Administration (CAL-OSHA), enforce and protect California labor laws, acting against all businesses who violate the laws (West Group, 1999).

This essay will discuss some of California's most important and current labor laws, outlining how each law affects California's business climate. It will also determine whether these labor laws are beneficial or detrimental to the apparel industry.

California's Labor Laws

The following section outlines some of California's labor laws, which are considered some of the most stringent in the nation.

California's overtime laws hold that any employee who works more than eight hours per day must be paid at 1.5 times his or her usual rate of….

Debenhams
Introduction and Company History

Debenhams is a UK-based department store chain with operations in a number of countries around the world. The company operates 153 stores across the UK and Ireland, and has online delivery to 66 countries around the world through Debenhams Direct, including many where Debenhams does not have its own store (Debenhams.com, 2012). The company traces its roots to 1778 in London, where the company remains headquartered to this day. The expansion of Debenhams to become an international brand in retailing has been done primarily through franchising, while the store in the UK and Ireland tend to be company-owned. According to the company's annual report, Debenhams earned £2.2 billion in revenue and £117.2 million in profit.

The growth of the Debenhams name only took place in the latter part of the 20th century. Prior to that point, the Debenhams name was not used on most of the company's stores,….

Business Plan Proposal:
The Ducks Poker Room

Business Plan Proposal: The Ducks Poker Room

Executive Summary/Company Description

The Ducks Poker Room will be a new for-profit gaming club primarily hosting players of versions of the card game known as "Poker." The Ducks Poker Room will also offer alternate games, including but not limited to promotions for prize pools involving tickets to college basketball and football games. Finally, The Ducks Poker Room will host patrons who are not playing poker.

Business Plan Objectives

Provide exceptional facilities, equipment, service, staff and merchandise that create a highly positive impression on our core customers;

Consistent entertainment atmosphere and product quality;

Capitalize on excellent location opportunity;

d. Launch the venue with a highly publicized grand opening event in the spring of Year 1;

e. Maintain tight control of costs, operations, and cash flow through diligent management and automated computer control;

f. Maintain food costs below 33% of food revenue;

g. Maintain total beverage costs below 25% of….

Performance Management
Create a job description for a retail sales associate. Create an organizational behavior modification (OBM) plan to define a set of three (3) key behaviors that are necessary for job performance.

Job Description for etail Sales Associate

• Greet customers and determine their needs and wants

• Discuss potential merchandise purchase of customers

• ecommend merchandise based on discussion with customer

• Advise customers on utilization and care of merchandise

• Upsell related products or services

• Answer customer questions

• Explained return policies and discounts

• Keep merchandise displays in order

Organizational Behavior Modification Plan (OBM)

Key Performance Behaviors

Greet customers within 5 minutes of entry into sales area (allow time for browsing before contact).

a. Sales associate make mental note of customer response and encourages survey feedback for all completed sales with customers given assistance. Measurement: An on-your-honor system with sales associate fine-tuning approach to customer traffic and perceptions about customer receptivity.

2. Point out the new lines of merchandise and….

Pricing
JC Penney is a major department store, doing billions of dollars in revenue per year. The industry, however, is mature and some would say stale. Younger consumers in particular are not attracted to the department store shopping experience, instead choosing anything but. JC Penney tapped former Apple executive on Johnson as its new CEO, and made big changes to its merchandising and especially to its pricing. One pricing strategy that Johnson instituted was to eliminate the traditional JC Penney sales and opt for lower prices across the board (D'Innocenzo, 2012). Analysts from his alma mater Harvard Business School lauded him as a genius for the simplified pricing program (Girard, 2012). Yet, Johnson couldn't wrap his head around the fact that the key purchase drivers in department store sales are nothing like the purchase drivers in consumer electronics, and the pricing strategy did not go nearly as well as planned. HBS….

Describe 2 internal control procedures and explain how the company could use these internal control procedures to protect itself from the risks you have identified in part (a) above.

Demanding that all merchandise be accounted for, even so-called unsellable garments, is essential. If there is a discrepancy between the garments sold to the stores and the inventory sold to Sylvia, she must explain why and produce evidence (in the form of a record of all unsellable merchandise), and the manufacturer should be contacted for verification that a complaint was issued regarding the garments. Secondly, Sylvia must keep receipts for all of her expenses and submit them, but there should also be independent audits -- for example, the company could call up the restaurants and establishments she frequents, to verify that she indeed had reservations and ate there. or, the company could specify what types of transport and what places she could….

Business Law
Scenario: Dana and Ronnie operate a Web-based business, TraderRon.com, an Internet swap site that uses a Dutch auction system pioneered by Priceline.com. TraderRon.com allows customers to make offers to other customers to swap such items as their unused frequent flyer miles for other customers' unwanted merchandise, including DVDs, music CDs, used books, and any other merchandise customers might want to trade. No sales involving payment of money are made on the site. Some of the merchandise that has been offered on the site and swapped consists of bootleg or pirated merchandise, as well as designer knockoffs. All of TraderRon.com's income derives from advertising. TraderRon's website and advertising use a black and grey symbol to represent its swapping service. It has used this symbol consistently and registered it with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The symbol is very similar to the Nike swoosh symbol, except it fades from black….

Internet Marketing Strategy of Argos
The purpose of this essay is to examine the Internet marketing strategy of Argos. Argos is a home retail group and market leader in retail sales of home and general merchandise. Argos reports that it is a "unique multi-channel retailer recognized for choice, value, and convenience." (Argos Website, 2011)

Argos and the Online Market: Size and Growth

Argos customer base is approximately 130 million and reports state that 26% of Argos sales are via the internet channel with approximately 4 million customers placing orders by phone or online. The Argos website is touted as the website visited the most among high street retail websites in the United Kingdom in 2008. (Argos, Website, paraphrased) Argos is environmental conscious and caters to customers with disabilities. Argos was named the 'Online Toy Retailer of the Year 2009' by the ritish Toys & Hobbies Association (THA). (Argos Website, 2011) In addition Argos….