Retail - McGraw-Hill Introduction to Business

RadioShack Rides Again

May 21, 2015

After years of declining sales, RadioShack finally seemed to be on the way out after filing for bankruptcy protection in February 2015. The electronics retailer had been a mainstay of American commerce for nearly a century, thriving off the sales of niche items like CB radios and pre-iPod portable music players. As technology became more commonplace, however, RadioShack struggled to keep up with the mainstream and settled into stagnation. Executives at the brand tried to reverse this trend by redesigning Continue reading →

Product Development, Retail, Finance, Product Distribution, Bankruptcy, RadioShack, Marketing

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 13: Marketing, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law

Knockoff Products Take a Toll on Small Business

May 18, 2015

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In an earlier issue of the newsletter, we took a look at the methods that Chinese authorities use to curb the production of counterfeit merchandise. For the most part, these measures focused on reporting knockoffs of big names like Nike and Gucci. But combating pirated products isn’t solely the problem of multinational brands. For instance, in 2012 Jeff Sasaki took his iPhone accessory company Element Case to a Hong Kong trade show. When he arrived at the convention, he found Continue reading →

Product Development, Retail, Regulation, Small Business, Ethics, Knockoff products, Manufacturing

Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law

Credit Cards Switch from Strip to Chip

May 8, 2015

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Over the last few years, large retailers have become increasingly vulnerable to attacks by hackers looking to steal important company and customer data. In order to prevent these breaches, stores across the nation are upgrading to new credit card readers that scan an embedded chip rather than the card’s magnetic strip. Each transaction on a chip-card receives its own unique code, making shopping safer for consumers and companies alike. 575 million of these new cards are expected to land in Continue reading →

Product Development, Retail, Innovation, Currency, Credit Cards

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 20: Money and Financial Institutions, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

Inside the Guts of Macy’s Herald Square

March 15, 2015

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At Macy’s flagship store, it takes a lot of action behind the scenes to keep this iconic retailer running smoothly.

https://nyti.ms/1wUBqAl

Questions:

What utilities are critical to Macy’s success in the retail market?

Why is the women’s shoe department at Macy’s such a massive size?

From The New York Times

Macy's, Operations Management, Retail, New York

Videos

The New Walmart Wage Plan

March 3, 2015

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For years, Walmart has been criticized for not adequately sharing its success with its employees. After all, the retailer is not only the largest private employer in the U.S. but also the largest retail chain in the world. With so much capital at its disposal, critics have long argued that Walmart has enough resources to spend on its staff. And now at long last it appears the retailer agrees. Last month Walmart announced a plan that will raise the wages Continue reading →

Retail, Walmart, Minimum Wage, Ethics, Human Resources, Labor Relations, Compensation

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 10: Motivation, Chapter 11: Human Resource Management

How GameStop Could Keep Going

February 23, 2015

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Like many other brick-and-mortar retailers, GameStop’s long-term financial health depends on how much damage the Internet can ultimately do to its bottom line. For years, though, the video game retailer seemed almost immune to the effects of web retail. Prices remained competitive thanks to the company’s dependence on reselling used games and consoles while its knowledgeable sales staff ensured that regular customers stayed happy.

Still, many experts are predicting that GameStop will go the way of Blockbuster sooner or later. Continue reading →

Product Development, Entertainment, Retail, Innovation, Product Distribution, GameStop, Video Games

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 11: Human Resource Management, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 16: Place and Promotion, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

Success and Failure in India’s Tricky Marketplace

February 13, 2015

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With a consumer pool of more than one billion people, India has become the next big expansion destination for companies around the world. While some businesses are still working the bugs out of their strategies for the subcontinent, other operations have hit the ground running and quickly grabbed up market share. Domino’s, for instance, now sells more pizza in India than anywhere else besides the U.S. thanks to its savvy combination of local and Western tastes. On the other hand, Continue reading →

India, Global, Product Development, Entrepreneurship, Retail, Domino’s

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

Bloomingdales Makes Fitting Rooms Smarter

December 19, 2014

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Fitting rooms provide brick and mortar clothing retailers with one of their few advantages over online outlets. After all, consumers are more likely to purchase an item that they have actually tried own versus something they’ve only seen on a screen. But that doesn’t necessarily mean people will buy everything they bring with them into the changing room. In fact, many consumers will simply give up on an item if it doesn’t fit them immediately.

In order to reverse these Continue reading →

Bloomingdales, Social Media, Product Development, Retail, Innovation

Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

Pivoting from One Business Plan to Another

December 10, 2014

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When Michael Garrity founded CommunityLend in 2010, he thought his company was in a perfect position to capture an untapped market. After all, the 2008 financial crisis made many banks wary of lending too much cash, presenting a golden opportunity to non-traditional operations like CommunityLend. Plus, the company’s peer-to-peer model was the first of its kind in Garrity’s home country of Canada, marking a major advantage for the startup.

Despite these benefits, though, CommunityLend had trouble finding qualified borrowers for Continue reading →

Retail, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Social Media, Finance

Chapter 5: Forms of Business Ownership, Chapter 6: Entrepreneurship, Chapter 8: Organizational Culture and Structure, Chapter 11: Human Resource Management, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

Half Prices Books Thrives Against the Odds

November 25, 2014

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In a world of Amazon and e-readers, there’s just not much room for independent bookstores. Over the past five years, mom and pop bookshops have seen revenues decrease by an average of 3.2 percent annually. But not every company in this discouraging industry is feeling the squeeze. In fact, the Dallas-based retailer Half Price Books is growing at a rate of five stores per year. Revenues rose from $50 million in 1995 to $240 million in 2013, remarkably avoiding Continue reading →

Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Retail, Distribution, Resale, Half Price Books

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 7: Management & Leadership, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution