MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE
School of Business
Fall 2015
Retailing and E-Commerce (MKT 482 / 5482)
Online Course
Instructor:
Phone:
Email:
Course Website:
Office Hours:
Office
Dr. Retha Ann Price
601-925-7744
raprice@mc.edu
moodle.mc.edu
T Th (11:00 – 12:00; 1:30 – 2:30); Wed. (9:00 – 3:00)
201C Self Hall
Course Description:
Retailing and E-Commerce examines the decisions involved
in setting up and running a retail business and the concepts
and principles for making those decisions. Both store-based
and web-based retailers are examined. The course provides
a good foundation for those interested in owning or running a
retail business; pursuing a retail management career; or
working for companies that interface with retailers. Emphasis
is on application of course concepts through assignments,
discussion forums and projects.
Course Objectives:
Upon completion of this course students should:

Demonstrate an understanding of retail management
terminology.
 Be familiar with ethical considerations within the
retailing field.
 Understand the strategic retail management process
and how to apply it.
 Understand the measures retailers use to assess their
financial performance.
 Know how to develop a customer focused retail mix
including location selection, merchandise.
management, pricing, advertising and promotion, store
design and display, and customer service.
 Be familiar with steps involved in setting up a retail
website and attracting customers to that website.
 Know how to write a high quality business report.
Gain project management skills through work on a team
project.
Required Text:
RETAILING MANAGEMENT, 9th Edition, Levy, Weitz, and
Grewal, Irwin, 2014. A text is essential in this course.
ONLINE ENVIRONMENT:
Participating in an online class is quite different from a face-to-face class. Much of what you get
out of the course will depend on how much you put into the course. You must keep up with the
chapter readings, assignments, and discussion forums. It’s easy to put other life responsibilities
before your online course, so be sure to schedule time for this class just as you would if it were
a face-to-face class. Expect to work on the class an average of 8-9 hours per week.
This course will be administered through Moodle. I will post voice-over PowerPoint lectures,
assignments, quizzes and other course materials. I will also post weekly announcements that
will include information to help you prepare for each lesson.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:
Mississippi College students are expected to be scrupulously honest. Dishonesty, such as
copying another student’s work, cheating on tests, or plagiarism, will be regarded as a serious
offense subject to severe penalties including, but not limited to, loss of credit for the course and
possible dismissal from the university. See the 2015-2016 Mississippi College Undergraduate
Bulletin or University Policy 2.19 for specific information.
Instructor’s Policy - If you submit work that was prepared by another person as your own;
copy information from another student during an exam or quiz; use external reference material
during an exam without prior instructor permission; plagiarize or fail to provide sufficient citation
of the original author, I will: (1) assign a “0” as your grade for the assignment or exam, and (2)
notify the Mississippi College School of Business Dean’s Office so that a formal disciplinary
procedure will be instituted.
COURSE EVALUATION:
Activity
Midterm Exam
Final Exam
Quizzes (10 @ 10 points each)
Discussion Forums (6 @ 10 points each)
Written Individual Assignment
Team Project
Total Points Possible
Grading Scale
A
B
C
D
F
90 – 100%
80 – 89%
70 – 79%
60 – 69%
Below 60%
Points
150 (25%)
150 (25%)
100 (17%)
60 (10%)
40 ( 6%)
100 (17%)
600 points
Total Points Earned
540 – 600
480 – 539
420 – 479
360 – 419
359 and below
EXAMS: (50% of total course grade)
There will be two proctored exams worth 150 points each. Both the midterm and final exam will
be administered online. Exams will be monitored by a live proctor through your webcam and
will have a set time limit of two hours. Each exam will consist of 75 multiple choice, 15 fill-inthe blank, and one or two discussion questions. Exams will cover the required textbook reading
and the content of the online lectures. Exams are scheduled for Monday, September 21st
and Monday, October 19th.
Students are expected to take exams on the day they are scheduled. It is unfair to those
students who are prepared to take exams on time to give others an advantage by taking exams
later. If you miss the midterm exam, your final will be comprehensive and count twice.
Exams are closed book and individual. That means using your book or notes, or working with
another student is considered cheating and is grounds for a zero on the exam.
Security Measures for Online Exams. Online exams are administered through Proctor U.
Proctor U connects the student with a live online proctor from a proctoring center via the
student’s web camera. The proctor helps the student through the exam process, is available if
technical difficulties arise, and monitors the student and student’s computer screen during the
exam. Click on the following link to find out more about how Proctor U works:
https://www.proctoru.com/howitworks.php
READING AND DISCUSSION FORUM ASSIGNMENTS: (10% of total course grade)
Reading and discussion forum assignments will be given each week. Reading assignments will
come from the textbook and articles posted on Moodle. Six discussion forums will be assigned
during the term. Each forum is worth 10 points. Discussion forum assignments will be based
on the assigned readings for the week. All discussion forum assignments and their due dates
will be posted on Moodle. Once a discussion forum is closed it will be too late to participate and
the student will receive a grade of zero for that forum.
Your contributions to discussion forums will be graded for quality and timeliness of your
contributions, application of concepts, and clarity of writing. I will subtract points for
insignificant postings (“I agree with _____) that don’t contribute to the understanding of each
topic. There is also a penalty for waiting until the last 48 hours before the discussion closes. I
understand that students may fall behind on a chapter, but if most or all postings occur the last
day, you have not contributed adequately to the discussion. Grading will be done at the
conclusion of each lesson.
QUIZZES: (17% of total course grade)
Ten quizzes will be given during the term. Each quiz is worth 10 points and will consist of
multiple choice and true-false questions. Questions are based on the assigned reading and
recorded lectures for the week. Quizzes are open book and open note, but will have a time
limit of 10 minutes. Quizzes open on Monday and close on Sunday at 11:00 pm each week.
WRITTEN INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT: (6% of total course grade)
Students will complete one written individual assignment worth 40 points. The assignment will
involve evaluating multichannel retailing used by various retailers. Your final paper should be
typed and approximately 4 pages in length, not including the reference page. Papers will be
graded on the basis of thoroughness of the assignment and research, incorporation of retail
concepts, insight of recommendations and quality of writing. I will post a detailed handout with
complete instructions for this assignment. The due date is Sunday, Sept. 6th.
TEAM PROJECT: (17% of total course grade)
An important part of this course is applying what you have learned to real examples. Students
will be placed into two or three person teams. Each team will be assigned one of six project
topics. Teams will then analyze the strategies and tactics of an existing retail business and
make recommendations for improvement. This project is worth 100 points.
Team members do not have to meet face to face to complete this project. You may collaborate
using email, phone, Skype, Google Docs, or other technology. Each team will submit one typed
paper through Turnitin and one voice-over PowerPoint presentation through email. Projects will
be graded on the comprehensiveness of the assignment, quality and thoroughness of research,
quality of writing, incorporation of retail strategy terms and concepts in the paper, and originality
of recommendations. Team members will evaluate each other’s contributions to the project
through a team member evaluation form. Results will be used to adjust individual grades if
needed. I will post a detailed handout with complete instructions for this project. See the
following course schedule for project due dates.
EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITIES:
You may earn up to 12 extra credit points by participating in peer assessment feedback
surveys. These surveys give you an opportunity to evaluate your peers’ team project
presentations and give constructive feedback. This is an excellent opportunity to learn from
each other while potentially adding 2 percentage points to your final average!
COMMUNICATION AND SUPPORT:
For personal concerns or questions, email is the best way to contact me. I generally check
email several times each day. You can expect a response within 24 hours during weekdays. If
you have a question that affects the entire class, the “Ask the Instructor” link on the course
home page is a better way to clarify the answer. That way I can explain myself once instead of
answering the same question multiple times.
DISABILITY ACCOMODATIONS:
In order for a student to receive disability accommodations under Section 504 of the Americans
with Disabilities Act, he or she must contact Student Counseling Services (SCS). SCS will
assist with information regarding the appropriate policy and procedure for disability
accommodations before each semester or upon immediate recognition of the disability. Student
Counseling Services is located in Alumni Hall Room #4 or you may contact them by phone at
601-925-7790. The Program Coordinator, Holly Reeves, can be reached via email at
hreeves@mc.edu and the Director of Student Counseling Services, Morgan Bryant at
mbryant@mc.edu.
COURSE SCHEDULE
___________________________________________________________________
Week 1 (August 24 – August 30), Topic: Introduction to Retailing, Read CH 1, View the
PowerPoint presentations, Take the online quiz, Complete the Discussion Forum –
McDonald’s and Corporate Social Responsibility. Form teams to begin team projects.
Week 2 (August 31 – Sept 6), Topics: Multichannel Retailing and Retail Market Strategy,
Read CH 3 and CH 5, View the PowerPoint presentations, Take the online quiz, Complete
the Individual Assignment, Multichannel Retailing, and submit it by Sunday, Sept. 6.
Week 3 (Sept 7 – Sept 13), Topic: Retail Financial Strategy, Read CH 6, View the
PowerPoint presentations, Take the online quiz, Complete the Discussion Forum – Is
Costco a Good Investment.
Week 4 (Sept 14 – Sept 20), Topic: Retail Location and Site Selection, Read CH 7 and CH
8, View the PowerPoint presentations, Take the online quiz, Complete the Discussion
Forum – Using ESRI in Trading Area Analysis, Team 1 should submit Project 1 by Sept
18th , Class should view Project 1 Presentation and complete feedback survey.
Week 5 (Sept 21 – Sept 27), Midterm Exam (over CH 1, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8) is on Monday,
Sept 21st , Topic: Retail Pricing, Read CH 14, View the PowerPoint presentation, Take the
online quiz, Complete the Discussion Forum – Pricing Experiments, Team 2 should submit
Project 2 by Sept 25th , Class should view Project 2 Presentation and complete feedback
survey.
Week 6 (Sept 28 – Oct 4), Topic: Merchandise Planning and Buying, Read CH 12 and CH
13, View the PowerPoint presentations, Take the online quiz, Complete the Discussion
Forum – Trader Joe’s Merchandise Strategy, Team 3 should submit Project 3 by Oct 2nd ,
Class should view Project 3 Presentation and complete feedback survey.
Week 7 (Oct 5 – Oct 11), Topics: Retail Communication Mix and Customer Service, Read
CH 15 and CH 18, View the PowerPoint presentations, Take the online quiz, Complete the
Discussion Forum – Online Advertising, Team 4 submit Project 4 by Oct 9th , Class should
view Project 4 Presentation and complete feedback survey.
Week 8 (Oct 12 – Oct 18), Topics: Store Layout and Design and Store Website Design,
Read CH 17, View the PowerPoint presentations, Take the online quiz, Teams 5 and 6
should submit Projects 5 and 6 by Oct 16th , Class should view projects and complete
feedback surveys.
Final Exam (over CH 12, 13, 14, 15, 17 and 18) is on Monday, Oct 19th .