Mid-Term Exam I Marketing 405 Retailing
Summer Term 2010
Exam Instructions: This exam is designed to measure your understanding of concepts that
were discussed in your textbook. The questions are multi-part- please be sure to answer each
part of the questions. You are free to consult these materials and your colleagues when
preparing your answers to questions below, but please the words you choose for your answers
should be your own. You also may consult Wikipedia as well. Each question is equally
weighted and I expect about 3/4 to one & 1/2 pages in length, per answer for a total of about
6-7 pages in length. Focus is one chapter’s one through seven.
Please answer the following questions:
1. How does your author categorize retail stores? Distinguish between variety and
assortment. Why are these important elements of the retail market structure? Why are
retailers in the limited assortment supermarket and the value discount stores growing so
quickly? What type of stores described above do you believe are the most vulnerable to
internet competition and why?
2. How is multi-channel retailing affecting how people shop for food/beverage and CPG
goods? How do people shop different channels for food? How do consumers decide
where to shop? What are some implications of store locations given multi channel
shopping behavior?
3. Many believe that consumer service quality is one of retailing’s most important issues.
How can retailers improve price and enhance customer service without adversely
affecting costs? Describe the consumer buying process for food and beverage
products- what factures influence how retailers (and Manufactures) can model
consumer buying processes?
4.
Choose a food retailer and describe how it has developed a competitive strategic
advantage? Draw a positioning map (like used by your author) for that retailer. How
does this retailer compare (chart comparison) against (your choice) of its key
competitor when looking at how consumers choose a store and their decision processes
for shopping?
5. Why do retailers need to use multiple performance measures to evaluate its
performance? What is the profit margin measurement path? What is the relationship of
gross margin and sales velocity and how do retailers use this in developing strategygive retail examples. What are external and non financial performance measures that
are gaining more attention from analysts? Please define the following: EBITDA;
inventory turnover ratio; CAGR; customer retention; net promoter score.
6. What is your favorite retailer? Why do you like this retailer? What would a
competitive retailer have to do to get your patronage? From a personal perspective,
how does retailing rate as a personal career option for you?