Forever 21
Expanding Forever 21 into Greenville
Prepared for
Ann Cadier Kim, CFO
Forever 21, Inc.
Los Angeles, CA 90058
Prepared by
MAMS Consulting
Shelby Barry
Melissa Westberg
Andre Corbett
Michael Kruger
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC 27858
April 23, 2012
MAMS Consulting
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC 27858
April 21, 2012
Ann Cadier Kim, CFO
Forever 21, Inc.
2001 S. Alameda St.
Los Angeles, CA 90058
Dear Ms. Kim:
Here you will find the report developed by MAMS Consulting to expand Forever 21, Inc. into
Greenville, NC. Our team also included a recommendation on what actions should be taken to
complete this business endeavor.
During our team’s investigation into whether Greenville would be a suitable location for Forever
21, we decided that this location would be beneficial to the corporation. Our team investigated
statistics through surveys, demographics, and competing businesses. Since this investigation
showed positive results pertaining to the success of the store, there is no doubt that Forever 21
should expand into Greenville, NC.
Greenville already contains multiple market competitors including Pac Sun, American Eagle,
New York & Company, and Express. Several of Forever 21's competitors have shown success in
this area, and we feel that for Forever 21 to remain competitive in the market a store is needed in
Greenville.
The analysis throughout this report was made from several valuable sources. These include City
Data's profile on Greenville, Greenville Mall's leasing information, and East Carolina statistics.
The representatives at the Greenville Mall were very helpful and answered our questions.
Our team would like to say thank you for allowing us this opportunity. We have gained an
abundance of information relating to Forever 21 and its competitors. If there are any questions
relating to the proposal, feel free to contact us anytime (910-431-9397;
barrys09@students.ecu.edu). Additional questions will require no further compensation. MAMS
Consulting looks forward to working with Forever 21 in the future.
Sincerely,
Shelby Barry
MAMS Consulting Team Leader
ii
Table of Contents
Letter of Transmittal ....................................................................................................................... ii
Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................... iv
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1
Purpose and Scope ...................................................................................................................... 1
Assumptions................................................................................................................................ 1
Methods....................................................................................................................................... 1
Limitations .................................................................................................................................. 1
Criteria ........................................................................................................................................ 1
Background ..................................................................................................................................... 2
Statistics .......................................................................................................................................... 2
East Carolina University Statistics.............................................................................................. 2
Greenville Statistics .................................................................................................................... 2
Target Market .................................................................................................................................. 3
Survey Results ................................................................................................................................ 3
Location .......................................................................................................................................... 4
Costs Associated ............................................................................................................................. 4
Leasing Information .................................................................................................................... 4
Start Up Costs ............................................................................................................................. 5
Employees ....................................................................................................................................... 5
Product Development and Atmosphere .......................................................................................... 5
Advertising ...................................................................................................................................... 6
Competitors ..................................................................................................................................... 6
Profit Margins ............................................................................................................................. 7
Conclusions and Recommendations ............................................................................................... 8
References ....................................................................................................................................... 9
Appendix ....................................................................................................................................... 10
List of Illustrations
Figure 1 Survey Male or Female? ..................................................................................................12
Figure 2 How Many Times Do You at the Greenville Mall per Month? .......................................12
Figure 3 Have you Shopped at Forever 21?...................................................................................13
Figure 4 Would Forever 21 Coming to Greenville Effect your Shopping Habits? ........................13
Figure 5 Profit Margins of Competitors...........................................................................................7
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Forever 21
Expanding Forever 21 into Greenville
Executive Summary
To take advantage of a growing market, Forever 21 should expand into Greenville, North
Carolina. The population of Greenville is about 85,000 people ("Community Development”).
This city is growing partly due to the fact that East Carolina University is growing in popularity.
Greenville has also been making renovations around the city to improve its popularity.
Greenville already contains several of Forever 21's competitors and in order for Forever 21 to
stay competitive in this market it will need to open a chain in this area.
Our team’s investigation proved that expanding into Greenville would be profitable for the
company for a number of reasons. First, East Carolina University supplies many consumers that
fit your target market. More than half of the student body consists of females. Second, East
Carolina Unversity's popularity has been growing in the past years which will certainly
contribute to a higher student population and will continue to introduce more potential
consumers to the store. Third, since Greenville has a high unemployment rate, finding suitable
employees should not be an issue. Fourth, the potential products this store will be supplying
would not only attract female students, but other potential buyers in the surrounding cities of
Greenville.
MAMS Consulting recommends the following:
1. Expand into Greenville Mall. Introducing Forever 21 into the Greenville Mall will
ensure a wide customer base and lots of foot traffic. The location will provide for space to
grow, as well as an opportunity to create a profitable business.
 Start franchise store.
 Open the store with both MAMS consulting members and a former Forever 21 store
manager.
 Hire local Greenville residents as employees.
2. Evaluate the success of the store in hopes of expanding into a larger retail space.
 Survey customers in order to receive feedback on popularity, as well as evaluate
business's success in numbers.
 Explore additional places with larger floor space
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MAMS Consulting
Expanding Forever 21 to Greenville
Introduction
Forever 21 asked us to explore expanding into Greenville. In order to make an informed
decision, MAMS Consulting has researched Greenville to determine if it would be worthwhile
for Forever 21 to expand into this area.
Purpose and Scope
Our team believes Forever 21 is a hugely successful store throughout the United States. This
corporation has shown good management, as well as the ability to adapt to changing markets.
The purpose of this report is to decide whether expanding Forever 21 into Greenville would be
beneficial to the corporation.
This proposal will include the location of the store, the potential of the store, and its ability to
dominate competitors. This report will not include future predictions of revenues, costs, and any
cash flow that may occur. Our team decided future predictions like these would be determined at
a later date if Forever 21 wanted to move forward.
Assumptions
This proposal is based on the assumption that Forever 21 will be successful in this expansion
because of the analysis compiled. Our team would also like to assume Greenville's economic
state is going to remain neutral, as well as possibly grow in the future.
Methods
The information in this proposal was derived from several websites. A survey was administered
through Facebook and e-mail. The results from internet research and the survey proved very
helpful in determining if this business venture would be profitable.
Limitations
The research that was obtained for this report was restricted to information that is widely
available on the internet. Due to the group’s restricted schedule, the exchange of information
between group members was limited to email and there was not a chance to directly contact the
Forever 21. No member of the group appears to have any business experience but the diversified
backgrounds of all members helps provide a range of work methods, as well as opinions on how
to get things done. While it is helpful to reside in the town which you are researching, the true
viability of a Forever 21 cannot be established since the majority of the city cannot be thoroughly
surveyed.
Criteria
MAMS Consulting established a number of topics which we thought were very important for this
proposal. These include location, statistics, target market, costs, product development, and
competitors.
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MAMS Consulting
Expanding Forever 21 to Greenville
Background
Forever 21 is an established brand that seeks to bring its unique sense of fashion and
affordability to the Greenville area. Named by Forbes.com as the number 8 “Best Small Place for
Business and Careers” in the nation, Greenville is a more than appropriate location to set up
another store in your franchise. As noted earlier in the proposal, the town is home to East
Carolina University as well as Pitt Community College and its many thousands of students.
Greenville, NC is the site of exponential growth in all industries and Forever 21 can be the
company that grows along with this prestigious city. It is because of the consistent expansion of
the Greenville area that we see so many new franchises coming to the city. Some of these big
names included P.F. Chang’s, Cheesecake Factory, and many more businesses that view
Greenville as a place to contribute to that growth as well as introducing unique assets to the
market. It is being able to offer services and products that the competition cannot which will help
Forever 21 and the aforementioned franchises capitalize on their individual target markets.
We are very aware of how Forever 21 can benefit from Greenville and also what it can give back
to its people. Specifically speaking, Forever 21 can employ students from both of the colleges in
order to reflect the energy, vigor, youth, and appeal of your brand of clothing. We can provide the
necessary business experience to students aspiring to make a place for themselves within this
industry or any kind of industry which requires business practice. Being cognizant of the
economic status of Greenville, Forever 21 is ready to provide a cheaper alternative without
sacrificing quality or choice.
Statistics
East Carolina University Statistics
East Carolina University's student population is of vital importance to the success of a Forever
21 store in Greenville. The number of total undergraduates is around 21,000 students, with 73
percent of these undergraduates being female. Also, there are around 6,000 students enrolled in
the graduate school. However, the ratio of females to males within the graduate school numbers
in unknown. The statistics provided are important to us because it shows the school supplies a lot
of the targeted consumers who would provide our profit.
Greenville Statistics
Greenville's total population sits around 82,000 people. 53 percent of these people are female.
This again supplies a lot of your targeted consumers, which we believe is one of the most
important factors to consider when determining the projected success of the store. The
unemployment rate sits at 8.4 percent as of February 2012. This allows us to assume there will
be an abundance people to hire for employment at your store. Also, when the high
unemployment rate is combined with Forever 21’s brand of affordability, this will ensure that our
profits are maximized. Greenville citizens will turn to the store to stay in tune with the latest
trends while at the same time being very cognizant of the economic situation.
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MAMS Consulting
Expanding Forever 21 to Greenville
Target Market
When selecting a target market for Forever 21, we considered many variables that would play
into this process. Examples of these variables include type of products, current fads or trends,
and your competitors’ main consumers. After analyzing the market, our team decided that the
majority of your consumers would be females. This is due to the incredibly high percentage of
women in the Greenville area as well as the high percentage of women attending East Carolina
University too.
We will focus broadly on people whose ages range from 14-30 to reflect the most interest in your
catalog of clothing and whose value it can be best marketed to. However, college age women
will be emphasized more due to their ability to support themselves financially and would
therefore see more value in our clothing. Besides having jobs, college age women would also be
the most likely to receive refund money that they acquire from the school and will be able to
shop at Forever 21 more often.
The teen aspect of the target demographic would not be as stressed due to the majority of teens
who still rely on their parents financially. The teen aspect of your target demographic may
partially be in possession of jobs but will still for the most part be reliant upon their parent(s)
which is why they will not be emphasized as much. This will not hinder the profitability of the
store because the teenage market will want its share of trendy clothing which they can afford
when the funds are available.
Survey Results
We distributed the following survey to 100 people via Facebook and email. We decided to use
social networking because it would give us a broader variety of people in Greenville. Surveying
the 100 people using social networking allowed us to retain the results that we needed. The exact
survey results can be seen in the Appendix.
As seen in Figure 1, more females were surveyed than males. Although normally this would
provide a skewed set of data, our group felt that it was an asset to the survey because your target
audience is mainly female. The female audience that we targeted was females that attend East
Carolina University. This was beneficial to us because the ratio at ECU is 4 to 1, and a large
portion of the population of Greenville comes from the university and also Pitt Community
College.
As seen in Figure 2, 67 percent of the survey respondents shop at the Greenville Mall 1-2 times
per month. We assumed that only 67 percent shopped 1-2 times at the Greenville mall because
there isn’t a general variety of shopping for customers in the mall itself. With an expansion of a
new store especially being Forever 21 we feel the 67 percent of these shoppers will come more
than 1-2 times. The data we collected also proves that those customers that do shop will be ones
to consider shopping at Forever 21.
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MAMS Consulting
Expanding Forever 21 to Greenville
Figure 3 shows that most of the survey respondents have shopped at Forever 21 before, and can
be expected to shop there again if a store is brought to Greenville, North Carolina. The results
show that majority have shopped at Forever 21, and with Figure 1 targeting more female then
males, bringing Forever 21 has a big targeting audience.
Figure 4 shows that 65 percent of the survey respondents would increase their shopping habits if
Forever 21 came to Greenville. Not only will it increase their shopping habits it will increase the
economy in Greenville. This is very positive information that supports the viability of Forever
21 in this city.
Location
Our team recommends the store be brought to Greenville for a number of reasons. Forever 21 is
already operating in Fayetteville, Raleigh, Charlotte, and Wilmington; however there is no store
in Eastern North Carolina for customers to shop. Greenville is the only other profitable area in
North Carolina. This location is surrounded by many smaller towns such as Kinston, Rocky
Mount and Goldsboro which could contribute greatly to consumer involvement.
The stores actual location within the city will be Greenville Mall (714 S.E. Greenville Blvd.
Greenville, NC 27858). We think this location will be the most beneficial because it will easily
catch the attention of mall shoppers. Many people will also be more aware of the store because it
is one of the main attractions for consumer spending. The mall is also located on a main road in
Greenville, and is in the center of town.
The fact that East Carolina University resides in this city is a positive thing too. It will provide
many targets consumers who will hopefully contribute to the stores success. The mall is 3 miles
from campus. This location being close to campus is very beneficial for potential customers and
employees. The mall is also serviced by the ECU transit providing students a way to get to and
from the mall.
Costs Associated
We have anticipated several costs that will be incurred with the acceptance of this report.
Leasing Information
The store location will be leased from Greenville Mall. The total available floor space will be
5500 square feet. The lease will be expected to last for 10 years. At $24 per square foot, the total
rent due on the lease per month will be about $132,000. There will be opportunities to expand by
buying adjacent spaces in the future.
The lease does not include utilities like water or electric. It does include parking for customers
and employees and basic mall security. The mall will be able to support the foot traffic generated
by Forever 21, and no changes to the mall as a whole will not need to be changed.
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MAMS Consulting
Expanding Forever 21 to Greenville
Start Up Costs
There will be startup costs associated with opening Forever 21 in this area. Initial remodeling
will require a large amount of cash. We are expecting this remodel to cost about $150,000. This
would include reconstruction of the space, shelving units, dressing rooms, and all the electrical
and security measures needed to run the business effectively.
We are also expecting the initial inventory to cost approximately $25,000. This would include all
the clothing, shoes, and accessories needed to furnish the store. We also expect to have $10,000
dollars of miscellaneous costs such as bags, pens, name tags, and office supplies.
The advertising costs are expected to be $2500 and will include radio time, newspaper ads, and
flyers to be put on the college campuses. This cost will be looked into further in the advertising
section.
Employees
Greenville has an 8.4 percent employment rate ("Greenville, North Carolina"). This is very
beneficial to any company looking to expand into the area. There are lots of willing employees
looking for jobs, including an expanding university population. With such a high unemployment
rate, finding employees should not be difficult. Having Greenville be named one of the best
small places for businesses and careers will bring more people to the area. This will be beneficial
in making sure there are employees that are around long-term.
In order to reach the potential employees, our group is suggesting the use of
Bettergreenvillejobs.com and the Career center on East Carolina’s campus. Using these will
provide a wide range of job applicants to choose from. Not only will this allow us to reach the
student demographic, but we will also be able to reach the non-employed people of Greenville.
Forever 21 coming to Greenville can help the unemployment rate go down.
Product Development and Atmosphere
The products your store would be selling are going to mostly appeal to female consumers.
Products would include clothing, shoes, and many different accessories. Our team plans to keep
the cultural changes that occur in society in mind and will adapt the store to follow these
changes. When trends pop up among consumers, we plan to follow these trends and shift your
stores outlook accordingly.
We do not plan to bring the men’s clothing line or the plus size women’s line to the Greenville
location; however we do plan on training your employees to be knowledgeable about these lines
in case any questions were to arise. We also plan on making ordering through the store possible
for those who are interested.
We also plan to create an eye catching and inviting atmosphere. Many competitors in the
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MAMS Consulting
Expanding Forever 21 to Greenville
Greenville Mall have lackluster store fronts that do not attract customers. By using a glass front
and mannequins displaying the latest trends, many window shoppers will be drawn into the store.
One of our main goals is to keep this Forever 21 store in sync with the other stores opened
already. We believe that as a corporation it is important to promote the brand in a similar fashion,
and we plan to support Forever 21 in any way possible. We feel that this store will represent
Forever 21 well and can turn a profit for the company while pleasing customers in Greenville
and surrounding areas.
Advertising
We plan to advertise the opening of Forever 21 through the use of several media outlets. The
campus newspaper and campus radio will be essential to reaching your target market. Creating a
grand opening event page on Facebook would also help reach the target audience. We also plan
to post flyers around Pitt Community College and East Carolina University as well as several of
the local high schools.
We are proposing the following advertising plan:
Local Newspaper Ads: $800-1000
Radio Ads: $500-$1000
Facebook Event Page: $0
Flyers: 25 for $29.99
Price of Full Advertisement Plan: $1500-$2500
Normally businesses would pay much more for advertising because the majority of them like to
use commercial. Our consulting group thinks commercials will not be necessary in Greenville
because we believe East Carolina will do a lot of our networking for us. Once the store is known
by a good number of the students, it can easily grow in popularity because students will spread
the news by word of mouth.
Competitors
The competitors of Forever 21 include, American Eagle, Aeropostale, New York & Company,
Pac Sun, JC Penny, Belk, and Macy's. Forever 21 has an advantage over these competitors
because of the age range it is associated with. Many people consider Forever 21 a young adult’s
store, but this store appeals to everyone, not just young adults. This is because teenagers want to
seem grown up and adults want to be younger. Most competitors cannot compete with this
because they have their age ranges associated with either teenagers or adults.
For example:
 American Eagle: This store typically attracts young teenagers. This is an age range that is
too young for older teens and far too young for adults.
 Aeropostale: This store also attracts young teenagers. They are losing a lot of potential
consumers just like American Eagle.
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MAMS Consulting
Expanding Forever 21 to Greenville


New York & Company, and Pac Sun: Both have the potential to appeal to all age ranges
but these stores stress certain styles which don’t appeal to everyone.
JC Penny, Belk, and Macy's all appeal to an age range that may be slightly older, around
30 to 40 years old.
Forever 21's age range is perfect when compared to their competition. We believe the age range
Forever 21 is believed to have by consumers is 18 to 30 years old. This is different than our
target market which ranges from 14 to 30 years old. We have a larger target market because our
age range appeals to people younger and older too, not just consumers that fall between the 18 to
30 ranges.
Profit Margins
MAMS Consulting also plans to evaluate competitors’ success in Greenville and use that
information to lead your store in a direction that has worked for other successful businesses.
Below is an example that uses competitors’ profit margins.
6
4
2
0
-2
American Eagle
Aeropostale
New York & Com.
Pacsun
-4
-6
-8
-10
-12
-14
Figure 1 Profit Margins of Competitors
Through Figure 5 we can see that American Eagle and Aeropostale are profitable. Since this is
the case our team will be watching their methods and strategies closely. By doing this we will
gain clues as to what added to their success. Since New York & Company and Pac Sun are not
profitable, we will assess reasons as to why they are failing, and make sure to repeat mistakes
that these companies have made.
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MAMS Consulting
Expanding Forever 21 to Greenville
Conclusions and Recommendations
Greenville, North Carolina provides the perfect location for Forever 21. It has a large target
market and is continuing to show community growth. The East Carolina University and Pitt
Community College communities, as well as the many small towns surrounding the area provide
the perfect market for Forever 21. We believe that Greenville will be able to support a prosperous
Forever 21 and that this will be an advantageous business decision. MAMS Consulting
recommends the following:
1. Expand into Greenville Mall. Introducing Forever 21 into the Greenville Mall will ensure a wide
customer base and lots of foot traffic. The location will provide for space to grow, as well as an
opportunity to create a profitable business.



Start franchise store.
Open the store with both MAMS consulting members and a former Forever 21 store
manager.
Hire local Greenville residents as employees.
2. Evaluate the success of the store in hopes of expanding into a larger retail space.
 Survey customers in order to receive feedback on popularity, as well as evaluate
business's success in numbers.
 Explore additional places with larger floor space
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Expanding Forever 21 to Greenville
References
"Charlotte Russe." Charlotte Russe. Web. 08 Feb. 2012.
"Community Development." City of Greenville, NC. 1 Jan. 2012. Web. 08 Feb. 2012.
"Cosmopolitan.com." Cosmopolitan. Web. 09 Feb. 2012.
"East Carolina University Statistics." College Prowler. Web. 29 Apr. 2012.
Forever 21 INC. Web. 8 Feb. 2012.
"Greenville, North Carolina." (NC) Profile: Population, Maps, Real Estate, Averages, Homes,
Statistics, Relocation, Travel, Jobs, Hospitals, Schools, Crime, Moving, Houses, News,
Sex Offenders. Web. 08 Feb. 2012.
"Greenville, NC Economy at a Glance." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics. Web. 29 Apr. 2012.
"Leasing Information." Greenville Mall- Greenville, North Carolina. Web. 09 Feb. 2012.
"Pitt County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau." U.S. Census Bureau. 31 Jan. 2012. Web.
8 Feb. 2012.
"Rue21." Home. Web. 09 Feb. 2012.
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Expanding Forever 21 to Greenville
Appendix
Survey Results:
1. Male or Female?
Male
29
Female
71
2. On average how many times do you go shopping at the Greenville Mall in one month?
a. Never
b. 1-2 times a month
c. 3-4 times a month
d. 5 or more times a month
A
22
B
67
C
8
D
3
3. What stores do you typically shop at? (Mark all that apply)
a. Charlotte Rouse
b. Belk
c. American Eagle
d. Pac Sun
e. New York and Company
f. Express
g. Body Central
h. J.C. Penny
i. Other
A
43
B
19
C
36
D
38
E
11
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Expanding Forever 21 to Greenville
F
17
G
24
H
9
I
15 (4 Kohl’s
4. Have you ever shopped at Forever 21?
Yes
59
No
41
5. Have you ever shopped online at Forever 21 because there was no store nearby?
Yes
28
No
72
6. Would Forever 21 coming to Greenville affect your shopping habits?
a. Yes- Increase number of times you shop
b. Yes- Decrease number of times you shop
c. No- Would not affect my shopping habits
A
65
B
2
C
33
7. On average, how much do you spend on clothing and accessories a month?
a. Under $50
b. $50-$100
c. $100-$200
d. Over $200
A
31
B
56
C
9
D
4
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Expanding Forever 21 to Greenville
Male or Female?
Survey Respondents
80
60
Male
40
Female
20
0
Figure 2 Survey Male or Female?
Survey Respondents
How Many Times do you Shop at the
Greenville Mall per Month?
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Never
1-2 Times
3-4 Times
5 or More Times
Figure 3 How Many Times Do You at the Greenville Mall per Month?
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Expanding Forever 21 to Greenville
Have you Shopped at Forever 21?
70
Survey Respondents
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Yes
No
Figure 4 Have you Shopped at Forever 21?
Would Forever 21 Coming to Greenville Effect
your Shopping Habits?
70
Survey Respondents
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Yes- Increase
Yes- Decrease
No- No Effect
Figure 5 Would Forever 21 Coming to Greenville Effect your Shopping Habits?
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