Business of Retail Ch. 3 Marketing & Merchandising

While the season is changing from summer to back to school, a manager asks a sales associate for ideas on a sales strategy that will help clear out the remaining summer merchandise. Which of the following strategies is most likely to help reach this goal?

• Introduce an employee incentive plan for the salesperson who sells the most summer apparel that week

• Suggest shipping the summer merchandise to an outlet store to make room for the spring line

• Put up signs throughout the store stating that all summer merchandise is ”while supplies last"

• Reduce pricing on summer apparel by 60% or more and add incentives for purchasing sunscreen, bathing suits, and tank tops

Your store is running a promotion on pickles. They have created an end-cap display. A customer accidentally runs into the display with their shopping cart and many bottles of pickles fall and break. You see the mess as you walk by. What’s the best next step for the sales associate?

• Check on the shopper to ensure they are unharmed and direct traffic away from the area until it can be cleaned up

• Nothing. Maintenance is surely aware of the problem

• You’re not assigned to that part of the store, so you keep going and find someone else to take care of it

• Pick up the big pieces of glass while you wait for help

What should a store do with their 4^th of July merchandise on the 5^th of July?

• Throw the merchandise left away

• Mark down the merchandise

• Keep the merchandise in the store warehouse until next year

• Leave it on the shelves until customers buy all the merchandise

Sharon is a sales associate and recently changed the arrangement of merchandise on the sales floor and would like to determine whether the new setup is helping sales. Which is the best way for Sharon to accomplish this?

• Listen to what customers are saying and observe how they are reacting to the new merchandising setup

• Take notes about the number of displays and whether the frequency of restocking is increasing or decreasing

• Pull sales reports from before and after the merchandising change and compare the associated sales figures

• Ask customers for feedback relating to the new merchandising setup and whether it is useful and improved

__________________ is not an example of a suggestive selling technique

• Sales associates wearing the clothing being sold in the store

• A messy display of tank tops

• A store providing samples of cheese to customers

• Beach themed display with all the items needed for the beach including towels, beach bag & sunblock

   

A shoe store is selling sandals, and a sales associate notices that a nearby department store is running a sale on sandals for the same price. What is the best strategy the associate can use to make sure the shoe store’s sandals sell?

• Use approved signage that advertises the sandals as the store’s “Everyday low price.”

• Check the competitor’s website for policies and additional service offerings

• Visit the competitor’s store to view their merchandise displays and prepare similar displays in order to increase visibility of the merchandise

• Discount the shoe store’s selection of sandals by 10% to ensure the store is offering the lowest price

_____________ is the action of promoting and selling products and services through advertising, space management, and product branding

• Social Media

• Personal Selling

• Displays

• Marketing

Winn Dixie is running a mix and match special with canned vegetables. Customers can pay $1.10 for any canned vegetable product or $10 for 10 canned vegetable products. Madeline is ready for check-out and has 2 Black Beans, 5 Kidney Beans, and 3 Golden Corn cans. What would be the proper way to process the sale at the register?

• Scan the 10 cans individually

• Scan 1 can of black beans and update the quantity to 2; 1 can of kidney beans and update the quantity to 5; and 1 can of golden corn and update the quantity to 3

• Scan 1 can of beans and update the quantity to 8, and 1 can of golden corn, & update the quantity to 2

• Scan any can and update the quantity to 10

Portion strategies includes all of the following except:

• Sales Promotion

• Direct marketing

• Personal selling

• Pricing History

An associate has just been transferred to the shoe department of the store where he works. On his second day, a customer asks him when the new summer collection will be available to preview. The associate is unable to answer and asks another associate. How can the associate best be prepared to answer similar questions about seasonal merchandise?

• Try to find out the information by reading the company’s promotional material

• Follow up with the other associate to find out about the store’s seasonal merchandising plan

• Wait for a friend who works in the buying department to come back from annual leave and then ask him

• Hope the merchandise arrives before the question comes up again