Peer Review

Assignments for Retail Management

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Dec 12, 2022 by Business

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

This is a collection of assignments that can be used in a Retail Management course. They are based on a textbook, but because the chapter title is paired with the assignment, one can easily adapt them to their class.” The assignments include: i) environment analysis; ii) customer behavior and strategic planning; iii) information systems and CRM; iv) financial strategies; v) merchandise management; vi) pricing; and vii) retail image.

The assignments are general and rudimentary enough to be applicable to any Retail Management class. For many, rubrics are included. There is a second set of assignments, not sure why they are separate.

Finally, there are seven discussion questions including: i) retailing; ii) multi-channel retailing; iii) trade area analysis; iv) human resources; v) operation; vi) integrated marketing communication; and vii) customer service. With the first one, you are required to ask someone in retail a series of questions. This is excellent for some wishing to pursue a career in the field. The second discussion does require substantiating answers with theories from the textbook. The discussion questions are very short, a few sentences. Students are told to limit posts to 300 words, which is probably inadequate to answer properly. Instructors can adjust that.

Type of Material:

Homework assignments and discussion questions

Recommended Uses:

In-class activity and discussions, homework, and individual project.

Technical Requirements:

Google Chrome, Safari, Microsoft Word, PDF

Identify Major Learning Goals:

This material includes a collection of assignments geared towards helping the learner to better understand the retail environment, customer behavior, merchandising, and pricing.

Target Student Population:

Undergraduate students (upper-level)

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

Marketing, Retail Sales and Merchandising

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: They cover a variety of topics. The rubrics are good. The content approach and format are appropriate to the collection.
Concerns:: The assignments seem more opinion than theory-based. There are no requirements to substantiate findings. Assignments must be substantiated by theory from the textbook or found in secondary data. Guidance should be provided on what constitutes strong secondary data. One assignment has students reviewing online advertisements and answering the following questions: How did this company get your attention? Online? Word-of-mouth? Your own research? How did the company’s advertising develop your interest to the point of desire to purchase the product? Does the path-to-purchase model make more sense to you? If so, why? If not, why? There is a plethora of advertising models to use. None are advocated here. The textbook may provide that.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

The items can be used in various ways to achieve teaching and learning goals.

Concerns:

Additional materials may need to be referenced for students to gain a full understanding of the concept. For example, the retail environment analysis provides a table for gathering data for competitors; however, it never discusses competitive advantage or price, although there is a category for additional value.

As another example, the pricing assignment does not start with identifying a target market and determining price elasticity. Competitor pricing and potential reaction to your new product are not discussed. Therfore, providing supplemental materials may be necessary for the instructor to meet the learning goals of the course the materials are being used in.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: Clear and accurate instructions for use.
Concerns:: Some assignments may need additional information to increase their usability. For example, the CRM assignment asks students to evaluate CRM software. This is very difficult without using it. It would be better to compile third-party evaluations among groups that use it. This also provides the relevant criteria to use to assess.

Other Issues and Comments:

The customer behavior assignment creates a presentation on segmentation variables without detailing, needs, benefits, influencers, reference groups, etc.

The financial assignment asked the following question: Assume Domino’s Pizza is considering offering a new product-a 6-inch (15.24 cm) pizza. Why would it matter if Domino’s Pizza knows how much it costs to produce and deliver this 6-inch (15.24 cm) pizza? Would Dominos ever produce a product it did not have the production and delivery cost for?

The merchandise management assignment has students visit and assess a retail outlet. The questions are so broad the answers may not have any continuity across students. Describe the exterior of the store (architecture, window displays, signage, etc.). You would have to include whether is it conveniently located, is parking plentiful, does it feel safe, are their others that nearby, would they generate traffic for “our’ store, etc.

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