Corporate Fashions, Inc. (A)

Section A Group 6

Abhay Sharma 1A

Aniruddh Srivastava 9A

Devansh Doshi 16AManasi Jain 23A

Sachin Gupta 38A

Vidooshi Joshi 55A

Case Summary (1/3) Corporate Fashions, Inc., was a national franchiser of

specialty retail shops that sell wear-to-the-office clothing to career-oriented, professional working women. The company was looking into the possibility of opening a store in the Forest View Shopping Center in a suburb of Chicago.

It located its stores in those major metropolitan areas which were believed to contain the highest number of professional career women. The stores were typically places in large shopping centers surrounded by the residential areas in which the targeted women were believed to reside. Only large shopping centers with a number of stores of the type that attracted professional career women were considered candidate sites for a Corporate Fashions store.

The Forest View Shopping Center was being considered as a possible site for a Corporate Fashions store because of the number and quality of stores in the center.

Case Summary (2/3) Figures provided by the shopping center manager

indicated that the shopping center’s traffic and sales volume more than likely could support a Corporate Fashions store. The main concern among Corporate Fashions management was whether an adequate proportion of the woemn shoppers at Forest View were the type of professional career women that Corporate Fashions was trying to attract to its stores.

Because the shopping center was unable to provide detailed information about the professional career woemn shoppers, Corporate Fashions management decided to undertake a survey to obtain the desired information. Corporate Fashions managers felt that one of their stores would be successful in the Forst View Shopping Center if at least 10% of the shopping center’s female shoppers were members of their target market.

Case Summary (3/3) Characteristics of female shoppers of the target

market of Corporate Fashions:◦ Employed full-time◦ 25-45 years of age◦ Earns $30,000 or more annually◦ Regularly shops at Forest View◦ Buys clothing of the type sold by Corporate Fashions◦ Spends at least $600 per year on such clothing◦ Spends at least $200 per year in specialty stores◦ Buys from specialty stores that are not price-oriented

Corporate Fashions managers wanted an accurate estimate of the proportion of Forest View’s female shoppers who were professional career women.

Research showed that approximately 96% of all Forest View female shoppers resided in 15 communities (E.g. Elmhurst, Hinsdale, Villa Park, Western Springs and others)

Management Decision Problem

Corporate Fashions, Inc. wants to know if they should open a store in the Forest View Shopping Center, suburb of Chicago.

Research ProblemTo determine if there are

adequate women shoppers at Forest View that fall in the Target Group of the company

Sampling Design A (1/3)Obtain the telephone directories of all of

the 15 communities within the Forest View market area

Select a probability sample of names and telephone numbers from each community

These names and numbers could be used to undertake a telephone survey designed to identify women who shopped at Forest View and whether or not they were also professional career women.

Sampling Design A (2/3)Degree of targeting achieved:

Only geographic Sampling Framework: Telephone

directories of all of the 15 communities within the Forest View market area

Sampling method: Probabilistic, Simple Random

Sampling Design A (3/3)

Advantages Disadvantages

Poor targeting

Samples not proportionate

Tendency to give shorter responses

Easier collection of socially undesirable responses

Speed, and easier follow-up

Sampling Design B (1/3)Use a map to identify the ZIP code areas

comprising the 15 communities in Forest View’s market area

Corporate Fashions could then go to one of the large commercial research service companies, such as Donnelley, and purchase a random sample of names, addresses, and telephone numbers selected from all of the households in the identified ZIP code areas

This random list could be used in the design of an in-home personal interview study, a telephone survey, or even a mail survey

Sampling Design B(2/3)Degree of targeting achieved:

Only geographic Sampling Framework: random

sample of names, addresses, and telephone numbers selected from all of the households in the identified ZIP code areas

Sampling method: Probabilistic, Simple Random

Sampling Design B (3/3)

Advantages

Disadvantages

Poor targeting

Samples not proportionate

Tendency to give shorter responses

Higher cost compared with previous sampling method

Easier collection of socially undesirable responses

Speed, and easier follow-up

Sampling Design C (1/3)Use 1980 Census of Housing data

covering the census tracts comprising Forest View’s market area

Using area sampling methods, an in-home personal interview study could be designed by randomly selecting a certain number of blocks in each community, then randomly selecting certain dwelling units in each of the selected blocks

Sampling Design C (2/3)Degree of targeting achieved:

Only geographic Age, income, and gender can be inferred

Sampling Framework: 1980 Census of Housing data covering the census tracts comprising Forest View’s market area

Sampling method: Probabilistic, Cluster Sampling

Sampling Design C (3/3)

Advantages

Disadvantages

Proportionate

samples of all

target population

Speed, and easier

follow-up

Enhanced targeting

External factors

may affect the

process

Higher cost

compared with

telephonic interviews

Sampling Design D (1/3)Randomly select females who

were shopping in the Forest View Shopping Center

Female Shoppers could be selected at random locations at random times of the day, even on randomly selected days of the week

Such shoppers could be personally interviewed on the spot to obtain the desired information.

Sampling Design D (2/3)Degree of targeting achieved:

Geographic and ageShopping behavior, the kinds of shops from where purchase happens can be inferred

Sampling Framework: Mall intercept survey

Sampling method: Non-Probabilistic, Judgmental Sampling

Sampling Design D (3/3)

Advantages

Disadvantages

All advantage of

personal interviews

Interviewing

environment is

controlled by the

researcher

Enhanced level

of targeting

Higher cost

compared with

telephonic interviews

The respondents

might be in a hurry

to leave the mall

Other approaches Web or mail surveyGetting a level of geographic targeting would be very difficult

We Recommend

Mall intercept survey

Additions:Remove randomness in the selection

of days, location, and timeSelect locations and time of day

when maximum of the target population would be available

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