Case study Solution of Corporate Fashions Inc. It is a case study in Sampling, business research methods

1. Corporate Fashions, Inc. (A)
Section A Group 6
Abhay Sharma
1A
Aniruddh Srivastava
9A
Devansh Doshi
Manasi Jain
16A
23A
Sachin Gupta
38A
Vidooshi Joshi
55A

2. 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.


3. 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.


4. Case Summary (3/3)

Characteristics of female shoppers of the target market
of Corporate Fashions:
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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)


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

6. Research Problem

To determine if there are adequate
women shoppers at Forest View that
fall in the Target Group of the
company

7. 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.

8. 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


9. Sampling Design A (3/3)
Advantages
Disadvantages

10. 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

11. 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


12. Sampling Design B (3/3)
Advantages
Disadvantages

13. 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 inhome 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


14. 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


15. Sampling Design C (3/3)
Advantages
Disadvantages

16. 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.


17. Sampling Design D (2/3)
Degree of targeting achieved:
Geographic and age
Shopping behavior, the kinds of shops
from where purchase happens can be
inferred
 Sampling Framework: Mall intercept
survey
 Sampling method: NonProbabilistic, Judgmental Sampling


18. Sampling Design D (3/3)
Advantages
Disadvantages

19. Other approaches
Web or mail survey
Getting a level of geographic targeting
would be very difficult


20. We Recommend
Mall intercept survey
Additions:
 Remove randomness in the selection
of days, location, and time
 Select locations and time of day when
maximum of the target population
would be available
 Give some discount coupons as
incentives

21. Thank You!