Disappointing Sales During Holiday Season Example

Essays on Disappointing Sales During Holiday Season Coursework ï » ¿ 1. One of the reasons for weak holiday sales could be the increase in gas prices. Since web sales rose steadily to $26.3 billion and did not involve gas expenses of 3$ per gallon in driving to the malls, it appears that weak store sales could be the result of high gas prices (Barbaro, 2007). Secondly, customers were also on a tighter budget and reluctant to spend because of concerns about the economy, including the slowing housing market and tight credit. It is notable that sales increased 2.7% at Walmart, which relentlessly slashed its prices, thereby gaining favor with consumers who are anxious about the economy and have tightened their purse strings. (Barbaro, 2008). Thirdly, another reason cited for the slowdown in sales especially in women’s clothing is the complaint about dreary fashions. Since men’s clothing registered a 2.3 percent rise in sales, the reasons for specific declines in the women’s category could be lack of appealing fashions. However, it app ears that the tightening of purse strings of consumers may be largely caused by the condition of the economy. 2. A truly agile supply chain requires a fast and appropriate response to fluctuating customer demand. Especially in the case of fashion oriented products, market responsive supply chains are focused on speed and flexibility, rather than on saving costs (Aitken et al, 2002). However, in this instance, it appears that major retailers were unable to reach profitable levels because they were not able to respond effectively to customer volatility in demand and could only produce dreary fashions which were not inspiring enough for customers to purchase. Therefore, what was need was a higher level of responsiveness to customer tastes and demand, in producing fashions which would generate sales. 3. The most important reason for Walmart’s increase in sales was its relentless slashing of prices early in the holiday season, which helped to address consumer anxiety about the economy. Despite lack of fashions, the low prices could have been the spur for customers to purchase apparel from this retailer. The retailer featured heavy discounts every weekend throughout November and the low prices attracted customers to shop there. Most of the other stores retailers showing profits were also discount stores such as TJX, BJ, Costco and Ross stores. The department store Saks and specialty retailers Aeropostale, Pacific Sun wear and Children’s place posted stores, as did all the drug stores. The other discount stores may have shown a profit because they sold items other than clothing, and customer sales of electronics goods increased, as also the sale pf pharmaceutical products. At Saks and the specialty stores, high priced footwear items registered high sales, also being no n apparel items. These small stores may have shown a profit due to higher volume of sales by high income groups. 4. Due to the decline in sales, most of the retailers being forced to offer huge discounts, would end up selling their goods at cost price or even lower than cost price, which would produce a loss. The margin of profits is drastically reduced and when selling at cost price, the profit levels are zero, thus allowing no room for the retailers to accommodate their expenses and producing a net loss. Therefore, the gross margin of profits has fallen drastically due to the need to mark down prices, allowing little margin for any profits to accrue to the retailers. 5. The retailers could make the offer of buy-one-get-one-free, to induce customers to not only purchase goods, thereby disposing of stocks, but also reducing the inventories at the same time by clearing out two items with every single purchase. Another option the retailers could follow is to offer large discounts on bulk purchases of goods – for example by slashing the prices by about 50% for the customer who purchases six sweaters at a time. This would attract budget conscious customers who also want items of value. The last alternative is for the retailers to offer the unsold garments at nominal cost as part of a package offer with the purchase of other goods, such as footwear for instance, so that a customer who purchases such an item is able to receive some of the unsold stock and in this way, the retailers can clear out their inventories. They could also consider refurnishing some of the garments by dyeing them in other colors, or making some minor changes in designs to o ffer a more appealing range of products to fashion conscious customers. 6. Since the economy is still in a somewhat depressed state with tight credit and rise in housing prices, it appears unlikely that customers who did not purchase goods during the Christmas season will increase purchases in the spring. The supply chain which is responsive to customer demand needs to be one that provides for greater visibility throughout the supply chain, by fully exploiting information and technology through cooperation and collaboration between the various organizations within a corporation (Harrison and Hoek, 2002). The retailers must therefore arrange for better coordination and integration of information flows between customers, and their production and distribution systems so that the kind of products they produce reflect customer needs. The items may also need to be priced within a more moderate range in order to take into account the conditions of the economy and the tighter control over purse strings exerted by customers. As a result, what is required is great er responsiveness to customer requirements and lower prices in order to boost sales during the spring season. References: * Aitken, J, Christopher, M and Towill, D, 2002. â€Å"Understanding, implementing and exploiting agility and leanness†, International Journal of Logistics Management, 5(1): 59-74 * Barbaro, Michael, 2007. â€Å"Disappointing Sales during holiday season†, The New York Times, December 26, 2007, Retrieved January 18, 20-8 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/business/26shop-web.html?_r=1oref=slogin * Barbaro, Michael, 2008. â€Å"Weak December sales for retailers†, The New York Times, January 10, 2008. Retrieved January 18, 2008 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/business/10cnd-shop.html?ref=business * Harrison, A and van Hoek, R, 2002. â€Å"Logistics management and strategy†, Harlow: Pearson Education

Music Industry Financials free essay sample

Marginal costing is a traditional financial technique which is used by companies for short term decision making within the music amp; entertainment industry. The concept of marginal costing is concerned with the treatment of fixed costs and the relationship that exists between sales, variable costs and contribution. This technique is often used by record labels to estimate the costs which they will incur amp; profits they will earn per unit which is manufactured and sold. Cost behaviour – we need to understand how costs behave at different levels of activity so that we can determine what costs should have been for a trading period and estimate costs for a future period. Cost behaviour studies the way that costs fluctuate. Two major influences on costs are volume (activity) and time. There are three types of cost: variable, fixed amp; semi-variable. Variable costs are those which change with the level of output or activity. The bigger the quantity of CDC sold, the higher the amount of money the artist will receive as royalties. So, if the artist is under a 12% (true artist royalty) therefore receives EH. App per CD sold. If only 50,000 CDC are sold at a Published Dealer Price of EH. 50 they would receive EYE,OHO In royalties. Whereas, If they managed to sell 100,000 C[Yes Instead they would receive 06. 000. As you can see the artist royalty increases as the sales (activity) increases. Fixed costs are those which remain constant despite changes in output or activity, however they can change over a period of time.For instance. If a record label signed an artist and offered an advance of ?40,000 this figure would remain fixed. Despite hangers in sales expenditure, there is still no change to the advance. Semi-variable costs are those which have both a fixed variable element. For instance, if you have manufactured 100,000 CDC for EH. App per unit, brings the cost of production to EYE,OHO. This cost remains fixed. Suddenly there is a lot of demand for the CDC but all of the CDC have been sold, so it Is decided to manufacture 50,000 more CDC therefore the cost raises due to demand to a total of EYE,OHO.Contribution is the difference between sales and variable costs in the marginal cost equation. This is the contribution towards fixed costs and profit. To calculate what the contribution Is you take the selling price per unit and minus the variable costs from It (see example below). Selling price per unit Ell Minus Variable costs = E Contribution per unit = EH Breakable analysis uses the same concept as marginal costing to calculate an estimated figure of how many units of a product need to be sold to cover all costs (this is also known as the breakable point).Breakable analysis is used for various OFF changes to a business, to measure profits and losses, to evaluate alternative methods of production. To calculate the breakable point we need to know the: selling price, sots of product/service, variable costs per unit, overhead costs and whether they are fixed or variable. We also need to know if there are any limitations. As a minimum, the sales need to be equal to the fugue of your fixed costs to make sure that you are not losing any money. For instance, if fixed costs are EH per month, you would have to sell at least 357 units to ensure you break-even.Under the 50/50 net receipts deal you are also given a EYE,OHO advance plus 50% royalties, but you do not rec eive any money from the sales of Cads and digital downloads until all costs are recouped then any profits from that point onwards are split 50/50. All of hose costs are shared by the artist record label. As stated in the contract extract, costs will include manufacturing, transportation, recording ; any other direct costs incurred by the company relation to exploitation of the recordings. The recruitment point in this deal is when 39,560 CDC and 255,319 digital downloads are sold.I believe personally an artist would be better off with the 50/50 net receipts deal because although the units of CDC needed to be sold is higher within this deal, once the recruitment point is reached, profits are split in half between the record label and the artist. Whereas with the traditional deal you receive a minority of the profit and the record label receives the majority. Traditional deals are mostly used by major record labels (e. G. Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group) and are suited to mainstream pop acts because of the big marketing push.This is a big advantage of being signed to a major record label; they have a lot of money available to invest in recording, touring, video shoots marketing and promotion. Major record labels have been around for quite a while; therefore they have tight connections with media outlets and other companies to give you opportunities which independent record labels would never be able to offer. Therefore helping you achieve your music career goals in no time. The disadvantage is that these deals put the record label very much in the driving seat; therefore the artist will not have much control over their career or creativity of their music.Also, unless you are successful in the long term and become a massive star (e. G. Madonna) you will only receive a small percentage for your royalties from sales. Bigger advances are normally given by major record labels with traditional deals; however this advance will be re-paid to the cord label somewhere along the line. You are also less likely to receive a lot of attention from the major record label you are signed to because of the many other acts who are also signed to the label. 0/50 net receipts deals are mostly used by independent record labels (e. G. Domino, Mute) and are suited to artists whose music appeals to a niche audience. These deals give the acts creative control because of the close working relationships between the record label and the act due to the smaller size of the company. Most independent record labels will only sign an act if they inanely like your music and believe in what you are doing, this means they will also work a lot harder for you.There is no added pressure for you to sacrifice your tastes in favor of seeking out chart success as the label understand youre not mainstream and will not have a huge fan base. The drawbacks include the obvious lack of funds, most independent record labels do not give advances or if they do they will be very small compared to the advances which the majors offer. Lack of money also means that there will be less marketing ; distribution opportunities available to signed acts. On a positive note the recruitment and breakable point are both exactly the Calculations.

Why Absolutely Everybody Is Talking About Purposes of Research Proposal and What You Have to Do

Why Absolutely Everybody Is Talking About Purposes of Research Proposal and What You Have to Do So as to be qualified for future work and get closer to a level, it's beneficial to create a concerted effort now. If you're unsure whether you're able to finish your research within the limits of the assignment's due date, speak to your professor. Surfing the world wide web or watching the news is also a sort of research. Utilize our writing tips or neglect to take breaks while writing! The Fight Against Purposes of Research Proposal One of the absolute most powerful ways in which an introduction can be sorted is by developing the subject of the research. The main aim of the introduction is to offer the essential background or context for your research issue. The proposal should have enough info to convince your readers that you have a significant research idea, that you've got a great grasp of the appropriate literature and the big problems, and your methodology is sound. An ef fective research proposal which serves the objective of justifying the research topic should begin with an effective outline. Be aware that descriptions of limitations ought to be stated in the previous tense as they were discovered after you completed your research. Moreover, as there are no well-established and widely accepted canons in qualitative analysis, your method section should be more elaborate than that which is needed for traditional quantitative research. You will need to explain the advantages of your methods and research, together with potential limitations. Note again that discovering a limitation can act as an important chance to spot new gaps in the literature and to describe the demand for additional research. An excellent research proposal sample will enable you to observe the total structure and the main pieces of an academic research proposal and help you avoid the most frequent mistakes. When you compose a research paper you build upon what you know about the topic and make a deliberate attempt to learn what experts know. A bad and low-quality research proposal could possibly be the reason your research won't ever start. An excellent research project may run the possibility of rejection only because the proposal is poorly written. Such proposals are very similar to new'' proposals and have to be routed and approved in the exact same manner. The aim of the proposal is to make sure that The proposal isn't a fixed blueprint. A research proposal sample will reveal to you the parts that ought to be included. It is the best way to find out the most common mistakes that are made in research proposals. Basically, it's a synopsis of the paper. You should formulate a succinct statement of the objective of the research and justify the value of the inquiry. In addition, the essential words are a part of the background and the introduction sections which likewise supply an idea to the mentor about the direction of the genuine research. In the discipline of science, it's important to move away from the looser meaning and utilize it only in its proper context. How to Get Started with Purposes of Research Proposal? Research proposal writing is quite a critical step in achieving a person's level. Because most proposal writers seek funding from several diverse agencies or granting programs, it's a fantastic idea to start by creating an overall grant proposal and price range. Format the proposal so that it's simple to read. Writing a proposal might be a tedious and complicated undertaking, especially if asking for a grant. A variety of particular inclusions and exclusions also have to be considered. The altered authorization is a kind of waiver. If you would like to use the PHI of subjects you know to get deceased, you might use the Privacy Rule exception by creating a certification. The peer review procedure is lengthy. Or you might wish to think in terms of some conference or distinctive volume that you may want to propose an essay for. Academic authors produce many publications for different purposes. Problem Solving meetings are utilised to resolve business and process troubles or to determine prospective issues and the way to handle them. Purposes of Research Proposal Secrets You should describe a couple of possible alternatives for each portion of the plan. The topic needs to be interesting and original. Assessment practices have to be just and equitable to students and provide them the chance to demonstrate what they have learned. After having completed all preceding measures within this undertaking.

Introductory Tips in an Essay

Introductory Tips in an EssayIntroduction A topic in an essay should provide the subject matter to get started on and leave some room for speculation and thought. This is usually the introductory part of an essay.First paragraph It should begin with a statement of purpose. The opening paragraph sets the tone and the pace of the rest of the essay. The paragraph should be short but not so that it's monotonous. Use verbs to complete the sentence such as 'said', 'said,' 'said,' 'said,' etc.Second paragraph The paragraph should give a brief overview of what you will discuss in the next paragraph. This paragraph gives a context for the reader to understand the entire thesis statement. It also introduces the subject to the reader. Do not start the rest of the essay with the same introductory sentence you have used in the first paragraph.Third paragraph Continue your introduction by explaining how the information you provide in the first two paragraphs has been brought together in the three paragraphs. Explain how the subject has been joined to the other parts of the essay. You can use 'relationships'relationships' to combine two or more topics in the essay.Fourth paragraph, You may choose to wrap up your introduction with a closing paragraph or you may conclude your essay by stating what you would like to accomplish by completing the outline. Continue the flow of the essay by telling how the essay will continue. This makes the closing paragraph of the essay the longest one in the essay, if you follow your introduction and conclusion.Fifth paragraph You may choose to continue the flow of the essay by combining this paragraph with the last paragraph of the introduction. By doing so, the essay will seem to be flowing in the correct direction. Again, do not go back to the first paragraph to fill in the blanks after you are done introducing the topic area.Sixth paragraph Explain how you have continued to support your opening paragraph by filling in the blanks in the essay. For example, show that you have talked about your own experiences with that topic area in the opening paragraph and you can continue in the essay by telling your own experience in the topic area in the subsequent paragraphs. Do not repeat yourself by repeating what you have said in the previous paragraph.

Essay Topics - Making it Easy For Yourself!

Essay Topics - Making it Easy For Yourself!When you are going to write a college essay, you want to find ways on how to make it easy for yourself to do so. Well, if you look at the topic of your article, you may notice that it is a very broad one and the focus of your essay may also be very broad.With this in mind, you should not forget to use the topics of USF and the topic of your essay should also have the USF theme in it. It would be very helpful if you would think of this when writing your essay. If you use USF in your topic, you can create a logical argument that goes beyond the obvious and ends up in a much more sensible conclusion.There are two reasons why the topics of USF in your essay are important. The first reason is that your readers will get a clear idea about your academic achievement from the topic that you chose. That means that by making use of topics that have USF, you can end up showing your readers exactly what you have done to reach that point. They would know that you had worked hard to get to the top.The second reason why you should have USF in your topic is that it creates a good precedent. In writing your essay, if you choose to use topics that have USF, you can be sure that it would be read by many people. This is because those are topics that are used by many people. It would make the essay more popular.If you are wondering what should be included in your topic of USF essay, you need to think of some key points. It would be best if you would include in the beginning of your essay the USF events that took place in the past few years. You could add more information about those events, but it is not necessary to get to the detail. Be sure to include in your essay details of the different USF projects, USF scholarships, and other important USF information.It would be best if you include all the major and minor events of USF, its achievements and accomplishments over the past few years. Also, you can put into consideration the other USF activities as well such as sports programs, youth development programs, and many others. Including them will definitely give a good impression to your readers and would also contribute to the success of your essay.Whatever you use as your topic of USF essay, it would be best if you can get across with USF in a clear and well reasoned manner. This would also help you create a good impression to your readers as well. Use of USF and of the topic itself is a good way to increase your chances of getting accepted into USF.

Scholarship Essay Topics - What to Write and How to Get Your Essay Published

Scholarship Essay Topics - What to Write and How to Get Your Essay PublishedFor the winning essay topic, the time is just now upon us and it is now recommended to go into the topic with a keenness and make it into an effective subject. There are very many students who are extremely confused as to what essay topics to choose and for this, we should all be grateful for the days of scholarship essay topics that are provided by the scholarship programs. As there are too many of them to mention here, here are the top three scholarship essay topics. These are the topics that are the best available to write and have the highest rate of return.The first topic is the one that has the most stories of success about it. It can be anything that comes to your mind. Some examples would be finance, law, education, sports, leadership, entrepreneurship, computers, and so on. These topics have a lot of information in them and will help you prepare well for the next year when the big bucks is waiting fo r you. There are many other subjects such as economics, English, psychology, history, science, language, art, and so on that can also be good subjects for scholarship essay topics.The second topic is also one that has a lot of stories of success but is not the kind of topic that is easy to write. However, it has the benefit of getting the attention of readers and getting you noticed by the scholarship program. This topic could be that of the scholarship of general interest and that could include the arts and humanities or finance. It can also be about something like music, the United States government, the environment, or television.The third and the final topic is the one that focuses on some very interesting subject, but at the same time, it is one that has a lot of stories of failure. Examples of this could be politics, religion, education, business, science, the military, sports, and so on. If you are stuck with a topic, you can always look at the schools and see if they give ou t scholarship programs that focus on the field of interest. It is also a good idea to check the schools' curriculum and see if it includes any of the topics.Scholarships provide their students with the tools needed to prepare for college and also to get a degree from the university they wish to attend. It is a good idea to find out as much as you can about the scholarships that are offered. Do you know that there are many scholarships that only require an essay? Many students are unaware of this fact. It is highly recommended that you read more about the scholarships that are available.One of the great things about writing essays is that it can make you a better writer. By writing essays, you are being able to turn your ideas into writing that is easy to read and understand. With this, you will be able to understand the college application form in a much more enjoyable way. There are many methods of studying that you can choose from and a lot of ways in which you can improve yoursel f.These are the best essay topics that you can find. Scholarship programs have helped a lot of students from all around the world to get the degree they have long been dreaming of. If you want to get one of these, be sure to read a lot about the scholarship programs that are currently available. Once you have done this, it will make the task of preparing for the college application much easier.

Cognitive Dissonance Essays - Social Psychology, Attitude Change

Cognitive Dissonance Cognitive Dissonance How do human beings make decisions? What triggers a person to take action at any given point? These are allquestions that I will attempt to answer with my theoretical research into Leon Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance, as well as many of the other related theories. We often do not realize the psychological events that take place in our everyday lives. It is important to take notice of theories, such as the balance theory, the congruency theory and the cognitive dissonance theory so that one's self-persuasion occurs knowingly. As psychologist and theorist gain a better understanding of Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory manipulation could occur more easily than it already does in today's society. Leon Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory is very closely related to many of the consistency theories. The first of the major consistency theories, the balance theory, was proposed by Fritz Heider (1946, 1958) and was later revised by Theodore Newcomb (1953) (Larson, 1995). Heider and Newcomb's theory was mostly looking at the interaction between two people (interpersonally) and the conflicts that arose between them. When two people have conflicting opinions or tension is felt between another person, it is more likely persuasion will occur. Because if no tension was felt between the two parties, or there were no conflicting opinions there would be no need to persuade each other. If you think about it persuasion occurs only because there is tension between two facts, ideas or people. Charles Larson writes in his book, Persuasion, Reception and Responsibility, ?another approach to the consistency theory is congruency theory, by Charles Osgood and Percy Tennenbaum (1955)? (p.82). This theory suggest that we want to have balance in our lives and there is a systematic way to numerically figure it out. When two attitudes collide we must strive to strike a balance between the two attitudes. The balance varies depending on the intensity we feel about each attitude and our pre-disposed positions concerning the attitude. We either have a favorable , neutral or unfavorable opinion concerning ideas. When two attitudes collide we will attempt to downgrade the favorable position and upgrade the unfavorable position so that we feel a balance. For example, suppose someone thought of Mel Gibson as a good role model. Later on they come to find out Mel Gibson does not like football. If the person was to like both football and Mel Gibson one of three things would happen: 1) The individual would downgrade their opinion of Mel Gibson, or 2)downgrade football, or 3) downgrade both. The action taken would create psychological consistency in one's mind. These theories are very interesting and have been quite researched, but none more so than Leon Festinger's theory of cognitivedissonance. Leon Festinger's theory, unlike the others I have described, deal with quantitative aspects, as well as qualitative. That's what is so different and revolutionary about Festinger's theory. Robert Wicklund and Jack Brehm (1976), in their book Perspectives on Cognitive Dissonance, write,? Most notably, the original statement of dissonance theory include: propositions about the resistance-to-change of cognitions and about the proportion of cognitions that are dissonant, both of which allowed powerful and innovative analyses of psychological situations (p.1). The term ?dissonance? refers to the relation between two elements. When two elements do not fit together they are considered dissonant. Cognitive dissonance can be broken down into a number of elements. As Brehm and Cohen (1962) write, ?A dissonant relationship exist between two cognitive elements when a person possesses one which follows the obverse of another that he possesses. A person experiences dissonance, that is, a motivational tension, when he (or she) has cognitions among which there are one or more dissonant relationships? (p.4).Cognitive dissonance can occur intrapersonally as well as betweentwo or more people. With individual cognitive dissonance the individual longs for consistency within their own mind. Second, there exist dissonance between two or more people. This occurs when two people have differing opinions about a particular issue.This phenomenon may have something to do with varying degrees of knowledge about the issue or different belief systems being enacted. An example of this can be seen by taking a look at the cultures of the West versus cultures of the East. Cultures of the East value loyalty and honor. Cultures of the West have different value systems that often collide with those of the East. Between two parties, dissonance may arise from: (1) logical inconsistency; (2) because of cultural mores: (3) because of a specific opinion; and (4) because of past experience. To reduce cognitive dissonance a person