Analysis for Decision Making
Reporting sales performance
TheBusiness is a department store chain which currently has branches located in nine major English cities (Birmingham, Leeds, Brent Cross, Manchester, Bristol,
Nottingham, Gateshead, Sheffield and York). There is a total of a million square feet of selling space. TheBusiness’s stores are situated in prime high street
locations and out of town retail parks, serving a wide customer base and a range of lifestyles. Each store has the same structure, comprising nine departments, each
one (with the exception of the Food Hall) divided into three or four sections:
Department:
-Accessories (Bags, Hats, Jewellery, Shoes)
-Clothing (Boys, Girls, Men, Women
-Entertainment (Audio, Computing, Photographic, TV & Video)
-Food Hall
-Furnishings (Furnishing Fabrics, Floor Coverings, Linen, Pictures & Mirrors
-Furniture (Bedroom, Dining, Home Office, Living Room)
-Household (China & Accessories, -Kitchen Electrical, Kitchen Equipment, Lighting)
-Stationery (Cards & Wrap, Office Supplies, Table Accessories)
-Toiletries (Toiletries for all, Men’s toiletries, Women’s toiletries)
Further details of the stores, departments, sections and product ranges are provided in the Appendix.
Each Section is managed by a Section Head and the sections in a given department are co-ordinated by a Department Head. Corresponding sections in each store sell the
same product range apart from a few lines which are supplied by local businesses. For example, the Leeds and Sheffield food halls are supplied by a Yorkshire
smokehouse and a Yorkshire pie company.
Scenario
Each year the Senior Management from the Head Office of TheBusiness carry out a detailed review of the performance of each store within the chain. As part of this
review, departments are required to prepare a business report of their performance over the last year, demonstrating changes compared to the previous years and making
comparisons with similar departments within TheBusiness group.
Data:
The relevant data for each section is available in the Excel file:
-monthly revenue for each section in each department of each store over the relevant period.
-annual total revenue by department and store for each of the relevant years.
You are required to focus on the data from 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13.
Task:
You should complete the coursework as an individual using the Sheffield Food Hall as your department.
You should analyse the data and produce a business report which summarises their investigation of the performance of the Sheffield Food Hall over 2012-13 (August –
July) compared to:
-previous years
-the Food Hall in other stores of TheBusiness
The report should include:
-a description of the performance of the Sheffield Food Hall over the six year period;
-an assessment of the contribution which the Sheffield Food Hall makes to the Sheffield store;
-a comparison with the performance/ contribution of the Food Halls in theBusiness’s other stores .
When writing your report the following analyses might be of use:
-A chart showing the monthly performance of the Sheffield Food Hall over the six year period.
-A chart showing the contribution of the Sheffield Food Hall as a proportion of total annual store revenue over the six year period.
-A chart showing the contribution of the Food Hall totalled across all 9 of theBusiness’s stores as a proportion of the total annual revenue of theBusiness over the
six year period.
The report is for the directors of TheBusiness who have no specialist knowledge of statistical techniques. All material should be relevant to the investigation and
appropriate for the directors of TheBusiness, i.e. do not include anything which the directors could be expected to know – such as what TheBusiness is and where the
shops are located.
You should limit your comments to the financial performance of the Sheffield Food Hall, commenting on any significant seasonal or overall trends. This should be at a
descriptive level only; you are not required to undertake a formal time series analysis of the data. You are not expected to interpret your results within the wider
context of the UK economy.
ScholarMatic: Explanation & Answer
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