Emp wer

M315 Final Major Project

Spring 2019

By: Sarah Jackowski, Paul Ma, Cheyenne Grenaway

Store Type:
We thought a lot on the type of store we would want to open. When athleisure came up

however, we were all in agreeance. We knew that athleisure has been huge in the industry for the

past few years and are all interested in it ourselves. Our researched only confirmed our original

thoughts. “The athleisure market has captured the attention of other

apparel conglomerates as well, and for good reason. The athleisure industry grew by 17 percent

in 2017 and is now the largest apparel category in the United States. Even Nike has taken notice

of this market shift and has responded by creating a new line in collaboration with Serena

Williams and Off White” (NetWorkNewsWire).

Before hypothetically deciding to open an athleisure focused store we wanted to make

sure that the market for athleisure wear would not be going anywhere anytime soon. Andria

Cheng, Senior Contributor of Forbes she shared a response she got on this exact concern. “‘I

often get asked whether the bubble around leisure will burst anytime soon, and the answer is no,’

said Matt Powell, senior sports industry advisor at NPD, in the report. ‘Athleisure rules the

runway, and the line between what is an athletic shoe and a casual shoe continues to blur. Brands

and retailers must continue to feed this trend.’”

After the confirmation of the success in this particular industry we decided to go ahead

and go with an athleisure company out of Chicago. Our company name is called “Empower”.

We believe that this name is well suited for the type of customer that we are trying to advertise

to. The definition of Empower is to make someone stronger and more confident, giving them the

feeling as if they can conquer the world. This is exactly how we want our athleisure apparel to

make people feel when they are wearing our brand. Empower is a woman’s athleisure store that

strives to focus on the customers physical and mental wants/needs. We hope that our brand will

empower woman to lead healthy and happy lives.

Demographics:

According to Ashley Lutz of Business Insider “Women in their 20s and 30s are largely

driving the ’athleisure trend,’ in which customers buy leggings with the intent of wearing them to

the gym, errands, and brunch.” Knowing this information and the type of product we wanted to

go for we decided to create the target market of woman in their 20s-40s. However we found that,

“Activewear now comprises 28% of teens' apparel purchases, up from 6% in 2008. Nike,

Lululemon, Under Armour, and Adidas are the most popular brands for athletic apparel.” In lou

of this information we decided to shift the target market to women from 17-35.

Knowing the incredible success Lululemon has found in recent years we decided to look

into the demographics they shoot for and their “perfect customer”. “The ideal customer at

Lululemon is ‘a 32-year-old professional single woman named Ocean who makes $100,000 a

year.’ Ocean is also ‘engaged, has her own condo, is traveling, fashionable, has an hour and a

half to work out a day,’ Founder Chip Wilson told NYT.’(Lutz).

Our group wanted to emulate this business strategy but on a smaller scale. Therefore our

perfect customer would be a working, motivated woman in her who is 25, engaged, and has time

that she wants to dedicate to fitness but may not have the time to change in between her workout

and her errands. She makes $50,000 a year and wants to invest in the clothing she works out in.
 We will be located in Chicago, which we believe also fits this scenario very well. The

Chicago area has a median salary of 53,006 (“Chicago”). We want to be in a new and modern

location in Chicago near places like juice shops and yoga studios as we feel like this coincides

with our target market and would bring in business.

Psychographics

Our group wanted to focus on psychographics just as much as demographics.

“Purchasing behaviors are revealed through something called “psychographics.” Psychographics

is the analysis of the beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors – including buying habits – of the

trade area’s citizens. A psychographic analysis of the citizens in your trade area is a proven

method of gaining a better understanding of what retail concepts will or will not find a

community attractive.” (Buxton)

In thinking of the psychographics of our customer we thought of a woman who is buys

but puts a large emphasis on her health and fitness in her life. She believes in the power of

treating your body well. This woman is interested in yoga, running, weight lifting and more. She

wants to look decent during and after her workout. She believes in positivity and emphasizes

self-care. She is an advocate for always helping your neighbor.

Interviews:

Interview #1

Kirsten Karlbom; Pilates Body by Kirsten

The first interview that was conducted was an interview with Kirsten Karlblom. Kirsten is a

certified Pilates instructor and has been instructing men and woman for many years. Her

business that she opened is very unique because although it is a Pilates studio, she sells athleisure

wear as well. Kirsten sells brands such as Alo, Beyond Yoga, and more. She is passionate about

her business and goes to market to hand pick what she is going to sell in her store. She was able

to give me amazing answers and her advice is used throughout this paper.
 1. How did you first launch your business?

“I started my business in my home as a Pilates studio. I did not advertise as it was my home and

wanted to keep that private. As my business grew word of mouth I needed to get out of my

home. It took a long time to find a spot that I thought I could grow my studio. My vision was

not just Pilates, but a one stop shop. The spot I found was 1,200 sq. feet enough to expand the

Pilates part, but not anything else. I knew I would be needing a larger space at some point. It

not easy making these decisions because I have 4 daughters and their futures to think of. What if

I fail? What would that do to my family? I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize them

financially.”

“So I started saving money because I knew it was going to cost me to go to the next level. I

prayed a lot on this and said if this is meant to be it will work out. I said if the space next to

Dalzell Jewelers ever opens I’m meant to move. No Joke the next day it was going up for rent in

the next few months. And that was my sign.”

“So goodbye 1,200 sq. and OMG 3,200 sq. plus lower level for hot yoga 1,000 sq. feet. This was

going to do it. So now I am a Pilates studio and yoga studio with an Aveda Spa in the back with

the Aveda retail and athletic wear (ALO, Beyond Yoga, Climawear, Noli, Koral, Free People

Movement, Vimmia). My One Stop Shop.”

2. What makes your business stand out from other competitors?

“Most of My competitors are just Pilates studios or yoga studio and are closed after their classes

are done. I open at 7 am and close 3 nights at 8 pm. And have classes 7 days a week. My

location is prime on our historic downtown strip. I have great traffic and my clients love getting
a workout in then going to Starbucks or lunch or going for a facial or massage after class. They

shop for athletic wear as they wait for class. Which Athletic wear is becoming everyday wear.

It’s so fashionable.”

3. How do you choose your target market?

“My target audience is people who like to take care of their bodies. Weather they are young or

old we need to keep our bodies moving. It’s a healthy lifestyle. Aveda is organic and their

philosophy is to take care of your aging body (especially your skin). Not doing Botox or doing

harmful things to our skin, but to do it organically. Athletic wear I try on everything I purchase

at the studio. Making sure it’s good quality.”

4. What do you do specifically on sales days to attract more customers?

“Our downtown has Ladies Night Out 2 a year. These are HUGE for me. I offer a spa package

deal, raffles, and usually discount retail for 20%. We also use social media to help promote our

sales. Emails are out. No one opens them up! I had constant contact and the stats they send me

are horrible. So I just got rid of that. I also am looking into 5-star, but my husband says to do

remind (what schools use to communicate to their students). Maybe you have some thoughts?

Aveda does a lot of promoting too for me.”

5. How do you keep your employees motivated?

“To motivate employees....Well It’s not easy finding people as excited as you are about your

business. So catching them doing something that you just talked about in a past meeting and

making a huge deal about it. Taking them to dinner or treating lunch or coffee. Especially when

you are thankful for going beyond their job. I just gave an employee a raise because she was
doing more than her job description. Aveda gives me employee appreciation days where they

can purchase Aveda at cost. I give 20% off retail, but if they help me at market I give them their

clothes at cost. Keeping them excited and phones out of sight (hard to do nowadays) helps so

much in keeping a positive atmosphere (VERY important in my line of work).”

6. What time of the year are sales the highest?

“Sales are the highest on ladies night out events and the holidays November/December. Even

January for the sale items was a good month.”

Interview #2

Kelly; MIRTH

The second interview that was conducted was with Kelly who is one of the two owners of

MIRTH. Mirth is a women’s boutique comprised of hand-picked apparel and accessories. The

collections within Mirth focus on unique yet wearable styles from American and European

design houses. They are located here in Bloomington and Kelly was able to give me great

feedback on my questions.
 1. How did you first launch your business?

They started their business with popups, which means that they did not have a fixed location to

sell their products. The way they did this was by renting out a small corner in saloon or another

store to exhibit and sell their products. This is a cheaper way to sell products with lower risks

involved. As she said, they did not use any loan at the beginning. However, it also has many

drawbacks. For instance, although popups did give them a much more flexible way to exhibit

their goods, they were losing consistency. This made them loose customer loyalty because of the

unfixed hours and location.

Like most small retailers, MIRTH does not have products of their own brands or design. The

Apparel Merchandise Market in Chicago is where they go every year to buy products from the

Manufacturers.

After they earned a decent amount of money, they then decided to open their own store and

spend more money on advertisement.

2. What makes your business stand out from other competitors?

First of all, there are not too many competitors of MIRTH in Bloomington. Most of MIRTH’s

customers come from IU. Although, students are the largest part of Bloomington’s population,

the market of faculties from IU cannot be ignored. In Bloomington, most of the retailers are

targeting their customers on students aged from 18 to 25. While MIRTH is targeting on

demographic of university faculties.

Second of all, because the owners of MIRTH go to the Apparel Market frequently to order

products, their styles are more various and trendy compared with other competitors in

Bloomington.

3. How do you choose your target market?

There was a store in Bloomington called Relish, which targeted to the exact same group of

customers as MIRTH targets to before MIRTH was “born”. Amanda Forgas, an owner of

MIRTH, used to work at Relish before MIRTH. However, due to some reasons, Relish was

closed. Amanda and Kelly found this an excellent business opportunity in Bloomington. Then

they came together to launch their own business, covering the losing demographic market. Kelly

told me in the interview that “We know it will work out well, so why mess up something that

will work.”

4. What do you do specifically on sales days to attract more customers?

They don’t do any sales event. In other words, they don’t discount their products for any event or

holiday. However, they do marketing things for special days. For example, they advertise their

products on Instagram and Facebook. One specific thing they do to promote sales is to make a

buying guide using the products they have in their store. This is a way customers can find

products that are trendy nowadays and get ideas of how to dress themselves up with items sold in

MIRTH.

5. How do you keep your employees motivated?

They actually don’t have to worry about this problem because ever since MIRTH was launched,

they never hired any employees in their store. Kelly and Amanda are not only the owners of
MIRTH, but also clerks for the store. They are motivated because they are the owners of the

business. If they sell more, they will earn more.

6. What time of the year are sales the highest?

Based on Kelly’s words, sales are the highest through October to December. This is because

there are a lot of holidays in those months. Additionally, from April to June is a period for great

sales because people will dress themselves for the new season.
Interview #3

Emily Clarke; Top Thread Apparel

This interview was with Emily Clarke, part owner of Top Thread Apparel. Her and

partner Lauren Perkins decided to open up a business together in Nashville, TN. They

focus a lot on their online domain of the company. They go to market a few times a year

to keep up with supply their target market will want to purchase.

 1. How did you first launch your business?

“My friend and I had talked about starting it for years. Finally we decided to just take a chance.

We got a bottle of wine, and decided on a name. That day we went and bought a domain for the

online portion of our store.”

2. What makes your business stand out from other competitors?

“We wanted to make people want to buy from us. We decided to choose five different charities

that meant something to each of our employees that the customer could choose from at checkout.

The charity of their choice would get 10% of the sale. We feel as though this has really resonated

with our customers and taken us farther than competitors.”

3. How do you choose your target market?

“We chose a target market that is very similar to us. We knew what we would like and felt like

we would have the best understanding and success selling to people similar to us.”

4. What do you do specifically on sales days to attract more customers?

“We spend a lot of time investing in social media. We feel as though the easiest way to get to our

target market is through social media platforms. One we use most is Instagram We try to spend a

lot of time on Instagram engaging with our customers, especially on sales days. We post a lot

and try to keep up with what is happening every day.”

5. How do you keep your employees motivated?

“We feel as though the best way to keep our employees motivated is to give them some form of

responsibility in the company. We let them make decisions and use their ideas so that they know
that this is partly their own as well. They are always much more invested and want to see the

company do as well as possible.”

7. What time of the year are sales the highest?

Since we are really into social media and have our online domain a lot of our customers may not

be from the Nashville area. Black Friday has always been the largest day of sales for us.
 Sales Plan by Week
Week 2018 Actual TY Plan $ Var Plan to LY % Var Plan to LY Notes/Comments LY Notes/Comments TY
February
Week I 5244 5300 56 1.1%
Week II 9367 9450 83 0.9% Valentines Day Sale LY Valentines Day Sale TY
Week III 7033 7100 67 1.0% Presidents Day Sale LY Presidents Day Sale TY
Week IV 6178 6225 47 0.8%
Total 27822 28075 253 0.9%

March
Week I 4882 8755 3873 79.3% Snow Storm Anonymous Sale TY
Week II 11188 7875 -3313 -29.6% Spring Sale LY
Week III 9293 14750 5457 58.7% Spring Sale Sunday LY Spring Sale TY
Week IV 14151 10500 -3651 -25.8% Easter Sale LY Spring Sale Sunday
Week V 13560 8775 -4785 -35.3% Easter LY/30 Hour Sale
Total 53074 50655 -2419 -4.6%
YTD Total 80896 78730 -2166 -2.7%

April
Week I 10170 15775 5605 55.1% 30 Hour Sale TY
Week II 11166 16100 4934 44.2% Easter Sale TY
Week III 15961 9650 -6311 -39.5% Anniversary Sale LY Easter TY
Week IV 13037 17425 4388 33.7% Anniversary Sale TY
Total 50334 58950 8616 17.1%
YTD Total 131230 137680 6450 4.9%

May
Week I 19739 26025 6286 31.8% Mother's Day Sale LY Mother's Day Sale TY
Week II 11867 13255 1388 11.7% Mother Day LY Mother's Day TY
Week III 11509 12930 1421 12.3%
Week IV 11004 10200 -804 -7.3% Memorial Sale & Day LY Memorial Sale & Day TY
Total 54119 62410 8291 15.3%
YTD Total 185349 200090 14741 8.0%

June
Week I 9967 10000 33 0.3%
Week II 11523 9000 -2523 -21.9% Summer Sale LY
Week III 8066 12000 3934 48.8% Summer Sale TY
Week IV 9233 9000 -233 -2.5%
Week V 12451 14500 2049 16.5% July 4th Sale July 4th Sale
Total 51240 54500 3260 6.4%
YTD Total 236589 254590 18001 7.6%

July
Week I 12879 12100 -779 -6.0% After Inventory Sale
Week II 14335 10200 -4135 -28.8% Clearance-Additional 50% off
Week III 9877 13600 3723 37.7% After Inventory Sale
Week IV 10298 14500 4202 40.8% Clearance-Additional 50% off
Total 47389 50400 3011 6.4%

Spring Total 283978 304990 21012 7.4%

 Sales Plan (March)
Week LY Date TY Date LY Actual TY Plan $ Var Plan to LY % Var Plan to LY Notes/Comments LY Notes/Comments TY

1 3/4 3/3 970 1000 30 3.1%

3/5 3/4 679 700 21 3.1%
3/6 3/5 800 825 25 3.1%
3/7 3/6 650 680 30 4.6%
3/8 3/7 233 1100 867 372.1% Snow storm
3/9 3/8 350 950 600 171.4% snow storm
3/10 3/9 1200 3500 2300 191.7% Sale
Week Total 4882 8755 3873 79.3%

2 3/11 3/10 998 1025 27 2.7%

3/12 3/11 698 800 102 14.6%
3/13 3/12 901 950 49 5.4%
3/14 3/13 2 900 898 44900.0%
3/15 3/14 810 1300 490 60.5%
3/16 3/15 3546 1425 -2121 -59.8% Spring Sale LY
3/17 3/16 4233 1475 -2758 -65.2% Spring Sale LY
Week Total 11188 7875 -3313 -29.6% Spring Sale LY

3 3/18 3/17 2100 1400 -700 -33.3% Spring Sale LY

3/19 3/18 806 1200 394 48.9%
3/20 3/19 922 1250 328 35.6%
3/21 3/20 1011 1300 289 28.6%
3/22 3/21 1265 900 -365 -28.9%
3/23 3/22 1423 4000 2577 181.1% Spring Sale TY
3/24 3/23 1766 4700 2934 166.1% Spring Sale TY
Week Total 9293 14750 5457 58.7%

4 3/25 3/24 1253 2500 1247 99.5% Spring Sale TY

3/26 3/25 1033 875 -158 -15.3%
3/27 3/26 1132 1100 -32 -2.8%
3/28 3/27 1266 1325 59 4.7%
3/29 3/28 1021 1400 379 37.1%
3/30 3/29 3988 1525 -2463 -61.8% Easter Sale
3/31 3/30 4458 1775 -2683 -60.2% Easter Sale
Week Total 14151 10500 -3651 -25.8%

5 4/1 3/31 0 1000 1000 #DIV/0! Easter

4/2 4/1 910 950 40 4.4%
4/3 4/2 1106 1000 -106 -9.6%
4/4 4/3 1227 1275 48 3.9%
4/5 4/4 1008 1450 442 43.8%
4/6 4/5 4322 1500 -2822 -65.3% 30 Hour Sale
4/7 4/6 4987 1600 -3387 -67.9% 30 Hour Sale
Week Total 13560 8775 -4785 -35.3%

Period Total 53074 50655 -2419 -4.6%

 Sales Plan (April)
Week LY Date TY Date LY Actual TY Plan $ Var Plan to LY % Var Plan to LY Notes/Comments LY Notes/Comments TY
1 4/8 4/7 1306 900 -406 -31.1%
4/9 4/8 1065 1100 35 3.3%
4/10 4/9 998 1250 252 25.3%
4/11 4/10 1021 1375 354 34.7%
4/12 4/11 1487 1050 -437 -29.4%
4/13 4/12 1877 4500 2623 139.7% 30 Hour Sale
4/14 4/13 2416 5600 3184 131.8% 30 Hour Sale
Week Total 10170 15775 5605 55.1%

2 4/15 4/14 1398 1400 2 0.1%

4/16 4/15 1011 1600 589 58.3%
4/17 4/16 1165 1350 185 15.9%
4/18 4/17 1254 1300 46 3.7%
4/19 4/18 1511 1200 -311 -20.6%
4/20 4/19 1985 4350 2365 119.1% Easter Sale
4/21 4/20 2842 4900 2058 72.4% Easter Sale
Week Total 11166 16100 4934 44.2%

3 4/22 4/21 1543 0 -1543 -100.0% Easter

4/23 4/22 1162 975 -187 -16.1%
4/24 4/23 1234 1300 66 5.3%
4/25 4/24 1422 1525 103 7.2%
4/26 4/25 1165 1700 535 45.9%
4/27 4/26 4399 1850 -2549 -57.9% Anniversary Sale LY
4/28 4/27 5036 2300 -2736 -54.3% Anniversary Sale LY
Week Total 15961 9650 -6311 -39.5%

4 4/29 4/28 1202 1650 448 37.3%

4/30 4/29 1154 1200 46 4.0%
5/1 4/30 1387 1400 13 0.9%
5/2 5/1 1489 1475 -14 -0.9%
5/3 5/2 1792 1200 -592 -33.0%
5/4 5/3 2745 5000 2255 82.1% Aniversary Sale TY
5/5 5/4 3268 5500 2232 68.3% Aniversary Sale TY
Week Total 13037 17425 4388 33.7%

Period Total 50334 58950 8616 17.1%

 Sales Plan (May)
Week LY Date TY Date LY Actual TY Plan $ Var Plan to LY % Var Plan to LY Notes/Comments LY Notes/Comments TY
1 5/6 5/5 2933 3100 167 5.7% Sunday before Mother's Day Sunday before Mother's Day
5/7 5/6 1387 1450 63 4.5%
5/8 5/7 1464 1500 36 2.5%
5/9 5/8 1578 1300 -278 -17.6%
5/10 5/9 1287 5500 4213 327.4% Mothers' Day Sale TY
5/11 5/10 5124 6375 1251 24.4% Mother's Day Sale LY Mothers' Day Sale TY
5/12 5/11 5966 6800 834 14.0% Mother's Day Sale LY Mothers' Day Sale TY
Week Total 19739 26025 6286 31.8%

2 5/13 5/12 2862 3000 138 4.8% Mother's Day Sale LY Mothers' Day Sale TY
5/14 5/13 997 1050 53 5.3%
5/15 5/14 1098 1300 202 18.4%
5/16 5/15 1276 1375 99 7.8%
5/17 5/16 1433 1680 247 17.2%
5/18 5/17 1657 1850 193 11.6%
5/19 5/18 2544 3000 456 17.9%
Week Total 11867 13255 1388 11.7%

3 5/20 5/19 1276 1300 24 1.9%

5/21 5/20 1003 1275 272 27.1%
5/22 5/21 1242 1375 133 10.7%
5/23 5/22 1431 1600 169 11.8%
5/24 5/23 1598 1780 182 11.4%
5/25 5/24 1544 1600 56 3.6%
5/26 5/25 3415 4000 585 17.1% Memorial Day Sale LY Memorial Day Sale TY
Week Total 11509 12930 1421 12.3%

4 5/27 5/26 2122 2050 -72 -3.4% Memorial Day Sale LY Memorial Day Sale TY
5/28 5/27 1858 1900 42 2.3% Memorial Day Sale LY Memorial Day Sale TY
5/29 5/28 987 1050 63 6.4%
5/30 5/29 1114 1000 -114 -10.2%
5/31 5/30 1287 900 -387 -30.1%
6/1 5/31 1471 1300 -171 -11.6%
6/2 6/1 2165 2000 -165 -7.6%
Week Total 11004 10200 -804 -7.3%

Period Total 54119 62410

Sales Plan Analysis
In order to create the Sales Plan, we used last year's numbers to predict and plan for the

days and months where there was history. Using research that relates to the industry, the target

percent increase that we came up with for our store was 7.4%. This number can be backed up by

several different business articles all relating to the retail industry and how businesses are

predicting sales to go in the upcoming seasons. Athleisure wear has been a major trend in recent

years and is still continuing to expand. According to an article written in late November on

Forbes.com titled, “Why The Athleisure Business Continues To Defy Gravity”, Kim Karmitz,

who has been doing work with businesses related to athleisure wear, states that “This market

hasn’t slowed. Even after all this time, the big players and the smaller ones continue to expand,”

(Kirshenbaum 2018). With that being said, although the athleisure wear trend has been around

for a few years now, the demand for this category of apparel is only increasing. More and more

businesses are focusing on athleisure wear and the competition is rising. The 7.4% increase that

we came up with is a result from interpreting several different business environments within the

category of athleisure wear and within the retail industry as a whole. According to an article

written by Barbara Coffin on hinewulm.com, which discusses the growth of huge athleisure wear

companies, suggests that “They [Lululemon] expect $1.69 EPS, up 27.07% or $0.36 from last

year’s $1.33 per share” (Coffin, 2019). This percent increase is massive and suggests to us that

we definitely need to keep in mind that this category of clothing is still growing. We realize that

27% is a huge increase and this is a prediction for massive companies such as Lululemon and

Athleta. Although this number tells us about the growth of larger stores than ours, this

information is crucial and is factored into the 7.4% in which we came up with. We continued to

research the growth of athleisure wear stores specifically and came across an article from
DigitalJournal.com titled “Global Yoga Apparel Market Forecast 2023 - Leading Players” that

states that “The global yoga apparel market is expected to mask a notable CAGR of 11.3%”

(DigitalJournal, 2019). After focusing on the athleisure wear category, we decided to research

the fashion industry as whole. Focusing on the bigger picture is also crucial when determining

our percent increase. In reference to an article posted by National Retail Federation titled “The

State of Retail Heading Into 2019”, researchers have ensured us that “predictions of a retail

apocalypse have quieted”. The percent increase from NRF was around 4.4%. The article is

predicting continued growth for the industry for 2019 (Bandaranayake, 2018). A similar article

also published by NRF written by Jack Kleinhenz, NRF Chief Economist, states that the retail

sales for the month of August increased by “5 percent year-over-year as the economy continued

to grow despite concerns about the growing trade war, the National Retail Federation said today”

(Kleinhenz, 2018). The last article that we chose to include in order to guide us in determining

our percent increase number was an article written on Bloomberg.com titled “U.S. Growth

Outlooks Weakens After Disappointing Retail Data” that states that “The Atlanta Fed’s

GDPNow estimate fell to 1.5 percent from 2.7 percent”. The article also explains that consumer

spending could possibly be losing more momentum than expected in the first quarter (Condon &

Dmitrieva, 2019). After analyzing all six of these different sources and looking into the specific

numbers, we came up with our own prediction of 7.4%. This number is a good representation of

all of the different factors from the specific industry of athleisure wear to the retail industry as a

whole. We considered the lower numbers of the industry as a whole greatly, but we knew that

because of the popularity and expansion of athleisure wear, we needed to make the percent

increase higher than what the industry was averaged out to be as a whole. We were cautious to

not raise that percent too high because are research was based off of massive athleisure wear
companies and we are only a small store. With that being said, 7.4% was the outcome that

resulted from this research.

The next step in regards to the sales plan was to plan for our daily sales first. We daily

planned for a total of three months, March, April, & May, and we weekly planned for February,

June and July. Based on the fiscal calendar, we made sure to change dates and to adjust any

shifts in holidays or specific events. The business environment for athleisure wear is continuing

to rise and expand at exceptional rates, as mentioned in the previous paragraph. An article

published by Forbes titled “The Athleisure Trend Isn’t Taking A Rest” claims that “The “sport

leisure” style has become the largest category in the U.S” (Cheng, 2018). With this knowledge

that the business environment for athleisure wear is the most prominent within the United States,

we planned for the total sales to increase by 7.4% from what they were last year in 2018. Based

on research, it is safe to say that we can anticipate more customers and higher sales in 2019. In

order to meet our new sales goal, we anticipate incorporating many new promotional strategies

which will be discussed further on in the paper. We have strategically added in one additional

sales day to our 2019 plan in order to attract the most customers and gain as much revenue as

possible. This sales day has been scheduled for Saturday, March 10th. This sales day was chosen

to be on a Saturday because based on the sales for 2018, Saturdays are the highest sales days of

the week. Customers are more likely to stop in on a Saturday versus a week day because people

are off of work and have free time to do so. The one day sale was purposely placed during the

first week in March because compared to last year, March had very few sales days. Based off of

the information we received for 2018, March had a three day long Spring Sale, a three day long

Easter Sale, and a two day long 30 Hour Sale. When planning for 2019, we noticed that there

was only one three day sale planned for March, which was planned for later in the month. This
information lead us to make the decision that the one day sale needed to be added to the

beginning of March in order to ensure that our store would be making a higher revenue than last

year.

In order to make sure that we are meeting our sales goals specifically when we are having

a sale, we have strategized and brainstormed numerous ideas to put into action. We started by

obviously adding in another sale day to the month of March. Having sales days are critical when

it comes to driving customers to your store and revenue will dramatically rise. During days of

sales, prices of items will obviously lower and we hope to bring amazing deals to our customers.

An idea we had was “Buy 1 pair of yoga pants, get 1 half off”. This is a superb deal that will

catch the eye of our customers. Before our sales days, we plan to advertise as much as possible

by emailing loyal customers and using multiple social media platforms. We will have a member

system where customers will be able to earn points towards and win coupons as well.
 Base Schedule
Sunday (11am-5pm) Monday (10:00am-9:00pm) Tuesday (10:00am-9:00pm) Wednesday (10:00am-9:00pm) Thursday (10:00am-9:00pm) Friday (10:00am-9:00pm) Saturday (10:00am-9:00pm)
Manager 9:30am-4:30pm 12:30pm-7:30pm 9:30am-11:30am 12:30pm-7:30pm 9:30am-4:30pm
Assistant Manager 10:30am-3:30pm 3:00pm-7:00pm 9:30am-1:00pm 10:30am-5:00pm 3:00pm-9:00pm 5:30pm-9:30pm
Keyholder 1:00pm-5:30pm 5:30pm-9:30pm 3:30pm-9:30pm 9:30am-5:00pm 9:30am-5:30pm
Part Time Employee 1 3:30pm-5:30pm
Part Time Employee 2 7:30pm-9:30pm
Base Schedule:
Our base schedule includes a Manager, Assistant Manager, a Keyholder, and two

part time employees. The manager gets paid $16 per hours, Assistant manager gets paid

$13 per hour, Keyholder receives $10 per hour, and our part time employees receive $8

per hour each. To calculate weighted average, we added all of the employees’ salaries

together to equal $55, and then we divided that number by the number of employees we

have, which is 5. This would make the weighted average equal $11. For our base

schedule, we ultimately choose to have three full time employees, which include a

manager, an assistant manager, and a keyholder and two part time employees. The three

full time employees have each been scheduled at least 30 hours per week for the base

schedule and the part time employees have only been scheduled 2 hours per week for our

base schedule. The part time employees will receive more hours during busier months

when we really need them. We needed to keep our base schedule total hours to an

absolute minimum, which is why the part time employees are receiving such a low

amount of hours.

Our base schedule consists of 94 hours per week. With that being said, even weeks

with comparatively low sales must be given 94 hours in order to meet the base schedule.

As a result, those weeks with low sales will have a higher selling cost than other weeks.

Also, because we only have 3 full-time employees and 2 part-time employees, the

maximum number of hours we can use per week is 155 hours. Even on the weeks we may

have very high sales, we are not able to schedule more than 155 hours. So basically, we
schedule weeks with higher sales more hours, however higher selling cost is guaranteed

for those weeks with high sales. For example, week 1 in May has the highest sales, but

we can only have 155 hour to be scheduled for that week. This causes this week to have

the lowest selling cost amongst all other weeks.

 Selling Cost Chart
Week Feb I Feb II Feb III Feb IV Mar I Mar II Mar III Mar IV Mar V
Sales$ 5300 9450 7100 6225 8755 7875 14750 10500 8775
Hours 94 94 94 94 94 94 118 95.5 94
Est. Payroll 1034 1034 1034 1034 1034 1034 1298 1050.5 1034
Selling Cost% 19.5% 10.9% 14.6% 16.6% 11.8% 13.1% 8.8% 10.0% 11.8%
Productivity 56.38297872 100.5319149 75.53191489 66.22340426 93.13829787 83.77659574 125 109.947644 93.35106383
Week Apr I Apr II Apr III Apr IV May I May II May III May IV June I
Sales$ 15775 16100 9650 17425 26025 13255 12930 10200 10000
Hours 123 130 94 143 155 114 113 94 94
Est. Payroll 1353 1430 1034 1573 1705 1254 1243 1034 1034
Selling Cost% 8.6% 8.9% 10.7% 9.0% 6.6% 9.5% 9.6% 10.1% 10.3%
Productivity 128.2520325 123.8461538 102.6595745 121.8531469 167.9032258 116.2719298 114.4247788 108.5106383 106.3829787
Week June II June III June IV June V July I July II July III July IV Total
Sales$ 9000 12000 9000 14500 12100 10200 13600 14500 78730
Hours 94 109.1 94 118 110 94 115 120 871.5
Est. Payroll 1034 1200.1 1034 1298 1210 1034 1265 1320 9586.5
Selling Cost% 11.5% 10.0% 11.5% 9.0% 10.0% 10.1% 9.3% 9.1% 12.2%
Productivity 95.74468085 109.9908341 95.74468085 122.8813559 110 108.5106383 118.2608696 120.8333333 90.33849684
 Mother's Day Sale Week
Hours Sunday (11am-5pm) Monday (10:00am-9:00pm) Tuesday (10:00am-9:00pm)
Wednesday (10:00am-9:00pm) Thursday (10:00am-9:00pm) Friday (10:00am-9:00pm) Saturday (10:00am-9:00pm)
Manager 10:30-5:30 9:30-1:30 11:00-7:00 9:30-5:30 1:30-9:30pm
Assistant Manager 10:30-5:30 9:30-1:30 9:30-5:30 1:30-9:30 11:00-7:00
Keyholder (Full Time) 10:30-5:30 9:30-1:30 1:30-9:30 11:00-7:00 9:30-5:30
Part Time Employee 1 1:00-4:00 1:30-9:30 4:30-6:30 1:30-9:30 1:00-5:00
Part Time Employee 2 1:30-9:30 1:30-9:30 5:30-9:30 4:30-9:30
Sales 3100 1450 1500 1300 5500 6375 6800
Sales % 11.91% 5.57% 5.76% 5.00% 21.13% 24.50% 26.13%
Hours 24 12 12 12 30 32 33
Hours % 15.48% 7.74% 7.74% 7.74% 19.35% 20.65% 21.29%
Total Sales 26025
Total Hours 155
May 1st Schedule Explanation:

Due to the limited number of employees in our store, we can only schedule 155 hours for

Week 1 in May, which is the Mother’s Day Sales Week. Based on the Sales of past years,

Weekdays before the Mother’s Day Sales is comparatively lower than the normal days, and the

revenue on Mother’s Day Sales will have a burst. So, we have to have enough employees on the

floor when sales are the biggest, and also to make sure we can keep our store open on the

weekdays. As a result, we scheduled 12 hours on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. And 30

hours for Thursday, 32 hours for Friday, 33 hours for Saturday, 24 hours for Sunday. The reason

we scheduled so many hours for Thursday is because this year we added an extra sales day on

Thursday, which was not done in the previous year.

 Floor Coverage Sheet - Sunday
Hour Sales/Name Sales/Name Sales/Name Sales/Name Sales/Name Sales/Name Other Other Lunch Num of People on the floor
10:30 Manager Assistant Manager Keyholder 3
11:00 Assistant Manager Keyholder Manager 2
11:30 Manager Keyholder Assistant Manager 2
12:00 Manager Assistant Manager Keyholder 2
12:30 Manager Assistant Manager Keyholder 3
13:00 Manager Assistant Manager Keyholder Employee 1 4
13:30 Manager Assistant Manager Keyholder Employee 1 4
14:00 Manager Assistant Manager Keyholder Employee 1 4
14:30 Manager Assistant Manager Keyholder Employee 1 4
15:00 Manager Assistant Manager Keyholder Employee 1 4
15:30 Manager Assistant Manager Keyholder Employee 1 4
16:00 Manager Assistant Manager Keyholder 3
16:30 Manager Assistant Manager Keyholder 3
17:00 Manager Assistant Manager Keyholder 3
5
 Floor Coverage Sheet - Monday
Hour Sales/Name Sales/Name Sales/Name Sales/Name Sales/Name Sales/Name Other Other Lunch Num of People on the floor
9:30 Manager 1
10:00 Manager 1
10:30 Manager 1
11:00 Manager 1
11:30 Manager 1
12:00 Manager 1
12:30 Manager 1
13:00 Manager 1
13:30 Employee 2 1
14:00 Employee 2 1
14:30 Employee 2 1
15:00 Employee 2 1
15:30 Employee 2 1
16:00 Employee 2 1
16:30 Employee 2 1
17:00 Employee 2 1
17:30 Employee 2 1
18:00 Employee 2 1
18:30 Employee 2 1
19:00 Employee 2 1
19:30 Employee 2 1
20:00 Employee 2 1
20:30 Employee 2 1
21:00 Employee 2 1
 Floor Coverage Sheet - Saturday
Hour Sales/Name Sales/Name Sales/Name Sales/Name Sales/Name Sales/Name Other Other Lunch Num of People on the floor
9:30 Keyholder 1
10:00 Keyholder 1
10:30 Keyholder 1
11:00 Assistant Manager Keyholder 1
11:30 Keyholder Assistant Manager 2
12:00 Keyholder Assistant Manager 2
12:30 Keyholder Assistant Manager 2
13:00 Keyholder Assistant Manager Employee 1 3
13:30 Keyholder Manager Employee 1 Assistant Manager 3
14:00 Keyholder Assistant Manager Manager Employee 1 4
14:30 Keyholder Assistant Manager Manager Employee 1 4
15:00 Keyholder Assistant Manager Manager Employee 1 4
15:30 Keyholder Assistant Manager Manager Employee 1 4
16:00 Keyholder Assistant Manager Manager Employee 1 4
16:30 Keyholder Assistant Manager Employee 1 Employee 2 Manager 4
17:00 Keyholder Assistant Manager Manager Employee 2 4
17:30 Assistant Manager Manager Employee 2 3
18:00 Assistant Manager Manager Employee 2 3
18:30 Assistant Manager Manager Employee 2 3
19:00 Manager Employee 2 2
19:30 Manager Employee 2 2
20:00 Manager Employee 2 2
20:30 Manager Employee 2 2
21:00 Manager Employee 2 2
Zone Coverage Explanation:

After we have figured out how many hours needed to be scheduled in each day, the next

step was to make the floor coverage sheets. Based on an article published by the National Real

Estate Investor, the biggest sales on Sales days and Weekends lies on the hours from 2PM to

4PM. After learning this information, we knew we certainly needed more employees on the floor

during that period. In our Sales days’ floor coverage schedule, we tried to make the number of

people on the floor match with the sales graph that was provided to us. This will ensure us that

our employees are used as efficiently as possible. Our Sunday coverage sheet compared to the

Sunday coverage sheet that was provided to us was extremely similar. Our store along with the

example store both had the most employees during the peak of the day where sales are highest.

The only main difference between these graphs is that the example store opened later, allowing

them to have more hours to schedule during the peak of their day. As a result, the example store

was able to schedule 5 employees during their peak and we scheduled 4. Other than that, the

curve was very similar as shown on the graphs. Our Monday Coverage Sheet looked different

than the example coverage sheet for Monday. The reason for the difference amongst the sheets is

that the weekdays before Sales are different from the normal weeks. A lot of customers will wait

until the sales days to purchase things with a lower price. So our revenue in weekdays before

Mother’s Day Sales can be suppressed. With a low revenue, Monday Tuesday and Wednesday

certainly do not deserve high number of hours. Compared with the example coverage sheet, our

Saturday Coverage sheet looks very reasonable, since we have 4 or 5 people on the floor when

the peak sales occurs in that day, and line goes down when sales drop.
Calculate Selling Cost of May 1st Week:

The selling cost for the week of the Mother’s Day Sale ended up being 6.8%. To find the

selling cost, we took payroll for that week divided by sales for that week. To find the payroll for

the week, we added up each employees’ salary.

Manager: ($16*35 hours) + Assistant Manager: ($13*35 hours) + Keyholder: ($10*35 hours) +

Part Time Employee 1: ($8*25 hours) + Part Time Employee 2: ($8*25 hours)

The total payroll calculates to $1765. As stated previously, we then divided the payroll by

weekly sales, $26,025.00, making the new selling cost for this week to equal 6.8%.

Based on the original number we had on our selling cost chart, which was 6.6%, the new

selling cost percent is higher. The reason why this occurred is because in the original selling cost

chart we used the average wage, which was $11/hr, to calculate the payroll and selling cost.

When using the schedule to more accurately calculate the different wages, we differentiated the

rate. For example, the Manager makes $16/hr, the Assistant Manager makes $13/hr, the

Keyholder makes $10/hr, and the Part-time Employees make $8/hr each. The selling cost chart

was based off of our base schedule, and within our base schedule, we had employees with higher

rates work more hours per week, which is 35 hrs/week, and people with lower rate work limited

hours per week, 25 hrs/week. The payroll is certainly higher as a result from the average rate.
Promotional Plan:
The first thing we will do to attract new customers is to ensure that we will give people

who pass by our store a clear picture of what we are selling. When browsing at the market, many

customers don’t exactly know what they are looking for. As a result, it is our goal to use

excellent marketing strategies to attract those customers into our store. The first thing customers

see before they step foot into any store is of course, the window display. Through the store

window display, we would like to convey our store image and main product types to the people.

Empower is all about making woman feel and look confident. We want to display this message

within the store windows in order to grab the buyer’s attention. We will do so by using bold,

colored signs that will have a self-motivating “Quote of the Week” on them that has to do with

empowering other women. This is something unique and different that will make our store stand

out amongst other athleisure wear stores because we are going above and beyond just promoting

our products. We are trying to promote a positive and empowering lifestyle as well.

After we successfully pull the customers in our store, it is time to persuade them to buy

the products. This step can be separated into 2 phases: Service and Product display. We know we

have many competitors in the market. In order to achieve success, we must differentiate our

business from the competitors in the market by providing a personalized shopping experience.

When customers step foot into a store, no one wants to be ignored. To guarantee our customers

will have the best shopping experience, in depth employee training is required for every

employee that is qualified to work in our store. Employees must aid to the customers’ needs and

do everything they can to help the customer feel satisfied with their shopping experience. We

require our employees to get to know the customer on a personal level rather than a service level.

When entering our store, it is much more than buying clothes. Our employees are specifically

trained to connect with customers about what it means to live a healthy and positive lifestyle.
Our employees work to know every single customer need, and then provide the right products for

them while making a deeper connection. In other words, we make sure to find the right products

for the right customers.

In our store, we differentiate our products and group them by category, making it easier

for customers to find a certain item. For example, if a customer wants the most trendy products

and does not care too much about the price, she may find ones she need around the area of

entrance. On the other hand, if a customer just wants something cheap, we also have fixtures and

a designated area labeled in red for items on sale. On sales days, we attract many new customers

and the great shopping experience they have in our store will be imprinted in their mind. As

Dietz says, “Your product is no longer the most important thing you’re selling. Changes in

society are making people value the experiences they have and the way they feel over products

and services” (2018). As Dietz explains, these customers will be more likely to come back and

become loyal customers to our store if they have a great experience, which they are guaranteed

to have.

As we wrote above, providing great buying experience is what we value the most. It can

not only help our store to drive more first-time customers, but also can secure the customer

loyalty. According to an article written on OutboundEngine.com, “Acquiring a new customer

can cost five times more than retaining an existing customer” (Landis, 2019). With that being

said, we strive to maintain existing customers. To encourage them to continue to contribute to

our sales, we must keep them informed about what is going on with our store: what are the most

trendy products in store and which products are on sales? In order to keep customers updated, we

have come up with a VIP membership system which will be explained in more depth below. This

system allows customers to be more active in our store, and they can upgrade their VIP level to

get more and more benefits.

 Based on the frequency that customers make purchases in our store, there will be three

types of VIP memberships: Golden VIP, Silver VIP and VIP. All customers who have made

purchases in our store are eligible to register to become a VIP member. However the number of

Golden VIP memberships and Silver VIP memberships are limited. Customers can be degraded

if they are no longer active in our store. Customers who have the Golden VIP membership can be

invited to exclusive shopping days for only Golden members. They will have access to new

styles and products before anyone else does. Silver VIP members will have access to new

products as well, but only after the Golden members have already had their exclusive day to

shop. Golden, Silver, and regular VIP all will be on the email list to receive occasional coupons

and notifications for special sales days. All members will also be receiving special holiday “gift

baskets” which include coupons and greetings.

After talking to one of our interviewees, Kirsten Karlblom, we decided we needed to put

on some kind of event, other than just calling the event a sale, in order to drive more customers.

Kirsten explained how every year she, along with other small shops/restaurants/spas around her

put on an even called “Ladies Night Out”. She explains how huge this even is for her business

and how much sales flourish during this time. Basically during this event, she puts on raffles and

offers special spa package deals and usually discounts her store for 20%. We decided to do a

similar event, but call it “G.N.O.” which stands for “girls night out”. Our event is going to be

very similar where we will collaborate with smaller shops that are around us and all decide to

discount our stores and create raffles for the customers. These raffle baskets can have organic

products in them and coupons for different items in our store. Anything related to healthy and

positive lifestyles can be captured by these raffle baskets.

The key items and products that really drive our sales include the yoga pant leggings and

the everyday jogger pants. Customers love our leggings because they are amazing quality at
affordable prices. These leggings come in multiple different colors including black, grey, blue,

pink, white, and soon to be pattern as well. These items are especially popular and drive sales on

sale days because we do a special offer of “Buy 1 pair, get 1 pair 50% off”. In order to promote

new styles and prints of the yoga pant legging, we have a monthly contest where we will

randomly choose one customer who has shopped with us that month and give them a coupon to

purchase a pair for 50% off original price. This special deal drives lots of new customers in to

our store because they are willing to purchase something from out store just so they can enter

their name into the drawing and possibly be one of the lucky chosen ones. As mentioned above,

the other popular item that has recently been driving sales is the everyday jogger pants. These

pants are different than the average joggers as they are made with special cooling fabric that

keeps you cool during a workout. These joggers are also perfect for running errands or even just

laying around the house. This is why they are advertised as the “everyday” jogger pant, because

they can literally be worn every day. Customers have been thrilled with the fabric they are made

from and keep coming back for more. These joggers are advertised in the window display right

now, as they are the new “hip” style for the spring of 2019.
Human Resource Plan:
We take pride in how we motivate our employees and operate in a fun, yet professional

environment. As Kirsten Karlbom says, “It’s not easy finding people as excited as you are about

your business”, so you must motivate your employees through praise and small incentives

(Karlblom). We plan on doing this by taking them to dinner or treating them to coffee every once

in a while. This will not only give them a small incentive to work, but also show them that we

truly care about them and want to be able to connect with them on a more personal level. We

strive to know our employees extremely well so that going to “work” does not necessarily feel

like they are working. We make sure to provide them with a comfortable and uplifting working

environment. We allow for the employees to create their own playlists that they can turn on and

play throughout the store during their shifts. Employees love that they get to do this because it

keeps the energy throughout the store positive and cheerful. Employees need to maintain a

positive attitude in order to make customers feel welcome. If an employee is full of positive

energy, that will rub off onto the customers and they will feel special. In order to ensure the

employees are providing the best customer service skills as possible, we spend a lot of time on

training them before they are allowed to work on their own. The in depth training that they must

go through allows them to feel more confident in their position.

Supporting our employees in their work is crucial to the success of the employees. We do

several different small things to help motivate our employees. For example, we have an

“Employee of the Month” each month. This employee is chosen if they have showed as that they

have gone above and beyond for that month. How many sales they drove, how focused they have

been while on the job, and what kind of attitude they show during work all play into how we

decide who will have the honor of being chosen. The employee of the month gets their photo put

on the board and they will receive a free Starbucks drink. Although this reward may seem small,
it really helps motivate every single employee to come to work fully motivated and ready to help

drive sales.

A few times throughout the year, we will provide the employees with “Employee

Appreciation Days” where all employees will be able to purchase merchandise at cost. These

will be held only a few times a year and will occur before the store opens. This is a huge

incentive to work for out store and employees appreciate that we are dedicating these days to

them. This allows them to feel special and shows them how much we care about them and

appreciate how they help drive sales for our store. When our employees are doing an excellent

job, we make sure to tell them and we make sure they know how much we care. Letting them

know our feedback is critical. When feedback is positive, they will be more motivated to keep

doing well, and when the feedback is negative, they can also be motivated by knowing what the

issue was and are more determined to work harder in the next period. According to an article

called “Recognizing Success: 9 Ways To Praise Your Employees”, written by John Waldmann,

“Recognizing your employees’ hard work is not just good for morals: it’ been proven to help

your business run more smoothly” (Waldmann, N.D.). A lot of times stores will forget to praise

their employees and it can make them feel neglected and they will feel like they can start to slack

off because no one will notice. This is why we make it an effort to go out of our way to do so.

We plan on communicating with our employees periodically to get to know them better.

According to an article titled “Knowing Your Employees - An Overview” published on

managemnetstudyguide.com, it is key to “let your employees know that you care for them. Make

them feel valued. Find out what is important to them, understand where they see themselves five

years down the line, know in which all areas they can contribute their level best” (Juneja, N.D.).

Making that personal connection with them is only going to help our business flourish and

succeed.
Conclusion:
As a group, we learned every detail that goes into how to plan for a business’s sales based

on looking at previous years, along with our own outside research. We were able to interview

business owners of three different companies. These people were extremely helpful to get to talk

to. They gave us the inside scope on how they plan and run their businesses. As a group, we all

learned how important it is to network with these people and make good connections with them.

They know the industry better than anyone and their answers to our interview questions help

shaped are Promotional Plan and Human Resource Plan significantly. Alongside the interviews,

we also researched and included several different business articles that gave us predictions on

sales within the retail industry for upcoming years. We made it a clear effort to include as many

of these business articles as possible in order to come up with our percent increase. This number

can be backed up by many professional sources. We have also learned how important it is to pay

attention to the numbers. The numbers are really telling us a story and it is our job to analyze

them and read what they say telling us.

Overall, this project impacted our learning and education in a positive way. This is

something that none of us have ever had to do before, so it was definitely challenging at times

but we resolved all those issues in the end. This project definitely made us think outside the box

and use significant problem solving skills. When an issue was brought up, we had to look back at

our sales plan and fix it there before we could move on. It was very interesting to see how each

step was built off of the next. This did make it difficult when a problem would arise because we

would need to look back within previous sections to spot the problem, but it also made us use

quick problem solving skills.

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