To solve the problems created by Brandy Melville’s one
size fits all policy, we believe that the brand should implement
more inclusive sizing. The more inclusive sizing would fall under
the American standard size chart: XS (sizes 0-2), S (4-6), M
(8-10), LG (12-14), and XL (16). However, including more sizes
will completely change the way in which the company
manufactures their apparel and the volume of apparel they
manufacture. To accommodate these changes Brandy Melville will
need to forecast distribution sizes, implement a new resource
management system and accommodate new factory and
production costs.
Brandy Melville’s current target demographic is pre-teen
and teenage girls but their products can be seen on a variety of
people from ten year olds to women in their mid-twenties.
According to healthline.com, the average teenage girl is a size
medium and the average woman is a size large to extra large.
There is plenty of data and metrics available on the internet that
try to quantify the average sizes of women and girls, however
perhaps the best solution for the company would be a
modification to a system they already have in place. Currently the
brand does not use traditional forms of market research and
advertising, their success is largely based on the fact that they
gather data directly from their customers In stores workers are
instructed to take pictures of girls who fit the brand’s “look” and
styles for the following seasons draw inspiration from the organic
market research. To better forecast distribution sizes, the
company can implement a systematic random sampling method
(i.e. taking a photo of every tenth customer to enter the store)
then use biometric software to measure their sizes. Additionally,
the company could use social media to achieve a similar result.
By utilizing the same biometric software and developing another
type of software to scan social media for posts that tag or hashtag
the brand, Brandy Melville could forecast distribution sizes with a
fair amount of accuracy and avoid being stuck with too much
inventory.
Another issue inclusive sizing raises is that of resource
management. The company will have to develop a new system
that tracks the flow of merchandise from their brick and mortar
stores as well as their website. If they can accurately forecast
distribution sizes they can rely on a just in time inventory method
and use barcodes to track the flow of said inventory. Additionally,
Brandy Melville will potentially have to build new factories and/or
machines to keep up with the new variety of sizes. They will also
have to account for new product costs since different sizes will
use more material, however this issue should be mitigated by the
increased profits from new customers.
Midterm Outline
•
The Organization
◦
Brandy Melville
▪
Type of business
▪
Retail (Women and Girls’ Apparel and
Accessories)
▪
U.S. Women and Girls’ Apparel Market:
$116.87 B
▪
Details
▪
Annual Revenue: $332.50 M
▪
Competitors
▪
Urban Outfitters
▪
H&M
▪
Forever 21
▪
Garage
▪
Abercrombie & Fitch
▪
Hollister
▪
American Eagle Outfitters
•
The Problem
◦
Currently the brand only offers clothing in one size fits all
this:
•
▪
Limits their demographic of potential customers
▪
Prevents them from realizing full revenue potential
Our Solution
◦
To solve this problem, Brandy Melville should carry more
inclusive sizing (small, medium, large, and extra large)
◦
To successfully implement this the brand would have to do
the following:
•
▪
Implement a new resource management system
▪
Forecast distribution sizes
Required underlying Technology
◦
Data research for average size among targeted audience
◦
Factory and production cost for more product (machinery,
material, etc)
◦
Implement a new resource management system
•
Conclusion Statement
◦
By having more inclusive sizing in their clothing, Brandy
Melville can reach max potential revenue.
Sources:
1. Duncan, E. (n.d.). Topic: Apparel market in the U.S. Retrieved
from https://www.statista.com/topics/965/apparel-market-in-theus/
2. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://go.discoverydb.com/eui/#/company/
32823
Midterm Paper
1. Paper must be at least 7 pages/1250 words in length. This
includes a cover page and a reference page.
2. Follow the APA format: http://www.apastyle.org/learn/tutorials/
basics-tutorial.aspx
3.
(Links to an external site.)
4.
Feel free to use the provided APA template found in Course
Content Area.
5. Your paper MUST include a minimum of 3 references in addition
to the textbook.
6. The purpose of this paper is to begin exploring how information
systems are used to improve operational efficiency. This paper will
include the following 5 sections addressing the initial phases of
understanding the problem and how the organization’s
environment will shape possible solutions.
•
Select an organization that you feel could benefit from an
improvement in some area of its operations or delivery of its
services (publicly traded companies are better as there is more
information available).
◦
•
Define the basic characteristics of the organization (size,
industry, annual revenues and profit, competitors, and any
relevant regulatory issues).
State the inefficiency/deficiency you seek to improve.
◦
Characterize the problem in a quantifiable manner. This
means that you should be able to describe the impairment in
terms of production inefficiencies in units, number of
customers served in each period, amount of revenue lost or
unrealized etc.
•
Describe your proposed solution.
◦
Your description should be in sufficient detail that the reader
doesn’t have to ask, “how are you going to do that”.
◦
For each portion of the proposed solution you should
describe the changes to the organization and the existing
process that will need to be made.
•
Describe each of the underlying technologies your proposed
solution will require. As an example, if you were solving a supply
chain issue and trying to speed up a receiving process, you may
use bar code scanners and/or RIFD transmitters/receivers to more
quickly ingress the received items into inventory. You would also
need to discuss the technologies that would allow the data to be
stored, retrieved, and the physical infrastructure and network
elements that would allow this to happen.
•
Provide a conclusion that summarizes the previous 3
sections. The conclusion should recap the company, problem,
and the proposed solution ending with a quantifiable benefit as the
result of the proposed solution. This benefit should be in terms of
not only production/service metrics, but also extrapolated into a
revenue/profit increase. As an example, if your solution reduced
supply receiving time by “X” percent, that percentage would be
deducted from the total man hours needed in a shift/day. Those
man hours multiplied by the prevailing rate for that labor would
give you an hourly savings, which would then be multiplied by
however many units of the selected time measurement occur in a
year.
**implement a resource management system
inventory costs
forecasting distribution of sizes
show numbers for lost profits from underserved demographic
Annual revenue = $37.5 B
Shares of industry by region:
• Southeast - 27.4%
•
Mid-Atlantic - 17.9%
•
West - 16%
•
New England - 4.9%
•
Great Lakes - 11.9%
•
Plains - 6.7%
•
Rocky Mountains - 3.4%
•
Southwest - 11.9%
Obesity levels by state:
https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/prevalence-maps.html
• Almost all states have between 20-35% population obesity
rate
https://my-ibisworld-com.libproxy.chapman.edu/us/en/industry/
44812/competitive-landscape
“Depreciation expenses are low for industry operators, accounting
for a mere 0.9% of revenue.
Costs in this category include the depreciation of fixtures,
inventory management software and point of sale systems.”
https://my-ibisworld-com.libproxy.chapman.edu/us/en/industry/
44812/operating-conditions#technology-systems
“The key technology for women's clothing stores is radio
frequency identification (RFID), which is presently implemented to
monitor and replenish inventories more efficiently. RFID tags can
either be passive or active, although both kinds respond to radio
frequencies that are sent from a transceiver. Passive tags have
no internal power supply, which means they emit limited
information and are applied or embedded into a garment. Costs
for RFID vary depending on the functionality of the product. Very
short-range passive tags cost up to $0.06, while two-way active
RFID tags with a long range can cost up to $25.00 each.
IBISWorld anticipates the use of RFID to increase over the next
five years. The major benefits for retailers are identifying stock
levels and monitoring inventory. Stock theft and stock loss can
also be reduced, which would provide additional savings to
retailers. Labor use will also improve because stock counting at a
distribution level could be minimized and automatically calculated
as needed.”
https://time.com/how-to-fix-vanity-sizing/
40% of clothes bought online are returned because of sizing
issues
“experts argue it would fail now too, for the same reason: there is
no “standard” U.S. body type”
“ In the 12-month period ending in February 2016, sales of plussize apparel hit $20.4 billion, a 17% increase”
https://www.healthline.com/health/average-waist-size-for-women
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/body-measurements.htm
Women:
Height in inches: 63.6
Weight in pounds: 170.5
Waist circumference in inches: 38.7
https://www.prisonerofclass.com/how-much-women-actuallyspend-on-clothing-accessories/
“Most women, on average, will spend somewhere between $150
and $400 on clothing on a monthly basis, which equates to
approximately $1,800 to $4,800 per year”
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