Foot Locker, Inc., is the world's number one retailer of athletic footwear and apparel. The company has approximately 3,800 retail stores in 21 countries across North America, Europe, and Australia under various brand names. Foot Locker estimates that it controls about 18% of the U.S. $15 billion athletic footwear market. The company intends to increase its share of the worldwide market by adding additional stores and by growing its Internet and catalog business.

In recent years, Foot Locker officials have been rethinking the company's retail mix. Determining the shoe mix that will maximize profits is an important decision for Foot Locker. By the year 2002, in an effort to stock more lower-priced footwear, the company had reduced its inventory of sneakers priced at $120 or more by 50%.

Discussion

Suppose the data presented below represented the number of unit sales (million $) for athletic footwear in the years 2000 and 2009. Use techniques presented in this chapter to analyze these data and discuss the business implications for Foot Locker.

Suppose Foot Locker strongly encourages its employees to make formal suggestions to improve the store, the product, and the working environment. Suppose a quality auditor keeps records of the suggestions, the persons who submitted them, and the geographic region from which they come. A possible breakdown of the number of suggestions over a 3-year period by employee sex and geographic location follows. Is there any relationship between the sex of the employee and the geographic location in terms of number of suggestions? If they are related,what does this relationship mean to the company? What business implications might there be for such an analysis?

According to Wells Fargo Securities and the NPDFashionworld Consumer Panel, Foot Locker holds 19.4% of the sneaker market. Suppose that due to its relationship with Nike and Nike's presence in the U.S. West region, Foot Locker believes that its share of the market in that region is higher than it is in the rest of the country. Foot Locker hires a market research company to test this notion. The research company randomly samples 1000 people in the U.S.West who have just purchased a pair of sneakers and 230 of the sampled shoppers purchased their sneakers at Foot Locker. Is this result enough evidence to declare that Foot Locker's share of the market in the U.S. West is significantly higher than it is otherwise? Use techniques from this chapter to test this hypothesis. What business implications might there be for Foot Locker if this market share information istrue?

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Price Category Less than $30 $30-less than $40 S40-less than $50 $50-less than $60 S60-less than $70 $70-less than $85 $85-less than $100 $100 or more 2000 115 38 37 30 2009 126 40 35 27 20 20 9 21 17 18 Sex U.S. West U.S. South U.S. East U.S. North Europe Australia Male 29 48 52 28 78 47 Female 43 20 61 25 32 Location