Information

Tiger currently sells its footwear through its own retailer network of 36 stores, plus 2

outlet locations at which they sell factory rejected shoes that did not meet the aesthetic standards

of Tiger's stringent quality control screening, as well as the regular, first-run boots sold at the

retailer stores. The outlets sell the sub-standard boots at as low at 50% of the original retail cost,

and so these outlets see quite a bit of business from bargain hunting shoppers. Each retail

location has one manager, two full-time salespersons, and 2 part-time salespersons. The part-time

workers equate to 0.3 full-time workers each in terms of pay, hours of work, and benefits.

The outlets each have a single manager, 5 full-time, and 5 part-time salespersons. The revenues

for the retail stores work out to roughly $200,000 per full-time equivalent (FTE), whereas the

clearance outlets sell $250,000 per FTE because they are so much busier.

Tiger Boots are priced at the top end of the market for work boots and shoes.

The market for work boots has been steady over the past 25 years, but the industry has

seen an uptick from the fashion industry, where a new market niche of urban-cool fashion has

made Tiger work boots something of a phenomenon. Photos of celebrities wearing Tiger boots

float around the internet, and Tiger has seen an increase in sales of roughly 15% every year for

the past 5 years, and expects this trend to continue for another 5 to 10 years.

My Question

How do you forecast/estimate the demand for salespersons at the retail stores for the next 5 years using these assumptions and information of the case.