BS, Kent State University, 2020, College of the Arts / School of Fashion

The fashion industry is driven by the consumer. The introduction of Generation Z to the retail marketplace brings a unique set of consumer preferences and expectations that must be met to ensure a brand's success with this soon-to-be largest living generation. Retail is undergoing a major evolution and research is essential to determine the “how”; how retail is changing and how retailers can adapt for the future. Learning the customer is an essential part of this process. Very few studies have directly asked Generation Z shoppers what they want from the retail environment. Moreover, none were identified that specifically asked fashion students—our future industry professionals—what they want to see from fashion retailers. To address this gap, these representatives of the cohort were specifically chosen for this study because of their curricular focus and first-hand experience in the retail and fashion industry. The purpose of this study was to provide a comprehensive view of what these educated consumers value most in the customer experience, the advantages and drawbacks of brick-and-mortar retail shopping today and changes they wish to see in the future. Findings of this research will inform initiatives related to technology, products, services and the customer experience that fashion retailers should adopt to meet evolving customer needs and ensure success long-term. Overall, the results supported the literature and added to understanding that Generation Z is not a homogeneous group when it comes to shopping behavior and preferences. The entire fate of retail is based on how well brands can adapt to the changing face of its customer.

Committee: Catherine Leslie (Advisor); Alison Smith (Committee Member); Pamela Grimm (Committee Member); William Hauck (Committee Member) Subjects: Demographics; Marketing; Social Research; Sustainability; Technology

Master of Science in Industrial and Human Factors Engineering (MSIHE) , Wright State University, 2019, Industrial and Human Factors Engineering

For brick-and-mortar retailers to be successful, it is critical for them to optimally design their rack layout and place products in order to draw attention of shoppers. Literature suggests that racks placed at acute (or obtuse) angles to the main aisle frequented by shoppers can enhance visibility of products compared to racks placed orthogonally (i.e., 90˚). Placing products with high impulse purchase potential in the resulting highly visible locations on the rack can increase shopper impulse purchases. However, placing racks at angles other than 90˚ can increase the required floor space. Additionally, while reducing the height of the racks just below eye-height enhances visibility, it, however, reduces the number of available locations per product and increases restocking costs. To effectively trade off the benefits of visibility (in turn, impulse profit) and limitations of space and restocking costs, we propose the Joint Rack Configuration and Shelf Space Allocation (JRC-SSA) problem. The JRC-SSA jointly determines rack decisions (orientation and height) and product decisions (placement and number of locations) in order to maximize a retailer's impulse profit (after discounting for space and restocking costs). As JRC-SSA is an extension of the classical SSA that has been shown to be NP-hard, and that the visibility estimation is not in a closed analytical form, standard mathematical programming solvers are not suitable. Consequently, we employed the population-based Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) framework and designed five subroutines to efficiently find a (near) optimal solution to the JRC-SSA. Using realistic data collected from a major US retailer and that available in the existing literature, we conducted a comprehensive experimental study to derive managerial insights. Results indicate that product decisions were impacted by the angle of the rack; if a high impulse product was placed on the front face near to the endcap in a 90˚ rack, the same produ (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Pratik Parikh Ph.D. (Advisor); Subhashini Ganapathy Ph.D. (Committee Member); Corinne Mowrey Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Industrial Engineering