Western Wear
Outfitters
Situation: Western Wear is a mail-order firm that offers an extensive
selection of casual clothing for men and women. Western Wear plans to launch a
new Web site, and the company wants to develop a new set of product codes.
Currently, 650 different products exist, with the possibility of adding more in
the future. Many products come in various sizes, styles, and colors. The
marketing manager asked you to develop an individualized product code that can
identify a specific item and its characteristics. Your initial reaction is that
it can be done, but the code might be fairly complex. Back in your office, you
give the matter some thought.
1.
Design a code scheme that will meet the
marketing manager’s stated requirements.
Some firms use a straight
numeric sequence code, because it is simple and
can be assigned automatically by the system. Other firms choose a significant
digit code that indicates item, style, color, and size. A combination code
might assign two digits for the type of item (10=hat; 64=belt), a dependent number
for the style, followed by several digits that show details such as color
and size. For example, consider the following design for Western Wear:
2. Write a brief memo to the marketing manager suggesting
at least one alternative to the code she proposed, and state your reasons.
Students should be able to support their
choice of code with business-related logic and reasons. You might bring in samples of mail order catalogs that use different
code schemes or ask students if they are personally familiar with other codes.
.
3. Suggest a code scheme that will identify each
Western Wear customer.
The
two most common code schemes are straight sequence codes automatically
assigned by the system and codes that combine alphabetic and sequence
blocks. An example of the latter might
be the first four alphabetic letters of the customer’s last name
followed by a 4-,
5-, or 6-digit dependent number. For example, Jason Melville might be
MELV28645. Many
firms like this approach because it provides some indication of the customer’s
last name (which is valuable both to
the customer and the company).
4. Suggest a code scheme that will identify each specific
order.
Unless there is some other reason, the order entry system automatically
assigns order numbers dependently. If it is desirable to code the source
of the order (such as W for Web-based, or T for telephone), you could
devise a code that includes an identifying character for this purpose.
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