B235 - Fashion Merchandising

It is a good idea to begin by reviewing the guides for company and industry research, as well as for the SWOT Report. The links to these reports are found on the home page of the SBA Research portal under "I NEED..."  The SWOT Report page has a one-page help sheet you can print out with suggestions for the types of information needed for a SWOT report and what databases can help in locating that information.

Below you find additional suggestions compiled by Dr. Chida.

If you have suggestions for additional websites to add to any of these categories, please share them with us.

Library Research Help Sheet: (compiled by Dr. Chida from a lecture presented to class by Dr. Steve Bell, Director of the Gutman library)

 Research Engine: Example Number One: Hoover’s

 Hoover’s: remember to log from the library site, because you have access to premium membership. You can log in from the home page of the SBA Research Portal.

 Type: company name: Example ‘wet seal’ Click ‘search’ Note the NASDAQ ‘name’ so it confirms that it is public and it is traded on the NY stock exchange

 This site gives you a nice full overview, gives you competitors names, at the bottom you see some rates of growth [if you don’t understand this talk to me or the librarian]

Research Engine: Example Number Two: Value Line

 It could be accessed either from the library main page and from the drop down menu or it could be accessed from the SBA portal: http://www.valueline.com/myvl/myvalueline.aspx

• From the menu on the left: Click on Plus Edition a menu will appear.
• You will see “look up company” Enter company name example “Guess”
• When a page opens up, make sure you select ‘company’ and click search again
• You will see some reports click HTML and the report will appear. This is good because it gives you a third party analysis as opposed to just looking at the company. It is updated every 12 weeks, so it is pretty recent.
• Read section on Company Commentary, Industry Commentary. This engine also gives you Sales volume and sales forecast.
• Scroll down and you will see side by side comparison with other companies, which should help you identify direct competitors (support Hoover’s findings)

 Research Engine: Example Number Three: Business & Company Resource Center 

Let’s use an independent retailer’s example:

·        In the first box type “independent” as key word

·        In the second box type “retailer*” the star next to it makes your search look for similar words/variations of that word

·        Click search: The first article that appears is a great tool to start looking at how small retailers are trying to stay competitive.  Other articles talk about some weaknesses this line of business is facing. To get the full article, click on the green button!

·        For designer/Owner try and type for example: “designer” and the word “retailer*” in the second box. Great articles show up.

 You can also type the company parent if you need more in depth data about your topic.

Remember the taps on the top of the page are interactive. If they are highlighted that means there is more information under that category: Example: Company profile etc.

 Research Engine: Example Number Four: Business & Company Resource Center

 Back to the SBA Portal: you have an engine called: EBSCO Business Source Premier

 You have a wide selection, you can select regional business news if you want to read about your subject with a specific geographical location.

 Let’s select Business Source Premier for our example.

• Enter company name: Example Bloomingdales. NOTE make sure you select CO for company entity in the drop down menu (right)
• On the left side click on “department store” A new window will appear with articles: One of interest to you could be  “revamping Buyer’s Culture” click on GREEN button to get full text. Some articles will have to be an interlibrary loan, so don’t wait until the last minute.

 Note that once you click that article you will see a link to the parent Company Federated.

 SWOT Analysis: Strength Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

Usually appears in table format:

**Note to students: SWOT means identifying strength and weaknesses of a company, then identifying Opportunities and Threats that it is facing or might face in the future. It is a concept widely used in the business environment. This will make more sense once you will finish the first segment of your research (about the company) and start investigating competition.

 http://philau.edu/library/sbaportal/swotanalysis.htm