Retailing Curriculum

Students who complete Strategic Retailing Track coursework are well equipped for leadership roles in a retailing enterprise, with a particular focus on retail merchandising, marketing, inventory management, demand planning, strategic planning, or omnichannel strategy.  Recent updates to our curriculum emphasize skills required in both digital and physical retail and more application-oriented activities that provide hands-on experience for our students.

Courses include:

MKTG 325
Foundations in Retailing and Services
Exploration of retail strategies around the marketing mix such as channels of distribution, private labels, customer service levels, visual presentation, and pricing that influence a retail business model; investigation of how service organizations require a distinctive approach to marketing strategy in development and execution.

MKTG 425
Retail Merchandising
Theories, concepts and practices relating to the merchandising of products for enhancing sales and profit growth of retail businesses. Emphasis on retail math, purchasing decisions, vendor negotiations, communications skills, assortment planning and competitive analysis.

MKTG 426
Digital Merchandising
Investigation of the theories, concepts and practices relating to the successful merchandising of products & services for a digital retail enterprise on a website, mobile app and mobile-optimized website. Initial discovery of the role of Web Analytics tools & processes to drive conversion rate optimization.

MKTG 427
Retail Capstone
Application of the problems and opportunities faced by retail buying organizations; development of an effective strategy through application-oriented activities, research into industry trends, development of buy plans, product assortment planning, competitor analysis, and the buyer’s role in product development.