Feasibility Report

Abstract

The purpose of this report is to determine whether it would be feasible for the Style Shop to add a computerized register to the store.

The Merchandising Society is the largest club on F.I.T.'s campus. It provides the opportunity for its members to enhance their college experience at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Its members are dedicated to gaining exposure to the fashion industry first-hand through running a business, visiting companies worldwide, and volunteering services to the community.

The club is responsible for operating a successful on-campus boutique, the Style Shop. The store offers the unique opportunity for FIT students, faculty and alumni to sell their original creations on a consignment basis. This not only allows students to earn recognition and profit, it enables Merchandising Society members to gain experience in buying, product development, marketing, finance, customer relations, management, visual merchandising, and website development. The Style Shop offers students the chance to develop a sharper awareness of group dynamics, build professional relationships, and actively participate in our college education.

Currently the store uses a non-computerized register. There is no computerized inventory or bar codes used. Everything is done by hand. The addition of a computer would not only help keep track of all purchases by time, it would allow for the finance team to plan sales and monitor loss. The Style Shop uses a budget handed out by FITSA to fund purchases and stock for the store. This budget would be used to purchase a computer. It is highly feasible that the Style Shop purchases a computer and a register program.

Introduction

Purpose

The purpose of this report is to determine the feasibility of adding a computerized register to the Style Shop team.

Problem

During the 2001/02 school year the Merchandising Society has over 180 active members. The store currently has no regulated computerized system. Inventory and tickets are all manually printed. By adding a computer to the store, inventory and sales could be more easily monitored. The computer would also serve as a ticket printer and finance station.

Scope

The addition of a computerized register would make the flow of goods in and out of the Style Shop easier. By adding a computer to the store each Merchandising Society member would have to be trained on how to properly ring up a sale. Buyers would have to be trained to receive their merchandise and print tickets. The finance team would have to learn how to print sales reports and track inventory. Security would also have to be increased in the store. Finally, a printer would have to be purchased to work with the computer.

Cost

Computer

To purchase a computer for the Style Shop money will be taken from our budget. We started the

year with an $8000.00 budget and currently have around $2000.00 left.

Tentative Available Money

$7,400.00 Total as of 4/17/02

4,960.00 After Designer Payments

3,960.00 After Jenna paid back

3,710.00 After Nail files

3,510.00 After Trunk Show event

2,510.00 After Murder Mystery Dinner

2,010.00 After Payment for Website

The Style Shop is looking to purchase a computer from Dell because of their excellent customer service and great overall value. For a small business the Dell Dimension 8200 Series is perfect. This computer comes fully loaded for $1677.00. After purchasing the computer there will be $500.00 left in the store's budget. This money will be used to purchase a point of sale program.

Register Program

In order to monitor sales and inventory the store will be purchasing Winward Software as a P.O.S. system. This program is simple and easy to learn. Winward Software will track inventory, print reports, receive stock, and print bar codes. The software package is able to be downloaded onto a Windows system and will be purchased for $398.00. By purchasing this P.O.S. package we will remain within our budget and fulfill all of our accounting needs.

Functions

Reports

The Finance would be responsible for printing the following reports from the Winward P.O.S. system: Weekly sales, inventory, semester sales, and sales by product classification. By using Microsoft Money the Finance Manager can keep track of team expenses, account transactions, and account balance.