Fashionables is a franchisee of The UnLimited, the well-known retailer of fashio
ID: 367758 • Letter: F
Question
Fashionables is a franchisee of The UnLimited, the well-known retailer of fashionable clothing. Prior to the winter season, The UnLimited offers Fashionables the choice of five different colors of a particular sweater design. The sweaters are knit overseas by hand, and because of the lead times involved, Fashionables will need to order its assortment in advance of the selling season. As per the contracting terms offered by The UnLimited, Fashionables will also not be able to cancel, modify or reorder sweaters during the selling season. Demand for each color during the season is normally distributed with a mean of 450 and a standard deviation of 150. Further, you may assume that the demand for each sweater is independent of the demand for any other color. The UnLimited offers the sweaters to Fashionables at the wholesale price of $43 per sweater, and Fashionables plans to sell each sweater at the retail price of $65 per unit. The UnLimited does not accept any returns of unsold inventory. However, Fashionables can sell all of the unsold sweaters at the end of the season at the fire-sale price of $23 each. If a part of the question specifies whether to use Table 13.4, or to use Excel, then credit for a correct answer will depend on using the specified method. a. How many units of each sweater-type should Fashionables order to maximize its expected profit? Use Table 13.4 and round to nearest integer. b. If Fashionables wishes to ensure a 97.5% in-stock probability, what should its order quantity be for each type of sweater? Use Table 13.4 and round to nearest integer. c. Say Fashionables orders 675 of each sweater. What is Fashionables’ expected profit? Use Table 13.4. d. Say Fashionables orders 675 of each sweater. What is the stockout probability for each sweater? Use Excel. (Round your answer to 4 decimal places.)
Explanation / Answer
Mean [mu] = 400
Standard Deviation [sigma] = 250
Retail Price, P = $66
Wholesale price, C = $36
Salvage price, S = $25
Cu = P - C = 66 - 36 = $30
Co = C - S = 36 - 25 = $11
Critical ratio = Cu / Cu + Co = 30 / 30 + 11 = 0.73
Locate z-statistic in the table, corresponding to 0.73, we get, z-statistic as 0.62.
Q = [mu] + z [sigma]
= 400 + 0.62 (250) = 555 units
Thus fashionable should order 555 units of each sweater to maximize its profit.
b) Here, we use expected lost sales formula.
L(z) =( [mu] / [sigma] ) * (1 - Fill Rate)
= 400/ 250 * ( 1 - 0.975) = 0.04
Locate the highest corresponding z- statistic for 0.0400 from standard normal loss table.
L (1.36) = 0.04002 can be taken
Q = [mu] + z* [sigma] = 400 + 1.36 (250 ) = 740 units
In order to ensure 97.5% fill rate, 740 units should be ordered.
c) Q = 750, [mu] = 400, [sigma] = 250
z = 750 - 400 / 250 = 1.4
z(1.4) = 0.9192 = 91.92% profit
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