The document provides information on the general merchandising industry in the United States, including its size, growth rate, and profitability. It discusses the industry's total sales, which grew to over $444 billion by 2000, and median return on equity of 10.5% between 1999-2002. The document also provides North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes and definitions for different segments within the general merchandising industry.

1. Mnemonic 1 The framework

3. 4521 45211 452110 4521101 4521102 4521103 452 44-45 Retail Trade General Merchandise Stores Department Stores Department Stores Department Stores Conventional Dept. Stores Discount or Mass Merchants National Chain Dept. Stores Walmart NAICS Chart Lance Kawamoto

4. http://www.census.gov/epcd/naics02/naicod02.htm http://www.census.gov/epcd/naics02/N2SIC44.HTM#N452 Sandro Olivieri 2002 NAICS Code 1987 SIC Code NAICS Industry Definition 452 General Merchandise Stores – retail new general merchandise from fixed point-of-sale locations. Establishments in this subsector are unique in that they have the equipment and staff capable of retailing a large variety of goods from a single location. This includes a variety of display equipment and staff trained to provide information on many lines of products. 4521 Department Stores 45211 Department Stores – primarily engaged in retailing a wide range of the following new products with no one merchandise line predominating: apparel, furniture, appliances and home furnishings; and selected additional items, such as paint, hardware, toiletries, cosmetics, photographic equipment, jewelry, toys, and sporting goods. Merchandise lines are normally arranged in separate departments. 452111 5311 Department Stores (except Discount Department Stores) – establishments known as department stores that have separate departments for various merchandise lines, such as apparel, jewelry, home furnishings, and linens, each with separate cash registers and sales associates. Department stores in this industry generally do not have central customer checkout and cash register facilities. 452112 5311 Discount Department Stores – This U.S. industry comprises establishments known as department stores that have central customer checkout areas, generally in the front of the store, and that may have additional cash registers located in one or more individual departments. Department stores in this industry sell a wide range of general merchandise (except fresh, perishable foods).

5. Industry Size http://www.census.gov/prod/ec02/ec0244i11t.pdf Total sales in the General Merchandisers Industry totaled over $444 billion Kenny Toop

6. Industry Profitability http://books.google.com/books?id=ueoRaHFe93QC&pg=RA1-PA169&lpg=RA1-PA169&dq=Intensity+of+comp#PRA1-PA170,M1 The General Merchandisers Industry had a median ROE of 10.5% between 1999-2002 Kenny Toop

7. Growth - Sales Grew 34.7% 24.1% Decrease HC Jun

8. Based on above profitability criteria, Wal-Mart has the highest profitability. Although the highest numbers are that for Family Dollar Store (FDO), FDO’s market cap and market share is negligible, compared to that of Wal-Mart's Kaustubh Thakur Profitability/Efficiency WMT BJ COST TGT FDO Gross Margin 25.09% 11.04% 13.38% 32.43% 35.91% Operating Margin 5.76% 2.21% 2.73% 0.00% 5.28% Net Margin 3.35% 1.34% 1.76% 4.03% 3.41% ROE 20.81% 13.56% 14.22% 18.75% 19.50% ROIC 13.49% 13.51% 11.44% 8.75% 16.21% ROA 8.13% 6.53% 6.15% 5.87% 9.21% Inventory Turnover 10.91 11.19 13.59 8.71 6.84 Asset Turnover 2.4 4.86 3.5 1.45 2.7

9. http://biz.yahoo.com/p/732conameu.html Sandro Olivieri Description 1-Day Price Chg % Market Cap P/E ROE % Div. Yield % Debt to Equity Price to Book Net Profit Margin (mrq)‏ Price To Free Cash Flow (mrq)‏ Services -1.785 1865.77B 21.794 21.829 2.457 1.139 1.685 5.437 90.157 Discount, Variety Stores -1.92 239.94B 17.3 19.6 1.938 0.73 4 3.2 -178.4 Wal-Mart Stores Inc. -1.55 184.83B 13.638 21.137 2 0.718 2.82 3.181 -57.739 Target Corp. -4.59 23.49B 9.403 17.707 2 1.494 1.73 2.441 -19.124 Costco Wholesale Corp. -3.06 19.51B 15.522 14.577 1.4 0.267 2.204 1.604 -45.665 Family Dollar Stores Inc. 0.58 3.89B 16.192 19.802 2 0.193 2.996 3.381 5457.95 Dollar Tree Inc. -1.29 3.87B 17.7 20.613 NA 0.235 3.394 3.869 -65.462 BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. -1.24 1.69B 13.078 13.155 NA 0.002 1.693 1.149 -35.14 Big Lots Inc. 0.07 1.10B 6.834 21.486 0 0.384 1.559 1.199 -8.05 99 Cents Only Stores -1.87 586.12M NA -1.125 NA 0.015 1.137 -2.962 -45.55 PriceSmart Inc. -1.69 482.42M 11.272 15.756 1.9 0.105 1.7 3.523 -32.877 Fred's Inc. 0.59 410.12M 41.04 2.621 0.8 0.013 1.063 1.457 -188.398 Tuesday Morning Corp. -4.84 48.93M 40.69 0.507 0 0.008 0.202 4.662 1.232 Duckwall-ALCO Stores Inc. 0 32.77M NA -2.277 NA 0.568 0.319 -1.442 -1.424 Maui General Store Inc. 12.5 4.07M 3.214 14.776 NA NA NA NA NA

10. HHI is the square of the market share of each firm competing in the market and summing the resulting number. (Range: 0-10,000)‏ KT Company Market Share (Market Share)^2 Big Lots Inc. 0.42% 0.1805 Wal-Mart Stores Inc. 72.51% 5257.9812 Target Corp. 9.51% 90.4332 Costco Wholesale Corp. 7.77% 60.3959 99 Cents Only Stores 2.31% 5.3229 PriceSmart Inc. 1.90% 3.5924 Fred's Inc. 1.57% 2.4801 Dollar Tree Inc. 1.51% 2.2926 Family Dollar Stores Inc. 1.49% 2.2229 BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. 0.66% 0.4363 Tuesday Morning Corp. 0.20% 0.0394 Duckwall-ALCO Stores Inc. 0.13% 0.0160 Maui General Store Inc. 0.01% 0.0002 Total 100.00% HHI = 5425.3937

11. Herfindahl Hirschman index HC Jun 2008 revenue (Mil$)‏ Percent Percent^2 1 Wal-Mart 378,799.0 62.96% 3963.962 2 Target 63,367.0 10.53% 110.8809 3 Sears 50,703.0 8.43% 71.0649 4 Macy's 26,340.0 4.38% 19.1844 5 J.C. Penney 19,860.0 3.30% 10.89 6 Kohl's 16,473.7 2.74% 7.5076 7 Dollar General 9,495.2 1.58% 2.4964 8 Nordstrom 8,828.0 1.47% 2.1609 9 Dillard's 7,370.8 1.23% 1.5129 10 Family Dollar Stores 6,834.3 1.14% 1.2996 11 Belk 3,824.8 0.64% 0.4096 12 Bon-Ton Stores 3,467.7 0.58% 0.3364 13 Saks 3,282.6 0.55% 0.3025 14 Retail Ventures 3,044.6 0.51% 0.2601 Total 601,690.7 100.00% 4,192.3