| Course | MT102 Principles of Retailing |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 2 |
| Paper type | Retailer profile |
| Length | About 650 words, 5 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MT102 Unit 2
Glassmere Aquatics at Fourteen Stores: A Unit 2 Retailer Profile
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
MT102: Principles of Retailing
Unit 2 Retailer Profile
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Glassmere Aquatics, its stores, figures and competitors' positions are composite and illustrative; the sources cited are real.
Company Overview
Glassmere Aquatics is a privately held specialty retailer headquartered in Dayton, Ohio. It operates fourteen stores, nine in Ohio, three in Indiana and two in northern Kentucky, each between 6,000 and 9,000 square feet and most located in strip centers near a grocery anchor. Because the chain is private, its figures in this profile come from the composite case file the course provides rather than from an annual report: about $31 million in annual sales, roughly 40 percent from live fish, plants and invertebrates and 60 percent from dry goods such as tanks, filters, food and water treatments.
Each store is built around a livestock wall at the back, with between 120 and 200 display tanks, and a service counter where staff test water samples at no charge. Dry goods fill the front two thirds of the floor in a grid of gondola aisles.
Target Shopper
The shopper who keeps Glassmere in business is an established hobbyist with one to three tanks, often a planted freshwater tank or a small reef, who visits about twice a month. What lands in that shopper's cart is revealing: a few fish or corals, a specialty food, a test kit refill and sometimes a piece of equipment. Beginners matter too, since a starter kit buyer becomes next year's hobbyist, but they make up a smaller share of sales than their numbers suggest, because many leave the hobby within a year.
Merchandise Mix
The livestock wall is the chain's reason to exist, since supercenters and online sellers cannot match it. Dry goods carry national brands across most categories, with Glassmere's own label in filters, nets, gravel and basic water treatments, about 18 percent of dry-goods sales. Plants and invertebrates have grown fastest over the past three years.
Pricing Position
Glassmere prices dry goods close to the pet superstores on items shoppers compare, such as major-brand foods, and holds higher margins on its own label and on livestock. It runs a monthly circular with about twenty promoted items, which places it nearer a high-low pattern than everyday low pricing. Hoch et al. (1994) found that everyday low pricing raised volume modestly but lowered profits compared with high-low pricing in their store experiments, which may help explain why a specialty chain with a loyal core keeps promoting rather than cutting its regular prices.
Channels
The chain sells through its stores and a website with buy online, pick up in store for dry goods. Live animals are sold in store only. The website shows store stock by location, updated overnight, and the chain has added curbside pickup since 2020. Levy et al. (2019) describe how specialty retailers often treat the site as a support for the store rather than a separate business, and Glassmere fits that description: its site exists mainly to send shoppers through the door.
Glassmere's website is built to bring shoppers into the store, not to replace the trip.
Competitive Set
Glassmere's competition comes from three directions. Pet superstores such as Petco and PetSmart carry a smaller livestock selection and contest the dry-goods trip. Amazon and specialty online sellers win on price and breadth for anything that can be shipped. Independent fish stores, two or three in each of Glassmere's markets, contest the expert hobbyist with deeper coral and rare fish selections.
Open Questions
This profile leaves three questions for later units: whether the livestock wall draws enough traffic past dry goods to justify its labor cost, whether the promotional calendar trains shoppers to wait for sales, and whether the overnight stock display on the website matches what is on the shelf.
References
Hoch, S. J., Drèze, X., & Purk, M. E. (1994). EDLP, hi-lo, and margin arithmetic. Journal of Marketing, 58(4), 16-27. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224299405800402
Levy, M., Weitz, B. A., & Grewal, D. (2019). Retailing management (10th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
The Purdue Global MT102 Unit 2 instructions
In Unit 2 you pick the company that every later MT102 assignment will examine and profile it under set headings. Most sections expect a company overview with format, headquarters, store count and footprint, followed by the target shopper, the merchandise mix, the pricing position, the channels and the main competitors. Write it as a briefing rather than a history, and cite sources for every figure. Describe the shopper by behavior, what they buy and how often, rather than by an age band alone, since later units ask what each decision does for that person. State the pricing position with evidence, such as a circular or a shelf tag. Hold back recommendations; they belong in later units. A short list of open questions at the end gives the following assignments something to answer. Expect about three pages in APA 7.
How this MT102 Unit 2 example is built
The sample's overview gives the chain's headquarters, fourteen stores across three states, store sizes, sales of about $31 million and the 40 percent share that comes from livestock, noting that a private chain's figures come from the case file rather than a filing. The shopper section describes an established hobbyist with one to three tanks who visits twice a month, and explains why beginners matter more than their sales share. The pricing section places the chain nearer high-low, citing Hoch, Drèze and Purk on how everyday low pricing raised volume but lowered profit in store experiments. Channels cover the stores, a website with store pickup for dry goods and in-store-only livestock. The competitive set places pet superstores, Amazon and independent fish stores by the ground each contests. Three open questions close the profile, each answered in a later unit.
MT102 Unit 2 rubric: what earns full points
The profile's rubric rewards precision and usefulness. Figures that are sourced and consistent earn more than general descriptions, and a target shopper described by behavior shows the analytical habit the course builds. A pricing position backed by evidence, rather than asserted, distinguishes strong profiles. Instructors also look for restraint: a profile that slips into recommendations has done the wrong assignment. The competitive set should name rivals by format and say what each contests. Open questions at the end show the writer is planning ahead, and later units often reward a profile that set them up. Two sources support this one, Levy, Weitz and Grewal for retail concepts and Hoch and colleagues for pricing, in APA 7 form. Clear headings matching the prompt let the grader find each required element quickly, and figures should match across sections.
MT102 Unit 2 help: mistakes that cost points
Many profiles read like a company history, with founding dates and leadership changes, and say little about the shopper or the price position. Others describe the target customer only by age and income. A frequent problem is unsourced figures, or figures drawn from different years that do not agree. Some writers choose a retailer that publishes almost nothing and then have to guess. Others choose an online-only company and struggle when later units ask about store layout. If you work for a retailer, you can profile it, but keep anything confidential out and cite public sources. Leave recommendations for later; a profile that already knows the answers has nothing left to discover. Send us the retailer you are considering, and we will check whether it publishes enough to carry a full term of assignments.
Get an MT102 Unit 2 example written to your instructions
A custom profile can be built around the retailer you intend to follow all term. Supply the Unit 2 instructions, the rubric and the chain's name; the sample comes back in 24-48h under the headings your section uses, and nothing is charged for the first. Still deciding between two chains? Name both. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More MT102 papers and BS in Business Administration samples
- MT102 Unit 1: Retail Formats Post
- MT102 Unit 3: Store Observation Report
- MT102 Unit 4: Assortment Plan
- MT102 Unit 5: Pricing Exercise
- MT102 Unit 6: Merchandising Analysis
- MT102 Unit 7: Channel Comparison
- MT102 Unit 8: Customer Experience Audit
- MT102 Unit 9: Seminar Reflection
- MT102 Unit 10: Retail Strategy Plan
- LI410 Unit 2: Self-Assessment Interpretation
MT102 Unit 2 questions, answered
Can I switch retailers after Unit 2?
You can, but it costs more than it seems, since later units usually build on the baseline this profile sets. If the first choice turns out to publish too little, tell your instructor early and profile the replacement to the same standard. A switch late in the term tends to leave the final strategy plan resting on evidence gathered in only a few units.
Where do store counts and other figures come from?
Publicly traded chains file annual reports, and those are the strongest source for store count, square footage and sales. Trade publications and investor pages fill the gaps. For a private or local retailer, your own observation and the store's published materials count as evidence, provided the paper says plainly where each figure came from and when you gathered it.
Is a profile of an online-only retailer acceptable?
Sections vary, so check the prompt first. Several later units often ask about store layout and in-store merchandising, which an online-only company cannot supply, so a retailer operating both stores and a site tends to carry the whole term more easily. Where your section allows it, an online retailer works as long as you explain how the store-based units will be adapted.
Where can I find a free MT102 Unit 2 sample paper?
This page carries a full MT102 Unit 2 retailer profile of a composite aquarium chain, covering overview, shopper, merchandise, pricing, channels and competitors, with APA 7 references and margin notes.
Why does the profile end with open questions?
Because the profile is a baseline. Its three questions, about the livestock wall, the promotions and the website's stock display, are the ones later units in the term test with evidence.