Slickables

Marketing Research
W. P. Carey School of Business Arizona State University

MKT 352 Marketing Research Monday and Wednesday 3:00 4:15pm Chadwick Miller December 5th, 2012

Presented By: Group 8 Tom Mitchell Jessica Short Helena Monica Dongjoon Sung

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION Background History Situation Analysis Review of Products and Services Online Presence Additional Information Key Research Questions Secondary Research 2 2 3 4 4 5 6

DATA COLLECTION AND RESULTS Methodology/ Data Sources Sampling Plan Interview Results Data Analysis Means and Percentage Insights ANOVA Limitations 7 8 9 10 11 14 16

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Conclusions Recommendations 18 19

APPENDICES References 21

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Slickables is a popular frozen dessert business that is located on Mill Avenue just north of the Tempe campus of Arizona State University. Throughout the fall 2012 semester several students worked with Sam Chang the owner of Slickables to better evaluate how they could be successful at reaching their target population ages 18-21 and how the brand image of Mill Avenue contributes to their business. Information was exchanged upon week three of the semester when all four marketing research students met with Sam Chang to go over what he was looking for, and he was able to identify that both himself and his business partner Tina both sit on the Downtown Tempe Avenue District Committee (DTC for short) where they help contribute information with the overwhelming problem of how do we get more students on Mill Avenue. Key research questions were noted as why do students go to Mill Ave?, what does Mill Ave lack to draw students there during the day? How can Mill Ave become a destination for students other than bars?, What type of student visits Mill during the week?, Are there transport issues to getting there? Is there a lack of parking?, Do they prefer Slickables industry competition?, Are students aware of Slickables?, and several additional notes on the store layout and product selection of Slickables in specific. As a group we sampled Tempe campus students through our social media profiles on both Facebook.com and LinkedIn.com by distributing our custom online survey through Qualitrics. Qualitrics was able to provide much insight on how students perceived Mill Avenue addressing parking, shopping, and dinning and how often or not they agreed with a statement. Through our responses we learned that Mill Avenue is known to be a place that caters to the twenty-one or older population with a decent satisfaction in bar scene, however also noting that restaurants on Mill Avenue also were a popular contribution as to why students visit Mill Avenue. Mill Avenue had negative feedback given on shopping and the inability to compete with parking and transportation-wise as other destinations such as Tempe Marketplace offer free parking and a variety of transportation to and from. Slickables was addressed in our survey and we were able to learn that students are highly satisfied with the quality and price of Slickables products, however, are not satisfied with the lack of seating and the store layout that is currently in operation. Overall, this research project takes into consideration 151 students and their opinions relating to both Mill Avenue and Slickables, and we believe that this report accurately addresses each response adequately.

INTRODUCTION

Background History Slickables is family-owned and operated and is located directly off of Mill Avenue in Tempe, Arizona by founders, Sam Chang and Tina Chau who are both married and decided to recreate a business opportunity they had witnessed while living in California, which was a popular ice cream cookie sandwich shop located next to one of the large state universities. This is similar to what Sam had envisioned for his Tempe, Arizona location. Their company operating name comes from sandwiches that are lickable (slickable).

Situation Analysis The analysis of industry is significant to the background reporting of Slickables. Slickables began in January 2012 when Sam and Tina both opened the physical location they are fairly new, hitting just under eleven months of operation in the next forthcoming week. The industry that would best identify Slickables would be frozen desserts as they compete with a wide variety of products, (Italian ice, gelato, frozen yogurt, ice cream, etc.) many of which are located on Mill Avenue as well. In our initial meeting speaking with Sam we had asked him about his perception of the quantity of same industry driven customer base and he was able to mention that when Slickables opened, only five of the current eight frozen dessert businesses existed, therefore three frozen dessert competitors have settled in this location after Slickables did. While there are only two competitors that Sam and Tina view as large competition (Cookies on Mill recently closed up business in October 2012 and Sparkys) the additional competition is a large reason for the amount of business each competing location receives; Sam states that when customers are looking to purchase frozen desserts, they will be driven to only go

to one place some would be based on loyalty however, some customers would be based on location and products and services provided. Overall, their competition in this industry would now include: Flavors, Ritas Frozen Ice, Red Mango, Paletas Betty, and Sparkys.

Review of Products and Services Currently, Slickables has several different options for products and services that they provide to their customers. They sell individual products such as their homemade cookies, brownies, milkshakes, and ice cream. Currently there are fifteen flavors of ice cream to select from, and twelve different cookie types with specialties added on certain days of the week (IE. red velvet cookies are only Thursdays). Their flavors frequently change to allow more variety as well as seasonal updates (similar to how Starbucks has their infamous pumpkin spice latte for the fall and winter seasons). While they do sell a variety of products, their most popular is a combination of two cookies and two scoops of ice cream which is driven by its low cost price point to customers of only two dollars. One observation I was able to make however is there are higher and lower prices associated with what flavor of ice cream a customer chooses from. While these prices only vary by a quarter or two it should be noted some ice cream flavors are valued higher than other ice cream flavors. Slickables also offers catering and bulk orders which can be purchased in stores as well as online. When prompted by the question of if Slickables would take an approach to going mobile Sam was able to provide some insight to his business model plan about possibly offering deliveries similar to the way popular sandwich company Jimmy Johns however, instead of individual deliveries Sam has envisioned the idea of having students be able to order their ice cream sandwiches online and then have them delivered bulk order per location at a specified time. The example provided was north campus residential halls (Palo Verde East,

Palo Verde West, University Towers, Palo Verde Main, and San Pablo) and a drop off time of 8:00pm. With this considered as an addition, this would expand the product and services that Slickables would have to offer in the future.

Online Presence Slickables has a working dynamic website that lists everything from hours of operation, contact information, as well as a menu online as well as a Twitter feed that operates internally through their site. Through their website they inform customers that they like to use natural ingredients and claim to be fully local in sources when possible. Slickables has been featured in 1100.com Magazine and CBSSports's Scott Miller's Bull Pennings. They are also featured through social media such as Facebook.com and Twitter.com.

Additional Information Sam was able to provide additional information that leads us as a group to be able to determine where the starting point was. Sam and Tina both sit on the Downtown Tempe Avenue District Committee (DTC for short) where they help contribute information with the overwhelming problem of how do we get more students on Mill Avenue. The DTC can be summed up as a committee of current businesses that already sit on Mill Avenue that brainstorm on how to bring more purchasing traffic to these businesses. Their target population is students from Arizona State University and new customers with loyalty to his products over another competitors products. Sam mentioned that Slickables already has about 60-65% business transactions between the student population which is more than his identified competition however not what he envisioned when he and Tina started Slickables. Slickables sees its most

traffic Thursday through Saturday nights and they are competitive with their hours of operation operating until 2:30am on these nights. They would like to increase the amount of traffic they receive however many people who attend Mill Avenue are there to go straight to the bars.

Key Research Questions The purpose of this research proposal is to answer the following research questions: Mill Ave 1. 2. 3. 4. Why students go to Mill Ave? If not, how come? Where else do they go to? What does Mill Ave lack to draw students there during the day? How can Mill Ave become a destination for students other than bars?

Students 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. What type of student visits Mill during the week? Where do they live? Are their transport issues to getting there? Is there a lack of parking? Do they prefer Slickables competition? Are students aware of Slickables? Do they like the brand that Slickables carries? Is the store set up as a cool place to hang out? Do they like the product, however Mill Ave is too far away during the week when at classes?

Secondary Research New Mill Avenue sweet shop caters to ASU students an article from The State Press written by Michael Gordon (January 16, 2012), this article is posted on The State Press newspaper in which the official newspaper published by the Arizona State University. The State Press informed ASU students about a new frozen dessert, which opened in early January (before the spring semester started) on Mill Avenue District. The owner of Slickables, Sam Chang and Tina Chau aimed ASU students as their target market. Before they decided to open Slickables at Mill Avenue, both of the owners had looked into several campus areas from California through Florida in order to locate their first business location. Sam and Tina finally decided to start and open their business on Tempes Mill Avenue District, which accessible to ASU students and provided a likely high traffic flow due to the volume of students attending the popular university. Slickables holds emphasis on cutting deals for college student.

DATA COLLECTION AND RESULTS

Methodology/Data Sources We have planned to utilize online collection methods with the intent of an online survey distributed through our social networks, specifically Facebook and LinkedIn. We will be using Qualitrics an online survey website that will not only allow students to record their responses through their survey, but also synchronize responses to provide us with vital information such as means, demographics and how they relate to each response, and statistical information we can input to uncover correlations. We will be collecting information from only Tempe campus students with a variety of different demographics and majors, as well as housing locations. This ensures an even unbiased mix of data from students with various residential and academic locations (proximity to Mill Ave) and sets our group up for success with a variation among different groups (ethnicity, studies, demographics, location, etc.) We will also be opting to further our location to include several popular off-campus locations such as Vista Del Sol and Gateway Community. Our target group remains the 18-20 aged populations who attends Arizona State University (Tempe) and resides close to Mill Avenue. Sam has specified this to be our target population because this demographic group can be identified as potential consumers at Slickables (they are not old enough to go to bars on the peak times through the weekend Sams questions directed to the concept of how can he cater to the wants of this group to get them to Mill Avenue during mid-week and his peak weekend times). From our responses, we are trying to find out what this demographic group view Mill Avenue as. What options would make Mill Avenue the place to be besides the bars and how can Sam implement these responses strategically to benefit Slickables? What do they do with

their time that keeps them away from Mill Avenue and how can incorporating these answers structure Slickables to work with this demographic group? Acknowledgement of knowing possible answer prior to a start on research is having the ability to restructure questions so that you as the interviewer are not leading the conversation to that answer; the interviewer is able to structure questions so that they do not even hint at the answer that is anticipated. We as a group expect to find a large array of answers correlating to Im not 21 being one popular response. Mill Avenue is stereotyped as a 21+ playground and little known for much else on weekend times. Our hypothesis is more along the lines that most students who live close to Mill Avenue will associate Mill Avenue and its businesses with the bar scene and 21+ age group although there are many other forms of business and entertainment. We find that this will be a common response due to the fact that many 21+ aged college students do visit Mill Avenue frequently just for the bars; students under 21 have negative associations that with Mill Avenue comes being at or over the legal age of alcohol consumption or access to bars.

Sampling Plan Given our situation we are perfectly positioned to ensure high quality access to this group; all of us have active social media accounts with a wide variety of the student population accessible. This will ensure we achieve an adequate mix of students in regards to ethnicity, studies, demographics and residential location etc. Secondly, given this target populations high involvement on social media sites, we can reach these students effectively via Facebook or Twitter over email. Targeting via social networks will prove extremely effective and efficient in selecting various demographic segments within our target population compared to the in-person collection and will complement it well.

To ensure our sample group is a close reflection of the target population, we need to ensure we follow a few specific ideas in relation to data collection: We need to ensure we collect data from a wide range of campus locations, including outside various faculty buildings and the MU and Library, which generally attract a wide range of students from all academic backgrounds. We also need to ensure we collect data from a wide range of student residence locations both on and off campus, from freshman dorms to senior residences. If we ensure we adhere to the two above needs, we can be confident in our sample population will effectively represent our target population through the wide demographics represented via the student population at ASUs Tempe Campus. Given the above steps, we can also ensure we keep bias to a minimum via receiving data of a wide range of students in ethnicity, age demographic, social preferences and residential location. The biggest potential bias we could encounter is an unbalanced source of data from either over 21 or under 21, given Mill Aves high rate of bars.

Interview Results We interviewed ten participants ranging from three to seven minutes in length. The ten interviewers consisted of seven individuals over the age of twenty-one, with four living on campus and the three remaining off campus. The three remaining interviewees consisted of individuals under twenty-one years old living on campus. This range gives us an adequate coverage mix of the target market (ASU students) in age and residence. There were interesting insights given from the interview process. Topics included were discussion about the bar scene, activities for under 21, limited and expensive shopping, inconvenient distance along with limited and over-priced parking and finally, the ASU campus can provide adequate dining options. We found the individuals aged twenty-one or older visits to

Mill Avenue range from once a month to twice a week for the bars on Thursday to Saturday nights. The individuals under age twenty-one found there was no activities for them there (one suggestion was addition of a movie theatre). The shopping was deemed to be limited (stores and brands) and over-priced, with much better mall alternatives available close by such as Tempe Market place, Scottsdale fashion Mall, and Chandler Mall. Interviewees claimed parking on Mill was unattractive and expensive, while the distance to walk from South campus locations (Vista Del Sol, Hassayampa Academic Village, Adelphi Commons) to Mill is too far during the daytime heat. The Orbit does provide shuttle runs however, this was widely not known. It was also noted when dining on Mill it was a planned event with friends on a once to twice a month basis this is because firstly, Mill was found to not carry excellent value for money for the average restaurant. Secondly, the MU on campus provides a wide range of dining options, paired with the food stores below Vista Del Sol and The Vue. One interviewee noted she would be further inclined to eat at Mill when on campus if adoption of M&G dollars was more widespread on Mill Ave. The interview insights provided an additional aspect to the research question regarding the stores strategy in regards to store ambience opinion and how it could be improved for the target market. This comes from an interviewee commenting on the store and how it lacked a hang out atmosphere ideal to attract students.

Data Analysis The survey results analysis for Slickables provided some interesting insights relating back to Sams original research aims. Firstly, the survey was distributed to a wide range of respondents, with the male and female balance evenly split. Twenty-one and older respondents

composed 56% (compared to 44% of under twenty-one) of the respondents. While on and off campus carried the above percentage split in favor of off campus. Initial research areas we tailored our survey questions too were: Mill Avenue What students go for? If they are not going, Why not? Where else are they going instead? What does Mill Ave lack to draw the students there during the day? How can Mill Ave become a destination for students other than bars?

Students characteristics Transport issues or expensive parking on Mill Ave? Lack of time during the day to go to Mill Ave?

Slickables strategy confirmation Do students like the value and quality of our product? Is our store layout and atmosphere conducive to students hanging out in our store?

During Sams initial presentation to the MKT352 class, he noted the weekday to weekend foot traffic on Mill Ave widely varied. He said this was mainly because, during the week, students did not go to Mill Avenue. In the following report we will explain the various factors contributing to this issue.

Means and Percentage Insights N.B - Unless noted via (decreasing scale to strongly agree) all means are based on the scale from 1(strongly disagree) 7 (strongly agree). Various levels refers to somewhat agree, agree, and strongly agree.

Mill Avenue can be considered to carry three major attractions bars, shopping, and restaurants. We found two of the three faired well. When split by groups of twenty-one and older and ages twenty-one or below, the twenty-one and older group answered somewhat agree to agree (mean 2.70 decreasing scale to strongly agree) to Q1 When I go to Mill it is usually to join the bar scene. This followed with 67% of respondents somewhat agreeing to strongly agreeing with the state Im very satisfied with the bar selection on Mill Ave. With this positive result towards Mill Avenue's bar scene, it is hardly surprising when respondents were asked the statement Mill Ave is a place that is geared towards customers who are twenty-one and older (mean 5.97) 93% of respondents agreed to the statement on various levels. This finding supports our research from the initial interviews conducted. The statement When I go to Mill Ave it is usually to eat at a restaurant resulted in 73% of respondents agreeing by various levels (mean 3.19 decreasing scale to strongly agree). When asked, Im very satisfied with the restaurant selection on Mill Ave, responses were positive with 69% of respondents agreeing to the statement on various levels. When asked to what factor they agree to the following statements The selection of offcampus food places are great and The selection of on-campus food places are great received varying responses when means of (5.54 and 3.64 respectively) and percentage of agreements (86% and 40% respectively). Positive news for Mill Ave came through the statement The selections of Mill Avenues food places are great (which received a mean of 5.02) and an agreement percentage of 72%. This is supported (with a mean of 5.13) and an agreement percentage rate of 75% to the statement Mill Ave has a range of quality food places. The statement Dining on Mill Avenue is expensive for the average student budget brings mixed results (with a mean of 4.96) and an agreement rate of 78% to the statement, it shows while

students enjoy dining on Mill, it is not an economically feasible on a daily occurrence. This is supported through findings from our initial interviews that can be found in deliverable twos findings. While the bars and restaurants have performed well, Mill Aves shopping status did not follow suit. With a mean of 4.90 (decreasing scale to strongly agree) and a disagreement rate of 59% to the statement When I go to Mill Ave it is usually for shopping reveals the tip of Mill Avenues shopping issues. When asked on their agreement level to the statement I frequently shop on Mill Avenue (scored a mean of 2.20) 86% of students responded by disagreeing to the statement. This highlights the first issue for Mill Avenue shopping lack of frequency. This lack of frequency can be explained by the following statistics. 56% and 37% of students respectively disagreed with the statements Mill Avenue has a wide variety of shopping stores to select from and Im very satisfied with the shopping selection on Mill Ave. 29% and 47% of the students respectively sat on the fence with the response neither agree or disagree to the statements Im very satisfied with the shopping selection on Mill Ave and Mill Ave clothe shops are generally great quality. When asked how they agreed with I can get better deals at other locations more so than when I am on Mill Ave (with a mean of 4.97) 57% of respondents agreed to this statement. Some food for thought comes when two-thirds of respondents agreed to the statement I feel that I would shop more on Mil Ave if there were more recognizable and national clothing brands. These quantitative findings support our findings from our interviews presented in deliverable two. Mill Avenues parking scored similarly to Mill Avenues parking (with means of 5.49 and 5.20 respectively) and agreement percentages of 80% and 69% respectively for the following

statements Do you find Mill Avenue to have limited parking and Do you find parking on Mill Ave to be expensive. This shows a disincentive for students to visit Mill Ave, while local competitor Tempe Market Place provides free parking. While researching confirmation on Slickables strategy we found valuable insights. To build from bad news to better, I will start with only one-third of respondents replied yes to having visited Slickables before. On a good note, 83% and 87% of people who had visited Slickables agreed with the statements Did you find the products to have excellent value and Did you find Slickables to have great quality products. From our initial surveys, it was noted by one respondent that they found Slickables did not have a good space to hang out at. We decided to follow this up, with 17% of respondents on the fence and 45% disagreeing with the statement Did you think the store layout and atmosphere are conducive to you wanting to hang out there post purchase. While 45% is on shy of half, in relation to the mid eighty percentage agreement rates to the quality and value, that this issue has room for improvement. Interestingly, when split by gender on an ANOVA analysis, we found females prefer your store layout more so than males.

ANOVA Insights from significance and correlation for split data sets 1. Gender 2. Age 3. Previous Slickables customer

Gender When split for gender we found the following insights, with significance of .007 to the statement When I go to Mill Ave it is usually to join the bar scene we found males are more likely to join the bar scene (with a mean of 3.43 and 4.50 respectively for males and females on the reverse scale of strongly agree being 1). While males, are more likely to join the bar scene, with significance of 0.19, we found females are more likely to go to Mill Ave for restaurants than males.

Age We split the data by age in two groups twenty-one and above and below twenty-one. With a significance of .000 we found twenty year olds and younger visit Mill Ave more often for restaurants than the older group with means of (2.46 and 3.86 on the scale with strongly agree is 1). As mentioned earlier, 93% of respondents agreed to the statement Mill Ave is a place that is geared towards customers who are twenty-one and older. The younger split group was more likely to agree with the statement with a mean of 6.22. While the younger group still visits Mill, it can be assumed, the younger group would increase their frequency of visits to Mill when Mill Ave takes on a bigger focus on them.

Previous Slickables Customer With a significance of 0.016, between having visited Slickables and When going to Mill Ave it is usually to eat at a restaurant we found a person is marginally more likely to eat at Slickables if their usual reason to go to Mill Ave is for a restaurant.

Limitations While there is a clear direction with our marketing research there are several limitations to keep in consideration while conducting interviews and the information collection process. This group has already put forth a significant effort to avoid bias while conducting preliminary interviewing, however there is always the small chance that correlation could root from bias and we believe our group will need to take extra precaution in order to collect substantial information. One portion we as a group already see a need to approach resourcefully is the fact that although Sam has identified his target population of interest as students who attend the Tempe Campus (furthermore what will make them want to spend their time and resources on Mill Avenue and how he can cater to that want) there is already some bias installed to where we will be collecting said information. Based on the fact that he specifically mentioned ages 18-20, (the population who does not have access to the bars on Mill Avenue) we will be favoring the younger portion of that demographic target due to the fact that majority of residence communities (all except Barrett the Honors College East, Cholla Apartments, and University Towers) all only house freshman with the exception of residential life staff members. In order to combat this bias, we as a group will need to reach out to other local options with proximity to campus and Mill Avenue such as the Vista Del Sol Apartments and Condominiums which are one popular selection for post-freshman living arrangements as well as Gateway Apartments off of University Dr. Another inherent flaw would be timing. In order to ensure the most accurately recorded information, we will need to designate no specific pattern in timing; for example, not every outlet of information will be collected in the evenings, nor just on Tuesdays/Thursdays. It would be most beneficial for our group while collecting information to a set focus on surveying an even amount of people on each day, as well as varying times (not all information should be

collected before 10:00am, there should be some collected in the mornings, some in the afternoons, and some in the evenings). I would also specify to say that we should be branching out as a group to hit those peak times of Thursday nights to Saturday nights if Sams target population for Slickables is not on Mill Avenue, where are we finding them at these times? Finally, while we strive to provide the most unbiased research, there will be limitations. We as a group will not be able to reach out to the thousands of students who take just online classes (this is partially why we have selected to incorporate social media and online information collection). We also will have the difficulty of reaching out to some populations more than others (for instance, the typical art student has classes in three-hour time blocks that generally start very early and end very late. Or, many classes at the Tempe Campus that are offered on Fridays are generally for W.P. Carey, the mathematics department, or the engineering school. It is rare to have a film student will regularly schedule classes on a Friday). It is much easier to nail out limitations and combat potential problems before a group begins the research phase because then they do not have to be halfway through research and then discover that their research has been biased throughout the prior time of collection.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Conclusions Valuable forethought insight During Sams initial presentation to the MKT352 class, he noted the weekday to weekend foot traffic on Mill Ave widely varied. He said this was mainly because, during the week, students did not go to Mill Ave. In the following report we will explain the various factors contributing to this issue. During the above-mentioned talk Sam had with our class, when asked in relation to his opening hours, paraphrased, he replied being in retail, sales are directly related to open door hours. From common sense, we can further sales relation to door hours to foot traffic. We have found five factors affecting foot traffic to Mill Avenue: 1. The main bar scene kicks off from Thursday 9:00pm until Sunday morning at 2am. 2. While the restaurants have proved popular, through choice and satisfaction, we have found them (with their higher price) to be novelty occasions and not a regular occurrence. This was supported in our deliverable 2 findings from our interviews. Secondly, while off-campus food scored an 86% to 40% agreement rate compared to on-campus food places. We found from our interviews, even though students prefer off-campus food selection, it is not always feasible to sneak off to Mill Ave for a bite inbetween classes. When asked to what factor they agree to the following statements The selection of off-campus food places are great and The selection of on-campus food places are great received varying responses when means of (5.54 and 3.64 respectively) and percentage of agreements (86% and 40% respectively).

3. It can be seen from our shopping statistics, Mill Avenues shopping is in need of improvement through these factors lack of variety and perceived quality, lack of deals or value available and the lack of national brands. All these statements attracted majority disagreement responses. 4. On a perceived intangible data set, Mill Avenue seems to be aiming for a niche type appeal, with small boutique stores and (whether deliberate or not) lack of national brands in both the food and retail segments. Considering Tempe is ASUs largest campus, if true that Mill Avenue is targeting a niche feel, a review may be necessary to discover whether it is what students want. 5. There were significant findings to support the general consensus of Mill Avenue being focused to twenty-one and older students. We can safely assume this perceived focus stems from Mill Avenues wide range of bars. This heavy focus on bars provides plenty of foot traffic to Mill Avenue, however, not during the ideal hours for consuming an ice cream sandwich.

Recommendations Overall, the length of this research project has verified several insights that have been shared with us through responses taken directly from the identified target population of Slickables. Mill Avenue needs to address these problems as a whole to help with the consumer traffic of Mill Avenue venues, which will in turn benefit Slickables. Parking is a large concern due its cost and low quantity available; this can be addressed by adding additional parking options as well as considering a price adjustment surveying what students would believe is a fair price to pay. The overall satisfaction with shopping contributes to who is willing to make

purchases on Mill Avenue and whether or not they will continue to perceive Mill Avenue as expensive and low quality; this can be addressed, students would feel more comfortable if more widely known stores were available on Mill Avenue. Dinning was one aspect that provided to be an enjoyment to students who do eat there, even if its convenience to campus during the peak class times hinder students from eating on Mill Avenue. One was Sam can capitalize on this is if he were to invest in the ability to be mobile, thus having a closer proximity to where students are during these times. For Slickables in particular, respondents to both interview and survey have expressed their desire to continue to purchase from Slickables based on their high quality, low cost; their low cost brands them as a store that sticks out to students. One note that has been made apparent is the dissatisfaction of the Slickables store layout. Students view this to be unwelcoming and inconvenient as there is little to no room to customers in the store itself, and seating a rarity. It would be our recommendation to consider an alternative arrangement that would provide more satisfaction for Slickables customers such as the ability to have more seating and space. Overall, it was a pleasure to work with Slickables and we hope that our research has made a contribution to Slickables and the ability to better cater to their target population.

APPENDICES

References Gordon, Michael. New Mill Avenue sweet shop caters to ASU student. The State Press. Jan 16. 2012. Web. <http://www.statepress.com/2012/01/16/new-mill-avenue-sweet-shopcaters-to-asu-students/>