Executive Summary: Sams Club of Northern California

Created By: BSIS Analyst Jacquelline Arvin

Collaborators: Mary Schabram and Divya Tanna
Created: October 27
th
, 2014

Introduction:
This data is an analysis of Sams Club members as a reflection of their shopping
behavior during the 2014-year. It includes an analysis for annual and monthly
returns, purchases, and returns percentages. It also includes a reflection for Sams
Club top twenty high returns customers including reasons explaining the statistical
results.

Annual Totals for Purchases, Returns, and Returns Percentages
Year Sum of
Purchases ($)
Sum of
Return($)
Sum of Return(%)
2014 15,384,678 516,355 3.4%
Grand Total 15,384,678 516,355 3.4%

The annual totals for purchases, returns, and returns percentages are extremely
important to Sams Club in order to track how well the store is doing and which
areas need special attention or improvement. It is also important to analyze these
numbers to make sure that a profit is being made and that Sams Club is succeeding
in their industry.
The return percentage for Sams Club is way below the Return Rate by Retail
Category. (Consumer Returns, 2013) Sams Club return rate is 3.4% where as the
Return Rate by Retail Category is 8.6%. This can mean that Sams Club is doing a
very good job at satisfying their customers purchase habits and are providing their
customers with quality items that leave the customers feeling satisfied and happy.
Monthly Purchases

Some of the patterns I observed in Sams Club members monthly purchases was a
significant increase during December and slight increases during the summer
months. This can be explained by increased purchases during the holiday season
and a slight increase in purchases during the summer months due to good weather
and an increase in vacation days.

Monthly Returns

The patterns that can be observed from Sams Club monthly returns are similar to
the monthly purchase numbers. Monthly returns are also higher during December
or the holiday months because of either returned gifts with a gift receipt or because
of an abnormal amount of purchases so that the receiver can decide between two
gifts and return the one they dont want. (Revise that)
Monthly Return Percentage

This graph of Monthly Return Percentage shows that the highest number of returns
is during December and January presumably during the holiday months as well as
December, which can also be attributed to holiday purchases for Halloween.
High Returns

The High Return graph is definitely attention grabbing for one specific reason;
customer number 5302545999! This customer has the equivalent amount of
returns as all other nineteen of Sams Clubs highest percent of customer returns
combined! This tells us that our return percentage can be significantly affected by
one specific outlying customer who should be addressed by upper management in
order to prevent persisting fraudulent behavior.
Reference List
2013 Consumer Returns in the Retain Industry. The Retail Equation. Published:
December 2013. Viewed: October 2014. Retrieved from:
file:///Users/jacquellinearvin/Downloads/TRE3013-
NRF%20Retail%20Returns%20Survey+Canada-2013.pdf
U.S. Census Bureau News. U.S. Department of Commerce. Washington, D.C. 20233.
Released: Friday, August 15, 2014. Viewed: Monday, October 27
th
, 2014.
Retrieved from:
http://www.census.gov/retail/mrts/www/data/pdf/ec_current.pdf