Swim N Sports Case Study

In a 1995 piece, written by Georgia Lee, Mark Sidle goes on record as saying that he plans to expand Swim’N Sport outside of the state of Florida. At that time, he stated that, “Florida is overstored, particularly with promotional stores and discounters," he said. "That, along with a decline in tourism over the past few years, is causing us to look at other areas, such as New England." Since that article was published, Swim’N Sport grew from a company with 13 locations, only in Florida, to 27 stores spanning from Texas to Maryland. Also in 1995, Swim’N Sport decided to employ a new marketing tool; the catalog. At its inception, the Swim’N Sport catalog was designed to bolster sales and help to test markets outside of Florida. Today, it is

They, also, employ corporate recruiters to attend job fairs, hold open casting calls for models, and post jobs through the “Careers” link on their website. While they do a fair amount of recruiting, Swim’N Sport does prefer to execute performance based, internal promotions. As with any other retailer, new Store Managers are subject to interviews with the Regional/District Manager, and the HRM. Assistants and Key Holders are only subject to interviews by the Store and Regional Managers. All Sales Associates are relegated to a single interview from the Store Manager. Because the average store is so small, the majority of the staff is required to have a key to the store. Swim’N Sport is still classified as a small business because they employ, between, 201 and 500 people nationwide. Because of the nature of the industry, males employees are only found in headquarters, and usually in the warehouse. The sales force is all female. Because of the small business classification of Swim’N Sport, they are able to offer various incentive programs like bonus/commission structures, Store Manager bonuses, and rewards for high scores on secret shops. Store Managers are required to hold 6 community outreach events, per year.