Ross 2009 Annual Report Download - page 14

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Our buying offices are located in New York City and Los Angeles, the nation’s two largest apparel markets. These strategic
locations allow our buyers to be in the market on a daily basis, sourcing opportunities and negotiating purchases with vendors
and manufacturers. These locations also enable our buyers to strengthen vendor relationships — a key element to the success
of our off-price buying strategies.
Over the past year, we continued to make strategic investments in our merchandise organization to further enhance our ability
to deliver name brand bargains to our customers. At the end of fiscal 2009, we had a total of approximately 410 merchants for
Ross and dd’s DISCOUNTS combined, up from 360 in the prior year. The Ross and dd’s buying organizations are separate and
distinct. These buying resources include merchandise management, buyers, and assistant buyers. Ross and dd’s DISCOUNTS
buyers have an average of about 12 years of experience, including merchandising positions with other retailers such as
Ann Taylor, Bloomingdale’s, Burlington Coat Factory, Foot Locker, HomeGoods, Kohl’s, Loehmann’s, Lord & Taylor, Macy’s,
Marshalls, Nordstrom, Saks, and T.J. Maxx. We expect to continue to make additional targeted investments in new merchants
to further develop our relationships with an expanding number of manufacturers and vendors. Our ongoing objective is to
strengthen our ability to procure the most desirable brands and fashions at competitive discounts.
The off-price buying strategies utilized by our experienced team of merchants enable us to purchase Ross merchandise at net
prices that are lower than prices paid by department and specialty stores and to purchase dd’s DISCOUNTS merchandise at
net prices that are lower than prices paid by moderate department and discount stores.
Pricing. Our policy is to sell brand-name merchandise at Ross that is priced 20 to 60 percent below most department and
specialty store regular prices. At dd’s DISCOUNTS, we sell more moderate brand-name product and fashions that are priced
20 to 70 percent below most moderate department and discount store regular prices. Our pricing policy is reflected on the price
tag displaying our selling price as well as the comparable selling price for that item in department and specialty stores for Ross
merchandise, or in more moderate department and discount stores for dd’s DISCOUNTS merchandise.
Our pricing strategy at Ross differs from that of a department or specialty store. We purchase our merchandise at lower prices
and mark it up less than a department or specialty store. This strategy enables us to offer customers consistently low prices.
On a weekly basis our buyers review specified departments in our stores for possible markdowns based on the rate of sale as
well as at the end of fashion seasons to promote faster turnover of merchandise inventory and to accelerate the flow of fresh
product. A similar pricing strategy is in place at dd’s DISCOUNTS where prices are compared to those in moderate department
and discount stores.
Stores
At January 30, 2010, we operated a total of 1,005 stores comprised of 953 Ross stores and 52 dd’s DISCOUNTS stores. Our
stores are conveniently located in predominantly community and neighborhood shopping centers in heavily populated urban
and suburban areas. Where the size of the market permits, we cluster stores to benefit from economies of scale in advertising,
distribution, and field management.
We believe a key element of our success is our organized, attractive, easy-to-shop, in-store environments at both Ross and
dd’s DISCOUNTS, which allow customers to shop at their own pace. While our stores promote a self-service, treasure hunt
shopping experience, the layouts are designed to promote customer convenience in their merchandise presentation, dressing
rooms, checkout, and merchandise return areas. Each store’s sales area is based on a prototype single floor design with a
racetrack aisle layout. A customer can locate desired departments by signs displayed just below the ceiling of each department.
We enable our customers to select among sizes and prices through prominent category and sizing markers, promoting a
self-service atmosphere. At most stores, shopping carts are available at the entrance for customer convenience. All cash
registers are centrally located at store exits for customer ease and efficient staffing.