A team of four students won the annual Great Capstone Case Competition by proposing a plan that incorporates “personal scanner systems” into city Target stores.

Team members Yevgenia Borodkina, Jessica Machecek, Paolo Clerici and Jessica Werner devised a strategy that requires customers to use scanners to purchase merchandise. According to the team, the scan system allows Target stores to offer its customers “the same great experience in a store half the size of a suburban Target.”

The store would be divided into three areas:

  • Scan and deliver: This area would have a virtual display of the products like bicycles, televisions, furniture and other bulky items that would be difficult for a customer in the city to carry home. Once a customer scans an item from this category and pays, the item would be delivered to their home.
  • Scan and take: This area would have a virtual display as well and would include necessities like groceries, movies and books. Once a customer scans these items a target team member would pack their items up and the package would be waiting for them once they are ready to leave.
  • Physical scan: The physical scan department would include things like beauty, baby products and cleaning supplies. These would be items that a customer would want to interact with prior to purchasing. Customers would scan these items and then place then in their cart.

The team, led by instructor Regina Taylor, won a $4,000 scholarship. The event was sponsored by Target Corporation to help undergraduate students strengthen their analytic, communication, presentation and teamwork skills beyond the classroom by developing recommendations for real-world business issues.

The Great Capstone Case Competition is held at the end of each semester. At the end of the fall semester, the winning team, known as “Team Assimilate,” researched Tesla Motors, a young and innovative sport electric vehicle automaker from California. Team members Matt Ferratusco, Tanesh Misir, Triet Leminh, and Brandon Seelig designed a strategy for the company to enter the auto racing industry by racing in the American Le Mans Series and developed a plan that would improve perceptions about electric vehicles and gain better market share.