Spokes-N-Wheels, Inc. markets bicycles and bicycle-related products through the mail. Their market consists of serious cyclists throughout the United States. They compete successfully by offering upscale specialized equipment at competitive prices and giving exceptional customer service. Spokes-N-Wheels offers a complete line of cycling products. Complete bicycles are the largest contributor to both revenue and profit; however, they carry other cycling-related products in their catalog. Some items are carried even though they are marginally profitable since SpokesN-Wheels wants to be able to meet all the customers’ cycling needs. They do not want a customer to go to a competitor for a unique item because most mail-order customers prefer to deal with a single company. If customers order one item from a competitor, they are likely to order other items as well.

Spokes-N-Wheels’ products are divided into four product lines:

 Bicycles: Complete bicycles  Components: Frames, wheels, gears, etc., that customers use to construct, enhance, or maintain their own bicycles  Accessories: Helmets, water bottles, etc.  Clothing: Cycling apparel

Each product line has a product manager. Spokes-N-Wheels publishes four catalogs per year. Each product manager wants to get as much display space (measured in square inches) in the catalog as possible. Although they have never analyzed it, they believe that the more display space devoted to an item, the more sales generated by the item. By coding orders, they are able to identify from which issue of the catalog the customer is ordering.

Recently, Spokes-N-Wheels’ President and Chairman have become concerned about an apparent drop in sales. Sales from the last catalog were at a 3-year low. They do not know whether this is a one-time fluke or a trend. To boost sales, they have been increasing the amount of display space devoted to complete bicycles, their largest revenue line—but this does not seem to be enough

The table below
\begin{tabular}{cccccccccccc} Period & Year & Catalog & $\begin{array}{l}\text { Total } \\ \text { Sales }\end{array}$ & $\begin{array}{l}\text { Bikes } \\ \text { sq. in. }\end{array}$ & $\begin{array}{l}\text { Bikes } \\ \text { Sales }\end{array}$ & $\begin{array}{l}\text { Comp. } \\ \text { sq. in. }\end{array}$ & $\begin{array}{l}\text { Comp. } \\ \text { Sales }\end{array}$ & $\begin{array}{l}\text { Access. } \\ \text { sq. in. }\end{array}$ & $\begin{array}{l}\text { Access. } \\ \text { Sales }\end{array}$ & $\begin{array}{l}\text { Cloth. } \\ \text { sq. in. }\end{array}$ & $\begin{array}{l}\text { Cloth. } \\ \text { Sales }\end{array}$ \\ \hline 1 & 1988 & 1 & 5,575 & 500 & 2,875 & 360 & 1,560 & 380 & 720 & 440 & 420 \\ 2 & 1988 & 2 & 6,140 & 460 & 2,530 & 630 & 2,700 & 320 & 660 & 270 & 250 \\ 3 & 1988 & 3 & 5,915 & 630 & 3,030 & 420 & 1,995 & 270 & 510 & 360 & 380 \\ 4 & 1988 & 4 & 6,925 & 680 & 4,290 & 340 & 1,580 & 470 & 880 & 190 & 175 \\ 5 & 1989 & 1 & 6,220 & 620 & 2,780 & 430 & 2,490 & 340 & 640 & 290 & 310 \\ 6 & 1989 & 2 & 5,980 & 570 & 2,370 & 430 & 2,590 & 360 & 680 & 320 & 340 \\ 7 & 1989 & 3 & 6,190 & 420 & 1,750 & 550 & 3,380 & 420 & 750 & 290 & 310 \\ 8 & 1989 & 4 & 6,710 & 720 & 3,550 & 370 & 2,300 & 230 & 550 & 360 & 310 \\ 9 & 1990 & 1 & 5,890 & 760 & 2,380 & 370 & 2,670 & 320 & 630 & 230 & 210 \\ 10 & 1990 & 2 & 5,780 & 690 & 2,560 & 420 & 2,370 & 350 & 640 & 220 & 210 \\ 11 & 1990 & 3 & 5,220 & 840 & 2,260 & 320 & 2,240 & 280 & 530 & 240 & 190 \\ 12 & 1990 & 4 & 4,840 & 920 & 1,800 & 300 & 2,380 & 240 & 430 & 220 & 230 \end{tabular}shows sales figures and the number of square inches devoted to each product line by catalog for the last 3 years. What conclusions can you draw? Do the data indicate only a onetime fluke, or do they suggest that a serious problem exists? Your task is to explain current market dynamics affecting Spokes-N-Wheels and to recommend possible marketing decisions based on an exploration of these data. Your recommendations should focus on the amount of advertising space that should be allocated to each product. Should some receive more space? Should some receive less?