Question: The retailing manager of a supermarket chain wants to determine whether product location has any effect on the sale of pet toys. Three different aisle locations are considered: front, middle, and rear. A random sample of 15 stores is selected with 5 stores randomly assigned to each aisle location. The size of the display area and price of the product are constant for all stores. At the end of a 1-month trial period, the sales volumes (in thousands of dollars) of the product in each store were as follows:

Aisle Location

Front Middle Rear

8.5 3.2 4.5

7.2 2.4 6.0

6.2 1.4 2.8

5.0 1.8 2.2

4.0 1.8 2.6

a. At the 0.05 level of significance, is there evidence of a significant difference in mean sales among the various aisle locations?

b. What should the retailing manager conclude? Fully describe the retailing manager's options with respect to aisle locations.

Hint: This is a single factor ANOVA problem.