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Question 314036:  Customer support & distribution costs are pretty high at Millenium.  The total amount was $180,000 last year. The marketing manager has recently been to a seminar and learned about applying ABC to analyze customer and distribution costs.  He suggests that the company analyze overhead costs associated with supporting different types of customers before proceeding with an expansion.  The marketing manager knows that the small shops require a lot of attention and is somewhat dubious about the CEO's proposed strategy.  The CEO accepts the suggestion and you are brought in as a consultant to prepare the analysis. The table below provides some information that may be pertinent for the analysis.
 
Customer Support        Department Stores     Specialty Shops        Gift shops 
& Distribution Costs    Activity Level        Activity Level        Activity Level
 
 
sales(units)                10,000          5,000                  5,000 
revenue                      $150,000         $100,000                  $250,000  
contribution 
margin ratio                 50%          75%                   80% 
#customers                   5                  45                   250 
total cost $40,000           10                  90                   900 
total sales 80,000           5                  195                   800 
total shipments 60,000         20                  480                  1,000
 
Calculate the customer support and distribution costs associated with the three types of customers.   
Use a simple strategy first and allocate the costs based on revenues.  
Recalculate the allocations using activity based costing (ABC).  
Determine contribution margin less customer support and distribution costs for both approaches above.  
Which type of customer should the company support and why?  Refer to your analysis in your response. 
 
 Found 2 solutions by  searge88, beh929: Answer by searge88(1)      (Show Source):  Answer by beh929(1)      (Show Source): 
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