The Council for Retail and Sales (CRS), housed at DeSales University, hosts up to two collegiate case competitions each year. The fall 2025 competition was held on October 30th and was sponsored by Walmart. This year Penn State Lehigh Valley was the big winner, taking both 1st and 2nd place. Dr. Denise Ogden served as the advisor for both teams.
The 1st place winning team was comprised of Dominic Baio, Cheyenne Kressler, Diana Moussa, and Bryahna Stanat. The team members will split the $1200 1st place prize. Second place was awarded to Ali-Abbas Bhimji, Dhani Patel, Jeremiah Stinvil, and Rohan Vignesh, who will share the $400 prize. The competition was judged on a written executive summary and an in-person presentation to a panel of Walmart team members who served as the judges.
Walmart is one of the biggest retailers in the world, with the company and its subsidiaries employing approximately 2.3 million associates worldwide. The company has been a consistently generous sponsor of the CRS and the topic that was presented to the students this semester focused on helping Walmart develop ideas on how to manage customer expectations and build brand loyalty. Student teams were tasked with creating ideas for new programs or activities that Walmart can implement at the store level without significantly impacting sales and profits.
Teams from the following universities competed – DeSales University, Penn State Lehigh Valley, and Bloomsburg University.
The spring 2026 competition will take place on Monday, March 30, 2026, and will be sponsored by the Alzheimer’s Association. Participation is open to undergraduates from any college or university. Check thecrs.org or follow CRS on Facebook for more information.
