Virtual School Store Challenge For Your Classroom
No Inventory Needed. All Digital. All Real Learning.
The Virtual School Store Challenge is a team‑based business simulation where students compete to run the most successful school store—developing real‑world skills in marketing, finance, and entrepreneurship.
What Is the Virtual School Store Challenge?
The Virtual School Store Challenge, an innovative and competitive business simulation designed to give students hands-on experience in running a real business!
A fully digital, classroom competition where students work in teams to build and manage a virtual school store. Students select products, set prices, design marketing strategies, manage budgets, track profits—and compete on a live leaderboard.
The activity includes team collaboration, auto‑grading, and built‑in leaderboards so teachers can focus on facilitation—not manual scoring.
This challenge is brought to you by ActiveLearningLabs in association with BSN Sports, the largest distributor of team sports apparel and equipment in the United States.
- 🔹 Fully Digital
- 🔹 3‑Week Classroom Project for High School
- 🔹 Team‑Based Competition
- 🔹 Zero Setup Materials Needed
- 🔹 Team Collaboration Built‑In
- 🔹 Auto‑Created Leaderboards & Auto‑Graded Activities
Real‑World Market Dynamics — Every Classroom Plays Out Differently
What makes the Virtual School Store Challenge truly engaging is its dynamic, competitive classroom environment. This isn’t a static simulation with predetermined outcomes — the results vary every single time it’s run.
Here’s why:
Market Saturation is Real
When multiple teams select the same product(s) from the catalog, they compete for the same customer base. Since teams don’t know what others have chosen until results start appearing, careful product selection becomes a key strategy to reduce competition and maximize sales
Price Matters
If two teams choose overlapping products, sales are automatically split between them based on the pricing strategies they use — lower prices can win more market share, but at the cost of profit margins.
Unpredictable Choices
Since each team makes independent product and pricing decisions, no two classrooms or runs are the same. Even running the same challenge in the same classroom twice will lead to different outcomes based on team decisions.
How it Works
Form Teams & Collaborate
Each team manages a store with 5 products, hence a team size of 5 is preferred for this activity. Teams will collaborate and choose leadership (CEO, CPO, CMO, CFO, COO) for their business. All team activities will need consensus from all team members. Collaboration score is one of the criteria for success in this activity.
Data Analysis - Choose Products & Personas to Target
Teams will analyze historical sales records of 30 BSN products and 8 customer personas to find the best 5 products to sell in their store and the 3 customer personas to target. Teams will be provided built in interactive tools to make this decision. Teachers will present Market Saturation report, and teams will use the report to avoid competition for the products they choose. Students will also assign a product owner for each product.
Build a Brand That Stands Out
In this creativity section, teams will collaborate and create a unique identity for their store—name, slogan, and logo. This branding will appear in all future activities and shapes how customers perceive their store. A great brand isn’t just creative—it aligns with the products and target audience. Teacher will get a chance to score the branding materials of all teams, the branding score will affect the virtual sales that the team gets.
Price & Promote to Win
Each Product Owner will use demand-profit curves to set prices and adjust them in response to competition. Team members will then collaborate to divide the limited marketing budget, using the provided Marginal ROI toolset to strategically allocate funds across marketing channels.
Purchasing, Staffing and Financing
Teams now make inventory decisions—how many units of each product to purchase before launch. Overspend and you risk leftovers; underbuy and you lose sales, use the interactive tools provided to make optimal purchasing decisions. Do math to calculate staffing needs, amount to be financed, and the best loan option from the give list.
Launch Virtual Sales & Track Results
The system simulates sales based on team decisions, product selections, branding scores, demand curves, pricing, marketing, and inventory. Students watch their stores perform in real-time and reflect on what worked—and what didn’t. It’s the most exciting part of the challenge!
My Retail Management students recently completed this online business simulation, and the experience was nothing short of outstanding! This interactive program provided a dynamic and engaging way for students to apply core retail concepts in a real‑world context. The simulation challenged students to think critically, make strategic decisions, and reflect on the outcomes of their business choices. What stood out the most was how immersive and realistic the experience felt, and the teamwork that was done in the student groups. Students weren’t just passively learning—they were actively managing a virtual store. Students were challenged, but they stayed engaged in this very in‑depth Active Learning Lab. Overall, this simulation was an incredible educational tool that left a lasting impression on our students, I will be incorporating it in future classes again!. Highly recommended for any educator looking to take business and marketing instruction to the next level!
I'll remember how even small changes in pricing or promotion could have a big impact on our results. It felt like running a real business, and seeing our decisions play out made it exciting and educational.
What I will remember most from this lab is the hands‑on experience. It helped me understand the concepts better by seeing them in action.
This lab was a great learning experience. It gave me a better understanding of the material and showed me how important it is to work carefully and stay organized. I also appreciated the opportunity to experiment and solve problems on my own.
This challenge made business concepts come to life in a way that lectures or worksheets never could. I really enjoyed working with my team, making decisions under pressure, and learning from both success and failure.
The simplicity which made it easy to complete at home, we could go back into the simulation and talk as a group after completing it separately.
I will remember the pricing and designing logos, posters, and flyers the most from this lab mostly because those were my favorite parts about it.
I'll remember being a CEO and getting to lead a team.
I loved how much we got to use our own creativity. I will remember how fun it was to create our posters.
How significant decisions that may seem small effect the outcome more than you would think.
It gave me a better understanding of the material and showed me how important it is to work carefully and stay organized. I also appreciated the opportunity to experiment and solve problems on my own.
The bond I shared with my team is something I will never forget.
I think that I will remember the branding of our company and how that affected us in the long run
This was a very fun challenge to work with others and make friends. I transferred into this class after they started but with how the site is it made it very easy to catch up.
I will remember the way we could divide and conquer the tasks
I will remember how even small changes in pricing or promotion could have a big impact on our results. It felt like running a real business, and seeing our decisions play out made it exciting and educational.
Live Leaderboard – Real-Time Competition, Real Excitement
No manual tracking needed. The platform automatically calculates:
- Total Profit from virtual sales
- Collaboration Score based on team participation
- Marketing ROI and smart purchasing decisions
All results are processed instantly and presented through a live leaderboard—ready for teachers to project or share with student teams at any time.
Teachers spend zero time calculating scores.
The system handles it all.
As teams climb the rankings, they can celebrate wins, analyze what worked, and reflect on the decisions that made them stand out—just like a real business team.
Perfect for showcasing student achievements, sparking friendly competition, and bringing the entire classroom together for a final moment of pride.
Collaboration at the Core — Building Real SEL Skills
In this challenge, no one wins alone. Success depends on how well students work together as a team.
Each store sells 5 products—and each team member is responsible for managing one. That means students must:
- Listen actively to each other
- Communicate clearly during decision‑making
- Respect different perspectives
- Align strategies to meet a shared goal
- Support each other through the ups and downs of their virtual business
Team success is only possible when all five members contribute, communicate, and collaborate.
This lab isn’t just about profits—it’s about preparing students for the real world, where teamwork, leadership, empathy, and accountability are essential skills.
Collaboration Score is a key part of the final leaderboard, emphasizing the importance of Social‑Emotional Learning (SEL) and rewarding teams that truly work as one.
🧑🏫 Why Teachers Love It
- Engages even reluctant learners
- Promotes deep collaboration and classroom discussion
- No prep time needed
- Can be used standalone or as an end‑of‑year capstone project
- Easy classroom management with built‑in team creation
- Auto‑grading and Auto‑leaderboard creation
“My students were invested like never before. They debated pricing strategies, reviewed data, and worked together like a startup team. This is what CTE should be.”
Aligned to NBEA and CTE Standards
The Virtual School Store Challenge is more than just a fun simulation—it’s built to meet real classroom goals. Our activities are carefully aligned with key standards from the National Business Education Association (NBEA) and Career & Technical Education (CTE) frameworks.
Students develop practical, measurable skills in:
- Entrepreneurship & Business Management
- Marketing & Pricing Strategies
- Operations, Inventory & Purchasing
- Accounting & Financial Literacy
- Collaboration, Leadership & Communication
- Decision‑Making & Problem‑Solving
Teachers can confidently use this lab to meet multiple learning objectives while delivering a highly engaging, hands‑on project.
Whether you’re teaching Business, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, or CTE pathways, this challenge seamlessly integrates into your curriculum and supports national standards—while giving students a memorable, real‑world experience.
Ready to bring the Virtual School Store Challenge to your classroom?
Preview activities now or request a demo to see how it fits your course.