The expansion of suburbia brought with it planned residential developments. These new sub divisions were connected by many new city streets and through fares along which retail businesses could be established. The notion of the planned shopping center was born. Developers could plan multi store facilities that would serve the needs of these new neighbor hoods with grocery, drug, and apparel goods. With the availability of large tracts of relatively cheap undeveloped land located many miles from the inner city, but close to these new living areas, large centers could be designed that would offer one stop shopping to entire clusters of residential areas. The last thirty years witnessed the widespread development of multiunit retail strip centers and the construction of multiacre shopping malls/theme parks. Several important issues surround the choice of locating a retail business in a planned shopping center. One important consideration is the nature of the business Continue reading
Retail Management
Retail Site Evaluation and Selection
Retail Site Evaluation Methods Experts and analysts have at their disposal several methods to evaluate retail site alternatives. These are broadly classified as subjective and objective. Again some are quite simple and some are sophisticated. It suffices to take two most commonly used methods namely, checklist method and quantitative methods. 1. Checklist Method It provides a retail site evaluator with a set of procedural steps for arriving at a subjective yet quantitative expression of a sites value. First, the evaluator enumerates the general factors that are usually considered in any site evaluation. A typical list of factors includes all or most of the site-evaluation principles~ interruption, cumulative attraction, compatibility and accessibility. Secondly, for each general factor, the evaluator identifies several attribute measurements that reflect the location needs of the proposed operation. For instance, interception which is a key location attribute for most convenience retailers, can be divided into the volume Continue reading
Concept of Retail Store Displays
Displays are the terminal part of the retail store’s interior. Advertising does attract the consumers to the store. However, visual displays have much more to play once the customer gets into the store. Retail store displays are non-personal, in-store presentations and exhibitions of merchandise together with related information. In actual practice, retail store displays are used to: Maximize product exposure. To enhance product appearance. To stimulate product interest. To exhibit product information. To facilitate sales transactions. To ensure product security. To provide product storage. To remind customers of planned purchases. To generate additional sales of impulse items and To improve the image and prestige of a retailer. Merchandise displays are to gain the attention of consumers, provide proper balance, be structured in right proportion, be hard-hitting and convey their message quickly. The expert study conducted by display specialists reveal that on an average consumer spends only 11 seconds in observing Continue reading
Site Selection Analysis in Retail
With the advent of new retail formats in India such as planned shopping centers and malls, emergence of free-standing department stores, hypermarkets, etc., and further development of traditional business districts and other unplanned shopping locations, a retailer is presented with a wider choice of locations. Consideration of all the options keeping in view the product mix, customer profile and overall business model presents an enormous challenge. A retailer has to consider the following factors while selecting a site: Kind of products sold Cost factor Competitor’s location Ease of traffic flow and accessibility Parking and major thoroughfares Market trends Visibility 1. Kind of Products Sold For stores dealing in convenience goods, the quantity of traffic is most important. The corner of an intersection, which offers two distinct traffic streams and a large window display area, is usually a better site than the middle of a block. Convenience goods are often purchased Continue reading
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Indian Retail
Introduction to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Indian Retail The recent clamor about opening up the retail sector to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) becomes a very sensitive issue, the most important factor against FDI driven “modern retailing” is that it is labour displacing to the extent that it can only expand by destroying the traditional retail sector. This is because the primary task of government in India is still to provide livelihoods and not create so called efficiencies of scale by creating redundancies. As per present regulations, no FDI is permitted in retail trade in India. Allowing 49% or 26% FDI (which have been the proposed figures till date) will have immediate and direct consequences. Entry of foreign players now will most definitely disrupt the current balance of the economy; will render millions of small retailers jobless by closing the small slit of opportunity available to them. Retailing is not Continue reading
Principles of Retail Site Evaluation
Selection of a retail site is based on certain principles that act as guidelines for selecting a site. Several consumer oriented location principles guide the retailers in evaluating the retail site alternatives. It should be noted that there is no straight jacket or standard criteria for retail site evaluation. The main principles of retail site evaluation are : 1. The Principle of Interception The principle of Interception covers a site’s potential qualities that determine its ability to incept consumers as they travel from one place to another. ‘Interception’ has two distinct elements namely, “source of region” and “terminal regions.” “Source of region” is one from which the consumers are drawn and “terminal region” is one that speaks of consumer destination, a region to which consumers are drawn. The examples of terminal regions are residential areas, office complexes, industrial plants, business districts and shopping centers. Any point between- source and Continue reading