Retail is often termed as a business of responding to change. Today‘s retailer is faced with a rapidly changing and demanding consumer, intense competition, and pressures on costs. The combinations of the business condition that exist today and the advances in technology have created an opportunity for the development of new management approaches. One such approach is that of category management. The need to reduce costs, control inventory levels and replenish stock efficiently, led to the concept of Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) taking shape in the grocery retail industry in Europe and America. By focusing on a superior understanding of consumer needs, category management provides renewed opportunities for meeting consumer needs, and at the same time, for achieving competitive advantage as well as lower costs through greater work process efficiencies. Category Management can be defined as the distributor’s / supplier’s process of managing categories as strategic business units, producing enhanced Continue reading
Retail Management Basics
The Concept of Retail Sites and it’s Classification
A retail site is the actual physical location from which a retail business operates. According to retail specialists, retail site is one of the principal tools obtaining and maintaining a competitive advantage through spatial monopoly. A given site is unique when its “positional qualities” serve a particular trading area consumer in way that no other site can match. That is why, retailer’s site problem has solution in its identification evaluation and final decision of perfectly matching site. The first step in appraising retail site locations is to identify all potential site alternatives. The number of site alternatives in any given trading area can range from an extremely limited to a very large selection. Therefore, before a retailer attempts to have any formal evaluation, he should scan and screen the alternatives by asking three crucial questions. These are : Availability. Is the site available for rent or out-right purchase? Suitability. Are Continue reading
Activities Performed by Retailers
Retailers undertake various business activities and perform functions that add value to the offerings they make to their target segments. Retailers provide convenient location, stock and appropriate mix of merchandise in suitable packages in accordance with the needs of customers. The four major activities carried out by retailers are: Arrange for assortment of offerings Breaking quantity Holding stock Extending services Arranging Assortment An assortment is a retailer’s selection of merchandise. It includes both the depth and breadth of products carried. Retailers have to select the combination of assortments from various categories. The assortments must include substitutable items of multiple brands and price points. They should be distinguished on account of physical dimensions and attributes e.g., color or flavor. The small retailer takes assortment decision on the basis of his experience; on the other hand retailers from organized retailing depend on a detailed study of past trends and future projections. Retailers Continue reading
Retail: Meaning and Definition
The distribution of consumer products begins with the producer and ends at the ultimate consumer. Between the producer and the consumer there is a middleman—the retailer, who links the producers and the ultimate consumers. Retailing is defined as a conclusive set of activities or steps used to sell a product or a service to consumers for their personal or family use. It is responsible for matching individual demands of the consumer with supplies of all the manufacturers. The word ‘retail’ is derived from the French work retailer, meaning ‘to cut a piece off’ or ‘to break bulk’. A retailer is a person, agent, agency, company, or organization which is instrumental in reaching the goods, merchandise, or services to the ultimate consumer. Retailers perform specific activities such as anticipating customer’s wants, developing assortments of products, acquiring market information, and financing. A common assumption is that retailing involves only the sale of Continue reading
Retail Store’s Front Design Considerations
A retail store’s front is the first impression that consumer has for a store. Three components make up retail store’s front namely, front configurations, window displays and store’s entrances. 1. The Store-front Configuration There are three possible front configurations namely, Straight front Angled front and Arcade front. The “straight front” is a store configuration that runs parallel to the side-walk, street, mall or a parking lot. Usually the only break in the front is a small recess for an entrance. This store front design is operationally efficient because it does not reduce the interior selling space. However, it lacks consumer appeal because it is monotonous and less attractive than either of the other configurations. Window shoppers can inspect only a small part of any display from anyone position when retailers use the straight configuration. Another limitation is that reflective glare from windows can inhibit window-shopping, while heavy foot traffic and Continue reading
Retail Organization and Classification of Retail Units
Retail Organization The term retail organization refers to the basic format or structure of a retail business designed to cater to the needs of the end customer. Recently, some scholars have started referring to India as a nation of shopkeepers. This epithet has its roots in the huge number of retail enterprises in India, which were over 12 million in 2003. About 78% of these are small family businesses utilizing only household labor. Retail firms may be independently owned, parts of a retail chain, operated as a franchisee, leased departments, owned by manufacturers or wholesalers, consumers owned or co-operative society. A retail unit could be owned by: Manufacturer (e.g., company owned retail outlets) Wholesaler (e.g., Vastra outlet in Rajouri in New Delhi) Independent retailer (Chanakya Sweet Shop near Hazratganj in Lucknow) Consumer (consumer owned grocery stores in man y residential societies) Co-operative society (e.g., Mother Dairy milk booths in Delhi) Continue reading