* Retailing :
Retailing consists of selling final consumers products to households.
*scope of retailing :
- Store management
- Categories management
- Customer relationship management
- Vendor management
- Inventory management
- Supply chain management
1. Importance to consumers.
- Selection of different varieties.
- Demand creation for manufacturer and wholesalers.
- Help in distribution of good credit facility
- Also provide personal service.
2. Importance to wholesalers and producers.
- Advertisement of new products.
- Arrangement to sell the goods.
- Information about consumers habits, tastes, needs.
Retail world globally is well organized and in most developed countries is control by major. A retail not only needs to keep up with ever changing expectation and demand of the consumers but also needs to keep tracks of the competition and the changes in technology and the socioeconomic climate of the nation that he is operating in.
* challenges faced by global retailers.
- The emergence of new market.
- The empowered consumers (to positive control over consumers)
- Technology enabled efficiencies (control of technology on efficiency of business and consumers.
- Threats from substitute.
- Lack of skilled manpower.
- Enable in selection of right location.
* Trends in retailing :
- Adoption of modern management practices (professionalism in decision making).
- Growth of multi store retail chains (expend by opening stores across different markets and geographic of scale.
- Going internationalization.
- Increasing importance of packing (attraction)
Understanding the retail consumers means to understand the consumers behavior. which means when, why, how and where consumers will buy or not buy a product basically to understand consumers psychology.
* Stages of retail consumers buying process.
- Problems recognition (when the buyer recognize a problem or needs.
- Information search (Through personal - family, friends, neighbors. Commercial - advertisement, websites, salespersons, packing. Public - mass media. Experiment - handling, examining using the products.)
- Evaluation alternatives (through attention on benefits)
- Retail outlet selection and purchase decision (from where to buy and which brand to buy)
- Post purchase behavior before actually buying is check if it is eject product or provide that level of satisfaction by visiting to store and seeing product.
Organized retailing refers to trending activities undertaken by licensed retailers.
Those who are register for sales tax, income tax etc.
Organised retail outlet is a place where the product attributes in terms of quality, quantity, price, service and less dissatisfaction.
* Factor responsible for the growth of organised retailer.
- Growth of middle class consumers.
- Increase in the numbers of working women.
- Value of money.
- Entry of foreign retailers
- Technology import.
- Rise in income.
- Media explosion.
A retail market strategy can be defined as a clear and definite plan that the retailer outlines to tap the market and build a long terms relationship with the consumers.
1. Essential of retail strategy
- Customer orientation
- Goal orientation
- Market orientation
- Business mission definition
- Situation analysis
- Strategy opportunities identification evaluation
- Objective setting
- Identifying consumers needs
- Overall strategy
- Specific activities (merchandise, location, store layout, advertising etc.
1. Market penetration
(Involves focusing on selling your existing products or service into your existing market to gain a high market share)
2. Market expansion
(A market expansion opportunity employs the existing retail format in new market segments in order to achieve higher sales and profit margin)
3. Retail format development
(It means by involves offering a new retail format a format with a different retail mix in existing markets)
For example :- Store based retailers going into electronic retailing.
4. Diversification
(New market and new retailer)
For example :- Computer manufacture started manufacturing calculator.
* Ethical issues in retailing :
These are the standards of conduct that are expected and maintained by society or professional organisation. retailers must recognize that they not only server their consumers but also act as standards of society in creating better economy transactions.
- Responsibility of the retailer
- Honesty , Quality
- Organisational relationship
- Conduct business as to build long terms loyalty
- Trust in relationship system.
It is a way of organizing many activities that are involved in delivering its product or service to the end consumer.
* Multi channel retailing :
1. Store channel - Which offer benefits to customer like touching feeling product - personal service, cash payment, social experience.
2. Catalog channel - Through catalog, brochures benefits - convenience, safety, quality, visual presentation.
3. Electronic channel - Shopping from home - global reach, speed, search option, problem solving, personalisation.
* Retail store location :
Location occupies important position in retailing for retailers location means being at a right time at a right time at a right place.
Importance of location in retail -
- Consumers choice
- Cost factor
- Consideration of trends
- Means of success
- Not changeable
1. Freestanding sites - where no other immediate retailer available generally on road side highways.
2. City or town location - they are also called unplanned site location.
3. Planned shopping center
- Shopping mall
- Community shopping center
- Airport retailing
Factor for choosing retail location and site selection.
- Parking facilities
- Occupy
- Specific sites
- Transportation
- Pedestrian traffic (number of people passed by sites)
It includes both the exterior and the interior of the store.
Area covered in store design
- Store exterior - frontage of store
- Store interior - inside the store
* Frontage of store
- Place of location
- Store entrance
- Door types
- Size of the building
- Colours and materials
- Display windows
- Store layout
- Lighting
- Smell
- Sound
- Color
- Visual merchandising
It is a design in which a store interior is setup.
Importance of store layout -
- Better inventory management
- Utilization of human resource
- Maximization of sales revenue
- Attract more customer
- Create a better perception in customer mind
1. Grid layout - counters and fixture are placed in long rows usually at right angle.
2. Free flow layout - in which fixtures and merchandise are grouped into free flowing patterns on the sales floor.
3. Race court - which begins at the entrance through the store and then returns the customer to the front of the store.
* Retail store planning :
Retail store planning provides the guidelines which must be followed by retailers irrespective of their size channel design and medium of selling.
Process -
- Deciding the store philosophy mission and objective
- Situation analysis
- Formulation of retail planning
- Planning implementation and control
It is the method for systematically gathering, analyzing, storing and utilizing valuable retail information and data gathered in the market research process.
Importance -
- It help in minimizing risk in decision making
- It help in preparing corporate report
- It provide information related to business aspect
- These data can be used as secondary data
- It process the data and drive information out them
- Transparency in business
- It can not replace managerial judgments.
- Effectiveness decreases in frequent changes in management.
It refers to the selling of product and service with the help of automation machine and up to due date technologies.
Ways to conduct them -
- Vending machine
- ATM
- Sell check outs
- Improve cash office process via automation
- Enhance customers experience through self service option
- Leverage technology to impact overall profitability.
It is a business strategy designed to optimized profitability, revenue and customers satisfaction.
Characteristics of CRM -
1. Share of customers - CRM force on increasing share of customers by providing them extra with product or service.
Example :- Basketball with a pair of shoes.
2. Lifetime value of customers - Long terms success when be develop long term relationship with customers.
Goals of CRM -
- Getting customers
- Satisfying customers
- Retailing customers
* Retail merchandising :
* Merchandise - It is refers to goods and commodities sold at the retail level.
* Merchandising - It is refers to variety of product available for sale and the display of those product in such a way with attract the customers to buy product.
* Retail merchandising - It is the planning involved in merchandise at the right place at the right merchandise at the right place at the right time in the right quantites.
Process of retail merchandising -
- Analyse the market opportunity
- Creation of merchandise plan
- Selection the supply base
- Product development & suppliers performance
- Presentation of merchandise at point of sale
It refers to anything that can be seeing by the customers inside and outside a store including display, decoration, signs and layout of space.
It involved -
- Skill
- Creativity
- Proper Lighting
- Background
- Interior
- Increase of sale
- Profit increase
- Expansion of store
- Big share in market
- Attract new customer
- Take outside
- Identify everything
- Show them now it looks
- Use the spot light
- Don't be afraid of color
- Group by lifestyle
A contractual agreement blow a manufacture allowing the franchise to conduct a certain from of business.
Benefits -
- Faster opening
- Brand recognition
- Expansion without investment
- one time franchise fee
- Product franchise
- Manufacturing franchise
- Business format
Setting that involves a face interaction with the customers for the purpose of making sales.
Role of personal selling -
- Prospecting (trying to find new customers)
- Communicate with exiting potential customer
- Selling
- Service
- Information gathering (feedback)
- Allocation of product
- Flexibility in offering
- Higher attention
- Minimum wastage
- Greater customer response
- Interactivity
- Adaptability
- Aids to advertising
- High cost
- Use of large man power
Retail marketing mix -
- Product
- Price
- Place
- Promotion
- Process
- Physical evidence
- People
- Sales promotion
- Public relation
- Personal selling
- Direct Marketing
- Advertising
- Buying for a single Independent store
- Buying for chain store
- Buying for non store retailers online
Difference blow cost of product and final selling price.
* Markdown :
Difference blow original retail Price and actual selling price.
* Shrinkage in retail :
Portion of your inventory that gets lost or stolen.
Prevention -
- CCTV
- Security high
- Checking of staff
- EAS System
It is a filed that studies all mechanism to keep the store functioning well.
It includes -
- Store atmosphere
- Cash handling
- Safety & Security
- Customers service
- Refund and return
- Visual Merchandising
- Training program
- Inventory & Store management
It is the ability of an organisation to constantly give the customers what they want and need.
Importance -
- Employee motivation
- Customers loyalty
- Adopting to different situation
- Word of mouth
- Little things means alot
1. Pre - transaction service
- Convenient
- Information
- Credit
- Free accessories
- Merchandise availability
3. After sales service
* Retail Human resource management (HRM) :
HRM is important in retailing because HRM is the effective use of human resource in order to enhance organization performance.
Function -
- Identifying various in the organisation
- Recruiting people with the right attitude to fit the jobs
- Training
- Motivating employees
- Evaluating employee performance
It is the process of managing the entire supply chain of retail organisation
Objective of SCM -
- Right product
- Right time
- Right place
- Right price
- Cost cuting
- Time saving
- Financial flows
- Physical flows
- Customer satisfaction
It is a from of electronic commerce which allow consumers to directly buy from seller over internet.
- Alibaba
- Amazon
- Maytra
- Easy access to market
- Reduce over heads
- Potential for rapid growth
- Widen your market
- Website cost
- Infrastructure cost
- Security and fraud
- Legal issue
- Advertising cost
The future is bright for retailers who adept to the needs of their customers will find success in future.
Highlights -
- Big data collection & usage
- visual Display & merchandise offer decision
- Technology & tools to facilitate decision making
- Consumption and engagement
It is basically study of retail outlets it provider gather information on a brands sales volume sales trends and other associated aspect
Reason -
- To ensure accountability
- To provide reliability
- Provide complete report
- Required experience
- Ability to make decision
- Communication skill
- Ability to understand business needs.