Retailing

• Department stores are large retail establishments that offer a wide range of products and services.
• Retailing is a business activity that adds value through the products or services sold to the consumers for their personal or family use.
• Retailing frequently involves the sale of services in addition to products.
• The retailer's role in a supply chain is to link manufacturers to consumers.
• Retailers are the key component in a supply chain that adds value and are more efficient at adding this value than manufacturers or wholesalers.
• Retailers typically buy products from wholesalers and manufacturers and resell to consumers.
• Retailers are necessary because they add value and are more efficient at adding this value than consumers who buy directly from manufacturers.
• The emergence of new technologies, such as mobile payments, is impacting the retail industry.
• The trend toward more people working at home is affecting the retail industry.
• The emergence of new retail formats is a trend in the retail industry.
• Digital presence and convenience of shopping at the retailer's Web site or mobile app are factors in the retail industry.
• Government and community orders regarding shopping hours, new construction, consumer protection are factors in the retail industry.
• Evolving societal values and norms are a part of the retail industry.
• Price wars among retailers are a common occurrence.
• Wholesalers buy and store merchandise in large quantities from manufacturers and resell to retailers.
• Vertical integration is a strategy businesses can use to reduce some costs and control the quality of the products and services they provide.
• Backward integration is a process in which a company acquires or merges with other businesses that supply raw materials needed in the production of its finished product.
• Businesses pursue backward integration with the expectation that the process will result in cost savings, increased revenues, and improved efficiency in the production process.
• Backward integration can be capital intensive, meaning it often requires large sums of money to purchase part of the supply chain.
• Forward integration is when a manufacturer undertakes retailing and wholesaling activities.
• Forward integration is also a type of vertical integration, which involves the purchase or control of a company's distributors.
• Malls and shopping centers offer a wide variety of products in many stores, allowing customers to buy a suit or a dress in one place.
• An example of forward integration might be a clothing manufacturer that typically sells its clothes to retail department stores; instead, opens its own retail locations.
• Drug stores are retail stores where medicines and miscellaneous articles such as food, cosmetics, and film are sold, also known as the pharmacy.
• Supermarkets are large retail markets that sell food and other household goods, which usually operate on a self-service basis.
• A dealership is a licensed dealership, where the licensee has the authorization (sometimes this is exclusive) to sell a brand of products.
• Department stores offer a wide product mix, carrying many different kinds of merchandise, which may include hardware, clothing, and appliances.
• Existing retail business involves taking ownership and responsibility for someone else's hard work.
• A retailer maintains a variety of merchandise and aims to achieve maximum satisfaction by exceeding their expectations and delivering exceptional services.
• Online retailing is a scheme that allows the customers to search, select, and purchase products, services, and information remotely over the Internet.
• Modern direct selling includes sales made by one-on-one demonstrations, hosted product sales events in-home, and other personal contacts.
• Discount retailers sell products at prices that are, in concepts, lower than the regular retail price.
• There are different types of retail stores including department stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets, drug stores, discount retailers, convenience stores, warehouse retailers, malls, and online retailing.
• Direct selling consists of two main business models, multi-level marketing and single-level marketing.
• Merchandising companies take part in the purchase and resale of tangible goods, while service companies primarily sell services rather than real goods.
• The benefits of Multichannel retailing include more time and opportunities to build a brand among diverse audiences, 24-hours access to customers to build brand loyalty, improved analytics to help understand consumer behaviors, flexibility for every consumer when paying and purchasing goods and services, additional chances to solicit(ask) and use consumer testimonials, and greater degree of visibility among various demographics.
• Hypermarkets are retail stores that merge a department store and a grocery supermarket, offering various products such as appliances, clothing, and groceries.
• Network marketing is a business model where product selling depends on the people in the network, not only is a product being sold, but other salespeople are recruited to sell that same product or product line.
• Catalog retailing involves selling products through printed or online catalogs, where customers view products and fill out an order blank in the store.
• Consumer behavior is the study of how individual customers, groups or organizations select, buy, use, and dispose ideas, goods, and services to satisfy their needs and wants.