6.

The auto industry deals with products that are expensive, purchased only once in several years, and
often customized for the customer, therefore having a large selection of cars or having the entire
product line at a dealership would be unnecessary and costly. With the JIT system, cars can be
assembled and shipped without waste, but haste.

8. There is a negative correlation between on-time delivery percentages and out-of-stock percentages
because when a company is out of stock for an item, there will be a delay until the item is available and
then given or shipped to the customer. When an item is in stock, the only waiting time that the
customer will have to deal with is the delivery time.

1. The increase of dual-income households has made nonstore retailing much more appealing and
successful because the disposable and discretionary incomes from the household are usually spent on
the type of items sold by nonstore retailing such as vending machines, catalogs, etc. It also gives more
freedom and easier access in the purchase process for either breadwinner without having to consult. All
aspects of the retailing mix are affected by the growing number of dual-income households because
retailers will need to tailor the price, location, communication, and merchandise factors of retail to suit
the needs each individual with an income. The better personalized/customized experience a shopper
gets, the higher the profits will be for the retailer.

4. The similarities are that in the introductory/early growth stage sales will be slow and profits will be
low due to start-up costs so promotional discounts may be used to lure in customers, the accelerated
growth stage is when sales for both retailers and products are at their highest rates and competitors
enter the market, in the maturity stage weaker competitors will drop out, sales will slow down, and the
focus will be in gaining/maintaining market share, and in the decline stage both profit and market share
drop significantly. The only difference I was able to detect is that a product enters its decline stage due
to changes in the marketing environment and not because of any wrong marketing strategy, while a
retailer has no excuse to lose profits or market share other than poor management of the company
considering that a retailer may sell many different products.