UNIT 3

RETAILING WHOLESALER AND INTEGRATED MARKETING

COMMUNICATION
Retailing includes all the activities in selling goods or services directly to final consumers for
personal, non business use. A retailer or retail store is any business enterprise whose sales
volume comes primarily from retailing. Any organization selling to final consumers—whether
it is a manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer—is doing retailing.

TYPES OF RETAILERS

Consumers today can shop for goods and services at store retailers and non store
retailers,

STORE RETAILERS

Major type of store retailers

 Specialty store: Narrow product line. The Limited, The Body Shop.
 Department store: Several product lines. shoppers stop, Westside
 Supermarket: Large, low-cost, low-margin, high-volume, self-service store designed to meet
total needs for food and household products.
 Convenience store: Small store in residential area, often open 24/7, limited line of high-
turnover convenience products plus takeout. 7-Eleven, Circle K.
 Drug store: Prescription and pharmacies, health and beauty aids, other personal care, small
 durable, miscellaneous items.
 Discount store: Standard or specialty merchandise; low-price, low-margin, high-volume
stores. Walmart,
 Extreme value or hard-discount store: A more restricted merchandise mix than discount
stores but at even lower prices.
 Off-price retailer: Leftover goods, overruns, irregular merchandise sold at less than retail.
Factory outlets; independent off-price retailers such as; warehouse clubs such as Costco.
 Superstore: Huge selling space, routinely purchased food and household items, plus services
(laundry, shoe repair, dry cleaning, check cashing). Category killer (deep assortment in one
category) such as Staples; combination store such as Jewel-Osco; hypermarket (huge stores
that combine supermarket, discount, and warehouse retailing) such as Carrefour in France and
Meijer in the Netherlands.
 Catalog showroom: Broad selection of high-markup, fast-moving, brand-name goods sold by
catalog at a discount. Customers pick up merchandise at the store. Inside Edge Ski and Bike

NON-STORE RETAILING
Although the overwhelming bulk of goods and services— 97 percent—is sold through stores,
nonstore retailing has been growing much faster than store retailing. Nonstore retailing falls
into four major categories: direct selling, direct marketing (which
includes telemarketing and Internet selling), automatic vending, and buying services:
1. Direct selling, also called multilevel selling and network marketing, is a multibillion-dollar
industry, with hundreds of companies selling door-to-door or at home sales parties. A
salesperson goes to the home of a host who has invited friends; the salesperson demonstrates
the products and takes orders. Pioneered by Amway, the multilevel (network) marketing sales
system works by recruiting independent businesspeople who act as distributors. The
distributor’s compensation includes a percentage of sales made by those he or she recruits, as
well as earnings on direct sales to customers. These direct-selling firms, now finding fewer
consumers at home, are developing multi distribution strategies.

2. Direct marketing has roots in direct-mail and catalogue marketing it includes telemarketing
, television direct-response marketing), and electronic shopping (Amazon.com). As people
become more accustomed to shopping on the Internet, they are ordering a greater variety of
goods and services from a wider range of Web sites.

3. Automatic vending offers a variety of merchandise, including impulse goods such as soft
drinks, coffee, candy, newspapers, magazines, and other products such as hosiery, cosmetics,
hot food, and paperbacks. Vending machines are found in factories, offices, large retail stores,
gasoline stations, hotels, restaurants, and many other places. They offer 24-hour selling, self-
service, and merchandise that is stocked to be fresh. Japan has the most vending machines per
person—Coca-Cola has over 1 million machines there and annual vending sales of $50
billion—twice its U.S. figures.

4. Buying service is a storeless retailer serving a specific clientele—usually employees of large

organizations—who are entitled to buy from a list of retailers that have agreed to give discounts
in return for membership

Retailers also meet widely different consumer preferences for service levels and
specific services. Specifically, they position themselves as offering one of four levels of
service:

1. Self-service—Self-service is the cornerstone of all discount operations. Many customers are

willing to carry out their own “locate-compare-select” process to save money.
2. Self-selection—Customers find their own goods, although they can ask for assistance.
3. Limited service—These retailers carry more shopping goods and services such as credit and
merchandise-return privileges. Customers need more information and assistance.
4. Full service—Salespeople are ready to assist in every phase of the “locate-compare-select”
process. Customers who like to be waited on prefer this type of store. The high staffing cost,
along with the higher proportion of specialty goods and slower-moving items and the many
services, result in high-cost retailing.
Wholesaling includes all the activities in selling goods or services to those who buy for resale
or business use. It excludes manufacturers and farmers because they are engaged primarily in
production, and it excludes retailers.

Merchant wholesalers: Independently owned businesses that take title to the merchandise
they handle. They are full-service and limited-service jobbers, distributors, and mill supply
houses.
Full-service wholesalers: Carry stock, maintain a sales force, offer credit, make deliveries,
provide management assistance. Wholesale merchants sell primarily to retailers: Some carry
several merchandise lines, some carry one or two lines, others carry only part of a line.
Industrial distributors sell to manufacturers and also provide services such as credit and
delivery.
Limited-service wholesalers: Cash and carry wholesalers sell a limited line of fast-moving
goods to small retailers for cash. Truck wholesalers sell and deliver a limited line of semi
perishable goods to supermarkets, grocery stores, hospitals, restaurants, hotels. Drop shippers
serve bulk industries such as coal, lumber, and heavy equipment. They assume title and risk
from the time an order is accepted to its delivery. Rack jobbers serve grocery retailers in non
food items.
Delivery people set up displays, price goods, and keep inventory records; they retain
title to goods and bill retailers only for goods sold to the end of the year. Producers’
cooperatives assemble farm produce to sell in local markets. Mail-order wholesalers send
catalogs to retail, industrial, and institutional customers; orders are filled and sent by mail, rail,
plane, or truck.
Brokers and agents: Facilitate buying and selling, on commission of 2 percent to 6 percent of
the selling price; limited functions; generally specialize by product line or customer type.
Brokers bring buyers and sellers together and assist in negotiation; they are paid by the party
hiring them—food brokers, real estate brokers, insurance brokers. Agents represent buyers or
sellers on a more permanent basis.
Most manufacturers’ agents are small businesses with a few skilled salespeople: Selling
agents have contractual authority to sell a manufacturer’s entire output; purchasing agents
make purchases for buyers and often receive, inspect, warehouse, and ship merchandise;
commission merchants take physical possession of products and negotiate sales.
Manufacturers’ and retailers’ branches and offices: Wholesaling operations conducted by
sellers or buyers themselves rather than through independent wholesalers. Separate branches
and offices are dedicated to sales or purchasing. Many retailers set up purchasing offices in
major market centers.
Specialized wholesalers: Agricultural assemblers (buy the agricultural output of many farms),
petroleum bulk plants and terminals (consolidate the output of many wells), and auction
companies (auction cars, equipment, etc., to dealers and other businesses).

In general, wholesalers are more efficient in performing one or more of the following
functions:

• Selling and promoting. Wholesalers’ sales forces help manufacturers reach many small
business customers at a relatively low cost. They have more contacts, and buyers often trust
them more than they trust a distant manufacturer.
• Buying and assortment building. Wholesalers are able to select items and build the
assortments their customers need, saving them considerable work.
• Bulk breaking. Wholesalers achieve savings for their customers by buying large carload lots
and breaking the bulk into smaller units.
• Warehousing. Wholesalers hold inventories, thereby reducing inventory costs and risks to
suppliers and customers.
• Transportation. Wholesalers can often provide quicker delivery to buyers because they are
closer to the buyers.
• Financing. Wholesalers finance customers by granting credit, and finance suppliers by
ordering early and paying bills on time.
• Risk bearing. Wholesalers absorb some risk by taking title and bearing the cost of theft,
damage,spoilage, and obsolescence.
• Market information. Wholesalers supply information to suppliers and customers regarding
competitors’ activities, new products, price developments, and so on.

•Management services and counseling. Wholesalers often help retailers improve their
operationsby training sales clerks, helping with store layouts and displays, and setting up
accounting and inventory-control systems. They may help industrial customers by offering
training and technical services.

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MIX

The marketing communications mix consists of eight major modes of communication:

Advertising—Any paid form of nonpersonal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods,

or services by an identified sponsor via print media (newspapers and magazines), broadcast
media (radio and television), network media (telephone, cable, satellite, wireless), electronic
media (audiotape, videotape, videodisk, CD-ROM,Web page), and display media (billboards,
signs, posters).
Sales promotion—A variety of short-term incentives to encourage trial or purchase of a
product or service including consumer promotions (such as samples, coupons, and premiums),
trade promotions (such as advertising and display allowances), and business and sales force
promotions (contests for sales reps).
Events and experiences—Company-sponsored activities and programs designed to create
daily or special brand-related interactions with consumers, including sports, arts,
entertainment, and cause events as well as less formal activities.
Public relations and publicity—A variety of programs directed internally to employees of the
company or externally to consumers, other firms, the government, and media to promote or
protect a company’s image or its individual product communications.
Direct marketing—Use of mail, telephone, fax, e-mail, or Internet to communicate directly
with or solicit response or dialogue from specific customers and prospects.
Interactive marketing—Online activities and programs designed to engage customers or
prospects and directly or indirectly raise awareness, improve image, or elicit sales of products
and services.
Word-of-mouth marketing—People-to-people oral, written, or electronic communications
that relate to the merits or experiences of purchasing or using products or services.
Personal selling—Face-to-face interaction with one or more prospective purchasers for the
purpose of making presentations, answering questions, and procuring orders.

THE COMMUNICATIONS PROCESS MODELS

Marketers should understand the fundamental elements of effective communications. Two
models are useful: a macromodel and a micromodel.

MACROMODEL OF THE COMMUNICATIONS PROCESS shows a macromodel with

nine key factors in effective communication. Two represent the major parties—
 sender and receiver. Two represent the major tools—message and media. Four represent major
communication functions—encoding, decoding, response, and feedback. The last element in
the system is noise, random and competing messages that may interfere with the intended
communication.
Senders must know what audiences they want to reach and what responses they want to get.
They must encode their messages so the target audience can decode them. They must transmit
the message through media that reach the target audience and develop feedback channels to
monitor the responses. The more the sender’s field of experience overlaps that of the receiver,
the more effective the message is likely to be.
MICROMODEL OF CONSUMER RESPONSES Micromodels of marketing
communications concentrate on consumers’ specific responses to communications.
. This “learn-feel-do” sequence is appropriate when the audience has high involvement
with a product category perceived to have high differentiation, such as an automobile or house.
An alternative sequence, “do-feel-learn,” is relevant when the audience has high involvement
but perceives little or no differentiation within the product category, such as an airline ticket or
personal computer. A third sequence, “learn-do-feel,” is relevant when the audience has low
involvement and perceives little differentiation, such as with salt or batteries. By choosing the
right sequence, the marketer can do a better job of planning communications

 AIDA Model
 Hierarchy-of-Effects Model
 Innovation-Adoption Model

1) AIDA
 ATTENTION
 This is the awareness stage of the model where the consumer becomes aware of a brand or a
product mostly through advertisements.

 INTEREST

This is the stage when the consumer shows some interest in the product after understanding its
benefits and learns how well the product actually fits into his lifestyle.

 DESIRE

This is the third stage of the AIDA model when the consumer desires to own the product. He
develops a favourable disposition towards the product.

 ACTION

This is the final step of the model where the consumer finally takes favorable to satiate his
desire. In this stage, he takes a purchase decision and buys the product that is being advertised.

2) Hierarchy-of-Effects Model
 AWARENESS

This is the elementary stage of the model when the customer becomes aware of the product or
a brand. This is a very crucial step, as there is no surety about the customer’s viewership or the
awareness of the product. Consumers may view various advertisements, but the chance of a
customer registering the advertisement in his mind depends upon the intensity and the impact
your advertisement made on the target consumers.

 KNOWLEDGE

The customer starts collecting the required information about the product in this phase. He
slowly tries to understand the benefits associated with the product through the internet, retail
advisors or through people who have already used the product. Consumers may easily switch
to the competitors brand when they are unable to collect the required information. Therefore,
it is the responsibility of the advertiser to make sure that the product information is easily
available.

 LIKING

This is a stage when the customer develops a liking for the product. Here the advertiser’s
responsibility is to highlight the product features to further promote the brand or a product.

This is the fourth phase of the Hierarchy-of-Effects Model. During this phase, the customer is
clear about the product qualifications and he is sure about his brand choices. Here the
advertisers need to constantly reinforce the positive aspects of their brand.

 CONVICTION

In this stage, the customer would have made up his mind to buy the product. The advertiser’s
responsibility here is to guide the customers to choose their brand.

 PURCHASE

This is the last stage of the hierarchy of effects model in which the actual purchase of the
product takes place.
 PREFERENCE

This is the fourth phase of the Hierarchy-of-Effects Model. During this phase, the customer is
clear about the product qualifications and he is sure about his brand choices. Here the
advertisers need to constantly reinforce the positive aspects of their brand.

 CONVICTION

In this stage, the customer would have made up his mind to buy the product. The advertiser’s
responsibility here is to guide the customers to choose their brand.

 PURCHASE

This is the last stage of the hierarchy of effects model in which the actual purchase of the
product takes place.

 INNOVATION-ADOPTION MODEL
 AWARENESS

This is the primary stage of Innovation-Adoption Model. takes action is the awareness stage of
the model where the consumer becomes aware of a brand or a product mostly through
advertisements.

 INTEREST

This is the second phase of the Innovation-Adoption Model. This is a stage in which the
information about the brand or a product multiplies in the market and triggers the interest of
the potential buyers of the product to gain more knowledge and information about the product.

 EVALUATION

Evaluation is the third stage of the Innovation-Adoption Model that supplements the necessary
information regarding the product to the consumers. In this stage, the consumers evaluate and
try to gain a deeper understanding of the product that stimulated interest in them.

 TRIAL

In this stage, the customers try the product before making the final choice to purchase the
product.

 ADOPTION

Adoption is the final stage of the Innovation-Evaluation Model. In this stage, the customer
accepts the product, makes a purchase decision and finally purchases the product.