Retail Marketing

Concept
 Retailing encompasses the business activities of selling goods and services to consumers for personal, family, or
household use. It includes every sale to the final consumer.
 Retail is the final stage of any economic activity.
 Retail is derived from the French word “retailer”, which means ‘to break bulk’.
 Retailing may be understood as the final step in distributing merchandise for consumption by the end consumers.
 Any firm that sells products to the final consumer is performing the function of retailing.
 Retail comprises all activities directly marketing goods and services to consumers for their personal, family or household
use.
 Retailing includes all the activities involved in selling goods or services to the final consumers for personal, non-business
use.
 A retailer or retail store is any business enterprise whose wholesale volume comes primarily from retailing.
 Any organization selling to final consumers, whether a manufacturer, wholesaler or retailer, is doing retailing.
 It does not matter how the goods or services are sold (by person, mail, telephone, by a vending machine or internet or
where they are sold – in a store, on the street or in the consumer’s home)
 How Retailer add value

1. Breaking Bulk-Buy it in quantities customers want

2. Holding Inventory-Buy it at a convenient place when you want it

3. Providing Assortment-Buy other products at the same time

4. Offering Services-See it before you buy, get credit, layaway

The Retailer is a Link between the producer and the Consumer

 Form utility: By offering an assortment of finished goods and services in a form that
customers want.

 Time utility: Keeping the store open when the consumers prefer to shop.

 Place utility: By being available at a convenient location.

 Ownership utility: By selling the product

 Serves the manufacturer: By distributing the goods to the end consumer

 Issues in Retailing

1. How can we best serve our customers while earning a fair profit?

2. How can we stand out in a highly competitive environment where consumers have many choices?

3. High unemployment, low consumer confidence, and high savings rates have reduced consumer
spending. At the same time, retail competition has increased through increased format blurring
(sales of cameras at office supply stores, carpeting and major appliances at home improvement
centres).

4. How can we grow our business while retaining a core of loyal customers?
Distribution Types