Retailing consists of the sale of goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a
department store or kiosk, or by post, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the
purchaser.[1] Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be
individuals or businesses. In commerce, a retailer buys goods or products in large quantities from
manufacturers or importers, either directly or through a wholesaler, and then sells smaller
quantities to the end-user. Retail establishments are often called shops or stores. Retailers are at
the end of the supply chain. Manufacturing marketers see the process of retailing as a necessary
part of their overall distribution strategy.
Shops may be on residential streets, shopping streets with few or no houses, or in a shopping
center or mall, but are mostly found in the central business district. Shopping streets may be for
pedestrians only. Sometimes a shopping street has a partial or full roof to protect customers from
precipitation. Retailers often provided boardwalks in front of their stores to protect customers
from the mud. Online retailing, also known as e-commerce is the latest form of non-shop retailing
(cf. mail order).
Shopping generally refers to the act of buying products. Sometimes this is done to obtain
necessities such as food and clothing; sometimes it is done as a recreational activity.
Recreational shopping often involves window shopping (just looking, not buying) and browsing
and does not always result in a purchase.Most retailers have employees learn facing, a hyperreal
tool used to create the look of a perfectly-stocked store even when it is not.
The pricing technique used by most retailers is cost-plus pricing. This involves adding a markup
amount (or percentage) to the retailers cost. Another common technique is suggested retail
pricing. This simply involves charging the amount suggested by the manufacturer and usually
printed on the product by the manufacturer.In Western countries, retail prices are often so-called
psychological prices or odd prices: a little less than a round number, e.g. $6.95. In Chinese
societies, prices are generally either a round number or sometimes a lucky number. This creates
price points.
Often prices are fixed and displayed on signs or labels. Alternatively, there can be price
discrimination for a variety of reasons, where the retailer charges higher prices to some
customers and lower prices to others. For example, a customer may have to pay more if the seller
determines that he or she is willing to. The retailer may conclude this due to the customer's
wealth, carelessness, lack of knowledge, or eagerness to buy. Another example is the practice of
discounting for youths or students. Price discrimination can lead to a bargaining situation often
called haggling, in which the parties negotiate about the price. Economists see this as determining
how the transaction's total surplus will be divided into consumer and producer surplus. Neither
party has a clear advantage, because of the threat of no sale, in which case the surplus vanishes
for both.
Retailers who are overstocked, or need to raise cash to renew stocks may resort to "Sales", where
prices are "marked down", often by advertised percentages - "50% off" for example."Sales" are
often held at fixed times of the year, for example January sales, or end-of-season sales, or Blue
Cross Sale
Retail industry has brought in phenomenal changes in the whole process of production,
distribution and consumption of consumer goods all over the world. In the present world most of
the developed economies are using the retail industry as their vital growth instrument. At present,
among all the industries of U.S.A the retail industry holds the second place in terms of
employment generation. In fact, the strength of the retail industry lies in its ability to generate large
volume of employment.Not only U.S but also the other developed countries like U.K, Canada,
France, Germany are experiencing tremendous growth in their retail sectors. This boom in the
global retail industry was in many ways accelerated by the liberalization of retail sector.
Observing this global upward trend of retail industry, now the developing countries like India are
also planning to tap the enormous potential of the retail sector. Wal-Mart,the world's largest
Retailer has been invited to India. Other popular brands like Pantaloons, Big Bazar, Archies are
rapidly increasing their market share in the retail sector. According to a survey, within 5 years, the
Indian retail industry is expected to generate 10 to 15 million jobs by direct and indirect effects.
This huge employment generation can be possible because being dependent on the retail sector
shares a lot of forward and backward linkages.
Emergence of a strong retail sector can contribute immensely to the economic development of
any country. With a dominant retail sector, the farmers and other suppliers can sell their produce
directly to the major retail companies and can ensure stable profit. On the other hand, to ensure
steady supply of goods, the retail companies can inject cash into the production system. This
whole process can result into a more efficient production and distribution system for the economy
as a whole.
There are three major types of retailing. The first is the market, a physical location where buyers
and sellers converge. Usually this is done in town squares, sidewalks or designated streets and
may involve the construction of temporary structures (market stalls). The second form is shop or
store trading. Some shops use counter-service, where goods are out of reach of buyers, and
must be obtained from the seller. This type of retail is common for small expensive items (e.g.
jewelry) and controlled items like medicine and liquor. Self-service, where goods may be handled
and examined prior to purchase, has become more common since the Twentieth Century. A third
form of retail is virtual retail, where products are ordered via mail, telephone or online without
having been examined physically but instead in a catalog, on television or on a website.
Sometimes this kind of retailing replicates existing retail types such as online shops or virtual
marketplaces such as Amazon.[2].
Buildings for retail have changed considerably over time. Market halls were constructed in the
Middle Ages, which were essentially just covered marketplaces. The first shops in the modern
sense used to deal with just one type of article, and usually adjoined the producer (baker, tailor,
cobbler). In the nineteenth century, in France, arcades were invented, which were a street of
several different shops, roofed over. counters, each dealing with a different kind of article was
invented; it was called a department store. One of the novelties of the department store was the
introduction of fixed prices, making haggling unnecessary, and browsing more enjoyable. This is
commonly considered the birth of consumerism [3]. In cities, these were multi-story buildings
which pioneered the escalator.
In the 1920s the first supermarket opened in the United States, heralding in a new era of retail:
self-service. Around the same time the first shopping mall was constructed [4] which incorporated
elements from both the arcade and the department store. A mall consists of several department
stores linked by arcades (many of whose shops are owned by the same firm under different
names). The design was perfected by the Austrian architecht Victor Gruen[5]. All the stores rent
their space from the mall owner. By mid-century, most of these were being developed as single
enclosed, climate-controlled, projects in suburban areas. The mall has had a considerable impact
on the retail structure and urban development in the United States. [6]In addition to the enclosed
malls, there are also strip malls which are 'outside' malls (in Britain they are called retail parks.
These are often comprised of one or more big box stores or superstores.
Facing is a common tool in the retail industry to create the look of a perfectly stocked store (even
when it is not) by pulling all of the products on a display or shelf to the front. It is also done to
keep the store appearing neat and organized.The workers who face commonly have jobs doing
other things in the store such as customer service, stocking shelves, daytime cleaning, bagging
and carryouts(in grocery stores), etc. Facing is generally done near closing time when there are
fewer customers and also while the store is completely closed. In busier stores it may be done
constantly.
In department stores it may be referred to as recovery, as in the store is recovering from the rush
of customers that affect the model appearance the store wants to portray. Merchandise may be
put in the wrong area or leave a mess on the floor that needs to be picked up which is part of the
recovery process.Facings also refer to the amount of shelf space a particular product is given.
Lots of facing generally increases sales of a particular product, therefore manufacturers will pay
more money to get more facings for their products. This inevitably leads to situations where the
largest manufacturers end up with the most amount of facings because they are able to pay the
most.
The store manager will be required to to meet monthly, quarterly, or annual sales goals, depending
on the company's fiscal cycle. This may be achieved by setting individual sales goals (quotas),
holding contests for employees, or offering sales promotions. He or she may also receive a
monetary incentive (or "bonus") tied to the financial performance of the store over a specific time
period. This incentive may be based on net sales, profitability, or both. Thus, the store manager
may be forced to reduce payroll expenditures by decreasing employees' hours, or otherwise
reducing costs associated with operating the business.
The Store manager has the final say in matters of customer service. He or she receives
unsolicited feedback from customers, and may be asked to intervene in confrontations between
customers and employees. The store manager may also make exceptions to store policies, but in
most cases is required to enforce policies set by the company that owns the store. Through
effective training, managers can defer to employees' best judgment in handling customer service
situations.
The Store manager is the primary keyholder of the the store and may be called to the store before,
during, or after business hours in the event of an emergency. He or she is also responsible for the
safety of all customers and employees on store premises. Store managers may be required to
hold safety meetings, especially as dictated by union practices in cases where store employees
belong to a union.A store manager may have several subordinates within the hierarchy of the
store to whom he or she can delegate management-level responsibility. These employees are
sometimes called assistant managers, supervisors, keyholders, shift leads or leads.
A real-time operating system (RTOS) is a multitasking operating system intended for real-time
applications. Such applications include embedded systems (programmable thermostats,
household appliance controllers, mobile telephones), industrial robots, spacecraft, industrial
control (see SCADA), and scientific research equipment.
In retail locations, store managers are responsible for visual merchandising. Many companies
communicate how to merchandise their stores using direction such as planograms to indicate
product placement. While managers have a varying degree of autonomy in deviating from
corporate direction, it is important to ensure that stores are compliant with the company's brand
image. Managers must ensure that the proper amount of inventory is displayed for customers to
purchase, by ensuring that shelves and racks remain stocked and that product is frequently
rotated out of storage areas. Managers are also concerned with shrinkage, and must ensure that
merchandising techniques and customer service skills minimize the possibility of product being
stolen.
People who are investigative or social according to Holland's Theory of Careers tend to lean
toward managerial positions, as they are a combination of corporate business and social
enterprising.The store manager is responsible for the hiring, training, and in some cases, the
development, of employees. The manager must ensure that adequate staffing levels exist in order
to effectively operate the store, and ensure that employees receive the training necessary for
employees to perform their job responsibilities independently. Managers are sometimes
responsible for developing their employees so that the company can promote employees from
within and develop future leaders, potentially for employment at other locations.
with priority driven pre-emptive scheduling.
A supermarket is a departmentalized self-service store offering a wide variety of food and
household merchandise. It is larger in size and has a wider selection than a traditional grocery
store and it is smaller than a hypermarket.The supermarket typically comprises meat, produce,
dairy, and baked goods departments along with shelf space reserved for canned and packaged
goods as well as for various nonfood items such as household cleaners, pharmacy products, and
pet supplies. Most supermarkets also sell a variety of other household products that are
consumed regularly, such as alcohol (where permitted), household cleaning products, medicine,
clothes, and some sell a much wider range of non-food products.
The traditional supermarket occupies a large floor space on a single level and is situated near a
residential area in order to be convenient to consumers. Its basic appeal is the availability of a
broad selection of goods under a single roof at relatively low prices. Other advantages include
ease of parking and, frequently, the convenience of shopping hours that extend far into the
evening. Supermarkets usually make massive outlays for newspaper and other advertising and
often present elaborate in-store displays of products. Supermarkets are often part of a chain that
owns or controls (sometimes by franchise) other supermarkets located in the same or other
towns; this increases the opportunities for economies of scale.In North America, supermarket
chains are often supplied from the distribution centers of a larger business, such as Loblaw
Companies in Canada, which owns thousands of supermarkets across the nation. They have a
distribution center in every province — usually in the largest city in the province.
Supermarkets usually offer products at low prices by reducing margins. Certain products (typically
staples such as bread, milk and sugar) are often sold as loss leaders, that is, with negative
margins. To maintain a profit, supermarkets attempt to make up for the low margins with a high
overall volume of sales, and with sales of higher-margin items. Customers usually shop by putting
their products into shopping carts (trolleys) or baskets (self-service) and pay for the products at
the check-out. At present, many supermarket chains are trying to reduce labor costs further by
shifting to self-service check-out machines, where a group of four or five machines is supervised
by a single assistant.A larger full-service supermarket combined with a department store is
sometimes known as a hypermarket. Other services that supermarkets may have include banks,
cafés, creches, photo development, video rental, pharmacies, and/or gas stations.
In the early days of retailing, all products had to be fetched by an assistant from shelves on one
side of a counter while the customers stood on the other side and pointed to what they wanted.
Also, many foods did not come in the individually wrapped consumer-size packages taken for
granted today, so an assistant had to measure out the precise amount desired by the consumer.
These practices were obviously labor-intensive and therefore quite expensive. The shopping
process was slow, as the number of customers who could be attended at one time was limited by
the number of clerks employed in the store.
The concept of a self-service grocery store was developed by Clarence Saunders and his Piggly
Wiggly stores. His first store opened in Memphis, Tennessee in 1916. Saunders was awarded
several patents for the ideas he incorporated into the Piggly Wiggly stores. The stores were a
financial success and Saunders began to offer franchises. A&P was another successful early
chain in Canada and the United States, having become common in North American cities in the
1920s. The general trend in retail since then has been to stack shelves at night and let the
customers get their own goods and bring them to the front of the store to pay for them. Although
there is a higher risk of shoplifting, the costs of appropriate security measures will be ideally
outweighed by the economies of scale and reduced labor costs.
According to the Smithsonian Institution, the first true supermarket in the United States was
opened by ex-Kroger employee Michael J. Cullen, on August 4, 1937, in a 6,000 square foot (560
m˛) former garage in Jamaica, Queens, New York.[1] The store, King Kullen, following King Kong,
operated under the slogan "Pile it high. Sell it low." When Cullen died in 1941, there were
seventeen stores in operation.
