MKT 450 Reflective Essay

8/10/2019 MKT 450 Reflective Essay

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MKT 450

Reflection Paper Retailing

Prepared For

Abdullah Al FaruqLecturer, School Of Business

North South University

Prepared By

Kazi Muhtashim Uddin (1130613030)


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Introduction

The word retailing has its origins in the French verb retailer , which means to cut up, and refers to one of the fundamental retailing

activities which is to buy in larger quantities and sell in smaller quantities. For example, a convenience store would buy tins of beans

in units of two dozen boxes, but sell in single-tin units. However, a retailer is not the only type of business entity to 'break bulk'.

Wholesalers also buy in larger quantities and sell to their customers in smaller quantities. It is the type of customer, rather than the

activity, that distinguishes a retailer from other distributive traders; the distinction being that a retailer sells to final consumers, unlike

a wholesaler who sells to a retailer or other business organizations. There are, however, many businesses that carry out retailing

activity that are not in themselves classified as retailers. For example, a factory may engage in retailing activity by selling 'seconds'

quality goods in the shop attached to its manufacturing premises. In the UK, a retailer is only classified as such for government

reporting if the business gains over half of its income from selling to the final consumer. The term retailing applies not only to the

selling of tangible products like loaves of bread or pairs of shoes, but also to the selling of service products. Companies who provide

meals, haircuts and aromatherapy sessions are all essentially retailers, as they sell to the final consumer, and yet customers do not take

goods away from these retailers in a carrier bag. The consumption of the service offering coincides with the retailing activity itself.

Discussion

From a traditional marketing viewpoint, the retailer is one of many possible organizations through which goods produced by the

manufacturer flow on their way to their consumer destiny. These organizations perform various roles by being a member of a

distribution channel. For example, a chocolate producer like Cadbury's will use a number of distribution channels for its

confectionery, which involves members such as department store, category killers, superstore, supermarket, city market, convenience

stores, petrol stations, vending machine operators and so on. Some of them are described below-

Department store- A department store is a set-up which offers wide range of products to the end-users under one roof. In a

department store, the consumers can get almost all the products they aspire to shop at one place only. Department stores

provide a wide range of options to the consumers and thus fulfill all their shopping needs. Their merchandises includes-

Electronic Appliances, Apparels, Jewellery, Toiletries, Cosmetics, Footwear, Sportswear, Toys, Books, CDs, DVDs, etc.

Example- Pantaloon, Shoppers Stop.

Category Killers- Large retail chain store that is dominant in its product category. This type of store generally offers an

extensive selection of merchandise at prices so low that smaller stores cannot compete. Wal-Mart is a classic example of a

category killer. By being cheaper, bigger, more convenient, and more well-known, it has an advantage over smaller stores and

specialty stores.

Supermarket, Superstores and Hypermarkets- Supermarkets, a store concept imported from the USA in the twentieth century,

have been a highly successful retail format. The real advantage that the supermarket offered the customer was self-service, and

therefore a much faster method of shopping. Instead of requesting products over a counter, the supermarket allowed the

customer to get involved with the product prior to purchase. The ability to peruse the product offering, try new products and

impulse purchase, appealed to the increasingly affluent postwar customer. In addition, the space and labour-saving factors

allowed retailers to offer a wider choice of product at lower prices. The supermarket was therefore quickly adopted as the

principal method for acquiring every day goods'. Supermarkets now dominate the retail industry; they have grown into


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superstores, offering more and more products, adapting changes to provide the most convenient method of shopping for the

majority of household goods for the majority of households. Supermarkets, superstores and hypermarkets can be considered in

the same 'family' of retail format, in that the stores are self-service, usually on one level and laid out in a functional grid pattern

of aisles and shelving. Supermarkets are the smaller variant, usually located in a town centre or neighbourhood location, with a

product range that concentrates on food and household consumables. Superstores are 25,000 square feet (approximately 8,000

square meters) or more, are usually in an edge or out-of-town location, and they have an extended product range featuring

product categories such as clothing, home furnishing and home entertainment goods (for example ASDA and -Casino).

A hypermarket is a huge retail outlet (over 50,000 square feet) in a out-of-town location, which offers an extensive range of

products with the proportion of non-food items being greater than a superstore (a hypermarket is typically 60 per cent non-

food). Carrefour for example, sells car tyres and bicycles in their hypermarkets in France and Spain

Convenience Store- Usually located in residential areas this type of retailer offers a limited range of products at premium prices

due to the added value of convenience. They sell e veryday items called low order goods and their customers are local people

from the nearby street.

Promotional deals and allowances are tools that producers and processors can use to encourage retailers to list and sell more products.

These tools also help maintain a sufficient turnover of your product, lowering the risk of delisting due to poor sales. Deals and

allowances alone will not move additional product but will motivate buyers to list or promote a supplier's product over another and, if

savings are passed on to consumers through lower retail prices, can boost sales. Deals and allowances are usually negotiable,

depending on the product categories and potential success of a new product.

It is expected by the industry that suppliers will offer the same deals and allowances to all retailers/distributors, on a net basis.

Published deals are common whereby every retailer/distributor is offered the same allowance for the same period. Suppliers should

treat all customers fairly, otherwise they jeopardize their credibility and run the risk of losing customers in the long run.

Manufacturers offer trade deals in a variety of forms--for example, off-invoice, bill-back, free goods, display allowances, cooperative

advertising and inventory financing (Blattberg and Neslin 1989); where, in some of them the manufacturers pay an amount of money

to the retailers for either displaying their goods and products in the most appropriate way or for selling a good number of their

products, and sometimes allowance is paid to the retailers for them to display a new product, marketed by the manufacturer.

Consumers shop for many different reasons and their purchases may result from social and psychological influences. Because of this

retailers must create shopping environments that influence purchases, keep products available and develop special marketing

strategies.

Location- This is the most important issue for any retailer because it decides who and in which geographic area shoppers will come

from. When choosing a location retailers look at many different factors. One thing they consider is the ease of movement within the

area, this includes vehicle and pedestrian traffic, parking and transportation. Retailers also evaluate the characteristics of the area. This

includes the size, shape and visibility of the building, plus what other stores are near the building, because multiple stores within an

area will attract more customers. There are many options of locations for retailers, shopping centers are many stores connected in a

specific area, grocery stores and various other local stores are usually found here. While other stores such as Walmart and Home

Depot are usually free standing in their own area. Places like Subway choose locations virtually anywhere, including hospitals,

schools and Laundromats.


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References-

http://www.managementstudyguide.com/types-of-retail-outlets.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discounts_and_allowances

Stern, L.W., El-Ansary, A.I. & Coughlan, A.T. (2006). Marketing channels, 7th Ed. Prentice Hall: India..

Class lecture of our honorable faculty Abdullah Al Faruq (AFq). Mkt-450, Marketing Channels.
http://www.managementstudyguide.com/types-of-retail-outlets.htmhttp://www.managementstudyguide.com/types-of-retail-outlets.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discounts_and_allowanceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discounts_and_allowanceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discounts_and_allowanceshttp://www.managementstudyguide.com/types-of-retail-outlets.htm

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MKT 450 Reflective Essay