Chapter 14 Summary/ Definition

Retailing includes all of the activities involved in selling goods or services directly to final consumers for personal, nonbusiness use.
Retailer or retail store is any business enterprise whose sales volume comes primarily from retailing.

Retail life cycle retail-store types pass through stages of growth and decline that can be described as the
Wheel-of-retailing hypothesis, after conventional retail stores increase their services and raise their prices to cover the cost. These higher costs provide an opportunity for new retail forms to emerge with lower prices and less service

1. Self-service: The cornerstone of all discount stores, self-service allows customers to save money by carrying out their own locate-compare-select process.
2. Self-selection: Customers find their own goods, although they can ask for help.
3. Limited service: These retailers carry more shopping goods, and customers need more information and assistance. The stores also offer services (such as credit and merchandise-return privileges).
4. Full service: Salespeople are ready to assist in the locate-compare-select process. The high staffing cost, the higher proportion of specialty goods, slower-moving items, and more services, add up to high-cost retailing.
Corporate retailing Such organizations achieve economies of scale and have greater purchasing power, wider brand recognition, and better-trained employees.

Target Market A retailer’s most important decision concerns the target market. Until the target market is defined and profiled, the retailer cannot make consistent decisions on product assortment, store decor, advertising messages and media, price, and service levels.

Product Assortment and Procurement The retailer’s product assortment— breadth and depth—must match the target market’s shopping expectations

Direct product