Retail Marketing Key Concepts

Retail Marketing Key Concepts

• Retail Definition: Business activities adding value to products sold directly to consumers for personal use.
• Retailer Definition: A business selling products/services to consumers for personal use.
• Wholesale Definition: Selling products in bulk to businesses (like retailers) for resale.
• Supply Chain Definition: Firms involved in making and delivering goods/services to consumers.
• Five Rights of Retail: Right product, price, time, place, and quantity.
• Retail Value Added: Assortment, breaking bulk, inventory holding, and offering services (e.g., layaway, credit, in-store viewing).
• Vertical Integration: A firm performing multiple activities in a retail channel.
• Backward Integration: A retailer taking on distribution and/or manufacturing.
• Forward Integration: A manufacturer engaging in retailing activities.
• Retail Environment:
• Macroenvironment: Demographics, economics, political/legal, social/cultural, technological factors.
• Microenvironment: Suppliers, resellers, public, competitors, customers.
• Competition Types:
• Intratype: Competition between similar retailers (e.g., Walmart vs. Target).
• Intertype: Competition between different types of retailers (e.g., Target vs. a clothing boutique).
• Scrambled: Retailers expanding into unrelated product lines (e.g., an appliance store selling home décor).
• Retail Strategy: Targeting specific markets, managing product/service mix, and achieving lasting competitive advantages.
• Retail Mix (6 Ps):
• Personnel: Customer service.
• Presentation: Store design, displays.
• Product: Assortment (breadth and depth).
• Promotion: Communications mix, pricing strategies.
• Pricing: Strategies for setting prices.
• Place: Store location.
• Retail Formats:
• Supercenters/Hypermarkets: Large format, full-line discount stores with supermarkets.
• Warehouse Clubs: Limited assortment, low service, low prices.
• Convenience Stores: Small, focused on quick purchases.
• Online Grocery: Online ordering, delivery options.
• General Merchandise Retailers: Diverse product lines.
• Department Stores: Broad and (partially) deep assortment, services.
• Full-Line Discount Stores: Broad variety, lower service, low prices (e.g., Walmart, Target).
• Specialty Stores: Higher depth, narrower breadth; focused on specific segments.
• Category Specialists/Killers: Focus on a narrow set of product categories.
• Outlet Stores: Manufacturer or retailer outlets selling leftover or discounted merchandise.
• Extreme Value Retailers: Low-cost locations, limited service, low prices (e.g., Dollar General, Dollar Tree).
• Off-Price Retailers: Inconsistent assortment of brand-name goods at discounted prices.
• Digital Retailing: Online business activities for creating, capturing, communicating, and delivering value to customers.
• Social Retailing: Engaging customers through dialogue within social media channels.
• Channels: Ways retailers deliver merchandise/services, e.g., store, online, catalog, social media.
• Media: Methods of communication; owned, paid, and earned.
• Omnichannel: Seamless, synchronized customer experience across all sales channels.
• M-commerce: Mobile-based retail transactions.
• Showrooming: Customers trying out items in-store then purchasing online.
• Customer Decision-Making Process: Need recognition, information search, evaluation, choice/purchase, and post-purchase evaluation.
• Customer Needs: Utilitarian (practical) and hedonic (experiential) needs.