Retail Types
What is retailing?
All activities involved in selling goods or services directly to final consumers for personal, nonbusiness use.
What are the key components of a retailer's marketing mix?
Product assortment and services, price, promotion, and place (location/distribution).
What is omnichannel retailing?
Creating a seamless customer experience across all shopping channels—online, mobile, and in-store.
What is wholesaling?
All activities involved in selling goods and services to those buying for resale or business use.
List two factors retailers consider when selecting store locations.
Target market proximity, traffic patterns, competition, costs, accessibility (any two).
Name three major types of retailers discussed in the chapter.
Specialty stores, department stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, discount stores, off-price retailers (any three).
Explain why retailers must develop customer-driven marketing strategies.
To create value for target customers, differentiate from competitors, and build customer relationships that drive loyalty and sales.
Describe one way mobile technology has impacted retail shopping.
Mobile apps for shopping, mobile payments, location-based promotions, showrooming/webrooming (any one acceptable).
How does wholesaling differ from retailing?
How does wholesaling differ from retailing?
Why is product assortment an important retail decision?
It defines what the store offers, differentiates from competitors, and must match target customer needs and expectations.
A store carrying narrow product lines with deep assortments within those lines.
Specialty store
The way a retailer is defined in the minds of target customers relative to competitors.
Retail positioning
Creating engaging in-store experiences beyond just selling products.
Experiential retailing
Businesses that buy primarily for resale or business use rather than personal consumption.
Business customers (or organizational buyers)
The breadth and depth of products carried by a retailer.
Product assortment (or merchandise mix)
Specialty store
Department stores
Dividing the market into distinct groups with different needs, characteristics, or behaviors.
Market segmentation
Using smartphones in stores to compare prices or research products while shopping.
Using smartphones in stores to compare prices or research products while shopping.
Wholesalers who take title to merchandise and provide full service to customers.
Merchant wholesalers (or full-service wholesalers)
Services like alterations, gift wrapping, and personal shopping that enhance the retail experience.
Retail services (or customer services)
Retailers selling standard merchandise at lower prices by accepting lower margins and higher volume.
Discount stores
The overall feeling or mood created by a store's physical layout, décor, and ambiance.
Store atmosphere (or atmospherics)
Kohl's initiative featuring curated outfit collections updated monthly by social media personalities.
Kohl's Outfit Bar
This industrial distributor helps business customers 'save time and money' by keeping facilities running.
Grainger
Nordstrom's commitments to sustainability, human rights, and community support by 2025.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals