Retail Mgt Study Guide
Marketing: Retail Strategy Exam Study Guide Spring 2013
Challenges facing retailers
• Consumers are bored with shopping o We are not buying as much as we use to
• Over-saturation o We have too many stores
• Price cutting wars & low profit margins o Cost containment o Grocery stores make about 1 cent per dollar
• High customer service expectations
What do retailers do?
• Retailers satisfy consumer needs by offering the right product at the right price at the right place at the right time.
Ways Retailers Add Value
• Breaking bulk o Breaking bulks into numbers customer wants
• Holding inventory o Holds the left over stock for next time
• Providing Assortment
• Offering Services o Self-checkout o Being able to pay with debit or credit card o Water fountains, etc.
Retail Strategy (skip strategy portion in chapter)
• An overall plan for guiding a retail firm
• Roadmap for what we’re going to do and how we’re going to do it.
Major Shifts in Retailing
• Mergers, diversification, downsizing
• Growth of Multi-channel Retailing or is it omni-channel? o Catalogues, film, mobile, internet, direct-selling.
• Bifurcated Retailing o Low class or upper class (no more middle class)
• Blurring of formats/ channel blurring o “we are playing in each other’s sandboxes” grocery stores have pharmacy, pharmacy’s have groceries. o Much harder to determine who our competition is.
What will it take to succeed in 2013
• Thriftiness is the new high
• Customers are more prepared
• Less is more in design and shopping
• Generational divides within the labor force
• Staffing cuts
• Customers are coming in with blinders on
• Amazon
• Stalking customers through big data
• Products will find their way to customers in unconventional places
• There’s just no time.
Evolution of Retail
Entry phase (Innovation retailer) (Dollar General, Aldi)
• Low status, low price, minimal service, poor facilities,
Challenges facing retailers
• Consumers are bored with shopping o We are not buying as much as we use to
• Over-saturation o We have too many stores
• Price cutting wars & low profit margins o Cost containment o Grocery stores make about 1 cent per dollar
• High customer service expectations
What do retailers do?
• Retailers satisfy consumer needs by offering the right product at the right price at the right place at the right time.
Ways Retailers Add Value
• Breaking bulk o Breaking bulks into numbers customer wants
• Holding inventory o Holds the left over stock for next time
• Providing Assortment
• Offering Services o Self-checkout o Being able to pay with debit or credit card o Water fountains, etc.
Retail Strategy (skip strategy portion in chapter)
• An overall plan for guiding a retail firm
• Roadmap for what we’re going to do and how we’re going to do it.
Major Shifts in Retailing
• Mergers, diversification, downsizing
• Growth of Multi-channel Retailing or is it omni-channel? o Catalogues, film, mobile, internet, direct-selling.
• Bifurcated Retailing o Low class or upper class (no more middle class)
• Blurring of formats/ channel blurring o “we are playing in each other’s sandboxes” grocery stores have pharmacy, pharmacy’s have groceries. o Much harder to determine who our competition is.
What will it take to succeed in 2013
• Thriftiness is the new high
• Customers are more prepared
• Less is more in design and shopping
• Generational divides within the labor force
• Staffing cuts
• Customers are coming in with blinders on
• Amazon
• Stalking customers through big data
• Products will find their way to customers in unconventional places
• There’s just no time.
Evolution of Retail
Entry phase (Innovation retailer) (Dollar General, Aldi)
• Low status, low price, minimal service, poor facilities,