Emerging Trends in Retail Marketing

During the past decade, retail markets have undergone many changes in their processes, services, and formats. The last part of distribution of the market strategy, retailing serves as a bridge between the final consumer and the mass producers of products. Retailing has reached every corner of the globe, and Wal-Mart has been eying areas where the

In the world of commerce and retail today, there are a variety of retail stores that are all geared toward the customers who are interested in saving money and finding bargains on their daily purchases, as well as on some of their major purchases. Some of the retail stores that are in this category of low prices and discount prices are Big K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Inc., Fred’s Dollar Store, Family Dollar Store, and Ollie’s Bargain. Due to the increase in e-commerce and online purchases, several of these retail stores, such as Big K-Mart and Fred’s Dollar stores are closing in many areas of the country. Since there has been an increase in the demand for more sales and discounts by customers and there are less discounts stores available, retail stores

“Retail is the business of selling goods made by others to individual consumers. It is a huge industry, dominated by Wal-Mart, which touches every corner of the globe. Due to the decline in the global economy, the future of many retailers is uncertain as consumers begin to spend less. The retail industry is the last step in the process of getting products to customers efficiently, and should not be confused with the wholesale activities which precede it. The difference between the two is that wholesalers are companies that sell their products to businesses, whereas in retail, the goods are sold

- Retailing industry change, Large chains were expanding their market penetration by offering a more diverse array of product.

Industry not as attractive as before for new entrants due to impact of online shopping

Generally speaking, with the current climate lacking economic stimulus coupled with higher interest rates and media reports generating signs of an economic recovery, analysts are predicting that eventually the retail trade sector will gradually resurface into positive territory. Customers will be more pragmatic and cautious about the future which will yield new patterns of behavior and relationships.

Retail sales was the largest industry in the United States prior to the 2000’s recession. It was the top employing industry from 2003 -2008 in nearly half of the U.S. states. Starting in 2009, every year has shown a decline in number of states where this is the top industry; as of 2013, retail was down to six from its peak of twenty-four. Retail is still a major industry but it will be interesting to discover how individual firms, specifically the largest ones, have handled this decline and what they may be doing to reverse the pattern. Kroger, Walmart, and Costco have the top revenues in the industry and are similarly categorized as well. Kroger is a supermarket, a larger grocery store with small section of general merchandise; Walmart is a hypermarket, contains a large range of products in both grocery and general merchandise; Costco is a warehouse club, also a large range of products but with a focus on selling large quantities at a discount with a small club fee. Since these three companies overlap in much of their products, there is competition between them which also adds to why they are respectable choices to analyze together.

Today’s customers are more aware and empowered, and have more bargaining power due to the exponential increase in competition – direct, indirect or substitute. In retailing, they want hassle-free shopping, have less time at their disposal to locate the shop and the merchandise and are reluctant to keep waiting. The modern format retail stores are doing their best to anticipate the customer’s demands and are going all out to redesign their store interiors, offer more choices in varieties and assortments, and are giving as many services as feasible.

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

Retail Marketing Sales Operation and Management1 C. Hazarika2 Retailing includes all the activities involved in selling goods and services directly to final consumers for personal, non-business use. A retailer or retail store is any business enterprise whose sales volume comes primarily from retailing. Any organization selling to final consumers – whether it is a manufacturer, wholesaler or retailer –is doing retailing. It does not matter how the goods or services are sold (by person, mail, telephone, vending machine, or internet) or where they are sold (in a store, on the street, or in the consumers home). Types of retailers Consumers today can shop for goods and services in a wide variety of retail organizations. These are store

Doug Stephens’ The Retail Revival highlights the fundamental challenges that today’s executives and entrepreneurs must manage to not only succeed but to continue to exist as “the fat and lazy era in consumerism is giving way to a lean, creative and inspired age” (Stephens 228). As large companies, digital giants, and e-commerce businesses become larger and larger, one may come to think that the day and age for retail is over. However, Stephens strongly disagrees with this notion and instead holds the belief that retail is entering an even more exciting and honest era.

Retailing involves a direct interface with the customer and the coordination of business activities from end to end-right from the concept or design stage of a product or offering, to its delivery and post-delivery service to the customer. The industry has contributed to the

Do you want to be apart of the fastest growing area in retailing? Do you want to be apart of a multi-billion dollar industry? Well, if anyone answered yes to both of the questions they can now joined the sweepstakes of taking their business to the next level by introducing Web based retailing or other nontraditional methods of retailing. Web, non-store based any other forms of nontraditional retailing is adding to businesses repertoire everyday. Any individual or company who sells products or give services can adapt and enter the future of business transactions between customer and retailer. Don’t lose out on this stream of revenue before its too late. Furthermore, businesses can incorporate web, non-store based and other nontraditional retailing methods into their business plan smoothly without agitating traditional retailing, but ultimately increasing profits.

Retailers have a large task when keeping their store relevant to their target market. With the ever-changing fashion industry, retailers need to keep up the changes in preference their consumers. However, depending on the store and their merchandise assortment, the chance a consumer will make a purchase differs. Additionally, taking into consideration the recent trend and growth of outlet businesses, it is up to traditional retailers to create a fluid transition of being able to maintain their regular priced business and their outlet business, without one overpowering the other.

A retail strategy is defining as the retailers’ decisions on how to identify and satisfying the retailer’s specific targeted market needs by using the appropriate types of retail formats in order to create a sustainable competitive advantage in a longer run. The specific targeted market is the markets segment that how the retailer plans to focus its resources and retail mix. While, a retail format is referring to the retailer’s types of retail mix such as pricing policy, advertising and promotion program, visual merchandising, concept of store design, location and alternative of merchandise and services offered.