Theory, Practice and Techniques in Retail Management

A market is a place where goods and services are exchanged. In 21st era, the places in the cities have become overcrowded, infrastructure has transformed, transport services have augmented, and the speed of exchanging information has become tremendously fast. Retailing is a fast-paced, exciting and essential service industry that employs a high proportion of the working population and contributes significantly to the health and wealth of advanced economies. Retailers are adopting new technology. Society is changing, consumers are changing and so are the retailers. Retailing has managed to keep itself paced with the changing times. Retail organizations feature among the largest of global companies, with concomitant power within marketing channels. Many large retail organizations dominate their suppliers, with a strong role in determining what and how much producers produce, and when and where products will be delivered. They will decide price levels and have a significant role in product promotions – they dominate, in fact, the process of marketing within their marketing channel. With a customer-interfacing role in fast-changing consumer markets, retail organizations have also been in the forefront of developing and implementing organizational and strategic change programmes, and their drive for efficiency through cost-effective working practices has driven organizational change across business sectors. The competitive retail sector is under pressure to provide efficient services to hold its share of the market. As consumers demand higher levels of service and supply, they are simultaneously wooed by other alternatives like mail order and out of-town-shopping.
“Theory, Practice and Techniques in Retail Management” provides strong emphasis and up-to-date coverage of recent concepts in the area of retail management. The each chapter contains specific key notes, learning objectives, comprehensive indicative content, tables, and illustrations together with the topic areas. It is essential study for marketing and business students who will be working in businesses which produce consumer goods and deal with retailers, directly or indirectly. It is also essential study for marketing and business students who work in service businesses which are being targeted as growth areas by large retail organizations – such as financial products and healthcare. The book aims to:

• introduce students to the main operational functions of retailing;.
• show how retailers can achieve competitive advantages by rapid organizational response to changing consumer demands and increasing consumer sophistication;
• highlight how the integration of marketing, buying and logistics functions drives the growth of retail organizations.