There are many trends that shape today’s retailers. First, new types of
retailers that enter market. These are because they are too creative enough in
order to be different type of retailers by competing each other. Second, it is
increasingly use of technology in to reduce cost and to increase value
delivered. This shows that the technological advancement has made retailers
easier to run the business as the technology can reduce cost while increase the
value. Third, there is also a growth in services retailer which retailers
nowadays are not only focus on the product but also on services as service
plays important needs towards customers.
Besides, there are different
types of retailers in retailing which retailers use different retail mixes. For
example, merchandise which is divided into variety and assortment, services, store design, visual merchandising, location and pricing. Some
of these combination of retail mixes satisfy the needs of significant segments
and persist over time.
Merchandise offering is divided into two which are:
- 1 Variety (breadth of merchandise): wide vs. narrow
-
The number of merchandise categories
- 2. Assortment (depth of merchandise): deep vs. shallow
- the
number of items in a category (SKUs)
Types
of Merchandise Retailers
|
|
Food Retailers
|
General Merchandise Retailers
|
Mom and Pop Stores
Convenience Stores
Supermarkets
Supercenters
|
Department Stores
Specialty Stores
Discount Stores
Category Specialists
Off-Price Retailers
Warehouse Clubs
Value Retailers
|
Meanwhile,
in services offered, retailers differ in the services that they offer to customers.
For example, EMS offers assistance in selecting the appropriate kayak and
repairing them which is different to Wal-Mart that doesn’t provide any services
to customer. In services retailing, the service is intangibility which has
problems in evaluating service quality and performance of service provider.
Besides, it is inconsistency of the offering which is very important matter
towards Human Resource Management in handling the problem.
In addition, there are a few types of ownership for
retail firms which are
•
Independent, Single Store Establishments
•
Wholesale-sponsored voluntary group
•
Corporate
Retail Chains
•
Franchises
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