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Retail Management




                    Notes          Whenever we are fixing standards we must indicate the level of proficiency required to meet the
                                   quality and quantity expectations. This in turn helps us to identify as to what can be the training
                                   needs for a new employee or an existing employee. At the same  time it guides the human
                                   resource management department in giving reasonably logical feedbacks to the employees.

                                   Training and Development

                                   New developments are always taking place in the retail scenario. With the growth in retail the
                                   consumers are maturing by the passing of everyday. In India, whatever you experienced as a
                                   customer 10 years back is very different now. Retailing is the most dynamic field of business
                                   management. With such changes in the field employees of any retail store ought to learn and
                                   train themselves to meet the new challenges. This is one of the most important profiles of any
                                   HR department. Training and development can take place in various ways. An organisation
                                   may like to give on-the-job training to the fresh incumbent whereas, the oldies may be sent for
                                   some advanced training to back up the vast experience which they already have.

                                   Compensation and Benefits

                                   The HR department of any retail business needs to have policy guidelines regarding compensation
                                   and miscellaneous benefits to be given to the employees. For this the HR department needs to
                                   know similar policies and guidelines in similar organisations. Benchmarking is very essent ial
                                   as far as compensation and benefits are concerned. Compensation and benefits at any point of
                                   time are the best way to satisfy the employees at the lower and middle level of management.

                                   Labour Relations

                                   The HR departments should know the rules and regulations with respect to labour relations. A
                                   harmonious labour relation always argues the efforts of an organisation to achieve its goals. All
                                   regional organisations  besides  having an  HR department  also  hire  legal practitioners  for
                                   consulting from time to time. This has become necessary since each state has got different set of
                                   rules for human resource management with some standard rules.

                                   8.5 Tasks Performed in a Retail Firm

                                   We can broadly divide the tasks performed in a retail firm under four heads:
                                   1.  Strategic Management

                                   2.  Merchandising Management
                                   3.  Store Management
                                   4.  Administrative Management

                                   8.5.1 Strategic Management

                                   Devising and implementing a retail strategy. For devising a retail strategy  the retailer must
                                   have a very clear understanding and complete information of the following:
                                   1.  Target market
                                   2.  Different retail formats catering the target market

                                   3.  Present buying trends and preferences
                                   4.  Various tasks to be performed within the organisation




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