Page 264 - DMGT551_RETAIL_BUSINESS_ENVIRONMENT

Unit 13: People in Retailing: Making People Matter

The best example and perhaps the oldest one is our neighborhood Panwala (beetle leaf shop). Notes
There can be a host of other examples such as the neighborhood grocery shop, furniture shop,
gift shop, sweetmeat shop and others. These retail outlets are owned and managed by an individual
or family.
Such retail stores have typically the following organisational structure.

Figure 13.1: Types of Retail Store owner

Retail Store Owner

Sales staff
Accountant/A/c staff Warehouse in charge
Small stores generally employ on a contract basis or on job rate basis, lawyers, chartered
accountants, income tax consultants as well as investment consultants. However that cannot be
included in the organisational structure as they are not employees of the organisation.
Human Resource Aspects in Retailing

Retailing is very different from other industries. As in any other services industry in retail
human aspect is of prime importance. With technological advances there have been changes in
retail environment. However this has only increased the importance of human resources. While
you visit a store big or small, role of the individual who helps you buy your stuff is immense.
Generally in India festival buying is one of the biggest sale earners for retail. Besides this
generally sale picks up on holidays, vacations and similar occasions. Thus the bottom line is,
when everybody is enjoying the festivities or having holiday time you slog the most. More
importantly in the midst of tough competition and more demanding customer a retailer has to
cash in. This gives a very strong message. All the employees of retail stores should be ready to
sacrifice their holidays, festivals for the sake of business. Thus while recruiting staff one must be
clear about the candidate’s individual goals and temperament.

Here it’s worth mentioning that character and integrity of the candidate is of great significance.
In case a retailer is able to plug internal theft and embezzlement he is a big gainer. Moreover on
the part of the employees it’s also requited to be ever vigilant to prevent shoplifting.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
1. Tasks are to be grouped into different .........................
2. Retail ........................ can be based on function or products.

3. Small stores usually employ professionals on a ........................ basis.
4. While recruiting stage for retail stores, one must be clear about the candidate’s individual
........................ and .........................

5. The first step in effective ........................ in retail is to look into the organization of the
store.

13.5 Human Resource Functions in Retailing

Human resource management has always been an issue for big retailers only. Wherever you go
to the neighbourhood grocery shop or cloth merchant or say a small restaurant the owner is the

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 259