Page 28 - DMGT551_RETAIL_BUSINESS_ENVIRONMENT

Unit 1: Introduction to Retail Environment

Conclusion Notes
People may have negative ideas about retail work based on their own experiences of
part-time or vacation work. Harrods is different as it is possible to start building a career
from any level.
Harrods is about the ‘theatre’ of retail. As with a theatre production, however, excellence
is built on hard work and basic skills. The flair must be underpinned with discipline and
attending to day-to-day issues, such as unpacking and displaying stock and managing
employees.
Providing development opportunities is a key factor in how Harrods maintains its high
levels of employee retention. The business looks after its employees and helps them
along their career path. As a result employees are loyal to the company and continue to
offer exceptional levels of commitment and service.

Questions:
1. Study and analyze the case.
2. Write down the case facts.
3. What do you infer from it?

Source: http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/harrods/developing-a-career-path-in-retail/introduction.html# ixzz22YlAhU00
1.9 Summary

Retailing in simple term can be defined as “Retailing is the business activity of selling
goods and services to the final consumer”. Retailing can be defined as the business products
and services to consumers for their own use. It has its origin in the French word, retailer
meaning ‘to cut a piece off’.

The term retailing applies not only to the selling of tangible products like loaves of bread
or pairs of shoes, but also to the selling of service products.
Retailing, one of the largest sectors in the global economy, has become the most active
and attractive sector of the last decade.
Retailers perform various functions like providing assortments, sorting, breaking the
bulk, rendering services, bearing risk, serve as a channel of communication, transportation,
advertising and holding inventory. They significantly contribute towards increasing the
product value and satisfying the consumers.

This unit also addresses the question of how the Marketing Mix framework can be used to
analyse the competitive standing of a retail business organization and how the outcome
of this analysis can then be translated into practical tactics which capitalize on the
organization’s strengths.

To build a competitive advantage that can be sustained, retailers need to pay special
attention to aspects like price, location, merchandise, service and communications.
There are a number of retail marketing jobs out there, wherein one is not a sales executive,
but one who creates and supervises sales strategies in the retail market.

1.10 Keywords

Breaking Bulk: Offering the products in smaller quantities tailored to individual consumers and
household consumption patterns and thereby reducing transportation and inventory costs.

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