Page 245 - DMGT553_RETAIL_STORE_MANAGEMENT

Retail Store Management

Notes markets, including gaining desired status, emulating other cultures, or forming strong allegiances
to a specific brand. Retailers need to understand these emerging consumer perceptions, especially
in markets that are undergoing rapid change.
In this unit, we will discuss legal and ethical issues. We will also focus on online retailing.

14.1 Legal and Ethical Issues in Retailing

There can be a variety of ethical and legal issues regarding retailing, some of which are as under:

Illegal use of brand name – A retailer must obtain proper confirmation from the parent
company for selling a specific brand name.
Large retailers can impose their unfair terms on the suppliers, which is unethical.

Retailers can charge undue profit margins on sale of brands without conveying the profits
to the company, harming the interest of the manufacturer as well as the customer, which
is illegal.

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Caution The legal issues will vary according to what country you are in. Ethical issues are
more general and would include things like not getting supplies from an unethical source,
being honest with the customer etc.

Now-a-days Internet has important ethical connotations for retailing. Positive use of the Internet
to publicise retailers’ social responsibility contrasts with questionable exploitation of the Web’s
anonymity. The Net not only offers freedom of speech, but also widens opportunities for
irresponsible activity, with low barriers to entry. Thus tensions exist between rights and freedoms,
on the one hand, and abuses of freedoms, provoking calls for regulation, on the other. Ethical
issues relating to e-commerce are identified, and privacy is highlighted both as central to the
ethics of e-retailing and as a critical factor in its development. While retail interest in the
Internet thus far has focused around e-commerce, impacts on retailer image – both positive and
negative – should also be recognized.

14.1.1 Copyright

Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by governments, giving the creator of an original work of
authorship exclusive rights to control its distribution, usually for 70 years after the author’s
death, after which the work enters the public domain. Generally, it is “the right to copy”, but it
usually provides the author with other rights as well, such as the right to be credited for the
work, to determine who may adapt the work to other forms; who may perform the work; who
may financially benefit from it; and other, related rights. It is an intellectual property form (like
the patent, the trademark, and the trade secret) applicable to any expressible form of an idea or
information that is substantive and discrete. Copyright was initially conceived as a way for
governments in Europe to restrict printing; the contemporary intent of copyright is to promote
the creation of new works by giving authors control of and profit from them.

Did u know? Copyright has been internationally standardized, lasting between fifty to a
hundred years from the author’s death, or a finite period for anonymous or corporate
authorship; some jurisdictions have required formalities to establishing copyright, most
recognize copyright in any completed work, without formal registration. Generally,
copyright is enforced as a civil matter, though some jurisdictions do apply criminal
sanctions.

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