07-04-2012, 10:59 AM
FUNCTIONS OF RETAILING
21643956-PPT-functions-of-Retailing.ppt (Size: 129.5 KB / Downloads: 29)
6-step process for customer-focus
Create a great environment
Listen to your customer
Consider the “Lifetime Value” of your customer
Use direct mail
Employ relationship marketing principles
Provide rewards to your best customers
Impact on economy
Retailing is a major part of world commerce
Retail sales & employment are key economic contributors
Retail trends often mirror trends in a nation’s overall economy
Out of global retail sales of $6.6 trillion U.S. retail accounts for over $3 trillion
Relationships among retailers & their suppliers
Complex relationships among retailers & their suppliers must be understood:
Retailers are part of the distribution channel;
Retailers are also major customers of goods & services for resale, store fixtures, computer equipment, management consulting & insurance
Retailers & their suppliers may have divergent viewpoints that need to be reconciled
Intensive distribution
Sell through as many retailers as possible
Often maximizes suppliers’ sales & lets retailers offer many brands & product versions
Consequently competition among retailers selling same items is high
Unfortunately, this concept is not grasped by all retailers:
Some indifferent to customer needs, plan haphazardly, , have prices that do not offer value, & have unclear goals
Retailing concept is easy to adopt
3 issues that relate to a retailer’s performance in terms of retailing concept:
Total retail experience
Customer service
Relationship retailing
Relationship retailing
Seek to establish & maintain long-term bonds with customers
Retailers must thus concentrate on total retail experience:
monitor satisfaction with customer service
stay in touch with the customers
To ‘win’ in the long run customer must also ‘win’ in the long run
Due to advances in computer technology, it is now much easier to build database