Retail Management

SUMMARY: The importance of formulating a retail strategy is understood by all small and big retailers. To build a competitive advantage that can be sustained, retailers need to pay special attention to aspects like price, location, merchandise, service and communications. Operations, purchasing/ logistics, market research, financing and technology, which determine the strategic positioning of the firm are also equally important. In this chapter, we discussed how each of these factors affect the firm's image. To utilize the limited human, financial and physical resources optimally, retailers should have a well-planned strategy. Thus retailers should follow a systematic step-by-step planning process for formulating and implementing the strategy. All the efforts of retailers are directed at the customers. So they should take every care to ensure that the customer gets the right impression and image of