CHAPTER 6

There are three types of location such as isolated store, planned shopping center and unplanned business district.

There are advantages and disadvantages for having isolated stores. For advantages, there are no direct competition, low rental costs, flexibility, good for convenience stores and others .There is also disadvantages for having isolated sore such as difficulty attracting customers, travel distance, high advertising expenses and some others.

For planned shopping centers as well, there is advantages for is well-rounded assortments, strong suburban population, one-stop and family shopping and transportation access. For disadvantages, it was limited flexibility, higher rental and stiff competition.

Pros of ownership versus leasing is freedom over concern with lease renewal o though lease renewal negotiations with property owner, ability to write off depreciation, possible capital appreciation from increased value of real estate and control over property maintenance.

Cons of ownership versus leasing is difficulty in securing locations in neighborhood, community and regional shopping centers, asses tied up in real estate could be used for retail expansion, inventory, store renovation and real estate activity can divert attention away from  retail activities.

Six terms of occupancy considerations were ownership versus leasing, type of lease, operations and maintenance costs, taxes, zoning restrictions and voluntary regulations.

As the conclusion, chapter 6 is similar with chapter 5 which is focused on location and site selection. It will help retailers to emphasis site selection as important thing to open a store.

Chapter 5: Site location

the objective of this chapter :

•To thoroughly examine the types of locations available to a retailer: isolated stores, unplanned business

districts, and planned shopping centers

•To note the decisions necessary in choosing a general retail location

•To describe the concept of one-hundred percent location

Three Types of Locations

• Isolated Store
• Planned Shopping Center
• Unplanned Business District

Isolated Stores

Advantages

•No direct competition

•Low rental costs

•Flexibility

•Good for convenience stores

•High visibility

•Adaptable facilities

•Easy parking

•Excellent for store that generates own traffic

Disadvantages

•Difficulty attracting customers

•Travel distance

•Lack of cumulative attraction for customers

•High advertising expenses

•No cost sharing for promotions

•Possibly restrictive zoning laws

Planned Shopping Centers

Advantages

•Well-rounded assortments

•Strong suburban population

•One-stop, family shopping

•Cost sharing of promotions

•Transportation access

•Pedestrian traffic

Disadvantages

•Limited flexibility

•Higher rent

•Restricted product offerings in lease

•Competition

•Requirements for association memberships

•Domination by anchor stores

•Impact of store closings on affinities

Types of Leases

• Straight
• Maintenance-Increase Recoupment
• Net
• Graduated
• Percentage

Chapter 4: Retail marketing strategy

Elements in Retail Strategy

■Target Marketnthe market segment(s) toward which the retailer plans to focus its resources and retail mix■ Retail Formatnthe nature of the retailer’s operations—its retail mix■Sustainable Competitive Advantagenan advantage over the competition

Criteria For Selecting A Target Market

■Attractiveness -- Large, Growing, Little Competition èMore Profits

■Consistent with Your Competitive Advantages

Opportunities for retailers to develop sustainable competitive advantages

■Customer Loyalty

■Location

■Human Resource Management

■Distribution and Information Systems

■Unique Merchandise

■Vendor Relations

■Customer Service

3 approaches for sustainable competitive advantage

• Build strong relationship with customers
• Build strong relationship with suppliers
• Efficient internal operations

Growth Strategies

Market Penetration

■Growth opportunity directed toward existing customers using the retailer’s present retailing format.

■Approaches including opening more stores in the target market area or open longer hours.

■Cross-selling: sales associates in one department attempt to sell complimentary merchandise from another department to their customers.

■Requires high product knowledge and selling skills.

Market Expansion

■Market expansion growth opportunity involves using the existing retail format in new market segments

Retail Format Development

■Develops a new retail format with a different retail mix for the same target market

■Multi-channel retailing

Diversification

■Introduces a new retail format toward a market segment that is not currently served by the retailer

■Related diversification: retailers’ target market and retail format shares something in common with the new opportunity.

■Unrelated diversification: Little commonality between the retailer’s present business with the new growth opportunity.

■Vertical integration into wholesaling or manufacturing: For example designing private label to owning factory

 Stages in the Strategic Retail Planning Process

CHAPTER 2: TYPES OF RETAILERS

TYPES OF RETAILERS

There are 7 main types of retailers which can be defined by the size of their business and the way they in which they sell their products.

The 7 main types of retailers are;

1. DEPARTMENT STORE

This type of retailer is often the most complex offering a wide range of products and can appear as a collection of smaller retail stores managed by one company. The department store retailers offer products at various pricing levels. This type of retailer   adds high levels of customer service by adding convenience enabling a large variety of products to be purchased from one retailer.

2. SUPERMARKETS

Generally this type of retailer concentrates in supplying a range of food and beverage products. However many have now diversified and supply products from the home, fashion and electrical products markets too. Supermarkets have significant buying power and therefore often retail goods at low prices. In Malaysia we have Tesco, Mydin and Giant.

3. WAREHOUSE RETAILERS

This type of retailer is usually situated in retail or Business Park and where premises rents are lower. This enables this type of retailer to stock, display and retail a large variety of good at very competitive prices.

4. SPECIALTY RETAILERS 

Specializing in specific industries or products, this type of retailer is able to offer the customer expert knowledge and a high level of service. They also add value by offering accessories and additional related products at the same outlet.

5. E-TAILER

This type of retailer enables customers to shop online via the internet and buy products which are then delivered. This type of retailer is highly convenient and is able to supply a wider geographic customer base. E-tailers often have lower rent and overheads so offer very competitive pricing. In Malaysia, famous e-tailer such as Zalora, Lazada and 11 Street

6. CONVENIENCE RETAILER

Usually located in residential areas this type of retailer offers a limited range of products at premium prices due to the added value of convenience. In Malaysia we have 7Eleven that open 24 hours and the price of that store are a bit expensive due to their operation hour

7. DISCOUNT RETAILER 

This type of retailer offers a variety of discounted products. They offer low prices on less fashionable branded products from a range of suppliers by reselling end of line and returned goods at discounted prices. In Malaysia we have Sogo shopping center that always have their promotion every day. 

Chapter 3: retail institutions by store-based strategy mix

The objective that i had learn from this is:

• to describe the wheel of retailing, scrambled merchandising and the retail life cycle and to show they can help explain the performance of retail strategy mixes.
• to examine a variety of food-oriented retailers involved with store-based strategy mixes.
• to study a range of general merchandise firms involved with store-based strategy mixes

Retailer strategy mix is a strategy mix the firm's particular combination of :

• store location

A space you lease for the selling of goods to consumers. when it comes to business, retailer have one overall goal to sell merchandise. that why they focus on sales floor space, adequate parking for customer and an overall image that draws in customers.

• operating procedures

the document process that company has in place to ensure services and product are delivered consistently every time. when a company is growing, it is often highly dependent on the owner for all major decisions.

• good/services offered

in economics, product can be classified into goods and services. good are item that are tangible, such as books, pens, salt, shoes, hats and folders. services are activities provided by other people such as doctors, lawn care worker, dentists, barbers, waiters, or online servers.

• pricing tactics

a short term attempt to manipulate the price of a good or service in order to chieve a particular business objective.

• store atmosphere

the controllable characteristics of retail space, that entice a customer to enter the store and which are designed to influence a customer mood so as to increase the odds of a purchase being made.

• customer services

the assistance and advise provided by a company to those people who buy or use its product or services.

• promotional methods

promotion refer to the method used by a business to make customer aware of its product. advertising is just one of the means a business can use to create publicity.

retail strategy alternative 

retail life cycle

mergers, diversification, and downsizing

• mergers: combination of separately owned firm.
• diversification: retailer become active in businesses outside their normal operation.
• downsizing: unprofitable stores are closed or division.

The first class of Retail Management

Hello everybody!!

26th September 2016

The first day of the 3rd semester. And the first class of Retail Management. To be honest I don't know what is Retail Management is all about. Just be in the class with all my friends. As we waiting for the lecturer to be in the class, we were just trying to soak in our mind into college life. Of course, it's been more than a month staying at home for the semester break. It could be hard to be studying again haha! I know I'm a bit of overstater hehe but yeah whatever !

Alright. So like previously I have said. I have nothing about this subject. Until my lecturer come in and explain a bit of  Retail Management. That one word I still got on my mind, Retail is like Shopping. You loves shopping, then you must loves this subject! The class was on just like all the typical first class, our lecturer, Madam Ami Suhana briefing about the subject.

The class were much more interesting when there is one international student from France! There is changing greetings in bahasa and french in our class. In fact we getting to know about the part of other culture.  And we also were asked to answer few questions regarding this subject. Mdm Ami just wanted us to refresh and to see whether we got the idea or not about the subject. So that what's it. The days we just chillin' laughing and enjoyed as all the first class should be end.

Okay thank you for read this. See ya soon!