Is the Proliferation of Job Titles Helping or Hurting?

The phrase is familiar: “Too many chiefs, not enough Indians.” In retailing, where so many firms employ thousands of people, the adage hardly seems applicable. Then again, the CEO and other C-suite regulars are now sharing the “chief’ prefix with a growing list of colleagues. Macy’s has a chief digital officer, Kohl’s has a

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Competition and Quick Foodservice

Consumers have a need for convenient, quick, high-quality pre­pared foods. As traditional convenience store (c-store) products slip in demand, c-store operators must place a stronger empha­sis on prepared foods to improve profits. A growing number of c-store chains are providing high-quality, quick food supported by appealing, food-forward marketing. For quick-service restaurants (QSRs), this means

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Ideas Worth Stealing

1. Introduction Feeling a day late and a dollar short for the retail innovation party? Not to worry; STORES has you covered. This year’s ros­ter of the top “ideas worth stealing” offers copious opportunities for catching up. Retailers, small and large, have had a banner season of creatively making things work in this increasingly

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Retail Institutions Characterized by Ownership

Retail firms may be independently owned, chain-owned, franchisee-operated, leased departments, owned by manufacturers or wholesalers, or consumer-owned. Although retailers are primarily small (three-quarters of all stores are operated by firms with one outlet and more than one-half of all firms have two or fewer paid employees), there are also very large retailers. The five

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The Dynamics of Franchising

This appendix is presented because of franchising’s strong retailing presence and the exciting opportunities in franchising. Over the past two decades, annual U.S. franchising sales have more than tripled! Here, we go beyond the discussion of franchising in Chapter 4 and provide informa­tion on managerial issues in franchising and on franchisor-franchisee relationships. Consider this,

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Considerations in Planning a Retail Strategy Mix

A retailer may be categorized by its strategy mix, the firm’s particular combination of store loca­tion, operating procedures, goods/services offered, pricing tactics, store atmosphere and customer services, and promotional methods. Store location refers to the use of a store or nonstore format, placement in a geographic area, and the kind of site (such as

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How Retail Institutions are Evolving

Forward-looking firms know their individual strategies must adapt as retail institutions evolve over time. Complacency is not appropriate. Many retailers have witnessed shrinking profit mar­gins due to intense competition and consumer interest in lower prices. This puts pressure on them to tighten internal cost controls and to promote higher-margin goods and services while eliminating

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Retail Institutions Categorized By Store- Based Strategy Mix

Selected aspects of the strategy mixes of 14 store-based retail institutions, divided into food- oriented and general merchandise groups, are highlighted in this section and in Table 5-1. Although not all-inclusive, these strategy mixes provide a good overview of store-based strategies. Please note that width of assortment is the number of different product lines

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Direct Retailing Marketing

In direct marketing, a customer is first exposed to a good or service through a nonpersonal medium (direct mail, TV, radio, magazine, newspaper, computer, tablet, or mobile device) and then orders by mail, phone, or fax (and increasingly by computer, smartphone, or tablet. Annual U.S. sales are more than $475 billion (including the Web),

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Direct Selling

Direct selling includes both personal contact with consumers in their homes (and other non­store locations such as offices) and phone solicitations initiated by a retailer. See Figure 6-5. Cosmetics, jewelry, vitamins, household goods and services (such as carpet cleaning), vacuum cleaners, and magazines and newspapers are among the items sometimes sold in this way.

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Vending Machines

A vending machine is a cash- or card-operated retailing format that dispenses goods (such as beverages) and services (such as electronic arcade games). It eliminates use of sales personnel and allows 24-hour sales. Machines can be placed wherever convenient for consumers—inside or outside stores, in motel corridors, at train stations, or on street corners.

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Electronic Retailing: The Emergence of the World Wide Web

We are living through exciting changes from the days when retailing simply meant visiting a store, shopping from a printed catalog, greeting the Avon lady in one’s home, or buying candy from a vending machine. Who would have thought a generation or so ago that a person would have his or her own personal

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Other Nontraditional Forms of Retailing

Two other nontraditional institutions merit discussion: video kiosks and airport retailing. Although both formats have existed for years, they are now more popular than ever. They appeal to retailers’ desires to use new technology (video kiosks) and to locate in sites with high pedestrian traffic (airports). 1. Video Kiosks The video kiosk is a

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Omnichannel Retailing

As noted at the beginning of this chapter, a retail firm relies on single-channel retailing if it sells to consumers through one format such as the Web or a store. In multichannel retailing, a firm has separate channels such as a store and the Web. In a traditional multichannel retail environment, consumers may not

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Do Power Players Rule?

A power player is any U.S. retailer with sales equal to or greater than 10 percent of those of the category leader. 1. Department Stores Department stores have survived the rise of sectors specializ­ing in narrower product ranges, as well as the challenges of discount stores and other off-price retailers, and finally E-com­merce. Gerald

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Will the Favorites of Today Remain Popular?

While competition constantly shifts, the top tier of consum­ers’ favorite online retailers is stable. There was little move­ment among the top 10 in a 2015 consumer survey by Prosper Insights & Analytics; the full list includes only six relative new­comers. This allows for greater insights about what motivates shoppers, where they like to shop,

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Omnichannel Strategies of Top Retailers

It’s no longer bricks-and-mortar versus E-commerce— omnichannel is the path to success. Consumers have myriad ways to shop, and retailers must keep up. “New [technology] tools transform the way consumers want to shop,” says Anne Zybowski, a vice-president at Kantar Retail. In response, retail­ers are re-thinking operations, from infrastructure and inventory systems to delivery

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Omnichannel Food Retailing Still Needs Work

Grocery buying is changing due to the emergence of omnichan­nel retailing. Consumers want options, and grocers need to be ready to provide them. Thus, experts say retailers will have to deal with selling price, venue, payment, and customer experi­ence in all transactional channels. Doing so effectively is easier said than done, however. One who

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What Are Consumers Finding Expendable?

Beyond an online connection and a way to access it from the palm of their hands, consumers are proving to be a relatively agnostic bunch. Hyperinformed, price-savvy, and emboldened by a post-recessionary survivor attitude, consumers assert that things like a new pair of jeans, dining in upscale restaurants, and buying high-end cosmetics or a

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Ongoing Recovery

“Year over year, the changes have been slim, but when you com­pare the December 2015 survey to data compiled in December 2008, it’s evident that consumer attitudes toward spending are heading in the right direction,” says Chrissy Wissinger, director of communications at Prosper. “Communication trumps just about everything else for today’s consumer. They don’t

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