Importance Of Retailing

FOREWORD TO RETAIL:

Idea of Retail:

Retail the word got its roots from the French word tailer which literally means "to cut off, clip, pare, divide" in terms of tailoring (1365). Like the French, the word retail in both Dutch and German (detail Handel and Einzel Handel, respectively) also refers to the sale of small quantities of items.1

One thing to be noted here is the fact that the retailer is the link between the producer and the customer. Retailing is defined as a crucial set of activities or steps used to sell a product or a service to consumers for their personal or family use. It is responsible for toning individual demands of the consumer with supplies of all the manufacturers.2

Retailing has become an inseparable and important

Purchasers may be a single person or any business. In commerce, a "retailer" buys goods or products in large quantities from manufacturers, either directly or through a wholesaler, and then sells to the customer. Retailers are at the end of the supply chain.

According to Philip Kotler Retailing includes all the activities in selling goods or services directly to final consumers for private, no business use, a retailer or retail store is any business enterprise whose sales volume comes primarily from retailing.

Consumers, for instance, are able to purchase small quantities of a variety of products at a reasonably affordable price. Similarly, suppliers get an opportunity to reach their target market, build product demand through retail promotions, and provide consumer feedback to the product

In an age, where the customer is the king and marketers are focusing on customer delight retail may be redefine as the first point of customer contact.

The retailer as the link between the producer and the consumer: from the customer’s point of view the retailer serves him by providing the goods that he needs in the required assortment at the required time and place. From an economic stand point the role of a retailer is to provide real added value or utility to the customer. It is necessary for retailers to fully understand the motivations that drive the customers. The retailer serves the consumer by functioning as a marketing intermediary and creating time, place and ownership utility for the consumer.

1.2 TYPES OF RETAIL SET-UP:

Retail is growing rapidly in India. It is a mixture of ‘kirana’ or local stores, departmental stores, convenience stores, specialty stores, factory outlets, etc. Due to the advent of malls, various new retail formats came into existence wherein the customer can buy the same product from many retailers. These retail formats are classified as:

1) Traditional retail format

1. Kirana shops

2. Mandis

3.