Retail Industry Structure

5.2 Industry Structure

Retail industries are consisted of formations that represent varied approaches to business. An establishment can be connected with a big firm comprising of numerous stores, or it can be a small, proprietor-operated store. Establishment also vary with respect to their scope, they can be diversified, contribution several different products, or can be specialized, offering only a narrow set of products. Below is the lists of industry structure of retail.

1. Motorized vehicle and parts

2. Furniture and house furnishing

3. Electronic and appliance

i. Construction material and garden equipment

4. Food and beverage

i. Supermarkets ii. Hypermarkets iii. Grocery stores iv. Convenience stores

v. Liquor stores

5. Health and personal

This includes job opportunities to meet the demand from certain population categories for example students, disabled, working parents and senior citizens. In an industry with a typically high staff turnover, these employees offer a greater level of loyalty and therefore represent desirable employees.

2) Economic Factors

One of the most important factors is high unemployment levels, which drops the effective demand for many products, affecting the demand required to produce such goods. These economic influences are mostly outside the control of the business, but their effects on performance and the marketing mix can be strong. Even though international business is still developing in Asia particularly in Malaysia, and is expected to contribute higher amounts to hypermarkets profits over the next few years, hypermarkets are still highly reliant on the external economic factors to operate.

3) Social

This is due to a variety of social fluctuations. Therefore, hypermarkets have maximized the amount of non-food items for sale. Demographic alterations in Malaysia such as the aging population, a decline in home meal preparation and growth in female workers mean that hypermarkets are also concentrating on added value products and services. Furthermore, the focus is now towards the supply chain, own label share of the business mix and other functional improvements which can decrease costs of the business. Hypermarkets also allow major local brand products on their shelves supplied by entrepreneurs to support Malaysian brands. The type of products and facilities demanded by customers is an indicator of their social conditioning and their consequent opinions and attitude. Consumers are becoming gradually more aware of health issues. An example of leading hypermarket, Tesco adapting its product mix is to accommodate an increased demand for organic products clearly shows the concern towards customers’