Retail Marketing

India is very much different from that of the developed countries. Customers are first introduced to the product at the retail store. Organisations sell their products and services through these retail outlets and get feedback on the performance of their products and customers expectations about them. Retail stores serve as a communication hubs for customers. Point of Sale (POS) and Point of Purchase (POP) advertisement in retail stores transmit information to the customers. Hence the role of retailing in marketing is very significant.

Retailing which forms an integral part of the marketing mix includes elements like Product, Price, Promotion, Place, People and Presentation. Here place related to the distribution and availability of products in various locations. Thus in retail marketing, we concentrate on 6P`s. In retail marketing as a Course, the learners are expected to know about the 6P`s namely,

-- Product and Merchandise Management (Product)
-- Retail Consumer (People)
-- Retail Pricing (Price)
-- Retail location, Planning, Design and Layout (Presentation)
-- Retail Channels (Place)
-- Retail Promotion and Communication (Promotion)

These 6P`s are presented in nine chapters, from chapter two to chapter ten. In the first chapter basic issues of retail marketing are explained and finally in chapter eleven, three real industry case studies are attached. The case studies are given for the learners to analyse from various angles of retail marketing concepts. More case studies can be presented by learners in the form of seminars and class room group discussion. The text is prepared with simple language so that even undergraduate and certificate course learners can use this book. To give a clear picture about the retail sector, suitable southern side retail store examples are given in the text. Latest developments are included by downloading from various websites side referring current retail marketing journals. Review questions at the end of each chapter is developed to suit the question pattern adopted in the southern Universities, so that the learners can have better understanding of the subject and quick revision for examination purpose.