Introduction to Retailing

Explore how retailers add value by offering convenience and a one-stop shopping experience, despite upward price pressure from intermediaries, and when direct-from-producer buying becomes impractical.

Retailers add value with assortment under one roof, break bulk into usable quantities, hold inventory, and offer services like bagging and layaway for shopper convenience.

Retailers link manufacturers to consumers, serving as the final link in the supply chain that moves products from supplier to producer to wholesaler to agent to retailer to consumer.

Explore integration in retail, including horizontal integration among same-level channel members and vertical integration across different supply-chain levels, including upward/backward and forward integration.

Explore core distribution channels from producer or manufacturer to consumer, highlighting the roles of wholesalers, retailers, and the path that connects them.

Contrast the retail structures of the United States and China, highlighting how facilities, ports, and distribution systems shape store sizes, warehousing, and product availability.

Retailing drives jobs and the economy, contributing about 8% of the U.S. gross domestic product and $4.3 trillion in annual sales, through brick-and-mortar and online stores.

Explore how retailers practice corporate social responsibility by funding donation programs, schools, and social awareness campaigns, from no smoking to sustainability, demonstrating voluntary ethical and environmental contributions to society.

Explore the largest retailers in the world, with Wal-Mart, Tesco, and Best Buy as leading examples. Learn how these top retailers remain dominant amid ongoing market changes.

Explore the diverse career opportunities in retailing, highlighting roles across finance, procurement, IT, supply chain, marketing, design, and general management, including internships with retailers.

Explore intrapreneur opportunities and evaluate starting a retail outlet, brick-and-mortar or online, with examples from Amazon, IKEA, and Starbucks as retail success stories.

Explore how retailing drives wealth, as retailers top the list across consumer and business products, and learn why starting to sell can help you get rich.

Explore the difference between strategic and tactical decisions in retail, contrasting long-term strategic plans with short-term tactical plans, and highlight risks, investment, and examples like location, design, and customer service.

Identify your competitors to sharpen your retail strategy, and distinguish intra competition from internal competition among retailers selling similar products but through different formats.

Identify customers through segmentation and select target markets to tailor a competitive retail strategy, illustrated by McDonald's targeting of kids with the Happy Meal.

Define your product mix with categories, designs, and variations tailored to your target market, and pursue a long-term sustainable competitive advantage that others cannot match.

Highlight the key variables in retail strategy, including location, merchandise assortment, store design and display, customer service, pricing, and the communication mix to optimize a retail outlet.

Retail managers confront ethical dilemmas, from child labor in merchandise to deceptive marketing and price claims, needing government and culture considerations to guide decisions.

Explore a nine-question ethical decision checklist for retail professionals, guiding you to consider consequences, stakeholder reactions, and public impact before acting.

You face an ethical dilemma between company demands and personal values. Stand by your principles, voice concerns, and push for policy change, even if it risks your job.

Debunk myths about retailing careers by challenging the idea that a college degree isn’t needed, and show how education, certification, and advancement foster rewarding, inclusive opportunities for women and minorities.

Explore why retailing offers an entry-level management path to learn profit and loss, finance, buying and planning, and people management while experiencing varied, daily challenges.