Know the Key Factor about Retail Manager

 What is retail? Retail is a process of selling consumable goods or services to customers through multiple modes or channels of distribution for a profit. A "retailer" is typically referred to the provider who caters to small orders of a large number of individuals, who are the end users. The Retailers satisfy the demands of the large number of individuals through supply chain, which is a system which links organizations, people, information, activities and resources that involve the process of transforming natural resources into finished consumer products complete with delivery of the products to the end users. The primary objective of the supply chain is to fulfill the demands of customers using the resources most efficiently, managing smooth and seamless distribution capacity, ability to hold large inventory and also manage labor.

What is retail? Retail is a process of selling consumable goods or services to customers through multiple modes or channels of distribution for a profit. A "retailer" is typically referred to the provider who caters to small orders of a large number of individuals, who are the end users. The Retailers satisfy the demands of the large number of individuals through supply chain, which is a system which links organizations, people, information, activities and resources that involve the process of transforming natural resources into finished consumer products complete with delivery of the products to the end users. The primary objective of the supply chain is to fulfill the demands of customers using the resources most efficiently, managing smooth and seamless distribution capacity, ability to hold large inventory and also manage labor.

Let us take a look at how the retail industry evolved over the centuries since money and accounting came into existence. Initially the early human settlers would barter with whatever they produced. With introduction of money the form of exchange changed and people started buying what they needed in exchange of money. Slowly the concept of markets came into being. However, in the old times people had to visit the markets which were located at certain areas of the town or cities to purchase their requirements. There would be individual sellers for each item, so one had to visit several sellers in order to buy all the required items.

In the 1900's small corner shops came up in the neighborhoods, which exists even today. These small shops were mostly family owned and were very popular. People would walk in to stores and request the shop owner for the stuff that they wanted. The shop owner would then fetch the items for the customers. The concept of shoppers walking up and looking for things that they want, and picking the items from the shelves, was not in vogue. 

The biggest breakthrough came when Frank Winfield Woolworth an American Entrepreneur who was the founder of the F.W. Woolworth Company came up with variety stores that he christened as "Five-and Dimes". His store featured a low priced selection of merchandise which he lined up on the shelves were labeled with the selling price and customers could walk into the store pick up what they needed. This stopped the customers from haggling and also the customers were able to pick up stuff faster without waiting for assistance from the sales clerk. This fundamentally changed the way retailing worked as customers became more involved in the process. 

At the beginning of the last century Great Britain saw the creation of the most innovative departmental stores in the world. Some of them even featured elevators for the comfort of the customers. Most of these stores grew organically, for example one started as a draper gradually expanding the range of goods depending on the requirements and demands of the growing customers, like adding ready-made garments, shoes, perfumes, jewelries so on and so forth. Some who initially started as grocer gradually added more items to their stores for instance Harrods.

Harry Gordon Selfridge originally from America had come down to London for a holiday in 1906 and he found the city's departmental stores lacking the panache and drama of the Parisian or American stores. This made him leave America and establish the most singularly magnificent departmental store bearing his name at the west end of Oxford Street. Opened in the 1906, Selfridge bedazzled the customers, with the magnificent facade and hundreds of departments, along with restaurants for a break, roof garden, rooms for reading and writing, first aid rooms, reception areas for foreign visitors, and a remarkable number of knowledgeable floor walking assistants who worked as guides through the huge retail museum and were adept at the art of making a sale. It was not just a shop but became a destination for people to meet, for ladies to lunch and much more than just plain simple shopping.

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By : MadhuChanda