Major types of Retail Operations
Department Stores
Specialty Stores
Supermarkets
Drugstores
Convenience stores
Discount Stores
Restaurants
Restaurants straddle the line between a retailing establishment and a service establishment. Tangible products are food and drink. Service elements are food preparation and food service
Convenience stores carry a limited line of high‑turnover convenience goods and resemble miniature supermarkets.
Prices are higher than supermarkets because the stores offer so many conveniences such as location, long hours, and fast service.
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Drugstores stock pharmacy - related products and use services as their main draw.
Customers are most attracted by the pharmacist, convenience, and acceptance of third-party prescription drug plans.
Drugstores have developed value-added services in order to compete with growing competition.
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Americans spend approximately 10 percent of their disposable income in supermarkets, which are large, departmentalized, self‑service retailers that specialize in foodstuffs and some nonfood items.
With razor‑thin profit margins (1 to 2 percent) and the slow annual population growth (less than 1 percent), supermarkets have had to discover and exploit several demographic and lifestyle trends in order to prosper.
Superstores offer foods, non-foods, and services in a store which is usually twice the size of a supermarket.
Offering a wide variety of nontraditional goods and services under one roof is scrambled merchandising. Such merchandisers offer one-stop shopping for many food and nonfood needs, and may include pharmacies, flower shops, bookstores, salad bars, takeout food sections, dry cleaners, photo processing, health food sections, and banking.
Loyalty marketing programs reward loyal customers with discounts or gifts.
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With several departments under one roof, a department store carries a wide variety of shopping and specialty goods, including apparel, cosmetics, house wares, electronics, and sometimes furniture.
Each department is usually headed by a buyer who selects the merchandise for his or her department and may also be responsible for promotion and personnel.
Most large department stores are owned by national chains, with few independent stores remaining.
To protect themselves from powerful new specialty retailers, discounters, outlets, and other price cutters, department store managers are using several strategies.
Many department stores are repositioning themselves as specialty outlets with a "store‑within‑a‑store" format, dividing departments into mini boutiques.
Department stores view their high level of service as the one unique benefit they offer to consumers. Emphasizing service rather than price enables them to compete with discounters.
Expansion and renovation of existing stores allows growth in new market areas and changes in merchandising directions and images.
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A specialty store is not only a type of store but also a method of retail operations that specializes in a given type of merchandise.
A typical specialty store carries a deep but narrow assortment of merchandise and offers attentive customer service and knowledgeable sales clerks.
Price is usually of secondary importance to customers of specialty stores.
Discount stores are retail stores that are able to compete on the basis of low prices, high turnover, and high volume