Assignment 1Retail Management

• You are to select a topic from the list of five as shown below, and make careful in-site observations in the form of a written report.

– Hospital / Medical Centre, and Tourists / Airline Ticketing Agency

– Restaurant / Fast Food Shop / Confectionery shop/ Hotel, and Shopping Centre / Complex

– Electrical Appliance Shop / Cell phone Shop, and Beauty Parlour / Barber

– Motor Garage / Bicycle Shop, and Cinema / Karaoke– Bank / Financial Institution, and Book Shop / Library

• Here you will show that you understand the store-based retail strategy mixes, based on type, location, merchandise, prices, atmospheres and services, promotion, process and customers.

• Length of assignment: 1,000 to 1,500 words

Type

• Goods or services retailing?

• General or specialty store?

• Selling durable or non-durable goods?

• Serve low-end, mid-end or high-end market? Or which target market?

• Chain or independent store?

• ??

Location

• Example– Xxxx is located at ZZ train station where the hi

ghest daily train passenger traffic can be as high as 123,000 people

(http://news.shangdu.com/105/20110221/9_218732.shtml)

Location (2)

• Example– Xxxx store is located at the junction of Jinshui

Road and People Road near Purple Golden Hill Garden where high human traffic is.

– I was at Xxxx on Sunday, 12 September at around 11am. I saw a high human traffic coming toward the direction of the Xxxx store across from the direction of Wenhua Road.

Merchandise

1. Brands– I have found the following brands in Watson

store• YYYY• ZZZZ• VVVV• KKKK• ???

Merchandise

2. Assortment– Categories: Merchandises at Watson store

are sorted out into categories, namely• Cosmetics• Foods and beverages• Daily personal care items• ??• ??

– Depth: – Width:

Merchandise

3. Cross-Merchandising

- Watson carries complementary goods and services to encourage shoppers to buy more.

- E.g. I have found ???? displayed in the shelf of ???

Prices

• Any lose-leader?• Any everyday Low Pricing?• Buy-one-get-one-free?• Multiple-Unit Pricing?• Timing Markdowns?

– Early markdown policy– Late markdown policy– Staggered markdown policy– Automatic markdown plan– Storewide clearance

Atmosphere and service

• The psychological feeling a customer gets when visiting a retailer

• Atmosphere refers to store’s physical characteristics that project an image and draw customers

• What service does the store provide?

Atmosphere

• Lighting?• Moving space?• Color?• Friendliness?• Noises?• Cleanliness?• ???• ???

Process

• Order process– Fast / slow?– Easy / difficult?

• Serving process?

• Payment process??

• Claim process??

• Telephone answering process??

• ????

Promotion

• Advertising

• Public Relations

• Personal Selling

• Sales Promotion

Promotion

Customers

• Any customer relationship program?– Membership?– After-sale guarantee?– ???