Retailing

Retailing is selling goods and services to the ultimate consumer. Thus, the retailer is the most expensive link in the chain of distribution. Being middlemen, they make their profit by charging the customer 25 to 100 per cent more than the price they paid for the item.

The retailers operate through stores, mail-order houses, vending machine operators. There are different types of retail stores: department stores, discount houses, cooperatives, single line retailers. The major part (over 95 per cent) of retail establishments concentrate on a single line of merchandise for example, food, hardware, etc. But nowadays there is a trend for many single line stores to take on a greater variety of supplies.

The retailer performs many necessary functions. First, he may provide a convenient location. Second, he often guarantees and services the merchandise he sells. Third, the retailer helps to promote the product through displays, advertising or sales people. Fourth, the retailer can finance the customer by extending credit. Also the retailer stores the goods in his outlet by having goods available.

5. Comprehension Questions

1. What is retailing?

2. What are four different types of retail stores?

3. What are at least two types of retailing that do not include the use of a store?

4. What way does a retailer serve a customer in?

5. What way does a retailer serve a manufacturer in?

6. Which per cent of the price of the good sold goes to the retailer?

7. What is the trend with a single line retailer now?

6. Vocabulary Practice

1. ….. is one function a retailer may a) mail-order

perform.

2. You can buy newspapers, cigarettes, b) discount

cookies from a ……

3. …. Is the most expensive link in the c) vending-machine

chain between a producer and a consumer.

4. The firm … food quality of the d) guarantees

product.

5. She doesn’t like to go shopping ,she e) retailer

prefers to do it by ….

6. The department store is having a sale f) extending credit

and there is a 20 per cent …. on all

light dresses.

7. Wholesaler is an important….between g) link

a producer and a consumer.

Advertising

Advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners) to purchase or take some action upon products, ideas, or services. It includes the name of a product or service and how that product or service could benefit the consumer, to persuade a target market to purchase or to consume that particular brand. These messages are usually paid for by sponsors and viewed via various media. Advertising can also serve to communicate an idea to a large number of people in an attempt to convince them to take a certain action.

Commercial advertisers often seek to generate increased consumption of their products or services through branding, which involves the repetition of an image or product name in an effort to associate related qualities with the brand in the minds of consumers. Non commercial advertisers who spend money to advertise items other than a consumer product or service include political parties, interest groups, religious organizations and governmental agencies. Nonprofit organizations may rely on free modes of persuasion, such as a public service announcement.

Modern advertising developed with the rise of mass production in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Mass media can be defined as any media meant to reach a mass amount of people. Different types of media can be used to deliver these messages, including traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, television, radio, outdoor or direct mail; or new media such as websites and text messages.

In 2010, spending on advertising was estimated at more than $300 billion in the United States and $500 billion worldwide.

UNIT 5