Concepts And Cases In Retail And Merchandise Management

This combination textbook/casebook brings the study of retail and merchandise management to life. These ninety-five cases present a wide variety of actual situations, at all levels of management. Readers are asked to analyze inside information on businesses ranging from small sole proprietorships to industry titans. Each chapter begins with a detailed overview of the concepts raised, allowing the book to be used alone or as a companion volume to another text.

This combination textbook/casebook takes the reader out of the classroom and into the real world, bringing the study of retail and merchandise management to life. These 95 challenging cases, the majority of which were prepared by members of the American Collegiate Retailing Association and the International Textile and Apparel Association, present a wide variety of actual situations faced by professionals at all levels of management. Readers are asked to analyze inside information on businesses ranging from small sole proprietorships to industry titans such as The Limited, Gap, and Wal-Mart. Each chapter begins with a detailed overview of the concepts raised by the accompanying cases, allowing the book to be used alone or as a companion volume to another text of your choice. Instructor's Guide includes alternative solutions for all cases along with their advantages and disadvantages.

- Merchandise Management, Roles, and Responsibilities - Retailing Formats and Structures - Merchandise/Store Positioning - Merchandise Characteristics - Merchandise Planning, Buying, Control, and Profitability - Sourcing - Buyer/Vendor Relationships - Sales Promotion, Advertising, and Visual Merchandising - Personal Selling and Customer Relations - Entrepreneurship and Small Business Ownership - Ethics and Legal Behavior in Merchandise Management - Expanded coverage of technology, sourcing, branding, private labels, and ethical and legal behavior in retail management - Additional student activities related to each case study - Instructor's Guide provides suggestions for planning the course and using the text in the classroom

The authors demonstrate the broad and complex topics of retail management in 15 lessons. Each lesson includes a thematic overview of key issues and a comprehensive case study. International best practice companies are used to highlight managerial implications and the key discussion points.

This book is devoted to the dynamic development of retailing. The focus is on various strategy concepts adopted by retailing companies and their implementation in practice. This is not a traditional textbook or collection of case studies; it aims to demonstrate the complex and manifold questions of retail management in the form of twenty lessons, where each lesson provides a thematic overview of key issues and illustrates them via a comprehensive case study. The examples are all internationally known retail companies, to facilitate an understanding of what is involved in strategic retail management and illustrate best practices. In the third edition, all chapters were revised and updated. Two new chapters were added to treat topics like corporate social responsibility as well as marketing communication. All case studies were replaced by new ones to reflect the most recent developments. Well-known retail companies from different countries, like Tesco, Zalando, Hugo Boss, Carrefour, Amazon, Otto Group, are now used to illustrate particular aspects of retail management.

A companion book, Great Ideas in Retailing, contains: 1. Exercises (1 per chapter)-suitable to be handed in for grading or for class discussion. 2. Short Cases - 25 cases that are generally 2-4 pages in length. These are suitable for shorter assignments or for in-class discussion. 3. Long Cases - five cases ranging in length from 5-9 pages. All of these cases are suitable as major class assignments. 4. A team assignment broken down into 7 parts (This involves developing and implementing a plan for establishing a retail store). Note: Teaching notes are available for Great Ideas in Retailing.

The second edition of this comprehensive text has been updated to contain the most current information on merchandising and retailing. New to This Edition: -- New visuals illustrating the retailing principles and organization of the retail industry-- Extensive coverage of Internet retailing-- Updated tables, analysis of retail sales figures, and list of retail organizations-- More detailed explanation of mathematical concepts-- New section on vendor-sponsored store merchandising programs and expanded store fixtures section-- Contemporary company profiles on retailers such as Banana Republic, Kohls, Macy's.com, Joe Boxer, and Sephora

Retail Management is the process which helps the customers to procure the desired merchandise form the retail stores for their personal use. It includes all the steps required to bring the customers into the store and fulfill their buying needs. Retail management saves time and ensures the customers easily locate their desired merchandise and return home satisfied. Fashion Retail Management gives insight into the principles of fashion marketing, retail buying and merchandising and imparts basic fabric knowledge - from fiber to fabric and fabric to garment. It gives an overview of the concept of visual merchandising and lays emphasis on customer relationship management, brand management and sales management. The various processes which help the customers to procure the desired merchandise from the retail stores for their end use refer to retail management. Retail management includes all the steps required to bring the customers into the store and fulfill their buying needs. Retail management makes shopping a pleasurable experience and ensures the customers leave the store with a smile. In simpler words, retail management helps customers shop without any difficulty. Retailing in any field tends to be an incredibly competitive process and customer-facing stores are perhaps one of the tougher forms of business to manage. There is a lot that can potentially emerge to trip up even the most experienced and diligent of retail business operators but with the right approach, there’s also a huge amount that can be achieved. Here are 5 focus points that might be helpful if you’re looking to improve the way you run your retail business and exceed your customer's expectations. Understand and Respond to What Your Customers Want Like a lot of tips, our first one here is rather more easily said than done but that, in a sense, is precisely the point. Retailers need to do whatever it takes to get to know their customers and to react to what they find out quickly. You might be able to tick over by offering the same products in the same way as a matter of routine but lasting success can generally only be built on flexibility and a willingness to change along with habits among your customers. Get to Know Your Competition Like every other business around, retailers do not exist in a vacuum and it is vital for all manner of reasons that company bosses are aware of what their rivals are offering. These days, retail competitors can come in many different forms, be it online or otherwise, and bosses should frequently take the time to get a sense of the experiences being offered elsewhere. Whether or not you decide to integrate certain ideas into your own operation, competitor research is essential because it lets you know exactly what you’re up against and that information can prove to be invaluable. Invest in Your People The members of a retailer’s workforce are the face of the business on a day-to-day basis and the way that they interact with customers is very important. Hiring the right people to join your team is a key starting point but the story can’t stop there and providing quality training should always be high on the agenda. This goes for staff on the shop floor, as well as supervisors and managers. Always Look to the Future The past may well have a lot to teach us as business bosses but for retailers it’s vital to focus firmly on the future. It’s important not to dwell too much on prior successes or failures and to remain as objective as possible as you assess different situations and dynamics. Every experience is a lesson but a good retail manager will not be obsessed with what has gone before but will be quick to understand where opportunities may lie for the future. Be Ready for Anything One of the great things about being involved in retailing is the sheer variety of the challenges it presents from week to week and year to year. For those in charge of retail companies or operations, there is a lot to be said for expecting the unexpected and being ready to react at all times. Ultimately, the aim should be to focus on solving one problem at a time and not wasting energy on figuring out who to blame when things don’t go quite according to plan.