Abstract

A shopper usually comes across many retailers in the market place, each having its own overall product offering. One retailer may be attracting customers due to its unbeatable location and visibility, other on the basis of discounted prices, someone on the basis of variety of merchandise or specialised product offering. If small retailers promise to offer the convenience of fulfilling the daily needs at your doorstep, the big retailers promise to offer better value in terms of competitive pricing and convenience of making all products available under the same roof. Then online retailers are trying to outsmart conventional retailers by killing time and distance constraints. Thus, it is seen that retail market place has become very competitive and challenging over a period of time. Market has already become tough due to increasing cultural and demographic diversity and changing lifestyles over a period of time. Every market has its own set of needs. Like any marketer, a retailer has to decide which kind of market it should cater to in a satisfactory manner. As a result, the retailer has to explore many options to differentiate themselves in the market place and appeal to its target customers. The options are available in the form of combining different elements of retail mix. Retail mix is mainly deciding about merchandise, price, promotional mix, location, services extended etc. to serve the needs of target market in a satisfactory manner. Retail format is the popular term used for retail mix. It bears close resemblance with marketing mix. In the ensuing study, discussion about various retail formats is carried on.

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