Here is a compilation of essays on ‘Retailers’ for class 9, 10, 11 and 12. Find paragraphs, long and short essays on ‘Retailers’ especially written for school and college students.
Essay on Retailers
Essay Contents:
- Essay on the Introduction to Retailers
- Essay on the Meaning and Definition of Retailer
- Essay on the Characteristics of Retailer
- Essay on the Functions of a Retailer
- Essay on the Services of Retailers
- Essay on Pre-Requisites in the Retail Trade
- Essay on Measures to Overcome Competition from Big Retailers
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Essay # 1. Introduction to Retailers:
Retailing is a trading activity directly related to the sale of goods or services to the ultimate consumer for personal, non-business use. A retailer is the last middleman in the machinery of distribution and he is responsible to satisfy recurrent wants of consumers. Retail trade is selling of varied goods in small quantities to the final consumer. There are three distinguishing features of retail trade.
Firstly, The retailer deals in small quantities and his business is usually local in character.
Secondly, retail trade always shows tendency towards variety as it has to satisfy innumerable wants of consumers. A specialized retail shop is an exception.
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Thirdly, a retailer, by operating near about the residential areas of consumer, sells his wares directly to consumers. Manufactured goods are worthless until they pass acid-test of retail distribution. The retailer alone can offer safe and reliable goods to consumers.
Essay # 2. Meaning and Definition of Retailer:
The word ‘retailer’ has been derived from the French word ‘Re-tailer’ which means to ‘cut again’. The term ‘retail’ implies sale for final consumption rather than for resale or for further processing. A retailer is therefore the last link between the ultimate consumer and producer.
The important definitions of retailing are given below:
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i. According to American Marketing Association, Retailing as “the activities involved in selling directly to the ultimate consumers for personal and non-business use. It embraces direct to customer sales activities of the producer, whether through his own stores or by house-to-house canvassing or by mail-order business,”
ii. According to Stephenson, “Retailer is one whose business consists in the sale to consumers of a wide variety of goods which are assembled at the retailer’s premises for that purpose in sufficient quantity and of wide variety so that all the requirements of a large number of individual and household consumers can be smoothly and efficiently met.”
iii. According to F.E. Clark and C.R Clark, “Retailing includes all forms of selling to ultimate consumers.”
Essay # 3. Characteristics of
Retailer:
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The main characteristics of retailer are as follows:
i. Goods are purchased and sold in small quantities.
i. Retailers maintain personal contact with the customers.
iii. Under retail trade, goods are sold to ultimate consumers.
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iv. Retailers provide all types of goods to the consumers.
v. A retailer makes sufficient shop-display to attract the customers.
vi. Retailers aim at providing maximum satisfaction to the customers.
vii. A retailer is the last link in the chain of distribution of goods to consumers.
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Essay # 4. Functions of a Retailer:
A retailer performs the following functions:
i. He purchases goods from different wholesalers.
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ii. He sells goods to the consumers according to their tastes, fashions and requirements.
iii. A retailer has to sort out in different lots the goods or products left unguarded by the manufacturers or the wholesalers. He also makes arrangements for proper packing of goods.
iv. A retailer provides credit facilities to the customers.
v. He supplies market information to both wholesalers and consumers.
vi. He displays goods in his store and also makes advertisement.
vii. He has to bear the risk of physical deterioration of goods and fall in value.
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Essay # 5. Services of Retailers:
I. Services towards Wholesalers and Manufacturers:
i. Retailers supply the information about changing tastes and habits to the wholesalers who in turn transmit the same to the producers.
ii. Information about the likes and dislikes of consumers received from the retailers through the wholesalers enable the producers to make suitable adjustments in the design, size and contents of their products.
iii. Wholesalers and manufacturers need not to maintain any contact with consumers as this job is performed by the retailers.
iv. Retailer is an important link between the wholesaler and the consumer.
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v. Retailers help wholesalers from difficulties to sell goods to consumers in small quantities.
II. Services towards Consumers:
i. Retailers provide ready stock of goods for the use of consumers.
ii. Retailers provide consumers with a wide variety of choice. Retailers by assembling products of different variety from different producers enable consumers to make choice from a large variety of goods.
iii. Retailers maintain personal contact with the consumers.
iv. Retailers stock fresh goods to meet the daily requirements of consumers.
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v. Retailers supply goods to consumers according to their tastes and fashions.
vi. Retailers introduce new products to the consumers and also guide them.
vii. Retailers provide credit facilities to their customers.
viii. Retailers provide after-sale service also, specially in case of electrical goods.
ix. Retailers provide free home-delivery to their customers.
x. Retailers aim at providing maximum satisfaction to their customers.
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xi. Retailers provide the facility of taking back from customers goods sold to them if goods are not upto their entire satisfaction.
Essay # 6.
Pre-Requisites in the Retail Trade:
The success in retail trade primarily centres around a proper combination of six factors.
i. Location:
The ultimate success of most retail operations is governed by favourable location. Prime location assures continuous prosperity.
ii. Price:
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Appropriate price strategy can have the greatest market appeal particularly in inflation. Low price with reasonable quality and due service can work wonders in retail trade.
iii. Promotion:
Unique advantages of promotional campaigns explain considerable success in retailing. Retailer is the toughest 3 feet’s (retail counter) in the channel of distribution. If these 3 feet are not crossed (with, the help of sales promotion, e.g., point of sale/ purchase display), all other sales efforts are useless.
Active co-operation between manufacturer and retailer in promotion mix can guarantee flourishing sale, assuming that the product or service is intrinsically sound and price is quite reasonable. Time and money can make promotion effective.
iv. Buying:
A retailer can acquire highly desirable goods, indicating good values to customers, through shrewd buying practices and sound decision making ability. He should act as an expert buying agent on behalf of his customer. Intelligent buying decisions give rich dividend in retail trade. Acid-test of retail success is consumer’s satisfaction, i.e., emphasis on the sale of want-satisfying utilities only.
v. Service:
Retailers give non-price competition essentially through personalized services Prompt and courteous service, quality assurance, sale on approval, money-back guarantee, service after sale, free home delivery, grant of credit, securing goods to satisfy individual taste and liking, offer of expert advice to customer, and comfort and convenience in the store — all these are welcomed by customers and their patronage goes to such retailers who aim at securing profits through service.
The retailer must follow the policy illustrated by such quotations, e.g., The customer is always right. It pays to be customer-minded and the customer is king/queen. ‘He who serves best will profit most emphasize the concept of service not profits’ the chief objective of a seller in the market place. Most customers prefer warm and friendly atmosphere.
vi. Efficient Management:
Better planning, organisation and control can offer efficient retail operations. Proper selection, training, remuneration and motivation of sales force will also assure higher efficiency. If a retailer plans his inventories, in detail, buys and sells according to plan, at the end of the year he will have his predetermined profits.
The goal of a retail store should, by and large, be:
i. To serve the community,
ii. To provide employment opportunities for people, and
iii. To make a reasonable profit.
The success of a retailer depends much on his ability to serve a real need of the people. The retail store has an obligation to its employees.
They have to be well motivated and kept contended. Profit is an important consideration in the management and operation of a store. High taxes, keen competition and increased cost of sales, all have an unfavourable effect on the profits of the retailers.
Efficient stock control, wise merchandise investment, cut in unwanted expenses and general expense control, personalized services to the customers, adoption of modern principles of business management, etc., are some of the progressive measures by means of which retailers can ensure reasonable profit margins. It, however, depends upon the size and capacity of the retailers.
a. Itinerant Retailers:
They are represented by hawkers, peddlers, street vendors, stall holders in fairs and exhibitions. In this form of retail trade, the seller has no fixed locality, but carries his goods from place to place. This form of trade is very old. The hawker is a very familiar figure in our villages and towns, sometimes carrying goods on a wheeled carriage.
The following are the prominent features of such mobile retailers:
i. No fixed place of business.
ii. Require little capital and limited organising effort.
iii. Keep limited stocks on hand and yet quick turnover.
iv. Offer greatest convenience to consumers by giving delivery of goods at the door of the consumer.
v. Easy to start with minimum establishment expenses.
vi. Suitable for the sale of perishable articles such as vegetable, fruits, milk, bread, eggs, etc.
Mobile retailers offer a very keen competition to small-scale fixed retail shops who look upon them with disfavor.
The hawkers and peddlers will continue to exist as long as they offer:
i. Local convenience to purchasers,
ii. Charge lower prices as they have no establishment charges and buy from wholesalers at wholesale rates, and
iii. Sell useful goods through house-to-house canvassing and home deliveries.
b. General or Special Shop:
A small retail shop may be a general shop having a wide variety of goods or it may specialise in a particular line of goods. Grocery shops and provision stores are general retail shops, while radio and jewellery shops are specialised ones. Independent small retail shops-accounted for 80% of all the retail organisations in any country.
However, with the growth of large-scale retailers like multiple shops, supermarkets, department stores, they now account for hardly 60% of the total volume of retail trade and the rest, i.e., 40% is carried on by large-scale retail organisation.
Majority of the retail shops are usually organised as sole traders or partnerships, and are generally owned by households. A unit store or retail shop can also act as a side business or supplementary source of income to many families.
Essay # 7. Measures to Overcome Competition from Big Retailers:
A small retailer suffers from certain handicaps:
i. Unfair price competition from big retailers,
ii. Lack of modem sales promotion devices, e.g., attractive window display.
iii. Inadequate advertising,
iv. Unfavourable terms of purchases due to small orders.
v. Lack of capital, and
vi. Lower capacity of risk-bearing.
The small retailers try to overcome some of these disadvantages in the following manner:
i. Co-Operative Buying:
Bulk purchase is the key to cheaper prices. Group buying can secure more favourable terms and prices because it enables small units to meet chain- store competition. The small retailers may form a co-operative association for conducting joint-purchases on a large-scale basis, and reap the benefits of bulk purchases. This trend is noted in the grocery trade.
ii. Modern Business Principles:
The small retailers may undertake modernisation of their business practices and operations to secure maximum economy and efficiency in their trade.
iii. Cash and Carry Warehouse:
Some wholesalers sell at lower prices instead of the offering credit to retailers and free delivery services. Thus, the small retailers get the chance to buy at cut prices and to sell as low as their rivals in the multiple shops.
iv. Wholesaler’s Specialist Services:
The small shopkeepers can take full advantages of the specialised services of the wholesaler. On goods whose prices are fixed by the manufacturer, the small trader has the same profit as big stores. The big retailers have to perform themselves all wholesaling functions, when they bypass the wholesaler.
v. Co-Operative Groups or Chains:
In fact, on account of development of large-scale retailing wholesalers as well as small retailers have been adversely affected. Therefore, recently both the wholesalers and retailers have united to fight against their common enemy, the large retailers. They form a voluntary or co-operative chain which enable the small traders to get the benefits of large-scale purchases.Essay,