Merchandise Planning and Retail Communication Retail Meaning The

Merchandise Planning and Retail Communication

Retail: Meaning The word retail has been derived from the French word ‘re-tailler’ which means ‘to cut, trim or divide. Retailing means to sell goods in small quantities. “ A set of business activities carried on to accomplishing the exchange of goods and services for purposes of personal, family, or household use, whether performed in a store or by some form of non-store selling. ” ---American Marketing Association A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from wholesaler, divides the goods in small quantities and sells it to final customers.

Merchandise planning Planning means deciding about the future course of action. Merchandise means goods that are offered for sale to the consumers. Planning of merchandise means deciding about the goods to be sold to the customers and achieving business goals through planning of sales and inventory.

Principles of Merchandising is delivery of right product at right place and right time to the targeted customer. Successful operation of merchandising is dependent on following principles: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Provide What Customer Wants. Prepare Merchandise Plan. Selection Of Sources Of Supply. Consistency and Change. Present Right Assortment. Customer Relationship Management. Satisfaction of Customer.

Types of Merchandise Basic – Regular products like milk, eggs, pulses, salt etc. Fashion – Products that are in high demand for a short period of time. Seasonal – Demand changes according to seasons, e. g. AC. Fad – Fad means a high level of sales for a very short time. Style – The style may be of anything such as hair style, food preferences, music etc. Assortment – It includes the variety of the products and the product lines kept by the retailer.

Process Of Merchandise Planning. Merchandise planning is an important part of retail planning. The steps involved in the process of planning are shown in the diagram given below: Developing a sales forecast Determining merchandise requirements Merchandise control Assortment Planning

Retail Communication Retail communication means the programs or methods used by the retailers to inform the customers about their products, services, special offers and information about the retail store. The objective of retail communication is to increase the number of customers as well as the sales volume of the store. It also serves as a tool for building the image of the store.

Functions of retail communication 1. Informing: Retailer provides information to the target customers about the product or service which he is offering. Information should be relevant and given timely. 2. Persuading: It means to convince and encourage people to visit the store and purchase the products. 3. Reminding: It involves reminding its customers about products and services to increase customer loyalty.

Ways to Communicate with the customers ADVERTISEMENT PUBLICITY SALES PROMOTION DIRECT MARKETING INTERNET MARKETING

Conclusion • Merchandise planning is beneficial to both customer and the retailer. By effective merchandise planning retailer is able to give right quantity of right goods at right price to the customers. It helps to streamline business processes and also manage the inventory efficiently for the retailer. • Retail communication has moved on from the time when the retailer only communicated with the consumers. But with the arrival of new ways of communication, now the customer also can communicate or contract the retailers due to development of the retailers’ websites and toll free numbers.