SUMMARY OF REPORTS FROM CHAPTER 3-10

A requirement in our course P2204 Retail Management under the program Bachelor of
Science in Business Administration major in Marketing Management

Submitted to:
Prof. Anna Vanessa L. Soliven, MAM

Submitted by:
Diocarisa, Jay R S.
3-3

December 16, 2023

 Chapter 3: Multi-Channel Retailing
This topic was the first to be discussed in the reporting activity that we have. This topic
discusses the various distribution channels affecting the retail operation. Distribution channel
is a marketing channel that pertains to the ways that products or services get from the
producer to consumer, this includes logistics, facilitation, and transaction. There are three
types of channel, single channel, multichannel, and omni- channel. Single channel refers to
the use of only one channel option, one of the best example was Google’s Nexus One who
only uses their website as a distribution channel and logistics for delivery of products; hence
a direct channel was made, producer to consumer. Apparently, this channel doesn’t work
really well, in the case of Google’s Nexus One, after months of its operations it was stopped
and redesigned the channel by incorporating the next channel. The next channel is
multichannel, here producers and retailers try to combine and blend direct and indirect
channel. In the case of Google’s Nexus One, they redesigned their channel structure by
incorporating physical store and authorize distributors or retail shops in their channel,
because of this it became more accessible to customers. Omni-channel is the best channel
among the three, it incorporates all communication and interaction modes between seller and
consumer giving them seamless transaction and enhanced customer engagement leading to
customer loyalty.

In this topic, I’ve also learned the two types of non-store retailing which is the selling of
goods and services off retail store premises. With this knowledge, retailers can now start
widening their ways in reaching their customers, with innovation and strategic management,
this strategy can be a profitable tool for retailers. During pandemic, mobile stores have been
very active in reaching people and providing them with their needs. Another trend to look at
in retailing is the rise of e-commerce, this provides great platform for rising businesses to
widen their market reach. It is true that with technology, anything is possible, and we must
capitalize this progress in moderation and control
 Chapter 4: Strategic Retail Planning and Analysis
In this topic, an in-depth discussion of a retail planning was emphasized. This topic was
directed to retailers as it will help them achieve significant success if this steps was achieved.
Retailers should first identify what they want to achieve, it should be measurable and must be
expressed in numbers, this helps retailers redirect their operation if they get lost in the
process. After setting objective, retailers now proceed with analyzing the market environment
such as environmental impact, consumer buying behavior, competition within the same
market, this will help retailers understand what to do and how to do it. After analyzing the
situation in the market, retailers should also analyze the customer and purchasing power of
the customer within the market, this will help them in positioning their product and
differentiate themselves in the competition. After completing the first three steps, retailers
now create strategies to achieve their goals, these are short term actions that take immediate
effect on their process. The last and most important is implementing the standards and
practices in retail planning to make sure of its continual success and benefit for retailers.

We have mentioned the differentiation strategy earlier, and this has been one of the
significant topics in this discussion. Without differentiation strategy, retailers would have
hard time in getting sales and attracting customers as they were competing in the same
market with other competitors. And so, strategic planning comes to play. Retailers should
invest in good and strategic planning; this might seem complicated but retailers benefit so
much just implementing this in their organization. A few steps have been laid out, retailers
first identify their objectives and anchor their actions on those objectives, evaluate the
environment where the business thrives, analyze competition, trends in marketing, consumer
behavior, and financial capability. Retail audit should also be practiced in a retail setting,
retailers must review store operations such as the health and safety of the employees and their
products, make sure that it was stored in a right storage room at a right temperature, sanitary
requirements should also have met. Retailers should also conduct loss prevention audits
ensuring that fraud and inventory shrinkage are avoided. Merchandising audit should also be
implemented, this can be done by evaluating assortment, pricing, and promotional activities.
 Chapter 5: Trade Area Analysis and Site Selection
This topic outlines the steps, ways, and strategies in establishing a retail store. When looking
for site to establish a retail store, it important to first analyze the environment the prospect
site is located, factors such as community practices and habits, lifestyle, site situation, and
weather conditions. Economic factors are one of the main aspect of business success, retailers
should assess the variables that impacts the economy as a whole, as well as individual
businesses including tax rates, exchange rates, inflation rate, labor supply and demand.
Customer’s demographic factors should also be assessed such as age, gender, income,
education, individual lifestyle and habits. These factors are essential in establishing a site for
retail store to ensure its sustainability in the long run. A lot of businesses was closed out
because of the failure in evaluating these factors before establishing a site or store. Hence, it
is important for retailers to select the best site possible when establishing a retail store,
customer data are available online and some software was built to cater those needs.
Analyzing trade area will be very important in a retailer’s success, it is the geographic area
that accounts for majority of store sales and customers. Retailers should always select trade
areas that majority of shoppers or customers are located in order to increase high chance of
sales. There are shopping areas that are intentionally built for shopping purposes and expect
that 50-80% of the population within a geographic area was located in this place, however
shopping centers aren’t always built for the same purpose, some are for lifestyle,
entertainment, or general shopping; retailers should be aware of this. There are also
unplanned shopping areas or spaces that developed over time, some customers would linger
here but retailers should be careful that their products should match on the sites they want to
penetrate in. Relatively expensive items are located in shopping centers and malls, this
protects their image from the public.

To conclude, establishing a store isn’t really easy. It takes so much planning and
assessment; however, with the right planning, a site would be one of the major driving factors
of success and profitability. Retailers should deliberately assess such mentioned factors, do
research on where do much of the customers are located, identify the habits and lifestyle of
the buyers within the area.
 Chapter 6: Information System in Retail and CRM Software
In this chapter, various information system used in retail operation was discussed thoroughly.
There are systems designed for small retail operations which are called “simple systems”,
these systems encompass the daily operations of a retail store like point of sales which tracks
sales activity. There are also systems built for broader operations and designed for larger
enterprises which are called “complex systems” these systems are able to manage aspects of
business such as HRM, Finance, Supply Management, and Customer Relations.

In increasing productivity within the organization, employees must have access to wider data
and make use of this data to alleviate customer service, monitor productivity, and such,
thanks to data democratization. Where does this information stored to keep in use for
management? The answer is data warehousing; this allows information be stored in large data
bases for future usage. It is actually fascinating to know that these systems are critical in
every retail operation. For example, the use of Radio Frequency Identification(RFID) which
uses electromagnetic fields to automatically track tags attached to items. QR Code and are
known worldwide as the most efficient system in most transactions and operations, and this
has been widely utilized in most retail setting such as cashless payments, looking for product
information, and such; this convenience allows customer with ease of access to information
and the employee’s job might have reduced.

In a retail setting, two of the most used information systems are “Supply Chain
Management Systems” and “Customer Relationship Management Systems”. These two
systems have helped retail operations manager and staff to have access to their inventory and
customer data. For Supply Chain Management, this system ensures that the right inventory is
in the right place to meet anticipated demand; hence, this system is critical in maintain
profitability of the business as it should always meet customer demand. CRM are now
becoming the best tool to maintain customer, through CRM software and systems, customer
data may be available for managerial and strategic use such as customer profile and customer
activities. In this way, businesses and companies may have repositioned or strengthen its
positioning and differentiation strategies.
 Chapter 7: Retail Human Resource
This is the topic that I enjoyed the most, especially because this was our report. In this
chapter, an in-depth understanding of employee management was cultivated in every minds.
This topic outlines the hiring process, development phase of employee as well as the laws
protecting employees’ rights. One of the best highlight for me was the emphasis on giving
employee a safe and healthy work environment, work-life balance, and opportunity for all;
these variables affects employee’s commitment to the job and may affect his/her performance
which also affects the company’s productivity. This chapter also discussed the human
resource structure of the different types of retail operation, and concludes that a number and
roles of employee may vary depending on the scope of the operation. For instance, single
store may have only one employee performing managerial duties, selling duties, and
inventory management, whereas national chain may encompass broader and extensive roles
such as President (C.E.O) performing all the critical aspects such as planning, organizing,
directing, etc.

In this chapter, divisions in retail was also discussed, this contains executive which has a
C.E.O, finance which oversees income and expenses of the company and navigate complex
tax laws and consists of accountants, tax attorneys, and bookkeepers, operations and sales is
one of the divisions of retail and is as critical as the other as this division ensures smooth
operations both in sales and supply chain management and may consists of warehouse
operations manager and corporate sales manager. To monitor employee performance,
measures must be taken and applied. Productivity, employee engagement, and employee
turnover are the three performance measures used in retail organizations to maintain
employee’s satisfactory contribution to the organization, employee turnover is one of the
problems of the organizations as it gives headaches to them due to the costs and resources it
might take to hire new ones. In order to avoid such advent, organizations must focus in
keeping employee satisfied and happy with their job and with their co-workers.

Thus, the biggest learning would be to ensure inclusivity and equal opportunity. This
provides good impression for all aspiring candidates. The good thing was that employees are
now protected with laws strengthening the organizations commitment in giving their
employees the best journey.
 Chapter 8: Financial Strategies in Retail

This topic was no longer new to me, although this was still a great refresher course from the
accounting subjects we had back in first year. However, even though terms may have been
familiar to me, it’s applications in retail are fresh to me. Earlier we talked about the finance
division in retail, and now we dive deep with how this division is critical for them. First, in
order for company to ensure profitability not only to offset expenses by revenue but also to
monitor the return on assets which is the ratio of asset conversion into income. Retailers must
always ensure that each assets whether merchandise or physical equipment have high
conversion rate into cash or other receivables. Another factor to look at is the income
statement of a retail operation, this provides financial information regarding the income
obtained by the retail operation in a certain period after reducing all the operational expenses
and taxes.

For retailers to maximize profitability, it is important for them to know that investing in fixed
assets might be a good and bad decision for them, though fixed assets are critical in the
efficiency of their operations it is important to note that this fixed asset is depreciating so they
must ensure that their fixed assets lasts long. Another interesting term is liabilities which
ensures that retailers can still continue its operations even in at stake moments, however
retailers must be aware that liabilities are obligations and some of them has interests that may
rise significantly if not paid in due terms so retailers must always pay debts before or within
grace periods. For retailers to sustain its operations, it’s important to have stockholders or
investors that will provide mutual benefits to each of them. To maintain investors, retailers
must know that they should ensure high owner’s equity or the return on their investment.

Hence, retailers must always keep in track of their financial performance because it may
affect their sustainability to thrive and compete in the market. Hiring such professionals
would be a great advantage to ensure accuracy in financial reports which will be a basis for
strategic planning. For small retailers, being financially knowledgeable are critical especially
that most of them probably don’t have financial experts to help them with their finances so it
is very important for them to have knowledge in making income statement, monitoring asset
turnover, managing liabilities and such.
 Chapter 9: Retail operations and Managing the Store

In this topic, finding some personnel was discussed, this will be critical in the daily
operations of a retail store. One of the first few steps in hiring is screening prospective
employees, in this process interviewers are using structured interview or unstructured
interview. Structured interview is composed of pre-determined questions and provides wide
range of information about candidates, this was also a calmer interview setting if the
candidate was prepared for the interview questions. Unstructured interview is unplanned or
some random questions for prospective employees, this creates a more relaxed interview
setting because the prospective employee will be of less pressure and might also foster
healthy conversation. After screening the employees, successful applicant will proceed with
trainings either thru lectures or practice. Training employee will be very important to
company’s productivity, of course you don’t want to exploit your resources to someone who
isn’t capable of returning the favor to your company or someone whom you can’t benefit
with so, not only training employees will provide maximum efficiency in their jobs but it will
also motivate them to work more because they now that the company values them, and this is
same with a retail setting through training we outline the expectations we have for the
employees thus making sure that employees meet customer expectations.

Now, we can see that retailers have pressure on their sides to hire employees not only to
fulfill their jobs, but someone who can also be trusted in their jobs. All retailers don’t want
inventory shrinkage, and so it is must that every retailer should carefully select employees
and make sure to monitor every daily inventories. Assigning employees to specific tasks will
be easy for retailers to identify which person will be held accountable if problem has
occurred, compared to giving employees multiple tasks which could also affect their
performance and fire back in the near future.
 Chapter 10: Merchandise Management

In this topic, we dive deep in the retail process of a retail store which is commonly the
merchandise management. Sourcing of goods and products and planning when and how to
display stocks are vital in ensuring that customers are able to see and get the product they
want and need. There are a series of substantial management practices involved to maximize
profitability and enhance customer experience. The first one is merchandise buying, this
involves sourcing of goods from wholesalers or suppliers; ensuring a high quality and high
standard production will be very important to sustain the business’s credibility and image.
Retail managers must always select reliable suppliers and build strong relationships with
them to get some discounts and smooth delivery process. The second is retail planning, for a
retailer to achieve maximum profitability, limiting mark down and exceeding target sales are
the focus. In this retail planning, retailers should always strategically align mark prices with
customer demand and market trends, take note also that some would always prefer higher
mark prices as long as it will benefit the customers much more than the its monetary value, so
lowering prices isn’t always the only option to achieve ultimate success but ensuring the
value of the products and its benefits. The third one is merchandise operations, to achieve all
other areas of retail management, one must act on it, plans must be executed and applied.

Forecasting has helped retailers predict future trends by using historical data, this will help
them anticipate demands and prepare their inventories to meet the demand. With so much
tasks to carry on the retailers, getting a merchandise planner may ease the burden for
retailers. Merchandise planner will assist retailers in making sure that the items are sourced
from a quality brand and strategically allocate the merchandise to create high customer traffic
and enhance customer engagement for a possible repeat purchase. To conclude this topic, this
was one of the most interesting topic especially for us future marketers, it gives a wider view
of what to expect in a retail setting and in time a hopes to apply the learning we’ve got if we
become retailers one day or we manage one.