Retail

[1] At present, the meaning of the word retail (in English, French, Dutch, German and Spanish) refers to the sale of small quantities of items to consumers (as opposed to wholesale).

[4] Although the idea of retail is often associated with the purchase of goods, the term may be applied to service providers that sell to consumers.

[10] Eckhart and Bengtsson have argued that during the Song dynasty (960–1127), Chinese society developed a consumerist culture, where a high level of consumption was attainable for a wide variety of ordinary consumers rather than just the elite.

In Medieval England and Europe, relatively few permanent shops were to be found; instead, customers walked into the tradesman's workshops where they discussed purchasing options directly with tradesmen.

The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is often cited as the world's oldest continuously operating market; its construction began in 1455.

[15]By the 17th century, permanent shops with more regular trading hours were beginning to supplant markets and fairs as the main retail outlet.

Prior to the 18th century, the typical retail store had no counter, display cases, chairs, mirrors, changing rooms, etc.

However, the opportunity for the customer to browse merchandise, touch and feel products began to be available, with retail innovations from the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

[20] In major cities, the department store emerged in the mid- to late 19th century, and permanently reshaped shopping habits, and redefined concepts of service and luxury.

[21] Many of the early department stores were more than just a retail emporium; rather they were venues where shoppers could spend their leisure time and be entertained.

However, improvements in transport and postal services led several entrepreneurs on either side of the Atlantic to experiment with catalogue sales.

Gruen's vision was to create a shopping atmosphere where people felt so comfortable, they would spend more time in the environment, thereby enhancing opportunities for purchasing.

[26] The upward trend of increasing retail space was not consistent across nations and led in the early 21st century to a 2-fold difference in square footage per capita between the United States and Europe.

[33] In addition, the retail strategy, including service quality, has a significant and positive association with customer loyalty.

Customer service is the "sum of acts and elements that allow consumers to receive what they need or desire from [the] retail establishment."

Place decisions are primarily concerned with consumer access and may involve location, space utilisation and operating hours.

Macro factors include market characteristics (demographic, economic and socio-cultural), demand, competition and infrastructure (e.g. the availability of power, roads, public transport systems).

[39] Online stores are usually available 24 hours a day, and many consumers across the globe have Internet access both at work and at home.

Broadly, there are six approaches to pricing strategy mentioned in the marketing literature: operations-oriented,[40] revenue-oriented,[40] customer-oriented,[40] value-based,[41][42] relationship-oriented,[43] and socially-oriented.

[49] Two strategies to entice the buyer, money back guarantee and buy one get one free, were devised by 18th-century retail entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood.

[50][51] Retailers must also plan for customer preferred payment modes – e.g. cash, credit, lay-by, Electronic Funds Transfer at Point-of-Sale (EFTPOS).

This may result in financial problems for the workers, who while they are required to be available at all times if their work hours are to be maximized, may not have sufficient income to meet their family and other obligations.

As a result, transactional marketing raises follow-up problems such as poor after-sales service quality and a lack of feedback channels for both parties.

In addition, because retail enterprises needed to redevelop client relationships for each transaction, marketing costs were high and customer retention was low.

All these downsides to transactional marketing gradually pushed the retail industry towards establishing long-term cooperative relationships with customers.

The European Service Directive applies to all retail trade including periodic markets, street traders and peddlers.

Retailers enhance their analytics process and make better informed decisions thanks to big data, artificial intelligence, computer vision, and the Internet of Things.

The use of data by retailers is mostly evident in the following aspects, based on the above-mentioned new technologies:[77][78] Many leading brands choose to target tourists who specifically travel to shop or spend money while on vacation.

in 2012 the sector provides over a fifth of GDP in tourist-oriented island economies, as well as in other major countries such as Brazil, Pakistan, Russia, and Spain.

Among its bordering countries, on retail trade percentage of GDP, Armenia ranks more increased than Turkey, but it is still lower than Georgia.