FSD2025 - RETAIL MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT

Module: 4 – Retail Operations and Space

Management
Store administration, premises management, inventory management,
store management, receipt management, customer service

Retail space management, store layout and design, promotions

strategy, relationship marketing strategies, retail marketing mix, retail
communication mix, POP displays
Store Administration
Store operations link the merchandise to the customers.
It covers resources, daily procedures, creating internal
controls and systems, establishing retailing functions, and
other day-to-day retail store operations.
FUNCTIONS OF STORE MANAGERS

 Managing employees
 Controlling costs
 Complying with legislations
 Store maintenance and upkeep
 Managing merchandise presentations
 Providing customer services
ROLE OF A STORE MANAGER
Store managers are responsible for increasing the
productivity of the firm’s investments in its employees
and real estate. He is involved in:
 Staff management- supervision, motivation, and retention
 Credit management
 Inventory management
 Store maintenance
 Energy management
Contd …
 House keeping
 Safety and security
 Merchandise shrinkages
 Insurance
 Crisis management
 Outsourcing store functions
CUSTOMER SERVICES AND SHOPPING
EXPERIENCES
Some of the services which can be provided by a retailer
include the following:
 Free installation of equipments within a specified time
period.
 Swift handling of claims and complaints.
 Guidance and information related to the functioning of
the products.
 Gift wrapping services.
MARKETING SYSTEMS AND
REPORTING
The corporate office needs periodic reports to keep track
of the functioning of the store. The information is useful
in strategic planning, establishing sales targets,
developing merchandising plans, designing promotional
strategies and reviewing performance.
COMMUNITY RELATIONS, PUBLIC
RELATIONS AND PUBLICITY
A retail store is closely linked to its neighborhood and
community from where it derives most of its business. It
is important for a retailer to establish relationships with
its community and other stakeholders including
consumers, investors, government, channel members,
employees, and the general public.
LEGISLATION ON RETAIL AND
COMPLIANCE
The store manager must have an understanding of the
legislation relating to retail business in India and ensure
complete compliance at the store level. This has become
very important with the growing awareness and the
establishments of human rights and consumer rights.
THE LAWS FOR THE STORE MANAGER
 No retail business can be started in India without a
requisite license under Shops and Establishment Act.
 Commercial/sales tax registration is necessary.
 Registration under Prevention of Food Adulteration Act is
essential if the firm is packaging and selling food
products.
 Drug license is mandatory if the retailer wants to sell
medical products.
Contd…
 Weight and Measures Act requires that a sticker be put
on every item, indicating the product and manufacturer’s
name, date of manufacture and expiry, maximum retail
price including tax.
 In case of franchising, an agreement with the franchisor
to that effect should cover all aspects of business.
 Any Act specific to the state in which the store is based.
INTERNATIONAL RETAIL OPERATIONS
International retail operations may be defined as the
operation by the single firm of shops, or other forms of
retail distribution, in more than one country. Three
factors are generally responsible for a retailer to establish
overseas business are the following:
 Ownership-specific advantages
 Location-specific advantages
 Internationalization advantages
Ownership-specific advantages
A firm has an innovatory product, process, or business
method that gives it competitive advantage in the
market.
Location-specific advantages

A potential host country has particular cost advantages or

market opportunities not present in the home country.
For retailing, differentials in the cost of land and labor, or
differentials in market growth and existing market
illustrate this factor.
Internationalization advantages
The organization or the firm or some environmental
factor results in ownership and location advantages only
being released through foreign direct investments.
 Atmospherics

• Atmospherics: a store's physical characteristics that are

used to develop a retail unit image and draw customers
• Describes the physical elements in a store's design that
appeals to consumers and encourages them to buy
• Classified in terms of exterior and interior atmospherics
 Atmospheric planning
• Increasingly gaining relevance for all kinds of retail setups
• Especially true for planned shopping centers and life style
stores
• Plays an important role in:
- creating brand positioning for the outlet
- attracting new customers
- facilitating the better organization of the store and
its merchandise
- enriching the shopping experience
 Role in retail strategy

1.  Enhances the image of the retail outlet

2. Attracts new customers
3. Creates a definite USP
4. Generates excitement
5. Facilitates easy movement inside the store
6. Facilitates access to merchandise inside the store
Contd ….
7. Ensures optimum utilization of retail space
8. Ensures effective and desired presentation of
merchandise
9. Reduces product search time for the customer
10. Reinforces the marketing communication of the
outlet
11. Influences the service quality experience
 Emotions
Physical environment
 
Store layout & design
  Customer Customer
Merchandise display Senses Senses
 
Music
 
Aroma
Key components of retail atmospherics
Four key components of atmospherics:
1. exterior atmospherics

   2. interior atmospherics
      3. store layout
      4. visual merchandising
 External atmospherics
• All aspects of the physical environment found outside the
store are external atmospherics
• Significantly affects store traffic and sales
• Generated by all aspects of the store exterior
• Store exterior includes store entrances, main board,
marquee, windows and lighting
Elements of exterior atmospherics

Storefront
Visibility
Marquee
Uniqueness
Entrances
Surrounding Stores
Interior atmospherics
• Interior atmospherics: refers to all aspects of physical
environment found inside the store
• Key ingredients: flooring, music, interior store design, and
level of cleanliness
• Affects sales, time spent in the store, and
approach/avoidance behavior of the target segment
• Point-of-purchase interaction and retail unit decoration
influences the customer and sales of the retail unit
 contd…
• Store’s physical environment influences shopping behavior
by mediating emotional states
• The retail unit environment presents various stimuli that are
perceived by the customer's senses
• Each stimulus offers many options with regard to shopping
behaviour (store music varies by volume, tempo, pitch and
texture, and by the specific songs played)
 Exterior Atmospherics Interior Atmospherics
Storefront Flooring Wall
Marquee Dead area Trial room
Entrances Lighting Aisles
Display windows Personnel
 
  Size of building Odor Temperature
  Visibility Cleanliness Fixtures
 
  Adjoining Stores
 
  Parking
  Accessibility Elements of retail
 
  store atmospherics
 
 
 
Store Layout
Floor space allocation for selling, Visual Merchandising
merchandise display,
and customer Assortment
Traffic Flow Theme
Department location Ensemble
Space/merchandise category Racks and shelves
Signage Payment Counters
 Dimension of atmospherics

Exterior atmospherics Interior atmospherics

• parking lot • aesthetics

• adequate parking • layout
• visibility in parking • display
lot • personnel
• building
appearance
 Store lay out
• Store layout: the interior retail store arrangement of
departments or groupings of merchandise
• Store arrangement:
- pays adequate attention to the expected movement
of the customers visiting the store
- space allotted to customers to shop
- adequate facilities for merchandise display
• Customer friendly store layouts motivate shoppers to
move around the store and shop more than what they
had planned
 Contd…
• Organized retail firms on the other hand, ensure sufficient
space within the store for customers and create a layout to
facilitate a specific pattern of traffic movement
• Most independent retailers prefer racks and shelves placed
along the walls
• Logical sequencing and category adjacency is essential in
planning store layout
• Store layout planning involves decisions about allocation of
floor space, product groupings, and nature of traffic flow
Entry I

Entry 2
 Visual merchandising
• Visual merchandising or display is the presentation of
products in order to sell them
• Key aspects: store floor plan, store windows, signs,
merchandise display, space design, fixtures and
hardware
• More sophisticated and encompassing and goes beyond
merely arranging merchandise for easy access to
customers.
• Process set in motion with designing the floor plan of
the store, placing of mannequins, etc,.
 Wall displays
• Slatwall is a popular wall system used to display
merchandise and maximize the total use of wall areas
• Slatwall panels and accessories allow complete versatility to
display merchandise on the panel
• Give a clean and streamlined appearance
• Slotted wall standards are effective for displaying heavier
merchandise and allowing the display of more merchandise
on wall areas
• Hardware accessories such as shelving brackets, hangrail
brackets, and face-outs provide organized and effective
merchandise presentation
Floor fixtures
• Gridwall panels and accessories :
- a versatile fixture to utilize both wall-mounted applications
and freestanding floor displays
- durable, medium weight system in a variety of panel sizes,
which accept various display accessories for hanging,
shelving, and merchandising products
• Garment racks and displayers: garment racks and displayers
are beneficial to show and sell items using floor displays
• Display cases and counters: display cases and counters
feature sturdy construction and durable low-pressure
laminated finishes in solid colors and wood grain styles
• Metal shelving gondolas: metal shelving gondolas display a
number of products easily with total merchandising
flexibility 
 Product display fixtures
• Mannequins and body forms
- essential for enhancing merchandise
- make it easier for customers to visualize how clothing
will look on the wearer
- traditional life size mannequins offer a flattering look to
clothing
- most effective way to sell merchandise
• Clear acrylic displays
- offer many innovative fixtures
- give a clean look with the greatest eye appeal for products
- help the retailer sell more merchandise
- display items on slatwall, gridwall, and countertop use
- useful for displaying accessory items
Promotional items
• Window signs and banners
- traffic-stoppers and create an opportunity to get a
shopper’s attention
- many retailers underestimate the powerful pull of an
effective window sign
- a retail store sell merchandise to shoppers by attracting
then with effective signs, banners, and promotional
displays
Contd…
- a well thought out and effectively signed promotional
interior can be a call to action for shoppers
- using promotional signs and sign holders, and colorful
sales tags as a visual hook can attract customer response
and help increase sales
 Lighting fixtures
• Track lighting enhances color and vivid color sell
merchandise

• Used for perimeter lighting and illuminating wall displays

• Used as accent lighting for highlighting specific merchandise

adding excitement and drawing attention to merchandise
 Store space management
• Retail space allocation decisions are conceived and
implemented at department level, category level, and the
SKU level for big departmental super market stores
• Space allocation: process of distributing the right
amount of space to the right merchandise at the right time
according to a detailed analysis of customer demand
• Retailers normally depend on historical data or on their
experience for allocating space (common with retailers
using unorganized formats)
• Sales and profitability are bases for space allocation
 Walls as retail selling tools
• Walls are the largest selling fixture in the retailer’s
overall selling strategy
• Meet several visual-merchandising objectives
-captures shopper attention as they enter the retail
space
-wall displays draw shoppers into the store and exposing
them to more merchandise
-communicates fashion information
-encourages multiple purchases
-act as a way-finding tool and guides shoppers to
products
-these reinforce the retailer’s atmospheric intent
 Color planning
Color Schemes
- complementary schemes
- split-complementary schemes
- double-complementary schemes
- triadic schemes
- analogous schemes (or color families)
- monochromatic schemes 
Physical materials in store designing
Materials used in retail store designing

Type of material for flooring Type of material for walls

- carpet (designer, one-color, multi- - plaster (painted, raw paint effect)
color) -- glass (opaque, tainted, colored)
- wood work (polished/unpolished) - paneling (wood, steel, dark,
- tiles (terra-cotta, marble, mosaic, light, illuminated)
sun mica )
 - ceramic tiles
- rubber/ plastic