Retail Market Strategy

Introduction

A retail strategy is the means by which a retailer

achieves goals & objectives. A retailer formulates
strategy for Merchandise, Promotions & Private
Brands.

The main focus of a retail strategy is upon

Target Market
Retail Format
Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Retail Strategy

Target Market is the market segment for whom the

retailer plans to focus resources and are prospect
customers.

Retail Format is the retail mix a retailer has for his

customers.

Competitive Sustainable Advantage is the

difference a retailer has or an edge a retailer can
maintain over competitors for a longer period of time.

Building a Sustainable Competitive

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A retailer has seven opportunities to build such an

advantage over a longer period of time.
Customer Loyalty
Location
Human Resource Management
Distribution & Information System
Unique Merchandise
Relations with Vendors
Customer Services.

Sustainable Advantage

Customer Loyalty: A retailer can build customer loyalty by

Positioning is design and implementation of a retail mix to
create an image of the retailer.
Loyalty Programs are the activities that convince customers to
buy from a specific retailer.

Location: is a critical factor in consumer selection

for a store.

This is one competitive advantage that can not be

duplicated.

Sustainable Advantage

Human Resource Management

Employees play a pivotal role in its success.
Knowledgeable and skilled employees can help in
building customer loyalty.

Recruiting and retaining good employees is a hard

task.

If a retailer develops a strong and a positive

relationship with employees and organizational
structure is a good one then it would pay in the long
run.

Sustainable Advantage

Distribution & Information System

All retailers strive for efficient operations. They want
to provide what customers wish to have.
Unique Merchandise
A retailer can have an edge in this by developing his
private label brands.
Vendor Relations
A retailer must develop strong relations with the
vendors or suppliers of its products. As it may give
him certain exclusive rights.

Sustainable Advantage

Customer Services
Offering good service consistently is difficult as
humans are less consistent than machines. It is
required that customer service should be a natural
thing for all the team member of the retailer.
Most customers simply want to be treated well and
have basic simple requests.
Once a retailer earns service reputation than its an
advantage for a long time.

Growth Strategies

Growth is the ultimate objective & retailers have four

type of growth opportunities
Market Penetration

Market Expansion

Retail Format Development

Diversification

Market Penetration

A market penetration opportunity is about directing

efforts toward existing customers by using present
retailing format. This can be done by
Promotional Schemes

Opening new stores

Train staff for cross-selling & Add on Selling

Market Expansion

By Market Expansion we mean that you apply the

existing retail format to other segments and increase
sales.

Retail Format Development: It means that you

offer a different retail format (a format with a
different retail mix) to the same target market.

Diversification

Diversification opportunity means when a retailer

offers a new retail format to a market segment that is
not currently being served by him.

Related versus Unrelated Diversification

Vertical Integration means that retailers diversify in

wholesaling or manufacturing.

Strategic Retail Planning Process

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Strategic retail planning process is the set of steps a

retailer takes to develop a strategic retail plan.
Define the Business Mission
Conduct a Situation Audit
Identify Strategic Opportunities
Evaluate Strategic Opportunities
Establish Objectives & Allocate Resources
Develop a Retail Mix & Implement Strategy
Evaluate Performance & Adjust