Unit 29: Understanding Retail - Elizabeth Hammond
In this assignment, I will be describing the overall structure and organisaton of the retail sector and
be comparing the functon of formats and locatons in retailing.
Definition of retailing – Commercial transacton in which a buyer intends to consume the goods or services
through personal, family or household use.
Brick + Click – When a business sells goods both in a physical store and online.
Customer – The individual of whom purchases the product
Consumer – The individual of whom consumes or uses the product.
Different typees of retailing –
Indeeendent – This is a type of small shops or outlets that are set up at a minimum of one locaton and a
maximum of three locatons by an individual, partnership or run by a family.
Catalogue – This is a form of retailing done by using a catalogue; whether that is a physical copy or online.
The typical merchant will sell a wide variety of products and the consumer/customer will pick the items that
they want and ofen fll in a sheet or make a phone call in order to process this purchase.
Internet - This is the process of buying products or services online, whether that is through an aucton like
site, a general website or online catalogue. The payments are done online via insertng the relevant payment
details and the products/service is then delivered to the required locaton via courier.
Multi-chains – This is a system that consists of a number a branch shops that are all owned by one overall
business. This was created in order to make the process more efcient and minimise the wastage of the
distributon process.
Auction sites – This type of retailing has become a highly popular way of buying and selling both second hand and
new goods. This method is when an individual uploads a product onto an online aucton site and individuals bid on the
product and the person with the highest bid by the tme the aucton tme runs out will win the bid and pay/receive the
product.
Deeartment store – This type of retailing is when a large establishment sells store space to existng
businesses and allows them to sell their product within the store. This is benefcial for both businesses as
external business will bring in customers to the department store but additonally, it ofers a cheaper rent
alternatve for the external business as opposed to rentng a whole storage space/store. aach diferent space
within the store that ofers diferent types of products is known as the department (clothes department,
makeup department etc).
Sueermarket – A supermarket is a large retail store that sells a wide variety of food and other household and
general goods. This will ofen be operated on a self-service basis however there are stll a large quantty of
tlls where staf will serve and process your purchases.
They will ofen have a large quantty of ‘departments’ that ofer diferent services and goods rather than just
food; such as travel, fnance or clothing.
Seecialist – A specialist store is a shop that will cater to one specifc retail market rather than having a larger
variety. This includes businesses like pharmacies, bookstores, optcians etc.
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In this assignment, I will be describing the overall structure and organisaton of the retail sector and
be comparing the functon of formats and locatons in retailing.
Definition of retailing – Commercial transacton in which a buyer intends to consume the goods or services
through personal, family or household use.
Brick + Click – When a business sells goods both in a physical store and online.
Customer – The individual of whom purchases the product
Consumer – The individual of whom consumes or uses the product.
Different typees of retailing –
Indeeendent – This is a type of small shops or outlets that are set up at a minimum of one locaton and a
maximum of three locatons by an individual, partnership or run by a family.
Catalogue – This is a form of retailing done by using a catalogue; whether that is a physical copy or online.
The typical merchant will sell a wide variety of products and the consumer/customer will pick the items that
they want and ofen fll in a sheet or make a phone call in order to process this purchase.
Internet - This is the process of buying products or services online, whether that is through an aucton like
site, a general website or online catalogue. The payments are done online via insertng the relevant payment
details and the products/service is then delivered to the required locaton via courier.
Multi-chains – This is a system that consists of a number a branch shops that are all owned by one overall
business. This was created in order to make the process more efcient and minimise the wastage of the
distributon process.
Auction sites – This type of retailing has become a highly popular way of buying and selling both second hand and
new goods. This method is when an individual uploads a product onto an online aucton site and individuals bid on the
product and the person with the highest bid by the tme the aucton tme runs out will win the bid and pay/receive the
product.
Deeartment store – This type of retailing is when a large establishment sells store space to existng
businesses and allows them to sell their product within the store. This is benefcial for both businesses as
external business will bring in customers to the department store but additonally, it ofers a cheaper rent
alternatve for the external business as opposed to rentng a whole storage space/store. aach diferent space
within the store that ofers diferent types of products is known as the department (clothes department,
makeup department etc).
Sueermarket – A supermarket is a large retail store that sells a wide variety of food and other household and
general goods. This will ofen be operated on a self-service basis however there are stll a large quantty of
tlls where staf will serve and process your purchases.
They will ofen have a large quantty of ‘departments’ that ofer diferent services and goods rather than just
food; such as travel, fnance or clothing.
Seecialist – A specialist store is a shop that will cater to one specifc retail market rather than having a larger
variety. This includes businesses like pharmacies, bookstores, optcians etc.
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