Retail Marketing &Establishing and

Maintaining a RetailImage

"You never get a second chance to makea first impression."

What is an “Image” for aretailer?

• Image is the overall look of a store andthe series of mental pictures andfeelings it evokes within the beholder.For the retailer, developing a powerfulimage provides the opportunity toembody a single message, stand outfrom the competition and beremembered.

Importance of the RetailImage:

• Each retailer must have a strategy or plan to projectthe image with regard to its category, its competitors,and which makes customers respond to the image.Hence the firm must have a clear, consistent imageand continuously communicate the same.

• Studies indicate that a retailer has roughly sevenseconds to capture the attention of a passingcustomer. In that time the retailer needs to present adistinctive image that not only reaches out and grabsthe customer's attention, but also makes a positiveimpression within those precious few seconds.

Components of retail Image

Retail Image

Characteristics ofTarget market

Customer Service

Store location& Geographic

coverage

Merchandiseassortment& quality

PriceLevels

Atmospherics

Retail Marketing:-Advertising

-Public relations-Personal Selling

-Promotions

1. Characteristics of the targetmarket:

The retailer may use following techniques forselecting the target market:

1.Mass marketing (selling to a broad spectrum)e.g. supermarkets or drug stores

2.Concentrated marketing (concentrating onone specific group e.g. upscale men’s shoestore

3.Differentiated marketing, (aiming at two ormore distinct customer groups) departmentstores

2. Customer Service:

• The tangible and tangible activitiesundertaken by the retailer in conjunction withits merchandise and services that it sells isthe service.

• Eg.store hours, parking access, creditacceptance, caliber of salespeople, storeamenities such as rest rooms, toilets anddrinking water, delivery policies, amount o ftime spent on checkout etc

3. Store location andgeographic coverage

• A retailer has several store location decisionsto make that will determine the perception ofthe retailer in the minds of the public.– What general locations to go to?– What specific sites to be chosen?

• This depends on competitor’s locations’transportation access, population density,type of neighborhood, and nearness tosuppliers. Whether the retailer is a national,local or international player will alsocontribute to its image

4. Merchandise assortment,fashionability and quality

• The retailer decides about the quality ofgoods he wants to sell. The width of theassortment (number of different productcategories carried), depth of assortment (thevariety of products in a given category),innovativeness of the merchandise range,how fashion-forward or basic will themerchandise be etc.

5. Price levels

• The retailer will need to chose fromamongst several pricing techniques,such as leading/following pricing, cost-plus or demand oriented pricing, whatrange of prices to set etc.

6. Physical facilities andatmosphere/Atmospherics:

• This refers to the stores’ physicalcharacteristics that are used to developan image and draw customers– Exterior– General Interiors– Store layout– Interior displays (point of purchase

displays)

Store Exteriors

• Storefront• Marquee or store sign:• Entrances:• Display Windows• Visibility:• Uniqueness• Surrounding stores• Surrounding area• Parking

General Interiors• Flooring• Colours and lighting• Fixtures:• Wall textures:• Temperature:• Width of aisles:• Vertical transportation• Personnel• Merchandise• Prices (levels and displays)• Cash register placement• Technology and modernization

Store layout

Each store has a total store squarefootage that needs to be allocated toselling, merchandise, personnel andcustomers

• -Selling space• -Merchandise space• -Personnel space• -Customer space

Store layout

• Product grouping• Traffic flow

– Straight flow pattern– Curved flow pattern

• Department locations• Arrangements within departments

Interior displays (point ofpurchase displays)

Many shopping decisions are made at thepoint of purchase and hence thecommunication from the retailer to thecustomer is crucial at this point

• Assortment• Theme setting• Ensemble displays• Posters, signs and cards

7. Retail Marketing

• Retail marketing is any communicationby a retailer that informs, persuades orreminds the market about any aspect ofthe company/store.

7. Retail Marketing

• The following are the four elements ofthe Retail promotional Mix.– Mass advertising

- Public relations- Type of personal selling- Sales promotion

7. a) Advertising

• Advertising is paid, communicationtransmitted through mass media, and basedoutside the store. Advertising is different frompublicity, as it is paid for, whereas nopayment is made by the retailer for publicity.The advertising media can includenewspapers, radio, TV, the Web, magazines,hoardings.

• Retail advertising stress immediacy, often adsare run for specific, short periods of time.

Objectives of retail Advertising

• Increase short-term sales• Increase customer traffic• Develop or reinforce the retail image• Inform customers about goods and

service or company attributes• Help the sales personnel in their jobs• Develop a demand for private labels

7. b) Public relations

• This indicates any communication thatnurtures a favourable image for theretailer among the public (customers,investors, government, employees etc).It may be paid or unpaid. Publicity isany message transmitted through themedia, which is not paid for orcontrolled by the retailer

Objectives of Public relations

• Increase awareness of the retailer and itsofferings

• Maintain and improve a company image• Show the retailer as a contributor to the

public’s quality of life• Demonstrate innovativeness• Present a favourable message in a highly

believable manner• Minimize total promotion costs.

7. c) Personal Selling

• This involves oral communication withprospective customer for the purpose ofmaking sales. The level of personalselling utilized by the retailer dependson the image it wants to convey, thetypes of products sold, the level of self-service etc

Objectives of Personal Selling

• Persuade customers to buy• Stimulate sales of impulse items• Feedback information to company decision

makers• Provide adequate levels of customer service• Improve and maintain customer satisfaction• Create awareness of specific products

7.d) Sales Promotion

• Sales promotions is made up of all the paidcommunication activities apart fromadvertising, public relations and personalselling, that will stimulate the customer to buy.Included here are displays, contests,coupons, frequent shoppers programmes,prizes, samples, demonstrations, referral giftsetc

Objectives of Sales Promotion

• Increase short-term sales volume• Maintain customer loyalty• Emphasize novelty• Complementing other promotion tools

such as advertising

Examples of Promotional tools• Point –of-purchase promotion : Window, floor

and counter displays to remind a customerand stimulate impulse purchases.

• Contests :Customers compete for prizes bycompleting a contest (game) such as slogan,crossword. Winning is partially based on acorrect answer

• Sweepstakes: This is similar to a contest,except that participants fill out forms andwinners are picked out a random, no skill isinvolved.

Examples of Promotional tools• Coupons: Retailers advertise special

discounts for customers who redeemadvertised coupons, by presenting couponsto the retailer

• Frequent Shoppers programmes: Customersare given points, discounts or other rewardsbased on the rupee amounts they haveshopped. The points are accumulated toacquire merchandise/services.

• Prizes: Is also a method of rewardingcustomers for purchases, except that theretailer gives prizes immediately

Examples of Promotional tools• Samples; Free tastes or smells of items are given to

customers• Demonstrations: Products are shown cleaning floors,

mixing foods etc. Services may also be demonstrated• Referral gifts :Presents or gifts are given to current

customer when they bring in new customers• Matchboxes, pens, calendars, shopping bags etc:

Items that contain the retailer name and logo are givento customers

• Special events: Events may include fashion shows,autograph session with authors. Art exhibits, culturalevents, etc.

Thank you for listening