Stores and Its Various types

Stores and Its Various types

Discount store is a retail store which sells products at prices lower than the typical market value. A "full-line discount store" or "mass merchandiser" may offer a wide assortment of goods with a focus on price rather than service, display, or wide choice - such as Aldi and Lidl; a "speciality", "single line", or "category killer" discount store may specialize in specific merchandise such as jewelry, electronic equipment, or electrical appliances, relying on bulk purchase and efficient distribution to keep down cost - such as Toys "R" Us and Staples.

DISCOUNT STORES

Discount stores are often defined as retail outlets that sell brand-name and private-brand merchandise at prices significantly lower than prices at conventional retailers. To offset the lower prices, a number of different strategies and tactics are used, depending on the type of discount retailer. Some of these strategies and tactics include: maintaining a high sales volume; keeping expenses down; negotiating lower wholesale prices; and cutting profit margins. Other tactics are: using inexpensive fixtures, decorations, and displays; minimizing free customer services and maximizing the use of self-service; carrying overstocks and discontinued products from other retailers and producers; and stocking off-season merchandise.

TYPES OF DISCOUNT STORES

Although the full-line department-discount retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target are what first come to mind when discussing discount stores, there are as number of other types of discount stores. The following are the common types of discount retailers.

Food-Oriented

Box (limited line) stores:

Limited number of product lines; very limited assortment of brands and sizes; few national brands; few perishables; products displayed in boxes with sides and tops cut off; very low prices; little atmosphere and few services; very little promotion (e.g., Aldi and Save-a-Lot).

Warehouse stores:

Moderate number of product lines but a low depth of assortments; carry manufacturer's brands bought discount wholesale at very low prices; limited atmosphere; few services; minimal promotion (e.g., Cub Foods).

General Merchandise

Full-line discount stores:

Extensive width and depth of assortments; average-to-good-quality products, often less fashionable; very competitive prices; average atmosphere and minimal services; significant advertising (e.g., Wal-Mart, Target, and Kmart).

Off-price chains:

Moderate width and very low depth of assortments; average to good quality; lower continuity; low prices; little atmosphere and few services; some limited promotion (e.g., T.J. Maxx and Burlington Coat Factory).

2. Convenience store

Convenience stores are small-sized stores that offer a limited range of grocery and other items that people are likely to need or want as a matter of convenience. Most are located on busy street corners or in gas stations. Both travelers and locals use these stores.

Travelers stopping for gas or for washroom facilities often appreciate the convenience of having food, drinks, reading material and maps available without having to go to a supermarket. Convenience stores are usually open even when supermarkets are closed and usually allow for quicker shopping and service. To compensate for the convenience they offer, the prices are often higher at these stores than they are at supermarkets.

Locals are likely to go to a convenience store when their regular supermarket is closed and they need to replace an item such as milk, toilet paper or bread that they run out of in the home. However, many locals also regularly buy lottery tickets, magazines and candy from these stores. Students often buy cold drinks and snack foods from convenience stores.

SUPERMARKETS

a large shop which sells most types of food and other goods needed in the home, in which people take from shelves the things they want to buy and pay for them as they leave.

A supermarket, a large form of the traditional grocery store, is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food and household products, organized into aisles. It is larger in size and has a wider selection than a traditional grocery store, but is smaller and more limited in the range of merchandise than a hypermarket or big-box market.

The supermarket typically comprises meat, fresh produce, dairy, and baked goods aisles, along with shelf space reserved for canned and packaged goods as well as for various non-food items such as kitchenware, household cleaners, pharmacy products and pet supplies. Some supermarkets also sell a variety of other household products that are consumed regularly, such as condoms (where permitted), medicine, and clothes, and some stores sell a much wider range of non-food products: DVDs, sporting equipment, board games, and seasonal items (e.g., Christmas wrapping paper in December).

Superstores

A big-box store (also supercenter, superstore, or megastore) is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The store may sell general dry goods in which case it is a department store, or may be limited to a particular specialty (such establishments are often called "category killers") or may also sell groceries, in which case some countries use the term hypermarket.

HYPERMARKETS

In commerce, a hypermarket is a superstore combining a supermarket and a department store. The result is an expansive retail facility carrying a wide range of products under one roof, including full groceries lines and general merchandise. In theory, hypermarkets allow customers to satisfy all their routine shopping needs in one trip.

Hypermarkets is a retail store that combines a department store and a grocery supermarket. Often a vary large establishment, hypermarkets offer a large variety of products such as appliances, clothing and groceries.

Hypermarkets offer shoppers a one-stop shopping experience. The idea behind this big box store is to provide consumers with all the goods they require, under one roof. Some of the more popular hypermarkets include the Wal-Mart Supercenter, Fred Meyer and Super Kmart.

WAREHOUSE CLUBS

A warehouse club is a retail store, usually selling a wide variety of merchandise, in which customers are required to buy large, wholesale quantities of the store's products, which makes these clubs attractive to both bargain hunters and small business owners. The clubs are able to keep prices low due to the no-frills format of the stores. In addition, customers may be required to pay annual membership fees in order to shop.

The concept is similar to the consumers' cooperative supermarkets found in Europe, though using bigger stores and not co-operatively owned. The use of members' prices without co-operative ownership is also sometimes used in bars and casinos.

Reference

Hoffman, K. Douglass (2006). Marketing principles and best practices (3rd ed.). Mason, OH: Thomson South-Western.

Kotler, Philip, and Armstrong, Gary (2006). Principles of marketing (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Levy, Michael, and Weitz, Barton A. (2004). Retailing management (5th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.