With several departments under one roof,

a department store carries a wide variety

of shopping and specialty goods,
including apparel, cosmetics, house
wares, electronics, and sometimes
Restaurants straddle the line between a retailing
Department Stores furniture.
Each department is usually headed by a buyer who
establishment and a service establishment. Tangible selects the merchandise for his or her department
products are food and drink. Service elements are food and may also be responsible for promotion and
preparation and food service personnel.
Most large department stores are owned
by national chains, with few independent
Restaurants stores remaining.
To protect themselves from powerful new specialty retailers, discounters, outlets, and other price
cutters, department store managers are using several strategies.
A specialty store is not only a type of Specialty Stores Many department stores are repositioning themselves as specialty
store but also a method of retail outlets with a "store‑within‑a‑store" format, dividing departments
operations that specializes in a given into mini boutiques.
type of merchandise.
A typical specialty store carries a deep but narrow assortment of Department stores view their high level of service as the one
merchandise and offers attentive customer service and knowledgeable unique benefit they offer to consumers. Emphasizing service
sales clerks. rather than price enables them to compete with discounters.
Expansion and renovation of existing stores allows growth in
Price is usually of secondary importance to customers of new market areas and changes in merchandising directions and
specialty stores. images.

Major types of Retail Operations

Discount Stores

Discount stores are retail stores that are able to compete on

the basis of low prices, high turnover, and high volume
Convenience stores carry a limited line of high‑turnover
convenience goods and resemble miniature supermarkets.
Prices are higher than supermarkets because the stores offer
so many conveniences such as location, long hours, and fast
service. Convenience stores Americans spend approximately 10 percent of their disposable income
Supermarkets in supermarkets, which are large, departmentalized, self‑service
retailers that specialize in foodstuffs and some nonfood items.

With razor‑thin profit margins (1 to 2 percent) and the slow annual

population growth (less than 1 percent), supermarkets have had to
discover and exploit several demographic and lifestyle trends in
Drugstores order to prosper.
Superstores offer foods, non-foods, and services in a
store which is usually twice the size of a supermarket.
Drugstores stock pharmacy - related products and use services as their main draw.
Offering a wide variety of nontraditional goods and services under one
Customers are most attracted by the pharmacist, convenience, and acceptance of third-party prescription drug plans. roof is scrambled merchandising. Such merchandisers offer one-stop
shopping for many food and nonfood needs, and may include
pharmacies, flower shops, bookstores, salad bars, takeout food sections,
Drugstores have developed value-added services in order to compete with growing competition. dry cleaners, photo processing, health food sections, and banking.

Loyalty marketing programs reward loyal customers with discounts or gifts.