Strategic Planning in Retail

Examines the complexities of strategic planning in retailing. Highlights the importance of a good knowledge of consumer basis as a foundation for a successful retailing strategy. Discusses four main factors contributing towards profit in the retailing industry: Needs or motives; Attitudes or patterns of consumption; Consumption habits; Purchasing habits. Analyses continual influences which must be considered as part of a coherent retailing programme: Synergy effect; Resources; Environmental factors; Changing ways of satisfying needs; The increased complexity of the retailing environment; Competition. Concludes that retailing is an extremely complex subject – whereas a producer is concerned about the various quality dimensions of his own product, a retailer is obliged to take care of a multiplicity of products, each bearing its own characteristics. Asserts that strategic planning is an effort to organise this variety, not an answer to solving it.