Retail is the sale of goods and services from individuals or businesses to the end-user. Retailers are part of an integrated system called the supply chain. A retailer purchases goods or products in large quantities from manufacturers directly or through a wholesale, and then sells smaller quantities to the consumer for a profit. Retailing can be done in either fixed locations like stores or markets, door-to-door or by delivery. Retailing includes subordinated services, such as delivery. The term "retailer" is also applied where a service provider services the needs of a large number of individuals, such as for the public. Shops may be on residential streets, streets with few or no houses or in a shopping mall. Shopping streets may be for pedestrians only. Sometimes a shopping street has a partial or full roof to protect customers from precipitation. Online retailing, a type of electronic commerce used for business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions and mail order, are forms of non-shop retailing.
A marketplace
is a location where goods and services are exchanged. The traditional market
square is a city square where traders set up stalls and buyers
browse the stores. This kind of market is very old, and countless such markets
are still in operation around the whole world.
In some parts of the world, the retail business is still dominated by small family-run stores, but this market is increasingly being taken over by large retail chains.
Retail is usually classified by type of products as follows:
- Food products, Hard goods or durable goods , Soft goods
There are the following types of retailers by marketing strategy:
- Department stores , Discount
stores , Warehouse stores , warehouse
clubs , Variety stores , Demographic ,
Mom-And-Pop , Specialty stores, Convenience stores, Hypermarkets,
Malls, Category
killers or Category Specialist, E-tailers,
Vending Machines, Automated Retail , Big-box
stores.