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| Retail Marketing and the Small Company |
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By: Helton Haddad This article presents the practical application of Retailing Marketing, adapted to the small company, analysing a real case, the Emporion. This store is a small retailer settlement that is differentiating its business and raising its income using an intensive program of market actions well structured. Retail Marketing and the small company A lot of small business have their attention focused on retailing. Usually, we see small stores spread over the country, at very diverse business branches. Inside the Marketing, there is a study area specially turned to understand and work this retail's reality. The one called Retail Marketing has already a huge type of knowledge to be applied at the reality of big ratailer companies. These don't just use it but also act with relevance on its improvement. But for the small company, on a certain way the major part of our ratailing, is it possible to use this Marketing knowledge in their business? In many consulting that I have done throught SEBRAE and my consulting company, in many cases I have obtained contact with small business which, right oriented, can use the retailing concepts to better generate satisfied clients and raising profits, since the adjusts are well done. An Important concept in Retail Marketing To do these adjusts, it is necessary to know a basic Retail Marketing concept, the one called "Retail Marketing Mix". These "retail compound" is an addition of every variable that defines the strategy and the market acting of a retailer. To sum up, we can think at these variables: product, price, place, place presentation, promotion and people. We can detail like this: Enlarging the concept of product, we must think at addicional services that can be added and offered, such as "delivery" or "express selling", a packing service and foward; Price: we consider in this variable not just the price of each item, but also the price policy of the company, which includes credit offering, discounts, credit card acceptance, etc. Here is generated one of the important aspects of a retailing image, in relation with the buying behavior, since it occurs the conflit "this is an expensive store" versus "this is a cheap store". Both the possibilities are valid, depending of the kind of business. None shopkeeper likes the expensive image but it can be very good a "premium price" policy for a luxury store, when this prices mean sofistication and exclusivity. Place: one of the variables most important in retailing, place defines a lot of the success or the failing of a business in attract its clients. Here there is both the concerning with the "macro-location"(in which city or neighborhood I should locate my store) and "micro-location" (in which street or building I should place my store). The location decision is very important, because it defines not just the target it will reach, but the number of prospects that will have access to the store. Depending of the kind of the business, the attractivity of a certain store can be very damaged by a equivocated place. It should always consider the influence area inherent to each place; Place Presentation: it's not enough to have a good place, this must have an efficient and coherent visual presentation to the business proposition. Here, we think at decoration, store layout, the goods' arrangement at the shelfs, illumination, music, in short, everything turned to create a pleasant and appropriate to selling atmosphere. Communication: the store needs to be recognized at the market. Therefore, well done communication includes advertising, promotion, spreed by press assessory, in short, a number of actions that attracts the client to the store and, once in there, make it easier and stimulate selling. For many segmented retailing, turned to attend specific clients, the direct marketing can also be used. But selling is not enough: retail stores that search for excellence try to mantain its clients forever, developng, for that, a post selling job and assistance to clients to solve eventual problems. Personal Attendance: retailing is known by personal sell, where the client is in direct contact with the salesperson, who will offer the efective selling service to sell desired goods. A good attendance must be gentle, and, specially, not focused on just "sell no matter what" , but orientated to satisfy the real customer needs. It's better to lose a imediate sell than to push a undesirable product for the client. He can regret the buying and blame the shop for that. Instead, if the client is well served, even if he doesn't buy anything he will be creating a positive image of the business shop, what certainly will bring him back in the future. These "6 Ps" are the most important variables that a retailer should consider to differentiate and well positionate its business in the market. In the consumer mind, there is a comparison between different stores based in these variables, in a subconscient way. The customer takes from this comparison its buying decision, and it's in this decison that the retailer wants to influence, to generate clients for its business. Doing this comparison is possible for large and small business. There is a basic idea in Retail Marketing, that defines a lot how this analysis can be useful. It's common to say that the retail success is in treating carefully the details related to the "6 Ps", what can be resumed as "retail is detail". Many authors describe that the retail success is in differentiating from its competitors in every aspect of the "6 Ps". It's sufficient to be a little better in each variable or, at least, in the majority, to have a significant differentiation. It's easy to illustrate this fact: if there are two stores that are competing and placed side by side, both with similar size and decoration, offering similar product line, price/discount policy, attendance and promotional policy, what store will a potential consumer choose to do its shopping? What will take the clients to prefer one or other business is basically, little differences that a store could stablish in relation to the other. Sometimes, these differences are so difficult to perceive that the market ends up divised into both stores, in a undifferentiated way. Here there is another key question for the retailer: "how to differentiate my store, in order to attract more clients?" In the end, maybe this "so friendly" business division is only damaging the performance of both companies, endangering their survival in long term. CONSULTED BIBLIOGRAPHY: DE FELIPE JR., Bernardo. Marketing para Pequenas Empresas. Brasília, Editora |