EVALUATIVE REPORT

Evaluative Report on Retail Marketing Environment

Evaluative Report on Retail Marketing Environment

Introduction

In today's modern world of rapid development and expansion, it has become invariably important that some form of retribution and scrutiny should prevail in the area of marketing, in order to highlight and identify the key aspects of the trends that have been undertaken in the area of retail marketing.

Retail Marketing

Retail marketing implies the processes where buyers and sellers come into contact with the adoption of a business transaction. The transaction itself could either last for a lifetime (such as the nearby bakery, where unbranded bakery items, such as breads, eggs, cakes and confectionaries are offered) or could only occur one time (in case of an online shopping transaction). The general norm is that retail prevails in a strong, concrete infrastructure, where such dealings and transactions pave way for the purpose and objective of flourishing businesses and creating long-lasting, broad and profitable customer relationship patterns (Corstjens & Corstjens, 1999, pp.15).

Amongst the major examples that could be quoted as a success story is that of Tesco, UK's market leader in the industry of retailing, providing quality goods for the people of the country and earning a competitive position on both local and international levels (Dupuis & Dawson, 1999, pp.20). Born in the year 1919, the company has now made international presence and working zealously and with great tenacity to establish and maintain international presence in unexplored markets and platforms such as Middle East and Asia, which could turn out to be major profit sanctuaries for the company (Gilbert, 2003, pp.101).

Major companies that are involved in creating value and money simultaneously enhance their existing generic marketing strategies with a minimal presence in the offline or online marketplace follow retailing strategies (Kent & Omar, 2003, pp.80). This minimal presence involves retailers employing the internet as an additional promotional channel, and retailers incorporating traditional advertising and/or establishing their own warehouse facilities.

Establishing an even greater presence in the opposite marketplace, retailers combine their retailing strategies with online and offline sales channels to form brick and click strategies. They create these brick and click strategies through pursing generic marketing strategies that are grouped as strategic enhancement and strategic innovation (McGoldrick, 2002, pp.14).

Strategic enhancement and strategic innovation are differentiated by the following question: would the retailer be able to pursue this strategy if it were not involved with the Internet or offline marketplace? If yes, then the strategy is strategic enhancement; if no, then it is strategic innovation. Regardless of the purpose for venturing into the other marketplace, companies enhancing their existing or innovating sales strategies become bricks and clicks, creating or adding to multi-channel sales strategies (McGoldrick & Davies, 1995, pp.50).

By creating a presence in the other marketplace, retailers may enhance existing marketing strategies by adding a new channel to sell existing products and services to existing markets (market penetration) (Corstjens & Corstjens, 1999, pp.15). This strategy is referred to as strategic enhancement because it enables companies to defend ...