The Goal and Objectives of Retail Merchandising
The primacy goal of any retail merchandising system is to influence potential consumers to buy a particular retail store. Retail merchandising aims, then, to influence not only what merchandise the consumer will purchase, but also where that transection will take place.
In order to achieve this ultimate goal of a retail transection, the merchant must meet these more immediate objective: *
1. Forecasting accurately what the store’s customers will want and when they will want it, and estimating how much they will needs, in kinds of goods, quantities, styles, and prices.
2. Purchasing goods as economically as possible.
3. Conserving and manipulating capital, by buying only those goods likely to sell well.
4. Using effective sales promotion, including advertising, display, and sales techniques that will induce customers to come to the store and purchase the available goods.
5. Building a permanent clientele and community goodwill.
Implicit within these these five basic objectives is the merchant’s obligation to have the right goods, in the right place, at the right time, in the right quantities, and at a price that will both stimulate the consumer to buy and compensate the merchant for the efforts in the planning, buying, and controlling process.