"An Overview on Retailing"

The word 'Retail' is derived from a French word with the prefix re and the verb tailer meaning"to cut again". Evidently, retail trade is one that cuts off smaller portions from large lumps ofgoods. It is a process through which goods are transported to final consumers. In other words,retailing consists of the activities involved in selling directly to the ultimate consumer forpersonal, non-business use. It embraces the direct-to-customer sales activities of the producer,whether through his own stores by house-to-house canvassing or by mail-order business. Heperforms many marketing activities such as buying, selling, grading, risk-trading, anddeveloping information about customers’ wants. A retailer may sell infrequently to industrialusers, but these are wholesale transactions, not retail sales. If over one half of the amount ofvolume of business comes from sales to ultimate consumers, i.e. sales at retail, he is classifiedas a retailer. Retailing occurs in all marketing channels for consumer products.