Technology in retailing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Technology in retailing - Essay Example Retailing can take many form depending on the individual concerned since he/ she may decide to take on a door-to-door delivery system where he/ she goes to the consumer even if they at times might not have ordered the same (Baker, Grewal & Levy, 2004). This at times influence impulse buying. Another form involves the use of a given permanent location that may be a shop, mall or even market place. In this second scenario the customer only buys when they themselves have gone to the said place. From the above small description of what retailing is we can proceed and take a keen look at the various models of retailing we have. The first model involves independent retailers who are basically ones who have built a given business from its inception to its current state. They are those who we call the entrepreneurs who see to it that a business grows from an idea they had, its early stages of growth until it is fully established (Emmitt, 2012). Independent retailers are very different from t he second group of retailers who only acquire an already existing business. These retailers either acquire the business through buying the said business or at times it through inheritance. We can see that these group does not have the difficulties of coming up with a plan and executing it to inception. Theirs is just to maintain and improve on an already existing business. In this group we can say in one way or another may entail franchise where there is a purchase of a franchise which is like buying the legal approval to use a brand name, or the concept and business plan of an existing business. The final model of retailing we look at is the technology based business which involves the use of technology in the acquisition, retaining and servicing of consumer needs. Thus due to a still competition from already existing models of retailing, technological retailing has to establish and follow given guidelines in order to stay among the top models. After all is said and done we have to take a look at the E-strategies used in retailing to one way or another ensure the success and practicality of the retailing business (Baker, Grewal & Levy, 2004). The first option involves offline shopping which we have looked at in detailed in the previous paragraphs. It is also known as bricks where consumers are at liberty to try, feel and even measure or fit on product before they can acquire the said product. This is not to mean that they may accept returns from consumers as this varies depending on the terms and conditions of the retailer. In this category as we have seen may involve clothing stores, supermarkets and malls among other on location retailers. Another very familiar option involves the seeing of the products online and buying the same offline which is commonly known as bricks and some clicks.in these scenario, consumers tend to gather information about a given service or good online via the internet and after some comparison and analysis goes ahead to buy the sa id product in a store that has the same. This strategy might not work for the website operator especially if the site is not part of the ownership of the store (Emmitt, 2012). This is because a consumer might research on a given alien site and proceed to buy the product from a different store thus the website operator gets nothing. Another issue with online research before purchasing is that if the information on the site is