The role of retailers is important in society. As quoted from the source; "Retail Management" book by Sajal Gupta Gurpreet Randhawa, there are several important roles retailers in society. As well as making a significant contribution to the economy, the retailer has always had a very important place in our personal and social life. From a very early age we are introduced to shopping environments and they become familiar and comfortable places in which to spend time.
As we get older we use shops as reference points when learning about the world and its opportunities. We see some shops as places we like to be and others as places we 'wouldn't be seen dead in', whilst others might be intimidating or places that we aspire to shop in one day. Retailers therefore play an important part in our own development and the way we formulate ideas about ourselves. Emery suggests that shops have five distinctive roles in addition to the earlier identified function as breaker of bulk:
1. Advertising and promotion: Shops introduce us to new products and remind us of old ones. Without shops, we would have to rely on other, often less suitable, media to discover what is on offer.
2. Shops provide advice and guidance: Many shop staff are experts in their products and routinely provide relatively unbiased advice and guidance on what best meets each consumer's specific requirements.
3. Shops negotiate and form contracts: Shops take the risk in what they sell and in what they may value for part-exchange, thereby relieving those further back in the supply chain of many problems of quality, suitability, valuation and legality. For example, the shopkeeper decides whether the alcohol purchaser is over 18 or not.
4. Shops take or arrange for payment and accept risk of default: Someone has to arrange for the secure transfer of funds, including funding any bridging period and to judge which payment instrument provides the appropriate certainty of completion.
5. Shops handle warranty claims and after-sales facilities: Shops provide the local points of responsibility when anything goes wrong and an entry point into repair and maintenance functions.
Retailers also provide an arena for us to carry our social activities. We may go shopping with a group of friends for clothes, or with a partner for home furnishings, or with the family for a day out combined with a visit to the cinema. Alternatively we may go shopping alone, in the hope that we can talk to a product expert about a specialist purchase that we are interested in making. Commercially viable small shops have traditionally provided goods and services to local consumers, provided an outlet for local produce, provided local job opportunities and acted as the central hub of a community.
Source: Taken from the book titled Retail Management by Sajal Gupta Gurpreet Randhawa, 2008 (Page6-7)
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