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Find out how to win profitably in the world
cup competition.
Below, we have created a list of category management and retail books, we believe may be of interest to our readers.
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A Category Management guide from Neilsen. |
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Retail Management Books Leonard H. Roberts, Chairman, RadioShack
I have never
read a book on retail management that I have agreed with so much and
so deeply.
Garrett Boone, Chairman,
The Container Store Retail Success!
makes good on its tall-order promise to help the reader "increase
sales, maximize profits, and wow customers."
Book Description
Paco
Underhill, author of Why We Buy, wrote the foreword to Retail Success!
Here's how he describes the book. If you look at the graduates of
the five leading business schools in the U.S. over the past fifty
years and look at the first job graduates took with their new MBA
in hand, only a tiny percentage went to retail companies.
Retail for
the last millennia has been something people discovered they had in
their blood. Whether brilliant merchant or plodding vendor, retail
demanded a special commitment. At any level the only thing guaranteed
was hard work. The point of entry, if it wasn't through family, was
often by accident. A part-time job that turned full-time. Discovering
a flair or talent for something that precipitated the need to trade.
For many senior executives the retail job offer came as a sideways
career move. For many small merchants the step into the retail abyss
came from the desire to work for themselves. However, running a store
or a chain of stores is harder than it looks from the outside. Giving
good store means understanding layout and merchandising. It means
being able to lead and inspire employees. It means delivering on your
promise to the customer consistently day after day. Being a good merchant
has never been easy.
The great merchants of the twentieth century
learned the details of their craft the hard way--by doing it. They
succeed by guts, instinct, and ability to stay focused. If they were
lucky, they had a mentor. Someone who brought insight out of chaos.
Someone who was willing to teach and help revisit the fundamentals.
Someone who could look and listen. For every merchant or aspiring
merchant who has missed having that personal mentor, there is George
Whalin.
Unlike Columbia Business School professors, George never uses
a twenty-five cent word when a nickel word would do just fine. There
are no flow charts or fancy three-dimensional diagrams. George dispenses
plain and straightforward good advice. From small comic book store
owners to the CEO of giant retail chains, George has been a mentor,
coach, and cheerleader. In person, George inspires calm and confidence.
He's old enough and gray enough to inspire trust and yet he has an
easy laugh and melodious voice that is a pleasure to listen to. In
this new book, that sonorous and easy tone comes right through the
printed words on the page. If you are in retail, time never comes
to you in big chunks. You get breaks, some when you are bone weary,
others when you just need to hide for a few minutes. Believe me, George
understands. To be honest, you don't have to read this book cover
to cover. You don't have to start at the beginning. You can flip and
surf, dip and sip. But if you have anything to do with retail, I do
recommend that you get to know George and this book is a great place
to start. |
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From Publishers Weekly
In this no-nonsense guide to
beating the competition, Calloway, a branding and competitive positioning
consultant with clients like BMW and IBM, offers hope to companies
confronting a constantly changing and increasingly competitive marketplace.
Success, he says, lies in distinguishing yourself from others and
forging emotional connections with customers. Before you do anything
else, Calloway says, you must answer the question, "Who are you?"
unambiguously and with fervor. If your response is vague and uninspiring,
Calloway predicts failure, since a lame answer signals lack of vision,
focus and commitment, elements he considers essential just to be in
the running. An advocate of corporate language that reinforces company
identity and motivates employees, Calloway shuns empty slogans and
fashionable buzzwords. He snappily makes his point by asking what
would have happened if Martin Luther King Jr. had proclaimed, "I Have
a Strategic Plan" instead of "I Have a Dream." In no uncertain terms,
he asserts companies must pay close attention to each customer and
focus marketing on individuals, not abstract demographics. Anyone
spacing out while Calloway exhorts innovation and hard work to connect
with the customer base in ways that Starbucks, Southwest Airlines
and others have will hop to when he has a hypothetical customer ask,
"Why should I do business with you?" A company without a compelling
answer, Calloway believes, will see the customer go elsewhere. But
Calloway emphasizes triumph is possible with disciplined application
and provides case studies, interviews and anecdotes illustrating successful
approaches for earning customer loyalty and for setting businesses
apart in their fields. Copyright 2003 |
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Synopsis - Store Wars
The battle for mindspace and shelfspace
Judith Corstjens, Arrow Consultancy, Bois-le-Rois, France and Marcel
Corstjens, Professor of Marketing Insead, Fontainebleau, France Fast
moving consumer goods (FMCG) marketing has become a struggle between
manufacturers and retailers for control of Mindspace and Shelfspace.
Partnership is seen as an Indian wrestling match between manufacturers
and retailers: co-operation can only be gained from a position of
strength.
Marketing for FMCG manufacturers now involves understanding
retailers, their business and marketing strategies, their strengths
and their limitations. The major aim of modern marketing is to affect
the balance of power between retailers and their suppliers. Store
Wars sets out to equip the reader to thrive in this climate. "Advertising
agencies are in a unique and sensitive position as mercenaries in
the battle between manufacturers and retailers. They work for both
sides. This book provides, with its concept of mindspace and shelfspace,
a profound and contemporary insight into the anatomy of branding on
both sides of the divide." Martin Boase, Chairman, Omicom UK plc "The
battle for mindspace and shelfspace provides a practical framework
within which FMCG managers will need to test, adjust or even fundamentally
change their strategic address.
It describes the new reality." Dominic
Cadbury, Executive Chairman, Cadbury Schweppes plc "Marcel and Judy
have brought to bear their intellectual prowess and institutional
knowledge to provide an enlightening view of issues in modern retailing.
A book full of thought-provoking ideas for academics and practitioners
alike." Rajiv Lal, Professor of Marketing, Stanford University |
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Synopsis - The story of how Tesco used Clubcard - its
loyalty scheme - to reinvent itself and its relationship with its
customers, in the words of the people who were there.
Between 1995
and 2003, the UK's second largest grocer came not only to dominate
superketing in the UK, but created on or Europe's fastest growing
financial service companies, launched the world's largest internet
grocery business and created a global retail giant selling everything
from travel insurance to television. How was this achieved? By getting
to know its customers better. The masterminds behind this transformation
tell the inside story. It is a behind-the-scenes look at what customer
loyalty means, how it works, and how it should change the way companies
sell and the way we shop. |
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Synopsis This text represents a specialist text resource
for students of retail management or marketing courses and modules,
providing the reader with the opportunity to acquire a deeper knowledge
of a key area of retailing management - managing the product range.
The book is designed to be challenging, yet approachable to students,
linking established academic theory to the buying and merchandising
functions within retail organisations, and current operational practice.
Covering all retail operations which revolve around the procurement
of products, from stock level management, through allocation of outlet
space for products, to the placement of products within the retail
environment, this text is essential reading for anyone studying retail
product management or buying and merchandising as part of their degree
course.
The text also offers additional features, such as learning
objectives, boxed features, review questions, chapter introduction
and summary, and international and multi-sector case studies.
Book
Info (Taylor and Francis)
A text resource for students of retail management
or marketing, covering all retail operations surrounding the procurement
of products. Offers additional features such as review and discussion
questions, multi-sector mini-cases and case studies, and coverage
of international retail product management. Softcover. DLC: Retail
trade--Management.
Book Description Covering all retail operations
which revolve around the procurement of products, from stock level
management, through allocationof outlet space for products, to the
placement of products within the retail environment, this book is
essential reading for anyone studying retail product management or
buying and merchandising. |
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From the Inside Flap Preface The mere thought of taking
a math course causes most people to clench their teeth, break out
in a cold sweat, and start biting their fingernails. Relax! This course
is different. This course uses practical applications to help you
understand the tools of the trade. The approach is geared to help
you interpret industry words and thoughts and then use your calculators
(or computers) to translate your needs into clear mathematical answers.
You will approach this course in a very logical manner, with a step-by-step
approach, one that parallels your career path in the merchandising
industry.
From the start in Chapter 1, you will discover, with the
help of the text, which uses a worktext format, that your calculator
is a key tool for solving problems effectively.
Chapter 2 teaches
you the fundamentals of working with numbers. You look at the relationship
of whole numbers to parts so you can calculate sales figures, commission
statements, taxes, and discounts. With the numbers serving as the
foundation, you can then look at how the numbers reflect the consumer,
economic, fashion, and lifestyle trends that businesses address daily.
Once you grasp working with numbers, the work will flow, just as though
you were on the job, to more responsible tasks.
In Chapter 3 you will
look at some of the forms you may be asked to complete in a clerical
position or as an assistant buyer. Along with the forms, you will
learn what you will be filling in, and why. The information on these
forms comes from a buyer's purchases at market. You'll take an inside
look at the buyer's role in the marketplace, as he or she must negotiate
prices with the wholesalers to arrive at the sharpest terms and conditions
of sale, including product price, payment arrangements, and shipping
charges. The text then takes you to the retail end of merchandising,
pricing and reprising products.
In Chapters 4 and S you will apply
the basic math skills you learned in Chapter 2 to determine individual,
initial, average, cumulative, and maintained markups. Through the
exercises in Chapter 5, you will continue to develop strong critical
thinking skills that reinforce pricing decisions. Markdowns, a very
strong component in the competitive retailing world, are covered in
Chapter 6. As you move on in the text, you will see how job responsibilities
expand and provide further challenges. Part IV of the workbook is
designed to help merchandising majors learn the financial planning
methods used in the industry. This section covers six-month plans,
open to buy, and classification planning.
Chapter 7 introduces you
to the elements of six-month plans and explains why they are important
to a merchandising operation. From there you move on to Chapter 8,
where you will learn how to analyze and interpret what the numbers
mean and how a merchant can use these figures to judge the overall
"healthiness" of an operation.
Chapters 9 and 10 will carry you to
a different level, that of the planner. With a solid foundation in
analyzing numbers, adding on markup, and applying markdown pricing,
as a merchandiser you now plan stocks, balance the flow of new merchandise
and maintain balanced stocks, first by using last year's figures as
a guide in Chapter 9 and, then, in Chapter 10, by designing a plan
from scratch, just as you would do for a new business.
Chapter 11
helps you prepare buying plans for market, which are then reinforced
in Chapter 12 as you learn how to build strong merchandise assortments
through classification planning. Part V shows you how numbers serve
as tools to use in determining if a company's objectives and goals
have been met. Here you take a look at how buying, pricing, and planning
decisions are measured and evaluated. Again, using the skills from
Chapter 2, you will apply basic math skills to profit-and-loss statements
and income statements in Chapter 13. Sales per square foot, a key
factor in profitability, is introduced in Chapter 14. Part VI briefly
introduces the basics of corporate buying offices. With an increase
in national brand products and private labeling growing worldwide,
merchandisers faced with increasing competition now have to be able
to calculate the cost of goods sold and determine if it is feasible
to develop a product for a company. In this chapter you will learn
how to prepare cost sheets and apply the pricing concepts you learned
in Part III to determine if a product is competitive. Here you get
a glimpse of how merchandising strategies are developing for the 21st
century. The final section provides a check-in point for students.
Often students want to make sure they are doing the calculations correctly,
but if they are working outside the classroom, they don't have anyone
with whom to check. Basic formulas and the solutions to the odd-numbered
problems are given. So, relax! You will take this course step by step,
just like your career in the industry. This text will give you the
big picture, serving as a "reality check" for what really goes on
behind the store windows. Hands-on experience is always the first
step in on-the-job training, and this is a great place for all of
you to start. The skills you learn here will lead you to the next
step, coordinating this skill set with technology. Merchants today
depend on the speed and accuracy of information provided by computer
software programs. However, you first have to learn What is entered
into the programs What the data means How to interpret and develop
effective strategies based on the direction the numbers target Math
for Merchandising:
A Step-by-Step Approach guides you through the
common-sense steps needed as you develop visionary ideas, forecast
trends, and end up with financial success in the ever-changing fashion
merchandising world. Acknowledgments Completion of this project was
due in great part to my students, who, for many years, have challenged
me to find better and easier ways to teach them the merchandising
math skills needed for success in the job market. I am grateful for
their insistence and their one constantly repeated question, What
do I do first? I thank all of you for reading and improving the materials
in this manuscript over the years, but, most importantly, for the
confidence you've placed in me. . |
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In an effort to determine why people buy,
Paco Underhill and his detailed-oriented band of retail researchers
have camped out in stores over the course of 20 years, dedicating
their lives to the "science of shopping."
Armed with an array of video
equipment, store maps, and customer-profile sheets, Underhill and
his consulting firm, Envirosell, have observed over 900 aspects of
interaction between shopper and store. They've discovered that men
who take jeans into fitting rooms are more likely to buy than females
(65 percent vs. 25 percent). They've learned how the "butt-brush factor"
(bumped from behind, shoppers become irritated and move elsewhere)
makes women avoid narrow aisles. They've quantified the importance
of shopping baskets; contact between employees and shoppers; the "transition
zone" (the area just inside the store's entrance); and "circulation
patterns" (how shoppers move throughout a store). And they've explored
the relationship between a customer's amenability and profitability,
learning how good stores capitalize on a shopper's unspoken inclinations
and desires. Underhill, whose clients include McDonald's, Starbucks,
Estée Lauder, and Blockbuster, stocks Why We Buy with a wealth of
retail insights, showing how men are beginning to shop like women,
and how women have changed the way supermarkets are laid out. He also
looks to the future, projecting massive retail opportunities with
an aging baby-boom population and predicting how online retailing
will affect shopping malls. This lighthearted look at shopping is
highly recommended to anyone who buys or sells. --Rob McDonald --This
text refers to the Hardcover edition. |
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Synopsis
This text provides an introduction to the
understanding of changing consumer behavior and trends in managerial
practice in the grocery industry. |
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