Retailing includes all the marketing activities done by traders to satiate the consumers’ demands while making profits. It involves selling goods or services directly to final consumers for their personal and business use.
A retailer is a middleman who sells mainly to the ultimate consumer. They may sell to institutions, but most of their sales are orchestrated to industrial or household consumers. He usually sells in small lots.
The retailer is the last link and the most crucial intermediary in distribution. Mass production in the present day set-up is geared to the requirements of the ultimate consumers.
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Retailers are directly and ultimately in touch with the ultimate consumers and thus occupy a strategic position in the whole chain of distribution. The main features of retail trading are the purchase of goods from wholesalers and selling in small lots to consumers.
Retail shops in developing countries are one of the oldest and most widely used business establishments in most countries. The retail business originated through the use of peddlers engaged in house-to-house sales.
This was followed by the opening of small retail shops usually owned by sole proprietors or small partnership firms, which are frequented by customers for obtaining their requirements.
Examples of these retailers are those small business owners situated at our house-step premises.
These include Mama Iyabo’s Retail Store, Alhaji Bala’s Retail Store, Mr. Okoro’s Spare Parts Store, etc.
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