Retail management: a strategic approach, 12th ed.

Abstract

Welcome to Retail Management: A Strategic Approach. Our major goal is to present you with the most current, comprehensive, reader-friendly book and supplements on retail management possible. We want you to get thoroughly immersed in the subject matter, see how retail strategies are formed, look at the activities of a wide range of actual retailers (large and small, goods and services, domestic and global), and explore the possibility of a full-time career in retail management. Read through this preface and see what’s available to you. The concept of a strategic approach to retailing is the cornerstone of this book. With a strategic approach, the fundamental principle is that the retailer has to plan for and adapt to a complex, changing environment. Both opportunities and constraints must be considered. A retail strategy is the overall plan or framework of action that guides a retailer. Ideally, it will be at least one year in duration and outline the mission, goals, consumer market, overall and specific activities, and control mechanisms of the retailer. Without a pre-defined and well-integrated strategy, the firm may flounder and be unable to cope with the environment that surrounds it. Through our text, we want you to become a good retail planner and decision maker and be able to adapt to change. Since the first edition of Retail Management: A Strategic Approach, we have sought to be as contemporary and forward-looking as possible. We are proactive rather than reactive in our preparation of each edition. That is why we take this adage of Wal-Mart’s founder, the late Sam Walton, so seriously: “Commit to your business. Believe in it more than anybody else.”