Roll No:- 141004315

Name of Student:- romi jindal

Course:- BBA 6TH Semester
Email:- romijindal998@gmail.com

Question 1.What are the main factors challenges international retailing? List down the
leading international retailers.
Factors challenges international retailing 5
List the leading international retailers 5

Ans1.(A)retailer may face the following challenges in international retailing:

New Environment: A retail organisation needs to understand the culture, values and ethics of a
country where it wishes to operate in order to fulfil the requirements of the customers of that
country. This requires extensive market research and huge cost, which can be a challenge for the
organisation. Distribution Network: It is another major challenge for new entrants in
international retailing. A retailer needs to maintain an efficient distribution network including
suppliers, manufacturers and vendors in order to fulfil the demands of customers. However, it is
difficult for a retailer (entering the international market for the first time) to establish an effective
distribution network in the initial years. Competition: Competition is a crucial aspect of any
kind of retail business that necessitates changes in the existing strategies of retailers. While
retailers enter a new market, they may find several other retailers already dealing in similar
products in the same market. In such a case, it is not easy for new entrants to establish their
brand identity
Advanced Technology: The advent of advance technologies has changed the entire scenario of
international retailing. Therefore, retailers are required to implement advance technologies in
order to strengthen their competitive position. However, this requires huge cost and efforts of
retailers. Differences in Language: It is one of the major challenges faced by retailers while
entering an international market. To enter a new market, retailers need to interact with many
people to conduct market research. Moreover, they need to communicate with suppliers,
customers and local workers in the country where they want to operate. For example, in India,
Hindi is the prime medium of conversation. On the other hand, in countries such as the UK and
the US, English is the commonly used language. However, adopting different languages is not
easy for retailers. In such a case, it becomes difficult for them to execute their global strategies
and plans.
Differences in Cultural Values: There are variances in individual values, ethics, perceptions
and traditions across countries. For instance, selling beef in Arabian markets is quite customary
but in India, it may affect the beliefs and values of different communities. Correspondingly,
Chinese people have preference for boiled food, while Indians are usually inclined towards spicy
food. Therefore, difference in cultural values also presents a huge challenge to the retailers aimed
at operating in different nations.
(B) Some of the leading international retailers are:-
・ IKEA - It is a Swedish organisation that deals in furniture items. IKEA operates more
than 140 stores in about 30 countries.
・ Toys “R”US- : It is one of the world’s largest toy retailers. It is a US-based organisation
that was founded in the year 1948. Today, the organisation has around 625 stores in its
home country
・ Metro: It is a Germany-based retailer that operates hypermarket and electronic media
shops.
・ Walmart: It is the world’s most popular, US-based retailer that deals in products such as
apparel, grocery items, vegetables, fruits, etc
・ Ahold: It is a Dutch retailer located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Ahold was founded in
the year 1887 and operates a number of discount stores, drug stores, supermarkets and
superstores

Question2Briefly discuss the internal resource and competitive advantages with examples.
Internal resource and 5
competitive advantages 5
Ans2.To survive in the market and gain an edge over its competitors, a retail organisation needs
to manage its internal resources effectively. These internal resources are:
Workforce: It plays an important role in strengthening the competitive position of a retail
organisation. Efficient and trained workforce helps an organisation to meet its pre-determined
goals and objectives effectively and boosts its sales. Moreover, it contributes in shaping
corporate culture and spreading best practices, shared values and messages. This ultimately helps
a retail organisation to gain an edge over its competitors
Storage Capacity: A store with sufficient space and attractive display always attracts consumers
and maximises sales. Therefore, it is important for a retailer to perform proper storage capacity
planning. Retailers should benchmark against other established players (national and global) and
adopt the ‘best practices’ followed by them in managing store space and storage capacity.
Technology: It is an important element for any organisation to stay competitive. Use of vending
machines, kiosks, barcode readers, online payments options and effective websites are some of
the best examples of technological advancement, which can strengthen the competitive position
of a retail organisation to a large extent. Nowadays, consumers have more choice. Non-
availability of a particular technological capacity can have negative consequences on the
financial performance of a retailer. For example, if a retailer does not have the facility of
receiving payment from credit or debit cards, customers could switch to a competitor who
provides such a payment facility. The efficient use of these internal resources can provide
competitive advantage to a retailer. For example, Walmart has achieved competitive advantage
by providing products at lower costs. Most of the retailers claim to offer merchandise at lower
cost than their competitors. So, how does Walmart achieve this competitive advantage? The
answer is that the company effacingly uses its employees and other internal resources. Walmart
extensively uses technology to increase efficiency of its store operations, supply chain, storage
and warehousing, transportation of merchandise and placement of replenishment orders.
Walmart has an effective logistics and supply chain system that helps the retailer in reducing
costs and achieving the competitive advantage.

Qusetion3.Explain in detail Expansion strategy.

Expansion strategy 10
Ans3 Expansion means opening more stores in more geographies. For example, domestic
retailers can expand their businesses by entering into global markets. Usually, retailers expand
their businesses when they have gained a competitive advantage in domestic markets or they
want to utilise their idle resources for expansion purposes. To do so, they have to formulate
different expansion strategies. In this section, let us study more about expansion strategies.
Expansion is adopted by retail organisations to accelerate their business growth. These strategies
widen the scope of organisations to expand customer groups, customer functions and alternative
technologies. Stiff competition in retail environment has led retailers to focus on strengthening
their existence through expansion and globalisation. In the retail sector, expansion can take place
in two ways:
・ Expanding retail business in domestic markets and
・ Entering into international markets
expand his business in Delhi and Chennai. So he needs to perform domestic market research and
scan the legal, social, political and economic environment of different states. On the other hand,
a retailer who wants to expand his business in global markets needs to shape a different strategy
based on the lifestyles, languages and cultures of people across countries. In order to formulate
an effective expansion strategy, retailers should consider the following points:
・ Setting clear objectives and determining the available modes of entry in domestic/global
markets.
・ Assessing the level of competition in the markets where they want to operate.
・ Adopting market penetration approaches.
・ Analysing the buying behaviour of the target audience.
・ Setting competitive prices for products.
・ Creating the interests of the target audience through effective promotions and pricing
strategies.
・ Abiding by the rules and regulations of governments of different countries.
・ Selecting appropriate locations for stores.
・ Developing long-term relationships with consumers.
・ Evaluating business performance.
Let us discuss these steps in detail. 1. Identifying the need for expansion: This is the first and
foremost step of strategy formulation. Before developing any strategy, retailers should identify
why they want to expand. As you have studied earlier, usually, retailers expand their businesses
when they have gained a competitive advantage in the domestic markets or they want to utilise
their idle resources for expansion purposes. However, many retailers expand their businesses just
to earn profits. 2. Setting achievable objectives: A strategy is said to be successful when the
desired objectives are accomplished by adopting that strategy. These objectives can only be
achieved if they are realistic. On the contrary, unrealistic objectives may result in heavy losses.
Irrespective of domestic and international expansion, retailers should align these objectives with
their overall business goals and objectives. 3. Studying the market environment: Retailers can
only expand their businesses successfully if they undertake a deep study about the market size,
competitors, culture, political and financial factors, price, threats, opportunities, etc. For
example, if you are planning to expand your food retail business in China, you should study
about the culture, tastes, values, lifestyles, perceptions and needs of the Chinese people. 4.
Segmenting the market: It involves dividing the market into smaller parts. Market segmentation
helps retailers to increase their sales and profitability by dividing consumers into different groups
with similar requirements, tastes, perceptions, etc. and targeting them accordingly. For example,
Zara, an apparel brand, targets the young audience of different countries. 5. Developing an
effective business network: A retail network is a chain of manufacturers, suppliers, wholesalers
and consumers. In order to expand their businesses, retailers should maintain cordial
relationships with all the members of their retail network.

Question4.What are the modes of retail promotion?

Modes of retail promotion 10
Ans4.. The main aim of promotion is to create sufficient demand for products, thereby,
increasing store traffic. Brands can be promoted through various communication modes such as
advertising, word of mouth and personal selling. However, different retailers use different modes
of promotion depending on their budget. Based on the required expenditures, the modes of retail
promotion are grouped into two categories - impersonal and personal. Let us discuss these modes
of retail promotion in detail in the following points:
Paid Impersonal Communication: It includes advertising and sales promotion through
contests, discount coupons, TV advertisements, marketing campaigns, etc. Such type of
communication incurs higher cost for retailers.
Paid Personal Communication: It is another type of paid communication. It happens through
face-to-face interaction. Paid personal communication involves paid staff who are responsible for
promoting the brands for consumers’ attention.
Unpaid Impersonal Communication: It involves providing information about products through
TV, newspapers, etc. This type of communication is unpaid as the expenditure is not paid by
retailers.
Unpaid Personal Communication: Such communication is conveyed by satisfied consumers to
their friends, colleagues, families, etc. Thus, it requires no expenditure. For example, if you have
a positive (or negative) experience in shopping from a particular retail store, you are most likely
to share the experience with your friends or family members.
The following are some of the promotional tools to gain the attention of consumers. Samples and
Free Trials: These are free product offerings that are delivered free of cost to the customers with
other products for promotional purpose.
1. Coupons: These are vouchers that entitle certain savings on specific product purchase to
the bearer.
2. Cash Refunds: It involves rebating certain amount of the price after the deal or
transaction.
 3. Product Warranties: These are promises or commitments made by an organisation for a
given time period from the date of purchase of product.

Question5.Mention some of the ways by which retailers can build relationship with the
customers.
ways by which retailers can build relationship with the customers 10.
Ans5.To establish cordial and long-term relationships with its customers, an organisation should
be consistent with its services and win its customers’ trust by providing high quality products
leading to their satisfaction. Customers remember services that fulfil their requirements for a
long time. To provide better services and retain customers, organisations have started applying
the concept of CRM. In simple words, CRM refers to the entire range of strategies adopted by
organisations to attract and retain customers. CRM also helps in building a loyal customer group
for a retailer. For example, if you make a purchase from Shoppers Stop or Reliance Foot print
store, you would be included in their membership program and provided with a membership
card. This card would accumulate points in your successive purchases and you would be
provided with discounts on the basis of the accumulated points. The concept of CRM was
introduced during the 1980s, which brought a revolutionary change in the business environment,
worldwide. Gradually, organisations started using CRM as an important marketing strategy. The
key purpose of this strategy is to attract new customers and retain the existing ones for a longer
period. Retailers can maintain cordial relationships with their customers in the following ways:
・ greeting customers in a pleasant manner in stores
・ providing various in-store services  communicating product information to customers
・ connecting with the customers through e-mails, SMSs, etc
・ asking customers for feedback
・ closing sale with long-lasting impression
・ giving equal importance to old customers
・ resolving customers’ issues with priority
・ initiating membership and loyalty programs
・ providing customised products and services according to the needs of the customers

Question6.Write short notes on:

a) Internet Retailing
b) Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
a) Internet Retailing 5
b) Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) 5

Ans6(A)As you know that the Internet has influenced our lives to a large extent in terms of
communication, resource sharing and managing tasks across the globe in a single stage.
Similarly, in retail, the Internet has brought revolutionary changes in the way retailers used to
conduct their businesses earlier. Before discussing the importance of the Internet in retail, let us
first discuss the meaning of the term ‘Internet.’ The Internet is a system that inter-connects
different computer networks through Internet Protocol Suite or IP to serve billions of users
across the world. It allows users to exchange data, ideas, news and opinions with each other from
any location in the world. In retail, the Internet has enabled retailers to get in touch with
manufacturers, wholesalers and customers from distant locations without spending too much
time and effort. These significant changes in retail have led to the evolution of the term ‘Internet
retailing.’ In this section, let us study more about the concept and importance of Internet
retailing. Internet retailing can be defined as a form of e-commerce, whereby consumers can
purchase retailers’ products and services over the Internet. In some instances, the term Internet
retailing is used synonymously with ‘online shopping’ and ‘online retailing.’ Internet retailing
has not only ensured the growth of retailers but has also helped retailers to reach out to
maximum number of consumers in a short span of time. In the recent years, India has also
witnessed significant impact of Internet retailing. Various online retail giants such as eBay.com,
Flipkart.com, and Myantra.com have attracted large number of Indian consumers within a very
short span of time
In the past few years, Indian consumers have experienced significant impact of online shopping.
According to a report presented by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of
India, in 2012, India has been identified as the fastest growing online market with around 41 per
cent rise as compared to China, Brazil and Russia (Daily Deal Media - Daily Deal News & Site
Reviews | Industry Data & Reports | Merchant Resources (2012). E-Commerce Catapults
Amongst Youth Throughout India.) Internet retailing targets consumers from different regions,
ages and tastes. In India, around 75 per cent of online consumers are aged 35 years or less.
(B)Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR is an emerging concept, which is now adopted by
most of the enterprises throughout the world. It is considered as the legal, moral, economic and
voluntary practice of an organisation that is anticipated by the society at a point of time. In other
words, the concept of CSR underlines that an organisation has moral, ethical and humanitarian
obligations towards the society in addition to earning a fair rate of return for its investors in
compliance with the law. Nowadays, customers are demanding that an enterprise should
understand its responsibility towards the society and people. CSR is also known as corporate
responsibility, corporate citizenship, responsible business, sustainable responsible business and
corporate social performance The concept of CSR is based on the fact that an enterprise operates
in the society and uses its resources; therefore, it has some moral responsibility towards the
society. When an enterprise adopts the principles of CSR, it fulfils its responsibilities towards
environment, employees, communities, stakeholders, consumers and other members of the
society. The enterprise performs its responsibility by encouraging growth and development of
the community and surroundings. Moreover, the enterprise works towards the elimination of
unfair trade practices and other practices that negatively affect the society and public interest,
regardless of its legality. Nowadays, CSR is based on the concept of people, planet and profit;
which means that an enterprise should be focused on improving its performance in both financial
and non-financial areas. Most of the enterprises include CSR in their decision-making process to
ensure that their decisions do not affect the society in a negative way.