Contemporary IT-Assisted Retail Management

Abstract

Retailing can be defined as a set of specific business processes that add value to products and services sold to end users (e.g., Levy & Weitz, 2003). Such retail business processes refer to marketing processes (like assortment in order to provide end users with a required mix of products and services in terms of quantity as well as quality; and advice, advertising, and credit processes, which ease the purchase for end users, for example, offering special payment modes or informing end users about the offers) and logistics processes (such as transportation, breaking bulk, and inventory handling). The orchestration of these functions leads to various types of retail formats such as store-based retailers (e.g., supermarkets, hypermarkets, or category killers), non-store-based retailers (e.g., mail-order retailing or electronic commerce), and hybrid retailers (e.g., home delivery services or party sales services; Coughlan, Anderson, Stern, & El-Ansary, 2001).