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the subject is Marketing. 2nd Canadian edition

Lamb Chapter 14 Web Exercise

Retailing

Vignette: Roots is a retail success story. It has grown from a small family shoe store to a world contender, with the Olympics teams as notable customers.

Featured URL: www.roots.ca

The Old Fashioned Way
In the on-line article "The Value of Retailers" on the Retail Council of Canada site, Eldon Lautermilch, Saskatchewan's Minister of Economic and Co-operative Development, declares that retailers are the lifeblood of the Canadian economy, especially in Saskatchewan. Last year alone, retail sales contributed $8.1 billion to the province's economy. The importance of retailers goes far beyond the spreadsheet: many people in Saskatchewan depend on the retail industry for their paycheques.

Lautermilch's father started a family business, Old Fashioned Foods, in 1970, and the business is still growing and flourishing. The minister enjoys dealing with customers and staff in an ever-changing marketplace, and he plans to return to the business when he retires from his current duties. He is a champion for the retail industry in Saskatchewan and in Canada.

In each of the following categories, find one example of a Canadian retail business with a Web presence:

Department store Specialty store Full-line discount store
Supermarket Warehouse club Discount specialty

Give the name and URL for each site, and tell which category it represents.

Resources

Sites

Articles

Jobs


Extend the Activity

These Web Exercises provide an additional opportunity for exploration of Chapter 14.

1. Reviewing Retail on the Web

Browse the retail sites listed in the Resources section. Rank them from most to least useful. Award each site between 1 and 5 stars for effectiveness. Briefly describe each site, explaining the number of stars you have awarded it. What criteria are you using? Following are some suggested criteria. You may prefer to establish your own guidelines.

  • What are your first impressions about the design, layout, graphics, fonts, colours, and so on?
  • Is the site easy to use and carefully linked?
  • Is the material current and up to date? How this is indicated?
  • Will the target audience will find helpful and professional-quality information?
  • What problems do you observed? Is there too much hype? Are there misleading materials?
  • Are there useful applications for site visitors?

2. Retailing VS eTailing

eTailing is retailing on-line. Read the articles listed in the Resources section, and gather ideas for a debate. Draft a dozen interesting questions that your team could debate in class with other teams, with each team either for eTailing or for Retailing.

As an alternative, conduct research to find a guest speaker in your community who could talk to your class about how to be a successful Retailer and/or eTailer.

3. Careers in Retailing

In "Industry Report: Retailing Demographics Add Up to Jobs in Retailing," Dr. Lucy J. Reuben writes:

"In today's corporate environment, where firms are cutting thousands of office jobs each year, many students would be well-advised to consider a career in retailing. Based upon the Occupational Outlook Handbook, published by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, as many as 877,000 new jobs in retail sales may be created through the year 2000. According to Professor Jean Newhouse of Tuskegee University, in 1990 disposable income in the United States totalled more than $4 trillion, and more people are looking for things and spending money today. With the largest segment of the population--the babyboomers--well into their peak earning years, demographics dictate increased demands for many types of retail services."
-From The Black Collegian Online.

  • Look at the Canadian employment sites given in the Resources section.
  • Does this career sector, retailing, offer lots of opportunities?
  • What jobs do you find posted in retailing?


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Activity Resources Extend the Activity