Strategic Marketing for Success in Retailing

A. Coskun Samli

Sep 1998 · Greenwood Publishing Group

About this ebook

Very little of marketing theory and knowledge has made its way into retailing practice, but its value in making profitable and effective retailing decisions is unquestioned. Samli, drawing upon three decades of experience and recognition as an expert in marketing research, offers retailing professionals and those who aspire to retailing careers a foundation for understanding what marketing theory is and how it can be linked successfully and profitably to retailing practice. Not a simplified set of steps to take, his book forces retailing decision makers to think for themselves and to use sound reasoning in their judgments. With an extensive review of retailing research and emphasis on small retail decision-making processes, plus discussions of human resource development, information technology, control mechanisms, and the international aspects of retailing, this book will find a special place in the list of books that must be read, not only by retailing professionals and students, but also their colleagues who teach retailing.

The planning and implementation of the strategic plan is dependent upon the identification of the retailer's target market, and then successfully catering to that market by using four key retailing mixes: goods and service mix, communication mix, pricing mix, and human resource mix. The retailing mixes are the controllables of retail management. Preparation of these mixes depends upon the knowledge, reasoning, availability of resources, and familiarity with the target markets.

About the author

A. COSKUN SAMLI is Research Professor of Marketing and International Business at the University of North Florida, Jacksonville. Author or coauthor of more than 200 scholarly articles, eight books, and 30 monographs, he has been invited as a distinguished scholar to deliver papers at more than a dozen universities. He has lectured in countries around the world, is active in the Fulbright Commission, serves on the review boards of seven major journals, and is a Senior Fellow in the Academy of Marketing Science. Among his previous books are Counterturbulence Marketing: A Proactive Strategy for Volatile Economic Times (1993), International Consumer Behavior: Its Impact on Marketing Strategy (1995), and Information-Driven Marketing Decisions: Development of Strategic Information Systems (1996).