Retail Management: Discount vs Department Stores in Australia

This report provides an analysis of retail management approaches in Australia, focusing on discount and departmental stores. It explores the evolution of retail markets, the merchandise offered in both types of stores, and the strategies they employ. The report also discusses the impact of technology and location on retail success, the importance of value-driven approaches and cost containment, and the significance of appealing to and identifying customers. Examples of Australian retailers like Kmart, Target, and Woolworths are used to illustrate key concepts, and the report concludes with insights into the future of retailing in the Australian market. Desklib provides access to this and other solved assignments for students.

Running head: RETAIL MANAGEMENT
Retail Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Executive Summary
The report has assisted in analyzing the various kinds of retail management approaches which
are being followed in the entire retail economy of Australia. Moreover, there are different
discount and departmental stores which are being followed by the various companies in
Australia. The different strategies have been analyzed which helped in managing the different
kinds of approaches of both retail stores and there were different recommendations provided
which helped in managing the overall brand image of the companies.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Notion of Discount Retail Stores...........................................................................................3
Notion of Departmental Retail Stores....................................................................................3
Fruition of Retail Markets..........................................................................................................4
Discount Market Merchandise in Australia...............................................................................4
Strategies of Discounted Stores in Australia..............................................................................5
Department Market Merchandise in Australia...........................................................................6
Strategies of Departmental Stores in Australia..........................................................................6
Technology and Location Applied in Retail Stores in Australia...............................................7
Value Driven and Containment of Cost in Australian Marketplace..........................................8
Importance of Appealing and Identifying Customers in Retail Markets...................................9
Future of Retailing in Australian Market...................................................................................9
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
The report throws a light on analysing the evolution of the different retail
management stores in the entire economy. There are various kinds of retail stores such as
discount and departmental stores in the economy which are required to be compared in terms
of the merchandise along with emphasis is required to be provided on the different kinds of
brand and customer relationship management which are being performed by the
organizations.
Notion of Discount Retail Stores
Discount retail stores is defined as the stores which sells various kinds of products and
services to the customers in the market at lower price than the original market price.
Moreover, this has been noticed that discount shops are not the variety kind of stores wherein
all the goods are being sold at a single price point (Chernev and Hamilton 2018).
For example- Kmart is one of the suitable examples which can be taken into
consideration which is situated in Australia which offers wide assortment of the goods and
services to the different customers wherein the main focus is on price rather than the service
or display.
Notion of Departmental Retail Stores
Departmental Retail Stores is the other concept in which this is the assortment in
which the companies deal with various kinds of products and they are selling the same to the
customers under one roof as well. However, this has been seen that in departmental stores,
there are various types of the departments which are separately working under one roof which
will help in analysing the preferences of the customers and try to fulfil their needs effectively
as well (Pearlson, Saunders and Galletta 2016).

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For example- Target Australia is one of the examples which is situated in Sydney,
Australia and the main motive of the company is to provide their target customers with
various products along with services under one roof. Similarly, Woolworths is the other
department store which is situated in Australia which provides the customers with the
different kinds of products under one roof and this helps the company in meeting demands of
the customers efficiently as well.
Fruition of Retail Markets
As commented by Hill, Jones and Schilling (2014), the retail market concept has
evolved in a drastic manner over the last few decades with the help of the advancement of the
technology in the different approaches which are being adopted by the different companies
such as Kmart, Target and Big W. With the introduction of the retail markets in the market,
this has introduced the online retailing in the market of Australia both globally as well as
locally.
In the present scenario, Kacker et al. (2016), has opined that more than 75% of the
individuals in Australian economy are using smartphone and the technology has become a
part of the entire process which is affecting the purchasing power of the customers in the
market as well. On the other hand, Pinto et al. (2018), has commented and hypothesised that
Woolworths has introduced the self-check out system in the various stores across Australia in
which this has been helpful in nature for attracting more customers in the organization.
Discount Market Merchandise in Australia
In discount market, the merchandise is different in nature in Australia in comparison
to the department market. It can be analysed that the discount stores are one kind of retail
stores which helps in offering merchandise for the discounted kind of price to the customers

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in the market (Kacker et al. 2016). However, this is different from high end fashion and
department stores in the market as discount stores offers wide variety or assortment of goods
and services to the different customers. It can be analysed that department stores are same
and closely related to the department stores as both of them provides different discount to the
customers on the products which are being sold by them. Discount shops helps in offering
merchandise to the different customers at cheaper price in comparison to the other stores
which are termed as the retail stores as well (Pinto et al. 2018).
Furthermore, this has been noticed that the different kinds of discount stores are part
of the different franchises or the chains operating in different parts of Australia. It has been
noticed and identified that discount stores in Australia apply for high volume along with low
profit margin strategy which helps the company in allowing themselves to offer merchandise
in lower rate in comparison to the other stores in the market.
Strategies of Discounted Stores in Australia
There are various types of strategy which have been adopted by the discounted stores
in Australia in which the low margin and high-volume strategy has been adopted by the
different Australian supermarkets which provides similar products and services at similar
kinds of prices which are lesser than the other retail stores (Chernev and Hamilton 2018).
For instance- Target is one of the discount stores which helps in meeting the different
demands of the customers at an affordable rate and this offers various products which are
available in other stores in a specific manner and there will be no such wide range of the
goods which is sold at discounted stores.
Lastly, in the discount stores this has been seen and analysed that there are different
kinds of products and services which is lower in comparison to the other stores in the same

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kind of vicinity. The actual trend of the discount stores has come into trend after the world
war II and in the year 1962, Kmart and Target have tried to open their respective discount
stores at the first locations. The different kinds of hypermarkets and supercentres are the
different kinds of discounted stores which provide the different goods and services at an
affordable ate to the different individuals in the market (Fernie and Sparks 2014).
Department Market Merchandise in Australia
On the other hand, this has been noticed that there are different department stores in
the Australian market which is similar in nature in comparison to discounted stores. In
departmental stores, this has been noticed that there are separate departments in one single
store which is being sold at one single store but at various departments (Lasserre 2017).
In the department stores, there are various departments such as clothing, jewellery
along with other combination of goods and services at an affordable rate. On the other hand,
in case of the different department stores, this can be noticed and analysed that there is no
such separate food courts or the play area available for the different children or the families
who will be visiting the store (Scarborough 2016).
Strategies of Departmental Stores in Australia
There are various kinds of strategies which are being adapted by the different
departmental stores in the Australian market. In departmental stores, this is required to be
analyzed that all the customers can shop for variety of the products such as jewelry, clothing
along with different accessories under one roof which will be essential for the company in
managing the popularity as well (Shin et al. 2017). In department stores, there are various
kinds of discounts which are being offered to the customers in the market and this helps the

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companies in being more popular and gain competitive advantage as this increases their
overall profitability.
For instance- Woolworths is one best example which can be taken into consideration
which helps the customers in receiving all the goods and services such as free home delivery
on purchase of the items form the stores of Woolworths in Australia and New Zealand.
Moreover, this has been seen that in Woolworths, there are various departments such as
groceries, magazines along with DVDs and in the recent times, the company has introduced
the health and beauty care products for the customers in the market which is helping them in
becoming popular in the comparison of the other competitors in the entire world.
Technology and Location Applied in Retail Stores in Australia
The technology plays a major role in the retail stores in all over the world as this is the
new technology. This has been analysed from the survey that there is more than 85.65% of
the individuals in the Australian economy who are using the different kinds of technology
such as mobile phones. They check out the various offers and other discounts which are being
offered by the retail stores in Australia (Varley 2014).
For instance- Woolworths is one such company which tried to implement the service
of self service and check out, however this was seen that the approach was not successful in
the different stores of Woolworths as well. Furthermore, this has been surveyed that in case
of merger of Target and Kmart, the approach of merger was not successful and this created
huge issues for the reputation of the firm as there are loss of target customers in the company
as well.
Furthermore, this has been noticed that the retail market concept has changed from the
past as in the past, there were few supermarkets or other retail discounted stores which were

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known by the different individuals in the economy through the newspaper article or
advertisements which were provided by them (O'brien 2015). However, the entire scenario
has changed in a complete manner as there are various types of changes in the adoption of the
innovative techniques in the technology used by the customers such as posting
advertisements on social media websites.
On the other hand, the location plays a vital role in gaining huge importance in the
market as there are different kinds of positioning is essential in nature. The main criteria
which are required to be taken into consideration are as follows:
 The positioning is required to be analysed effectively as this will provide a brief
overview in process of decision making as this will help in analysis of the different
competitors present in the market (Haines 2016)
 Secondly, the market potential is required to be analysed such as analysis of the
demographic variables which will impact the company effectively (Goworek,
McGoldrick and McGoldrick 2015)
 Appropriate identification of the different location or sites is required to be analysed
which will help in managing the different kinds of competition effectively in the
market which are present in an efficient manner and appropriately as well (Frow et al.
2015).
Value Driven and Containment of Cost in Australian Marketplace
Both value-driven and containment of cost is used in different stores such as
Woolworths, Target supermarket as this increase and maximises the overall productivity of
the organization in an efficient manner (Chertykovtsev et al. 2015). Woolworths and Target
Market are the two organizations which includes two concepts in the selling of goods and

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services as this helped the organization in becoming successful in their approach in
purchasing various products.
Importance of Appealing and Identifying Customers in Retail Markets
The tastes and preferences of the customers are required to be analysed in an effective
manner which will help in managing the different kinds of innovative procedures. The
appealing power is essential to be adopted by the company as this will identify the behaviour
of the customers in a specific area or geographic region (Gunn et al. 2017). There are various
segments of the individuals in the market who are required to be identified effectively as this
will help in managing the shoppers such as:
 Online shoppers
 In hone shoppers
 Out Shoppers
Future of Retailing in Australian Market
There will be implementation of few severe changes in the retail market of Australia
in the upcoming 5-8 years as there can be different inclusion of various stores in the market
of Australia. The customer demands have to be analysed as there will be different demands of
the different customers in the market that can be analysed through various surveys. In the
future scenario, the companies such as both discount and departmental stores needs to include
quality along with online security of the different customers when they are purchasing
various kinds of goods and services. The digitization process will help in changing the overall
experience of the customers and this will make the tasks of the different shopkeepers tougher
in nature as well.

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Conclusion
Therefore, this can be analysed from the above scenario that there are various kinds of
retail market segments in the entire competitive economy as this has helped in managing the
different kinds of expectations and demands of the customers efficiently in the market. The
recommendations have been provided in which this has been seen that in future the
expectations of the different customers are required to be taken into consideration which will
be helpful in managing their preferences.

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References
Chernev, A. and Hamilton, R., 2018. 6. Price image in retail management. Handbook of
Research on Retailing, p.132.
Chertykovtsev, V.K., Grigoryants, I.A., Chebykina, M.V., Shatalova, T.N. and Bobkova,
E.Y., 2015. Principles and mechanisms of retail management in conditions of instability of
the external environment. Yelm, WA: Science Book Publishing House.
Fernie, J. and Sparks, L., 2014. Logistics and retail management: emerging issues and new
challenges in the retail supply chain. Kogan page publishers.
Frow, P., Nenonen, S., Payne, A. and Storbacka, K., 2015. Managing co‐creation design: A
strategic approach to innovation. British Journal of Management, 26(3), pp.463-483.
Goworek, H., McGoldrick, P.J. and McGoldrick, P.J., 2015. Retail marketing management:
Principles and practice. Harlow, UK: Pearson.
Gunn, F., Lee, S.H., Cappuccitti, A. and Taylor, H., 2017. Profiling people’s perceptions of
retail management careers. The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer
Research, 27(5), pp.515-532.
Haines, S., 2016. The systems thinking approach to strategic planning and management.
CRC Press.
Hill, C.W., Jones, G.R. and Schilling, M.A., 2014. Strategic management: theory: an
integrated approach. Cengage Learning.