Department store: Case study

Abstract

A department store is a business establishment, retail in nature, which offers a large and extensive range of goods and is to serve in different departments. All the departments have a contribution to the success of the departmental store and in most cases all departments are under the same roof. They have different roles such as offering customer care, after sale services, restocking merchandising and control of all the operations in the store. The name department store is derived from the fact that they offer different product categories at different prices in different departments.

The product categories include home appliances, cosmetics, stationary, furniture, hardware, sporting goods, and electronics among others. They are all provided under the same roof at each specific department store. Department stores are part of other larger retail chains which are in a particular country or worldwide. Due to globalization, most department stores are all over the world which helps them to acquire a larger market share. However, most stores are located in the American, European and Asian markets where most of the consumers are middle class shoppers and business environments are favorable for setting up businesses.

A department store operates in such a way that when a customer enters the store, he or she can get a range of products from the store. Different products are present at every department hence there is a lower probability that the consumer will go to shop in another store. As most store claims, they ‘conceal' the customer. Many department stores are part of chain stores. Since department stores operate in large scale, they benefit from the economies of scale where they are able to operate in large-scale at a cheaper price (Bhabatosh 2006). The accumulated capital is used to open other branches in different locations.