Introduction to Retail and the Retail Ecosystem
What the domain covers
Retail is the sale of goods or services to the final consumer for personal, family or household use. This domain tests definitions, retail functions, formats, channel members and the regulatory ecosystem around a shop.
Core rules and concepts
- Retailer vs wholesaler: a retailer sells to end users; a wholesaler sells mainly to retailers or institutional buyers.
- Functions: break bulk, provide assortment, hold stock, give product information, arrange credit and after-sales support.
- Formats: kirana store, departmental store, supermarket, hypermarket, specialty store, mall outlet, e-commerce, weekly haat and mobile vendor.
- Ecosystem members: manufacturer, distributor, wholesaler, transporter, warehouse, bank or payment provider, insurer, regulator and customer.
- Regulators and rules: GST registration and invoicing, FSSAI for food, Legal Metrology for weights and packaged goods, Consumer Protection Act for redressal.
- Channel flows: goods move forward; orders, information and payments move both ways.
Worked example
A Guwahati shop stocks 200 grocery SKUs, sells mainly to households, offers home delivery and accepts UPI. Is it a retailer? Yes: sales are to final consumers. Its format is a neighbourhood grocery or kirana with delivery. Its channel is direct-to-consumer retail; its ecosystem includes suppliers, a delivery person, a UPI provider and GST authorities. The shop performs breaking bulk, assortment and credit functions if it allows monthly accounts.
Traps that cost marks
Calling every retailer a supermarket; treating online sellers as non-retailers; confusing channel with format; forgetting service retailers such as salons; naming only manufacturers and customers while omitting logistics and regulators.