A Case Study - How Retail Operations Management Objectives Can Best Be Achieved- the Rights of Retailing Concept’

‘A Case Study of Fashion Retailer Emporium Kalu on How Retail Operations Management Objectives Can Best Be Achieved- The Rights of Retailing Concept’
Introduction
Retailing is now one of the world’s largest industries and it is in a permanent state of change. This change has been accelerating over the past decade, (Zentes et al., 2011: Pg.1). This sector is not only more competitive than in the past but the consumer is also increasingly more demanding and more complex, (Gordon et al., 2006: Pg. 22).
Retailers have to predict the desires of fickle customers, buy and allocate complex sets of merchandise, set the right prices, and offer the right promotions for each individual item. However, there are often wide gaps between supply and demand, which leave retailers holding too much of what customers don’t want, and too little of what they do’, (Friend and Walker, 2001: Pg. 133). This is a huge challenge which faces the retailer of today.
Fisher et al., (2000: Pg. 115) maintains that retailing’s formula for perfection is offering the right product in the right place at the right time for the right price. This is no easy feat for the retailer and with merchandising decisions becoming more complex, the penalties for errors too are even steeper, (Friend and Walker, 2001: Pg. 133). This is why Gordon et al.,(2006: Pg.24) notes that in today’s cutthroat market, there is no place for a ‘head in the sand’ attitude.
The importance of the areas of ‘retailing’s formula for perfection’ as stated by Fisher et al., (2000) will now be examined theoretically and subsequently researched in the context of a successful, independent fashion boutique, Emporium Kalu.

Right Product
‘Retailers capture their customers’ interest by the nature of their product range’, (Varley, 2006: Pg. 8). Fashion markets have become increasingly complex with consumers fragmenting into small groups who have very different needs and demand very different products. Varley, (2006: Pg. 8), maintains that

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