Are you finding information about the type of retailers that are the best business to start? You've found the right place.
In this article, PageFly will help you better understand the different categories of retailers. From there, you can create your own business model and optimize your merchandising plan.
PageFly will list and describe 7 type of retailers. We will also provide answers for some common questions about the business. Let's scroll down to find out!
Outline
- 01. Grocery/Supermarket
- 02. Convenience Store
- 03. Big Box/Superstore
- 04. Specialty Store
- 05. Department Store
- 06. Discount Store
- 07. Warehouse club
01. Supermarket/Grocery Store
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Definition
"Supermarket" is often called "grocery store."
This type of retailers is a self-service store and has a wide variety of goods. The supermarket will provide essential and frequently used items such as household items, food, and drinks.
The traditional supermarket will usually have a large area and be located on the first floor. This supermarket will be located in a densely populated area to easily serve consumers.
The average size of a supermarket is 38,000 square feet (not including parking space). But in other small formats of supermarket, It would be between 12,000 to 25,000 square feet.
Supermarkets often have the advantage of having a wide variety of products at relatively low prices. These types of stores is usually open from morning until late evening, or is open 24 hours a day
Currently, the famous supermarkets that can be found in the US are Kroger, Whole Foods Market, and Safeway. But there are also small-scale grocery stores that have become more popular than those recently like Aldi (YouGov 2022).
What do you need for this type of retailers?
You will need to fill up all the “Open a Grocery Store Checklist” below:
- Create a business plan for a grocery store.
- Deciding on a business structure
- Calculate Your Grocery Store Operating Costs
- Name of your retail business
- Create a business profile and financial accounts.
- Buy Supplies for Your Grocery Store
- Promote Your Grocery Store online and offline
And if you have enough resources, you should push your products to the internet through Shopify to increase sales for your store. PageFly templates will help you to save your time to build an ecommerce website on Shopify.
02. Convenience Store
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Definition
A convenience store is a small retail shop that sells items such as coffee, grocery items, snacks, confectionery, soft drinks, ice - cream, tobacco, lotto tickets, over-the-counter drugs, household goods, newspapers, and magazines.
Convenience stores may be attached to a gas station. Customers can shop while refueling their vehicles at this conveniently located location.
Those stores could be placed next to a busy road, near a railroad station, or close to another similar hub. And maybe because of the placement, these typestype of retailers can only sell low-alcohol drinks like beer and wine.
Money order and wire transfer services may be available at the stores, as well as the use of a fax machine or photocopier for a small per-copy fee. It also sells tickets and smart card recharges.
These typestype of retailers usually have higher prices than supermarkets or grocery stores. But customers would benefit from their longer open hours (24 hours a day), easy-to-find location, and quicker cashier lines.
Do you need ecommerce websites for convenience stores?
No, not necessary.
Building ecommerce websites for these typestype of retailers costs too much. We recommend you to cooperate with some delivery apps to promote your brand to locals.
This marketing strategy benefits your profit more than building a website. You can also do some offline marketing in your store areas.
But you can try to build a website if you believe it will be cost effective. You just need some small shop ideas to build a website with Shopify.
03. Big Box Store/SuperStore
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Definition
A big box store (also known as a Supercenter) is a large physical store. It is usually part of a retail chain.
Big-box stores can be categorized into two groups: general merchandise stores (like Walmart, Target, and Kmart) and specialty stores (like The Home Depot, Barnes & Noble, or Best Buy).
In the specialty category, the store will focus on products within a particular range, like consumer electronics, hardware, or books, respectively.
It is classified as a general merchandise merchant if the store sells general dry items. However, traditional department stores, the predecessor format, aren't categorized as "huge boxes".
“Big-box” type of retailers frequently gather in shopping malls, sometimes known as retail parks in the UK. They are frequently referred to as power centers in the US when they are between 250,000 square feet and 600,000 square feet.
Check out: Quick video presentation about type of retailers. This will help you understand easier those types of stores.
What marketing strategy should you use for Big Box?
If you have resources for this type of retailers, you should considering:
- Because you have a large number of items, you should rely on mass media to reach your potential customers, who are as numerous as your products.
- Use consistency in all your marketing. You should apply consistency across social media, your website, emails, TV commercials, etc. This will help customers remember you forever.
- "It takes losses to create values." This form will help you snatch customers from other Big Boxes. But you should also consider resources, or else your business will "disappear.".
- Using pricing psychology will help customers add more items to their carts. Displaying a price like $29.98 will make the customer feel much cheaper than $30.
- You should always update new products to boost sales because customers always like "freshly released" products. As for inventory items, you should rotate or reduce the price to regain revenue for your business.
04. Specialty store
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Definition
A specialty store is a business that sells a wide variety of brands, designs, or products from a small range of product categories. Craft shops, furniture shops, garden shops, sporting goods centers, and booksellers are a few examples.
Depending on the kind of store it is, a specialty store's typical size will change significantly. You might run a little store with just 2,000 square feet or a big international brand with 60,000 square feet of space needs.
Based on the size of their operations, specialty stores can use a wide range of layout designs. A free-flowing style encourages curiosity in smaller stores, while a diagonal,loop, or grid pattern is ideal for medium-sized and bigger stores.
This type of store extremely needs an ecommerce website!
This is the most suitable type of store to deploy an online channel through an ecommerce website. Because products in this store are usually searched by customers online.
Let's take the chocolate business example. Users will always search for chocolate products online to compare before buying online or offline.
The fact that you have a website with products and full information and product reviews will help shoppers reach your store. Shoppers want to know all your products!
And building an ecommerce website is super easy with Shopify and PageFly templates. You can try Shopify and use PageFly to apply a template for your website.
You just need some shop ideas to try Shopify and PageFly templates. Then you can start uploading your product and your new business is ready.
Read more about Shopify 1 Dollar For 3 Months Plan 2023 to start your new business empire!
05. Department store
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Definition
Department stores are type of retailers that sells a large category of consumer goods in different areas of the store. Each section of the department store specializes in a specific product category.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, the department store made a striking entrance into the heart of the big cities, permanently reshaping shopping habits as well as the definitions of luxury.
The average department store is approximately 250,000 square feet in size and frequently uses the loop layout to connect customers to all departments.
Department stores have a reputation for being slightly more expensive than big box stores and focus more on high-end brands. Macy's, Shoppers Stop, and Kohl's are common examples of department stores.
Does the placement of this type of retailers affect delivery conditions?
Hmmm, maybe a little.
Customers still can easily shop online on brands' websites. The shop will still give them the chosen product with the best condition.
But with some delivery partners, they will charge for those department stores online business.
06. Discount Store
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Definition
A discount store or discounter's retail format allows for the sale of goods at potentially lower prices than the true or alleged "full retail price." Discounters save money by making large purchases and utilizing efficient distribution.
Low prices, high volumes, and high turnover serve as the basis for competition among discount retailers.
Walmart is the best example of this type of retailers business. Walmart has its own tagline about shop them to save your money. Great positioning from one of the best retailers.
E-Walmart and Shopify are the future of many new businesses!
Walmart announced a new relationship with Shopify in March 2020, introducing international Shopify sellers to the promising Walmart Marketplace.
The relationship was formed at a time when a record number of people were shopping online due to the coronavirus outbreak.
This integration not only benefits Shopify-based overseas sellers, but it also speeds Walmart's path to scalability by potentially securing a larger non-US market share.
Shopify, which debuted in 2006, has established itself as a top platform for online retailers and retail point-of-sale (POS) systems. Shopify was an ideal choice to become Walmart's commerce platform partner, with a dynamic portfolio of a million businesses wanting to boost their sales.
Walmart has integrated e-commercee commerce models in their business. So let’s find out how to Sell On Walmart With Shopify step by step with PageFly!
07. Warehouse club
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Definition
Warehouse clubs often have a lot of goods in the same category. This sets it apart from the above types of stores.
Customers can choose to buy a product in bulk at wholesale prices. So warehouse clubs are very suitable for those who like to hunt for cheap goods and small business owners.
The Warehouse Club membership program, on the other hand, is somewhat complicated.
Although Warehouse Club always has the lowest price in the market on many products. But they will also require membership with an annual fee.
Loop layout is chosen for this type of retailers. The size of the club is between 80,000 to 150,000 square feet.
Can Shopify simplify membership registration for Warehouse club online?
Yes, of course!
Shopify supports the entire sales process and customer management for merchants. Therefore, customers only need to register at the brand's website to become a member.
Read more about other Shopify Knowledge if you are curious about it!
The important of choosing right type of retailers
Understanding the type of retailers is very important for the entrepreneur. It will be what determines your business model and your future success.
Many people have money and think big, but they choose the type of store where there is a lot of competition. They are also inexperienced in the market and are gradually being devoured by the "big brand."
So businessmen need to master their financial abilities in the next 5–10 years before entering the retail market. Because if they choose Big box, they must really understand the market and have a huge financial source to stay in this super competitive market.
As for the more compact types of stores, such as convenience stores, specialty stores, businesses should invest both online and offline.
In terms of convenience stores, we can rely on large delivery apps to gradually enter the market online.This is quite optimal in many countries, because it also helps the brand reach the local audience at a reasonable price.
Regarding the specialty store, because of the unique nature of their products, they should have a website dedicated to the brand. From there, develop product-related content so that customers can know the brand more.
You can learn more about retail and business here at Shopify Retail!
Wrapping Up
Understanding the type of retailers will help you create the right business model. From there, you can create the perfect business plan to develop a new business.
And don't forget, Shopify and PageFly will support you in that plan! Try out Shopify ecommerce with just 1 Dollar For 3 Months Plan now!
