Product Assortment and Services Decision

Retailers have to decide on three major product variables: services mix, product assortment and store atmosphere.

The retailer's product assortment might match target shoppers' expectations. To differentiate itself in its quest from competitors, a retailer may use any of several product-differentiation strategies. For one, it may offer merchandise that no other competitor carries-its own national brands or private brands on which it holds exclusives. Retailers also have to decide on a services mix to offer customers. The old mom-and-pop grocery stores offered credit, home delivery, and conversation-services that today's supermarkets overlook. The services mix is one of the main tools of nonprime competition for setting one store apart from another.

In its product arsenal, the store's atmosphere is another element. Every store contains a physical layout that makes moving around in it either easy or hard. Each of thestore has a "feel"; one store is cluttered, another is charming, a third plush, a fourth sombre. The store ought to have a planned atmosphere that suits the target market and moves customers to buy.

Progressively, retailers are turning their stores into theatres that transport customers into unusual, thrilling shopping environments. All this confirms that retail stores are much more than easily assortments of goods. They are environments to be experienced by the people who shop in them. Store atmospheres offer a strong tool by which retailers may differentiate their stores from those of competitors.