Retail stores are one of the most common kinds of stores being run all over the world. All kinds of people from all walks of life know of the wonders a retail store can do. Even if you do not own a retail store yourself, it is a guarantee that they are a part of your life in some way or the other. Retail is a form of running a business that has been a part of our lives for a long time and it is not going anywhere any time soon.
However, you cannot be made fully aware of the significance of a retail store before you fully understand what a retail store really is. That is why today, in this article, we will be diving into all the different details about retail stores. Continue reading further in order to learn all that we are going to discuss today.
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What is a Retail Store?
A retail store is any kind of store where manufactured products are sold to the final or ultimate customer. There are different types of retail business, some being owned by a retailer and some being owned by a manufacturer. Retail stores are a business enterprise where goods are sold for non-business use to singular customers instead of large organizations.
To understand what a retail store is, you must also understand the concept of retail itself. So, what is retail? Well, retail is a contrasting selling strategy to that of wholesaling. On the other hand, in wholesale, you sell to industrial or commercial businesses in bulk, in retail you sell directly to individual customers. There are different ways to run a retail store. Read on further to learn about the different types of retail stores that exist in the world today.
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What are the Different Types of Retail Stores?
- Department stores
- Supermarkets
- Warehouse stores
- Convenience stores
- E-commerce stores
- Super stores
- Speciality stores
- Discount stores
If you look carefully at the list we have provided for you above, you must notice one thing in common with all these different types of stores. In accordance with what we have already discussed in the paragraphs above, the list of the kinds of retail stores is not exhaustive. But any stores included in this list have to be selling finished products to ultimate customers, not further ahead to other businesses. Any such business, whether online or in person, is considered to be an example of the concept of retail.
To further explain to you what a retail store is, below we will be providing some specific examples of existing retail businesses as well. It will be a much better illustration of the concept of a retail store because these examples are not only specific but also real.
Examples of Online Retail Stores
The concept of a retail store has been around for a long time. However, as of late, e-commerce has been catching a lot of traction in the world due to the advancement of technologies. This has made it essential for most businesses to run their retail stores online in addition to or in comparison to physical retail stores. Especially with the Covid-19 pandemic taking over the world for more than 2 years now, the need for online retail stores has become not only beneficial but imperative for businesses to survive.
See below to find descriptions of three very well-known retail stores in the world today:
1. Amazon
Image taken from Amazon
Over the years Amazon - which started off as an entrepreneurship venture - has been able to turn itself into a massive billion dollar company. That is why Amazon is one of the best examples you can find in the entire world of the potential of online retail stores. Amazon cannot be put in any one category except that of an online retail store. This owes to the fact that on Amazon absolutely anything and everything sells.
Amazon does it all. It displays good product images, product descriptions and even multiple and authentic product reviews. Amazon also provides different kinds of shipping options and discounts on many items throughout the year. Amazon also curates a list of customer favorites and recommended and related items at the time of check out.
2. eBay
Image taken from ebay
eBay is also on our list of online retail stores today in order to provide you with a little perspective and motivation. This is a website that connects a lot of buyers with millions of customers at the same time. But since the end result is that of selling products to individual customers, it is considered as an online retail store. eBay has numerous amounts of categories and options for anyone to choose from. It welcomes people of all ages from all different kinds of life backgrounds.
The CEO of eBay is known to be constantly working on the innovation of its services. That is probably why this specific retail store never seems to go out of business - because they keep up with the times and the trends that consistently change with the times. That is an excellent tip for anyone wanting to run an online retail store - to never get too comfortable with their success. Because the world truly does move very fast and nothing stays the same for long.
3. Home Depot
Image taken from Home Depot
Home Depot even though is a very old retail store, is comparatively new to the world of running its retail business online. One special thing about the Home Depot online retail store is that it provides people with the option of reserving their products without actually paying for them. This obviously comes coupled with other options like checking the availability of products and the shipping choices in case you decide to buy anything.
Their recent venture of collaboration with iCloud has also helped them to blend their physical stores with their virtual ones with more fluidity and convenience. In the past 2 years, they have had over 86% growth in sales through just their online retail stores. This also owes to the fact that they started their online operations in full swing at a perfect time of the pandemic hitting the world so suddenly at the beginning of 2020.
Build a Retail Store on Strikingly
Strikingly is one of the growing and leading website builders of today. It provides the tools and templates to create different types of websites, including an online or retail store. There is a simple 5-step process to create your very own ecommerce site on our platform.
- Sign up for an account.
- Select the template you want to use.
- Customize the template if you want to a certain extent.
- Add in your content, especially some basic information about what you will be selling and how you are passionate about running this business.
- Don’t forget to add your contact information as well. You may also choose to add a contact form instead.
Once the front of your site is ready, it is time to create a retail store section on it. To do this, find the ‘Add New Section’ on the left of your Strikingly editor. Select the ‘Simple Store’ section. Here you can add your products by uploading their photos, writing their descriptions, setting up their prices, and creating product pages.
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We offer a number of payment gateways for you to connect to your site, so that you can accept payments from your customers on the sales. All customers who make a purchase on your site will get their details saved in your editor. This means you will be able to get in touch with them to tell them about your latest sales offers via newsletters and emails. You can access these details in your site’s audience list.
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Through this process, you can run an entire retail business through the internet. As long as you have a reliable and quality supplier, you can continue selling your products and making profits. Yes, another thing you need to keep in mind is your website must be search engine optimized. Without proper SEO, your website will not be easily discoverable by your prospects.
Besides working on the search engine optimization of your retail store, you can adopt other means of promoting your business, such as social media and word of mouth marketing. Our goal on Strikingly is to make it easy for you to build your website on your own by providing you with ready-to-use features and templates.
If you are interested in making your very own retail store on Strikingly, get ready to sign up for your free account on our platform and arrange for the supply of the required products. If you face any issues, you can get in touch with our customer service staff via the live chat feature available on our site’s homepage. We believe in providing the optimal level of support to all our users. After all, if your business grows, our platform and our business will be more meaningful to the community. Growing a business is easier when the technical responsibilities of website development and maintenance are handled by experts behind a trustworthy platform.
