Retail marketing

# 1.2 Retail product ranges

From a retailer’s viewpoint, it is important to understand why customers visit a particular high street store or online shop, as their motivations and needs have implications for the products a retailer sells and the levels of service to provide. There is a wide range of retailers to choose from when we go shopping and Table 1 provides a list of some common retail product categories and sub-categories.

## Table 1: Retail product categories (some examples in the United Kingdom)

Category | Sub-category
--- | ---
Alcohol | Wines, beers, spirits
Books and stationery | Printing, cards, paper, pens, writing materials
Chemists and drugstores | Beauty products, toiletries, cosmetics
Clothing | Baby wear and nursery goods, children’s wear, ladies’ wear, menswear, knitwear, fashion accessories, work wear, school wear, maternity wear, lingerie, leather wear, sports wear, bridal wear
DIY goods | Wallpaper, paint, hardware, ironmongery, doors
Electrical goods | Computer hardware, computer software, white goods, brown goods, audio-visual
Finance | Banking, insurance, credit, building societies
Footwear | Children’s, ladies’ and men's shoes, sports shoes, shoe repair
Foodstuffs and consumables | Grocery, butchers and poultry, bakery, fishmongers, greengrocers, confectionery, health foods, organic foods, delicatessen
Furniture and carpets | Curtains, sofas, soft furnishings
Garden products | Flowers, plants, gardening equipment
Household and textiles | China, household linens, pictures and frames, lighting, drapers, glassware, bedding
Music and film | Records, DVDs, CDs, musical instruments
Rentals | Television, films, games
Sports equipment | Camping and outdoor goods, leisure goods, bicycles and cycle accessories
Restaurants and take-away food | Traditional foods, international foods, snacks

(Source: adapted from Hemming Information Services, 2006, p. 585)

OpenLearn - Retail marketing
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