In today’s economy, it is the service sector that is becoming increasing important. Overall, service industries account for over 70% of worldwide GDP (World Bank). Services are important because as consumers we use services on a daily basis and in conjunction with the importance of services to the world economy. Retailing is also fundamentally important to the UK, European and World-Wide economy. Even though the current economic climate is turbulent (e.g. the influence of Brexit), food retailing is still predicted to grow as Linthicum (2009:6) argues “people still have to eat, even in an economic downturn”. While many established markets have struggled in the global recession e.g. the UK there still has been significant growth across the world especially in Latin America, Middle East and India. Indeed, Euromonitor argue that these countries represent 78% of global growth. In this volatile and growing market many retailers operate globally. We will examine the challenges and opportunities that this brings by critically analysing retailers such as Disney, Starbucks, Zara, Tesco, Marks and Spencer and Carrefour.
This course will examine the services and retailing industry from its beginnings to researchers’ predictions for the future. Services and retailing activities are not static but in a constant state of flux. The consequence of this is that there are always new trends that consumers desire. Some recent trends include the desire for customer experiences, becoming vegan, premiumisation and trading down. We will examine how service providers and retailers can manage such trends.
The focus of the course will be on understanding that not all retailers and service providers are the same and therefore, it is important to understand the characteristics of different types of organisations and how marketing objectives and strategies need to be tailored to address these points.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to:
Understand and illustrate the importance of the retail and services sector to the global economy.
Evaluate customer experience within the context of services and retail.
Analyse the challenges encountered by service and retail organisations and provide recommendations to address these challenges.
Critically appraise theoretical concepts within service and retail strategy.
Collaborate and effectively communicate ideas through group presentations.
