Skill Subject: Retail

Unit 1 - Display of Products and Satisfy Customer Needs 

Retail salespeople play an important role in a retailer’s marketing mix. Control of human resources is most important of all. This is done through the process of supervision. Super means form above and visions means to see the work of others. Supervision is the activity of overseeing the subordinates at work to ensure that the work is performed as required. Supervision plays an important role in the management set up.

Supervisor is the person who is directly connected with rank and file or subordinates and acts as a vital link between the management and subordinate. The workers require guidance of supervisor at ever step to clear their doubts. He tells them about the proper method of doing a job for better performance. He also acts as a planner and a guide for his subordinates. The supervisor lays down the targets of production for the subordinates and determines the procedures and methods for doing the work and to achieve desired results. Supervisor devotes much of his time in supervision.

The supervision at the firing line is the most important issue since actual work is done at that level. A supervisor compares the actual functions of the subordinates’ against the standards laid down and identifies weakness of the workers and suggests corrective measures to overcome them. He makes systematic arrangements of activities and resources for his group. He assigns work to each subordinate and delegate’s proper authority to them. The supervisor occupies a strategic position in the hierarchy of the organization. He is directly responsible for enforcing the rules and regulations of an organization. Supervision is the ignition key that starts the engine of the enterprise and keeps the managerial train into motion.

In this Unit, you will learn about the display of products & satisfy customer needs, sale & delivery of products, maintenance of store area & communicate effectively with stakeholders and duties and responsibilities of sales supervisor.

Unit 2 - Non-store Retailing

In this era of rapid globalization, the online form of retailing has emerged as a strong tool to sell products, directly to the customers, and is growing much quickly. As anyone with a computer or Smartphone can attest, online retailing is by now pervasive, penetrating every demographic group and retail segment to varying degrees.

As a matter of fact, just like developed nations, the retail sector in India too, is going through the phase of tremendous transformation. The impact of the alterations in the format of the retail sector changed the lifestyle of the Indian consumers drastically. Nowadays the Indian consumers are well versed with the concepts about quality of products and services. These demands are the visible impacts of the Retail Sector of Indian Economy.

Unit 3 - Retail Point-of-Sale: An Overview

A retail POS (Point-of-Sale) is the first and last interaction that customers have in a store, and it is the center of all phone calls and computer work. It needs to be functional, inviting and well-designed in order to meet the needs of the customers and the employees. So in short we can say that a ‘Point-of-Sale’ refers to the area of a store where customers can pay for their purchases. The term is normally used to describe systems that record financial transactions.

Point-of-sale (POS) (also referred to as point-of-purchase (POP) or checkout, is the location where a transaction occurs. A "checkout" refers to a POS (Point-of-Sale) terminal or more generally to the hardware and software used for checkouts, the equivalent of an electronic cash register. A POS terminal manages the selling process by a salesperson accessible interface. The same system allows the creation and printing of the receipt.

In 1992 Martin Goodwin and Bob Henry created the first point of sale software that could run on the Microsoft Windows platform named IT-Retail. Since then a wide range of POS applications have been developed on platforms such as Windows and UNIX. The availability of local processing power, local data storage, networking, and graphical user interface made it possible to develop flexible and highly functional POS systems.

Cost of such systems has also declined, as all the components can now be purchased off-the-shelf. The key requirements that must be met by modern POS systems include: high and consistent operating speed, reliability, ease of use, remote supportability, low cost, and rich functionality. Retailers can reasonably expect to acquire such systems.

Unit 4 - Billing and Accounting Procedures in Retailing

We all know that “cash is king” is the mantra of any well run business. Cash is the fuel that drives growth when times are good, and the cushion that helps weather the storm when times are rough. Yet few companies focus on optimizing all the business processes that get cash “in the door”. To start, let’s look at the process of “getting cash in the door” in more detail.

First, many steps are involved in the process. A customer has to initiate the process, compelling products and services with pricing that attract attention need to be available and easy to understand, the order needs to be created and fulfilled, billing preferences need to be established, and payment collected. Billing automation and an integrated, end-to-end customer life-cycle management solution approach help to minimize the risks by providing seamless work flows and a unified 360º view of a customer’s current and past interactions with your business. With complete, accurate information available to your customer service representative, or to your customer directly, customer satisfaction can be maximized.

Whatever kind of mercantile activity be there, it needs the basic knowledge of retail accounting. Retail market is one of the busiest place and buzzing whole day long with financial and marketing transactions taking place rigorously. It is practically impossible to keep track of all the product inventories, retail accounting, and other business transactions happening rapidly.

Professionals handling the accounting should be efficient enough to keep the record and monitor the transactions on day to day basis without any interruption and errors. Retail accounting experts are capable and experienced enough to keep sharp look at all the records and account maintenance with the years of expertise supporting them. Credit book, inventory, defaulter book, monthly profit and loss records with sales book require extra attention, which retail accounting experts handle efficiently and complete the reports with complete error free data.

Internal controls for a business are similar to checks and balances in the government; they are processes put in place to make sure things stay on the right track. Internal controls are useful for every business but are critical for companies with employees, especially employees who handle valuable assets. Retail businesses in which customers have direct access to small products can also benefit enormously from internal control procedures. While internal controls are crucial for helping you detect dishonesty, they can also help you reduce the risk that simple mistakes will keep you from seeing your company's true financial picture.

Keeping in view of great importance of Billing and Accounting in the retail business we introduce this module. In this module we cover the aspects billing procedures in retailing and accounting procedures in retailing such as fundamental of accounting, preparation of journal and ledgers, trading account, profit & loss account and balance sheet.

Unit 5 - Inventory Handling

Inventory means a list of goods and materials available in stock by a business. The scope of inventory handling concerns physical inventory, receiving the inventory, identifying the available physical space for the inventory, replenishment, identifying the returns and defective goods.

Inventory handling involves systems and processes that identify inventory requirements, set targets, provide replenishment techniques, report actual and projected inventory status and handle all functions related to the tracking and management of material.

This would include the monitoring of material moved into and out of stockroom and the reconciling of the inventory balances.

Practical (Part C): 40 Marks

• Project
• Viva
• Practical File / PowerPoint Presentation