The use of own label requires complete dedication and commitment by all levels of management retailing the product; it must also be backed by constant and rigorous quality control to ensure that customer confidence is built on a solid foundation. Mr. Bennion was speaking at a recent symposium...

It was initially the attraction of very cheap terminals (then around £150 each) which led John Menzies in 1974 to install a Wavetek audio response system for data collection. This paper, delivered at the OnLine conference on Retail Data for Management in June, outlines the application.

Customer account profitability can provide a much clearer understanding of the relative profitability of all customers; and the use of it may well prompt a company to seek a more cost effective distribution channel. This is the first of a series of articles in which CAP will be discussed; this...

Recent results from the retail sector show that sales and pre‐tax profits of leading stores performed well in the second half of the 1976–77 financial year. Among the multiples, British Home Stores reported sales up by 14 and profits up by 15%. Among the mail orders, both Freemans and Empire...

Nobody knows with any accuracy what is stolen from retail outlets each year, nor precisely the breakdown between staff and customer theft. And what about losses at the back door? Some generalisations, however, are valid: people of all age‐groups steal food, while it is the young who are most...

There are trends out of town centres and into town centres, trends towards economies of scale and trends towards the small, trends towards the motor car and towards pedestrianisation. Small wonder many retailers feel confused. But nobody, according to Mr McAfee, is in the business of just...

Most retail managements at some time or other must consider the application of EDP equipment at the point of sale in retailing. This article suggests a strategy for companies confronted with this dilemma; it attempts to marshal the factors involved in reaching a decision. It is a synthesis of the...

The rapidly declining importance of the textile industry in western Europe as a result of increased textile imports is just one of the factors which will determine the future of textile wholesalers in western Europe. Other important factors are the pattern of consumer expenditure and the...

Rates of inflation, wages as an operational cost, shrinkage, supermarket closures — all these aspects of the USA grocery scene are discussed in this article and compared with the situation in this country. It is arguable that changes in the American pattern may well be repeated, to a degree,...

All the evidence from retail companies who have invested in recent years in the computer field is that it is the inventory‐intensive businesses that can benefit the most. This article summarises what management's attitude should be to the potentialities of the computer, and includes three case...