Retailing

Retailing consists of the sale of goods from a fixed location such as a department store in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be individuals or businesses. In commerce, a retailer buys goods or products in large quantities from manufacturers or importers, either directly or through a wholesaler, and then sells smaller quantities to the end-user. Retail establishments are often called shops or stores. Retailers are at the end of the supply chain.

Retail comes from the French word retaillier which refers to “cutting off, clip and divide.” Like the French, the word retail in both Dutch and German also refer to sale of small quantities or items.

There are three major types of retailing. The first is the market, a physical location where buyers and sellers converge. Usually this is done on town squares, sidewalks or designated streets and may involve the construction of temporary structures (market stalls). The second form is shop or store trading. Some shops use counter-service, where goods are out of reach of buyers, and must be obtained from the seller. This type of retail is common for small expensive items (e.g. jewelry) and controlled items like medicine and liquor. Self-service, where goods may be handled and examined prior to purchase, has become more common since the Twentieth Century. A third form of retail is virtual retail, where products are ordered via mail, telephone or online without having been examined physically but instead in a catalog, on television or on a website. Sometimes this kind of retailing replicates existing retail types such as online shops or virtual marketplaces such as eBay or Amazon.

Buildings for retail have changed considerably over time. Market halls were constructed in the Middle Ages, which were essentially just covered marketplaces. The first shops in the modern sense used to deal with just one type of article, and usually adjoined the producer (baker, tailor, cobbler). In the nineteenth century, in France, arcades were invented. From this there soon developed, still in France, the notion of a large store of one ownership with many counters, each dealing with a different kind of article was invented; it was called a department store. In the 1920’s the first supermarket opened in the United States, heralding in a new era of retail: self-service. Around the same time the first shopping mall was constructed which incorporated elements from both the arcade and the department store. A mall consists of several department stores linked by arcades (many of whose shops are owned by the same firm under different names). All the stores rent their space from the mall owner. The mall has had a considerable impact on the retail structure and urban development in the United States.

In addition to the enclosed malls, there are also strip malls. These are often connected to supermarkets or big box stores. A recent development is a very large shop called a superstore. These are sometimes located as stand-alone outlets, but more commonly are part of a strip mall or retail park.

Local shops can be known as brick and mortar stores in the United States. Many shops are part of a chain: a number of similar shops with the same name selling the same products in different locations. The shops may be owned by one company, or there may be a franchising company that has franchising agreements with the shop owners (see also restaurant chain).

Notes:

1. retailing – розничная торговля

2. department store – универсальный магазин, универмаг

3. wholesaler – оптовик, оптовый торговец

4. end-user – конечный (непосредственный) потребитель

5. e.g. (exempli gratia) – например, напр.

6. via – через

5. arcade – аркада, пассаж

6. shopping mall – торговый пассаж

7. mall – галерея магазинов

8. strip mall – длинное одноэтажное здание, разделенное на секции, в которых размещаются магазины

9. box store – магазин складского типа, склад самообслуживания

10. superstore – супермаркет

11. stand-alone – автономный, отдельный, не входящий в систему

12. outlet – торговая точка; магазин

13. franchising – договор коммерческой концессии, франчайзинг

I. Прочитайте текст (без словаря).

II. Перепишите следующие предложения, определите в каждом из них видо-временную форму и залог глагола-сказуемого. Переведите предложения на русский язык.

1. Buildings for retail have changed considerably over time.

2. Some shops use counter-service, where goods are out of reach of buyers, and must be obtained from the seller.

3. In Western countries, retail prices are often so-called psychological prices or odd prices.

4. Market halls were constructed in the Middle Ages, which were essentially just covered marketplaces.

5. It is important to bear in mind that an agreement may be successful even if the propensity for members to trade among themselves does not increase markedly.

III. Перепишите следующие предложения и переведите их на русский язык, обращая внимание на разные значения слов that, it, one.

1. It is much less administrative paperwork that is considered to be one of the advantages of the limited liability company.

2. As one would expect, the choice of goods is much greater when there is competition.

3. The first parameter measures the impact of the agreement on total imports; a negative value for this parameter suggests that for the agreement concerned, the level of trade between a member and any other country is less than the normal level of trade that one could expect.

4. Sometimes a shopping street has a partial or full roof to protect customers from precipitation.

5. Thus even if an agreement as a whole creates trade, it is important that there are mechanisms to ensure that all members benefit.

IV. Перепишите предложения и переведите их на русский язык, обращая внимание на разные значения глаголов to be, to have, to do.

1. Many shops are part of a chain: a number of similar shops with the same name selling the same products in different locations.

2. Buildings for retail have changed considerably over time.

3. Often the objectives in an agreement are defined by foreign ministers or even prime ministers, while the way that those objectives are to be carried out is determined later in negotiations between ministries.

4. Most retailers have employees learn facing; a tool used to create the look of a perfectly-stocked store (even when it's not).

5. The commission’s role in the disputes is to see that enforcement of existing laws takes place.

V. Перепишите следующие предложения и переведите их на русский язык, обращая внимание на бессоюзное подчинение.

1. Prices the retailer can charge are often low and allow customers to buy different goods.

2. High levels of trade mutual respect and more harmonious relation may stimulate raise the cost of political disputes and military conflict.

3. Goods the public donates to give-away shops should be taken for free.

4. The process of reorienting trade to the world economy socialist countries across the world started resulted in their economic systems restructured.

5. Online retailing can be used to sell things we want to consume.

VI. Перепишите следующие предложения и переведите их на русский язык, обращая внимание на функцию инфинитива в предложении.

1. The shopping malls have grown to become one of the largest retail establishments in the United States.

2. In a Free Trade Area, members eliminate barriers to trade in goods (and increasingly services) among members, but each member is free to maintain different barriers on nonmembers.

3. In other cases, especially in the case of a nonprofit shop, the public donates goods to the shop to be sold.

4. The retailer decided to charge higher prices to some customers and lower prices to others.

5. Several agreements with WTO members have yet to be reported to the organization.

VII. Прочитайте, перепишите и письменно переведите текст.

VIII. Ответьте письменно на следующие вопросы:

1. What does retailing consist of?

2. How are retail establishments often called?

3. What are three major types of retailing?

4. When and where did the first supermarket appear?

5. How can shops be classified?

Вариант 5