Retail industry in last ten years Research Paper

Retail industry in last ten years - Research Paper Example The paper also analyses the role played by the mergers and acquisitions which had led to successful operation of the few big organization in the retail industry. Changes in the retail market: The general overview regarding the retail market has changed considerably over the last ten years. Originally the retail market signified a clothing market which primarily involved a made to order market, but in recent time, the dimension changed and it emerged as a ready to wear market. The standard practice of the retail market involved customers flipping through the product catalogue, selecting the color, size, and the texture of the clothing which they desired to purchase and then the customers had to wait for the sewing process of the clothes to be complete before they received the delivery of the final product. However in the era of 21stcentury, the multinational organizations have stepped in the market and the outlook of the retail market changed with large sized stores where the customer s were offered various products under a single roof. The retail industry in the present times comprises of products other than clothing and is primarily segregated into two segments which are hard and soft. Under the hard segment, the goods include electronics, appliances, and furniture whereas the soft segment deals with clothing, apparels and products of fabric. The increase in product under the retail chain has also strengthened the competition between the top organizations in the retail sector. Another major change which has evolved in the retail market is the conversion of the departmental stores into big apparels. Before 1999, the departmental stores in US were facing a major problem in the business due to loss of sales and in order to revive their market condition, the change in strategies was adopted by the store owners. The period from 1999 to 2005 witnessed a major downfall in the sales of the departmental stores whereas; the sales figure in the warehouse chains and the cl othing stores took a major leap. The cause of the failure of department stores was many. The change in the lifestyle of the people was one of the primary causes. The lifestyle of the people living in suburbs encouraged for the creation of the malls. Consumers preferred to shop in the areas near the localities where they lived and the down town departmental stores were soon out of fashion. The shopping malls saw the emergence of big brands under the same place and were successful in gaining the attention of the customers. The overall fashion trends of the customers were also changed dramatically and the branded retailers were successful in addressing the needs of the customers at an affordable price. The retail industry witnessed a change in the modes of payment also in the past decade. The customers of the 21st century prefer to opt for non-cash payment and the payment by debit and credit card has made shopping more easy for the customers. The number of payment by cards in the retai l sector rose to 5.3 million in the year 2003. The advancement of internet also has changed the mode of operation of the big organization in the retail sector (Plunkett, 2008). Over the last decade most of the reputed organizations have implemented the online selling techniques by the improvement of the web portal. The websites of the respective organizations are flooded with product information and the customers can easily purchase the product of their choice by making an e-payment and the products