This important text takes a strategic approach, examining in-depth studies of a variety of retailers and marrying theory with practice to provide comprehensive coverage for students at every level.

Illustrating and evaluating the strategies of international retailers, developing concepts and theories that enable an understanding of international retailing and showing the contrasts in the approaches adopted by major firms in their international operations, this important text is a must-read for all those studying or working in international retail.

Most of us think we know something about retailing: we shop, we buy, we consume. But retailing, perhaps more than any other economic sector, has been transformed fundamentally over the last thirty years, both economically and culturally.

Featuring work from seminal theorists in the area and charting the development of retailing as an important discipline in its own right, this superb volume examines the key themes in contemporary retailing. Organized into five sections, each of which includes an illuminating editorial overview, The Retailing Reader examines:

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The physical distribution of products is an important element in the marketing operations of all productive enterprises, and in many cases efficient distribution is the most important single factor leading to success. With the emergence of post-industrial society the role of distribution has come to increasingly be viewed as a generator of wealth in the economy, attracting the interest of public policy makers anxious to influence investment, employment and efficiency in the sector.

Retailing in less developed countries can take any number of forms and fulfils a wide range of different needs. As this book shows it is susceptible to cultural as well as to economic forces and it needs to be analysed in terms of both global economic shifts and place-specific social and economic formations.