Parasite Store An outlet that does not create its own traffic and that has no real trading area of its own.
Partnership An unincorporated retail firm owned by two or more persons, each of whom has a financial interest.
Perceived Risk The level of risk a consumer believes exists regarding the purchase of a specific good or service from a specific retailer, whether or not that belief is factually correct.
Percentage Lease Stipulates that rent is related to the retailer's sales or profits.
Percentage-of-Sales Method A promotional budgeting technique whereby a retailer ties its promotion budget to sales revenue.
Percentage Variation Method An inventory-level planning method where beginning-of-month planned inventory level during any month differs from planned average monthly stock by only one-half of that month's variation from estimated average monthly sales.
Performance Measures The criteria used to assess retailer effectiveness. They include total sales, average sales per store, sales by goods/service category, sales per square foot, gross margins, gross margin return on investment, operating income, inventory turnover, markdown percentages, employee turnover, financial ratios, and profitability.
Perpetual Inventory System See Book Inventory System.
Perpetual-Inventory Unit-Control System Keeps a running total of the number of units handled by a retailer by ongoing record-keeping entries that adjust for sales, returns, transfers to other departments or stores, receipt of shipments, and other transactions. It can be done manually, use tags processed by computers, or rely on point-of-sale devices.
Personality The sum total of an individual's traits, which make that individual unique.
Personal Selling Involves oral communication with one or more prospective customers for the purpose of making sales.
Personnel Space The area required for employees for changing clothes, lunch and coffee breaks, and rest rooms.
Physical Inventory System Involves an actual counting of merchandise. A retailer using the cost method of inventory valuation and relying on a physical inventory system can derive gross profit only as often as it conducts a full physical inventory.
Planned Shopping Center Consists of a group of architecturally unified commercial establishments built on a site that is centrally owned or managed, designed and operated as a unit, based on balanced tenancy, and surrounded by parking facilities.
Planogram A visual (graphical) representation of the space to be allocated to selling, merchandise, personnel, and customers -- as well as to product categories.
PMs A manufacturer's payments for retail salespeople selling that manufacturer's brand. PMs are in addition to the compensation received from the retailer.
Point of Indifference The geographic breaking point between two cities (communities), so that the trading area of each can be determined. At this point, consumers would be indifferent to shopping at either area.
Point-of-Purchase (POP) Display An interior display that provides consumers with information, adds to store atmosphere, and serves a substantial promotional role.
POP Display See Point-of-Purchase Display.
Positioning Enables a retailer to devise its strategy in a way that projects an image relative to its retail category and its competitors, and elicits consumer responses to that image.
Post-Purchase Behavior Further purchases or re-evaluation based on a purchase.
Poverty of Time Occurs when greater striving for financial security leads to less rather than more free time since the alternatives competing for consumers' time rise considerably.
Power Center A shopping site with (a) up to a half-dozen or so category killer stores and a mix of smaller stores or (b) several complementary stores specializing in a product category.
Power Retailer The status reached by a company that is dominant in some aspect of its strategy. Consumers view the company as distinctive enough to become loyal to it and go out of their way to shop there.
Predatory Pricing Involves large retailers that seek to destroy competition by selling goods and services at very low prices, thus causing small retailers to go out of business. The practice is restricted by federal and state laws.
Prestige Pricing Assumes consumers will not buy goods and services at prices deemed too low. It is based on the price-quality association.
Pre-training An indoctrination on the history and policies of the retailer and a job orientation on the hours, compensation, chain of command, and job duties.
Price Elasticity of Demand Relates to the sensitivity of customers to price changes in terms of the quantities they will buy.
Price Guarantees Protect retailers against possible price declines. If a retailer cannot sell an item at a given price, the manufacturer pays it the difference between planned retail and actual retail selling prices.
Price Line Classifications Enable retail sales, inventories, and purchases to be analyzed by retail price category.
Price Lining (1) A practice whereby retailers sell merchandise at a limited range of price points, with each price point representing a distinct level of quality.
Price Lining (2) Used by service retailers providing a wide selection of services. A range of prices is matched to service levels.
Price-Quality Association A concept stating that many consumers feel high prices connote high quality and low prices connote low quality.
Primary Customer Services Those considered basic components of the retail strategy mix; they must be provided.
Primary Data Collected to address the specific issue or problem under study. These data can be gathered internally or externally though surveys, observations, experiments, and simulation.
Primary Trading Area Encompasses 50 percent to 80 percent of a store's customers. It is the geographic area closest to the store and possesses the highest density of customers to population and the highest per-capita sales.
Private (Dealer) Brands Contain names designated by wholesalers or retailers, are more profitable to retailers, are better controlled by retailers, are not sold by competing retailers, are less expensive for consumers, and lead to customer loyalty to retailers.
Probability (Random) Sample An approach whereby every store, product, or customer has an equal or known chance of being chosen for study.
Problem Awareness The stage in the decision process where the consumer not only has been aroused by social, commercial, and/or physical stimuli, but also recognizes the good or service under consideration may solve a problem of shortage or unfulfilled desire.
Problem Definition See Issue Definition.
Productivity The efficiency with which a retail strategy is carried out.
Product Life Cycle Shows the expected behavior of a good or service over its life. The traditional cycle has four stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.
Product/Trademark Franchising An arrangement in which franchised dealers acquire the identities of their suppliers by agreeing to sell the latter's products and/or operate under suppliers' names.
Profit-and-Loss (Income) Statement Represents a summary of a retailer's revenues and expenses over a particular period of time, usually on a monthly, quarterly, and/or yearly basis.
Prototype Stores Occur with an operations strategy that requires multiple outlets in a chain to conform to relatively uniform construction, layout, and operations standards.
Psychological Pricing Refers to consumer perceptions of retail prices.
Publicity Any nonpersonal form of public relations whereby messages are transmitted through mass media, the time or space provided by the media is not paid for, and there is no identified commercial sponsor.
Public Relations Entails any communication fostering a favorable image for a retailer among its publics (consumers, investors, government, channel members, employees, and the general public).
Purchase Act An exchange of money or a promise to pay for ownership or use of a good or service. Purchase variables include the place of purchase, terms, and availability of merchandise.
Purchase-Motivation Product Groupings Appeal to the consumer's urge to buy a product and the time he or she is willing to spend in shopping.
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