Peer Review

Modern Day Retail Marketing Management

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Feb 19, 2019 by Business

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

The success of retail is in getting closer to customers to know their present and future needs. Retailers seldom pay sufficient attention to employee training or motivation. Employee role in shaping customer experience is crucial for influencing customer loyalty. New age topics like green retailing, multi-channel retailing, religion-based retailing and data analytics in retail have been given due attention in the book. The retailing needs of different generational cohorts have been covered extensively. This book presents various facets of the retail sector that will appeal to the reader.

Type of Material:

Open (Access) Textbook

Recommended Uses:

It could be the only required text, or be used as supplemental material.

Technical Requirements:

Chrome used

Identify Major Learning Goals:

Students will be prepared for the “present and future needs” of retail customers.
Students will understand key topics in retailing.
Students will learn concepts that are newer to the discipline.

Target Student Population:

College Upper Division, Graduate School, Professional
Business students

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

Basic marketing and management courses would be helpful.

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

The material is engaging to read.
Content is relatively current.
Graphics are clean, clear, concise and good quality.
Each chapter includes a list of introductory learning objectives.
The text covers a wide variety of topics related to retail marketing.
Within each chapter, the discussion is detailed enough to provide the reader with more than a cursory understanding, often with helpful bullet-point lists for easier reference.
Since chapters are short in nature, the content can be read and absorbed quickly.
A reader could learn a great deal in a short amount of time.

Concerns:

Supporting references are minimal per chapter.
Several chapters are quite brief.
Most references and sources are online materials.
There are a couple of cases presented, but no discussion questions, supporting materials.
While each chapter does provide a reference list, the in-text citations are often missing to more directly connect the content to a scholarly source. This can be particularly troublesome in the case of graphics, statistics, or quotations used.
Since the content is presented in such a basic way, the reader does not often benefit from the real-world company-based examples that are commonly offered in textbooks.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

The quality is good and students should find the material easy to read and comprehend.
Examples and information are current.
The text reads almost as if it is a classroom lecture, and as such, the student can easily follow along with the discussion.
Chapters are short, making it a quicker read than most typical textbooks.
The content is assisted by the author’s frequent comparisons between US retailing and that in India, thus lending a global perspective.
Topics build upon those previously and are accented with timely content not often found in other sources, i.e. retail concerns related to generations, green retailing, etc.
The text is free, with an easy download for more permanent viewing.

Concerns:

Instructional support materials are not available (lack of supplemental content such as test banks, PowerPoint slides, etc. common to cost-based purchases.)
Instructors will need to develop learning activities, assignments, exams and other supporting materials.
Within the text itself, there are few chapter-related cases, and no chapter-ending summaries or questions. An instructor would need to provide that support material for any related assignments.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

Simple, easy to download.
Once downloaded, reviewing this textbook becomes very easy – the content is portable and can be maneuvered through quickly.
The content is broken up regularly by lists or graphics, and as such is visually appealing enough to keep interest, particularly with the shorter chapters.

Concerns:

In-content advertisements may be distracting to some students. However, they do NOT overwhelm the information/content.
Although not necessarily designed for this, there is little interactive element with this text as compared to others.
Students don’t have a textbook website resource to tap into, and without the typical chapter-ending questions, they cannot review understanding.

Other Issues and Comments:

The chapter on Retailing in India is very specific to one audience, and thus may or may not be helpful for all students.

Creative Commons: