Microsoft Word marketing doc

Limited Varieties
Multiple shops offer limited line of products only. Hence, they cannot 
satisfy all the needs of consumers when they come out for shopping. 
d) 
Suitability
Head office policies and control do not always suit the local conditions.
Hence, the sales may be affected. 
e) 
Cost of Maintenance
Multiple shop system has to incur a lot of expenditure on the 
maintenance of various shops at different places. 
f) 
Inefficiency
Due to large scale operations, multiple stores suffer from red tapism, 
delayed decisions, lack of prompt action etc. which may result in 
inefficiency of the people and organisation. 
g) 
Competition
Multiple shops face tough competition from independent and local retail 
stores. Local people consider them as monopoly business and local 
Government may discriminate against them. They pose a danger to 
small and independent retailers. 
Distinction between Departmental stores and Multiple Shops 
Departmental stores and Multiple shops are large scale retailing 
institutions but they differ in several aspects which are as follows : 

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Departmental Stores 
Multiple Stores 
1. 
It is centrally located and tries to 
attract customers from wide areas. 
1. 
It goes as near to the customers as 
possible. 
2. It deals with wide variety of 
goods. 
2. 
It deals with limited number of 
products only. 
3. It offers many free services and 
emphasises convenience and 
quality. 
3. 
It offers no services and 
emphasises on economy of costs. 
4. 
It has higher operating costs and 
sells at a higher price. 
4. 
It has lower operating costs and 
sells at a lower price. 
5. 
It adopts decentralised purchasing 
and centralised selling. 
5. 
It adopts centralised purchasing 
and decentralised selling. 
6. 
It is not flexible, therefore, closure 
of the stores is not an easy process.
6. 
It is flexible and can be closed at 
any time by transferring stock to 
another branch. 
7. It advertises intensively in a 
limited area. 
7. 
It advertises extensively to cover 
wide area. 
8. The size of the organisation is 
large 
8. 
The size of the shop is limited. 
9. 
It does not produce the goods. It 
only assembles and provides them 
to the consumers. 
9. 
It assembles the goods and some 
times may produce the goods. 
10 It maintains heavy stocks of all 
varieties, which invites high risk. 
10 It maintains low stocks of limited 
varieties, hence risk is low. 
11 It caters largely to well to do 
customers who value variety and 
service. 
11 It caters to the needs of common 
man who is price conscious. 
12 It sells both on cash and credit 
basis. 
12 It sells always on cash basis. 
13 It cannot control all the activities 
much easily. 
13 It controls all the activities of 
branches spread over wide areas. 
14 The decoration of different 
departments is not uniformly 
maintained. 
14 There is uniformity in shop 
decoration, its layout, window 
display etc.