Regarding student’s competences, the course mainly develops knowledge and reasoning and personal development and to a lesser extent the other competences of the competency framework, i.e., corporate citizenship, innovation and entrepreneurship, professional development, teamwork and leadership as well as communication and interpersonal skills.
The course Retail management & e-commerce aims at providing students with an understanding of the principles and practices of retail management, that is appreciate the complexity of retail problems, raise awareness about the retail industry, retail strategies and tactical issues such as store location, merchandise management, price and promotions, etc. It also aims at sharing the excitement and challenges in the retail industry, in particular the new retail formats and channels such as the Internet and mobile platforms.
This course deals not only with traditional retailing issues but also with nontraditional retail management in the context of new information technology (e.g., web-based, emailing, mobile platforms). The topics covered are strategic aspects of retail management, channel formats, selection and management, consumer behavior in a retail setting, consumer loyalty and relationship management (CRM), consumer patronage behavior and location issues, assortment management, and pricing and promotion issues. This course also emphasizes the similarities and differences between the traditional perspective of retail management (brick-and-mortar) and the related web-based or mobile-based retailing (e-tailing) issues.
The topics and issues covered are
The evaluation format varies across academic years. There is always a two-part written exam with a theoretical part (concepts and methods) and an implementation part (quantitative exercise and/or small case study). Some years the evaluation also comprises a group project (30% to 40% of the final grade if any).
Course material and recommended readings
The course pack (slides) is available before the course on the web platform.
Reference textbooks (non-exhaustive list) are:
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