Industries · Retail
Retail
How grocery, apparel, department store and convenience retailers make money, why store economics (sales per square metre, like-for-like growth, shrink and inventory turns) decide profit, who the main players are by region, and how to crack retail cases.
Key takeaways
- A retailer buys goods from suppliers, holds them for a short time, and sells them to shoppers at a higher price.
- In retail, the unit is the store. A store earns its place if its sales per square metre, after margin, shrink, staff, and rent, leave a clear profit, and if its stock turns into cash quickly.
- Common traps in retail cases: Praising total sales growth without asking for like-for-like growth.
- Explain how a retailer earns money on thin margins and name its main cost lines
- Calculate sales per square metre, like-for-like growth, shrink and inventory turns
- Build a store profit tree and find the first driver to check in a retail profit case
- Describe the main retailers by region and the retail trends of 2024 to 2026 with care
Lessons
How retail works and makes money
The four main store formats, the value chain from supplier to shopper, the revenue sources beyond selling goods, and an approximate cost breakdown.
Store economics: the numbers that decide profit
Work through one store: sales per square metre, gross margin, shrink, like-for-like growth, and inventory turns, then see how the supply chain behind the store works.
Retail players, trends, and how to crack retail cases
The main retailers by region, the trends of 2024 to 2026, regulation basics, and the typical retail case prompts with the first driver to check.
Worked cases in this module
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Key terms