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Technology And Retail Industry : The Sale Of Goods And Services

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Technology and Retail Industry
Retailing is the sale of goods and services to a consumer. The retailer is the last link in the distribution chain. A retailer 's purchases are usually made from a wholesaler, who in turn buys from a manufacturer (Retail, 2014). According to the U.S retail industry, two-thirds of the total US GDP comes from retail consumption. The latest annual report of the U.S department of Commerce for 2013 says that total retail sales in 2011 was $4.7 trillion an increase of 8% from 2010 numbers. Retailers have turned from being an intermediary between the manufactures and consumers to a visible power who can influence both producing and consuming decisions. Be it the vast expanses of the countryside or the crowded streets of cities, a Walmart, Target, or Staples are a common sight.
The role of retailers in the distribution channel has grown in tremendous proportions in the last few decades. The last two decades have been a time of technological innovation for retailers. In just about every area – from executive suite to the ceiling floor, to the warehouse – new technologies promise to transform retail operations (Burke, 2002). Imagine walking into a hypermarket, the door opens automatically welcoming you, in the process recording the store traffic. We pick an item from the shelf which usually has a barcode imprinted on it. When the product is scanned at the register, it automatically triggers the process of updating the virtual inventory records and

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