Definition of Department Stores
A department store is defined as a large store selling,
under one roof, but in physically separate departments,
four or more different classes of consumer goods, one of
which is women’s and girls’ clothing. Some large
departmental store groups like House of Fraser and
Debenhams own up to 100 branches and these chains are
called multiple department stores. There are also a
number of much smaller chains of department stores e.g.
Bentalls, and also a few autonomous units. Within the
larger groups, some central buying is attempted but
normally the accent is on customer service with each
department carrying out its own buying, merchandising
and stock control. Scope for economies of scale in
buying is therefore narrow Department stores have seen a
gradual erosion of market share as the large supermarket
groups have added non-food merchandise to their retail
offer. General modernisation of city centre stores and the
quality of management will be the key to the future
success of department stores.
The general principles of operation of department stores
are;
a. Sitting in major shopping centres of location
supported by potentially large catchments
b. Freedom for the customer to move around the store
and view.
c. Relatively high prices with margins large enough to
lower heavy staffing, the range of services offered
and high accommodation costs.
d. Provision of a large number of specialised goods in
one location which allows some associated sales.
e. Special staff expertise in particular products.
f. Wide range of customer services such as delivery,
credit, the making-up soft furnishings and the
provision of restaurants, cloakrooms, telephones etc.
g. Space concessions offered to ‘shop-within-shop’
operations (often manufacturers) like Wedgwood.
An example of a department store in the Quadrant is
Debenhams.
When a customer enters Debenhams in the Quadrant the
first thing they see is the café and cosmetics department.
Retailers purposely do this to attract customers into the
store because they know that the smells of the café and
perfume are appealing to customers.
Also on the ground floor people will usually find
women’s clothes and shoes. This is also done purposely
because retailers know that women are more likely to
make an impulse buy. Upstairs in Debenhams is men’s
and women’s clothing, homewares and games.
They also provide additional services for their customers
such as a wedding gift list, personal shopper and toilets.