The point of sale (POS) or point of purchase (POP) is the time and place where a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoice for the customer, and indicates the options for the customer to make payment. It is also the point at which a customer makes a payment to the merchant in exchange for goods or after provision of a service. After receiving payment, the merchant may issue a receipt for the transaction, which is usually printed but is increasingly being dispensed with or sent electronically.
Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly or by searching among alternative vendors using a shopping search engine, which displays the same product's availability and pricing at different e-retailers. As of 2016, customers can shop online using a range of different computers and devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablet computers and smartphones.
A pre-order is an order placed for an item that has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came because people found it hard to get popular items in stores because of their popularity. Companies then had the idea to allow customers to reserve their own personal copy before its release, which has been a huge success.
Brick and mortar refers to a physical presence of an organization or business in a building or other structure. The term brick-and-mortar business is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases retail shops, factory production facilities, or warehouses for its operations. More specifically, in the jargon of e-commerce businesses in the 2000s, brick-and-mortar businesses are companies that have a physical presence and offer face-to-face customer experiences.
A digital wallet refers to an electronic device or online service that allows an individual to make electronic transactions. This can include purchasing items on-line with a computer or using a smartphone to purchase something at a store. An individual's bank account can also be linked to the digital wallet. They might also have their driver's license, health card, loyalty card(s) and other ID documents stored on the phone. The credentials can be passed to a merchant's terminal wirelessly via near field communication (NFC). Increasingly, digital wallets are being made not just for basic financial transactions but to also authenticate the holder's credentials. For example, a digital wallet could verify the age of the buyer to the store while purchasing alcohol. The system has already gained popularity in Japan, where digital wallets are known as "wallet mobiles". A cryptocurrency wallet is a digital wallet where private keys are stored for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.
Marketspace—an information- and communication-based electronic exchange environment—is a relatively new concept in marketing. Since physical boundaries no longer interfere with buy/sell decisions, the world has grown into several industry specific marketspaces which are integration of marketplaces through sophisticated computer and telecommunication technologies. The term marketspace was introduced by Jeffrey Rayport and John Sviokla in 1994 in their article "Managing in the Marketspace" that appeared in Harvard Business Review. In the article the authors distinguished between electronic and conventional markets. In a marketspace, information and/or physical goods are exchanged, and transactions take place through computers and networks. These networks consist of blogs, forum threads, and micro-blogging services like Twitter. Businesses and their customers are enabled to create conversations and two-way communications about products and services. These conversations may also happen outside the sphere of control of a given business, when a marketing campaign or customer-service issue captures the attention of web-savvy consumers.
Sample sales are used by retail businesses in order to discard excess merchandise. Sometimes these samples have been used by agencies to sell products that they will distribute to local vendors. Sample sales are often associated with the fashion industry. These sales are an opportunity to get near perfect merchandise at a fraction of the price. It is often difficult to have information on the date and time of sample sales, although there are websites which list information about sample sales. They are also used to draw in new clients, hoping that the new people will return to the company's store and buy more merchandise.
Visual merchandising is the practice in the retail industry of developing floor plans and three-dimensional displays in order to maximize sales.
Nimbit, Inc. is a Massachusetts-based company offering sales & marketing services for independent musicians, independent record labels and other organisations, using a web-based, direct-to-fan system. This includes a virtual storefront, which allows users to sell music and merchandise on Facebook and other websites, and tools for users to perform fundraising campaigns.
Free shipping is a marketing tactic used primarily by online vendors and mail-order catalogs as a sales strategy to attract customers.
NIKEiD is a service provided by Nike allowing customers to personalize and design their own Nike merchandise. They offer online services as well as physical NIKEiD studios in different countries around the world, including: United Kingdom, Italy, France, Japan, Spain, Germany, China, USA, Canada and Australia.
There is substantial confusion about the role of merchandisers, and much of this can be attributed to the loose manner in which the term is used by various industries. Merchandising in football refers to the range of goods sold to supporters by football clubs. Store managers at Zara will commonly refer to department layout reorganization as “re-merchandising.” In fashion retailing, the visual merchandising team has the responsibility of managing the aesthetics of store and window displays. It is a completely separate function from merchandising, and the two must not be confused.
Livestream is a video live streaming platform that allows customers to broadcast live video content using a camera and a computer through the Internet, and viewers to play the content via the web, iOS, Android, Roku, and the Apple TV. Livestream requires a paid subscription for content providers to use; it formerly offered a free ad-supported service but no longer does so as of 2016.
Virtual store research is an extension of the traditional methods of marketing research. While marketing research employs techniques like focus groups, surveys and observation to better understand consumer decision-making, virtual store research uses these standard research techniques within a simulated store setting, delivered via computer. Virtual store research uses 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional computer simulation technology to create retail contexts that are as close to the real shopping experience as possible. This allows test consumers within the virtual environment to interact with store merchandise and make purchase decisions in a way that closely resembles real in-store behavior.
Wholesale fashion distribution refers to the global market of bulk clothing sales, in which producers, wholesalers and sellers are involved in a commercial, business-to-business process.
Oculus Rift is a virtual reality headset developed and manufactured by Oculus VR, a division of Facebook Inc., released on March 28, 2016. The headset is succeeded by Oculus Rift S, scheduled for release in spring of 2019.
Fanatics, Inc. is an American online retailer of licensed sportswear, sports equipment, and merchandise, formed in 1995 and headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. Fanatics offers product via its Fanatics and FansEdge brands, as well as sports collectibles and memorabilia through Fanatics Authentic and SportsMemorabilia.com. Fanatics also currently operates the e-commerce websites of major professional sports leagues, major media brands, and over 150 collegiate and professional team properties. They are also the exclusive online distributer for the United States Olympic Team.
Ira Neimark is an American author, lecturer, and former retail executive who served as Chairman and CEO of Bergdorf Goodman from 1975 to 1992. His reintroduction of French couture to New York with Yves Saint Laurent, Hubert de Givenchy, and Christian Dior sparked a period of growth for Bergdorf Goodman, which went from $18 million in sales in 1975 to $250 million in sales by 1992. During his tenure, he expanded the women's store three times and opened the Bergdorf Goodman Men's Store in 1991 across the street from the primary location on Fifth Avenue, between 57th and 58th Streets, in New York.
