Retail

Retail involves the process of selling consumer goods or services to customers through multiple channels of distribution to earn a profit. Demand is created through diverse target markets and promotional tactics, satisfying consumers' perceived wants and needs through a lean supply chain. In the 2000s, an increasing amount of retailing occurs online using electronic payment and delivery via a courier or via postal mail. Retailing as a sector includes subordinated services, such as delivery. The term "retailer" is also applied where a service provider services the small orders of a large number of individuals, rather than large orders of a small number of wholesale, corporate or government clientèle. Shops may be on residential streets, streets with few or no houses, or in a shopping mall. Shopping streets may restrict traffic to pedestrians only. Sometimes a shopping street has a partial or full roof to create a more comfortable shopping environment - protecting customers from various types of weather conditions such as extreme temperatures, winds or precipitation. Forms of non-shop retailing include online retailing (a type of electronic commerce used for business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions) and mail order.