The Retail Industry

Retail is an extraordinarily large and important industry. It is usually the largest industry in the economy in terms of turnover and employment. In the United States, the retail industry generated sales of US$ 3.7 trillion in 2003, or 34 per cent of the country’s GDP, while representing about 12 per cent of the non-farm workforce in the United States.37 This exceeded the number of workers in the US manufacturing sector as a whole. In addition, the importance of retail stems from its basic function as a market maker for manufacturers and their end consumers in the economy. The International Mass Retail Association (IMRA) described the strategic importance of the retail industry in its testimony to the US Congress: ‘without retailers, wholesalers and consumers, manufacturers would have no markets … The distribution industry … makes the consumer market … Manufacturers are inherently linked to the industries that create and serve the markets — industries like retailing, wholesaling, warehousing, distribution, transportation, advertising and marketing. Indeed, manufacturers (especially those making consumer products) depend on the retail sector’ (IMRA, 2003). During the global business revolution, the global retail industry has undergone profound changes at every level of its value chain.