The main functions of departmental Store Organisation.
A departmental store is a large scale retail establishment having a number of departments housed in the same building and each department deal in one particular line of products. The type of retail institution which handles a wide variety of merchandise under one roof and each merchandise is grouped into well defined departments which is controlled centrally. It is such a type of store where almost all the requirement of a customer are available in one place. According to Thomass, “a departmental store is a large retail establishment having in the same building a number of department each of which confines its activities to one particular kind of trade and forms a complete unit in itself.” Departmental stores were first started in France. BON MARCHE was the first departmental store established in 1852.
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A departmental store is organized as a limited company. The Board of Directors is at the helm of affairs who controls the activities of departmental store by formulating policies and programmes. Then come the managing Director or the General manager, who is responsible for the efficient running of the stores under the General Managers, different departmental managers are there who look after their respective department.
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Under each Department Managers, a number of salesmen, assistants and clerks are there who perform the tasks of their respective departments.
Functions
The main function/Characteristics of a department store are:
- It is a large scale retail organisation.
- It has a wide range of products.
- Each department specializes a particular line of product.
- Its management is centralized.
- It is located in a most central place of big cities.
- It makes extensive use of advertisement to attract people.
- It meets the requirements of generally rich people.
- It has a number of departments in the same roof.