Retail trade--Management

Model stores exist in distributive education laboratories.
They are intended to be realistic simulations of a typical retail
store in which all functions of marketing and distribution are
practical, and in which the majority of the graduates of the program
will gain employment and develop careers. The use of the model store
as a training laboratory is not fulfilled because a significant
element necessary for business operation has not been provided to
accompany the physical equipment. A system of management for the
model store laboratory is the missing element that must be provided
before the model store can be a realistic approximation of that which
it was intended to represent.
There exists a subordinate need to provide an opportunity
to develop interests for careers and provide experiences in the area
of business services such as advertising, public relations and
marketing research. These experiences are not now practicable
within the scope of the model store. They are not generally provided
for in the use the model store as learning experiences.
Further, a need exists to provide a management plan for
providing full-scale participation in all DECA activities. The
breadth of activities and extent of competitive opportunities in
DECA have become so great that a plan of involvement is necessary
before the secondary school chapter can fully realize the benefits
provided as learning activities.
The purpose of this study is to provide a sys tem of management
through which the model store in the distributive education laboratory
becomes an authentic representation of a marketing business enterprise.
The results of this study will take the form of a student-oriented handbook in which will be constructed and described a Marketing/
Management Model for Distributive Education.
A secondary purpose of this study is to expand the learning
activities of the model store in order to prepare more students
for careers in the area of business services for the marketing
process - -specifically: advertising, public relations and
marketing research.
A third purpose is to aid full - scale participation in the
DECA program of youth activities by providing a "management
treatment" of the chapter- of-the-year competitive effort.

Although the Internet as a shopping medium provides convenience to easily access products, the U.S. e-commerce retail sales still make up a very small percentage of the U.S. total retail sales. To better understand what influences consumers' choices to shop for products or services on the Internet versus local retail stores, this study tests the influence of antecedent factors of consumer patronage intentions for Internet and local retail stores. The study draws the antecedent factors from the extant literature, which include product classes, the importance consumers place on retailer attributes, and consumer perceived risk in product classes. Because the Internet instituted a convenient shopping medium with information distribution and search capabilities, nomological validity of the search, experience, and credence (SEC) product classification framework is tested in the online shopping context. This study tests the validity of the SEC product classification framework by examining whether significant differences exist in (1) the level of importance that consumers place on retailer attributes, (2) the amount and type of risks that online shoppers perceive in product classes (search, experience, and credence), and (3) their patronage intentions for two retailer types---Internet and local retail stores---based on product classes. In the same model, the study also tests the mediating effects of perceived risk in product classes in the relationship between the importance of retailer attributes and patronage intentions for retailer types. Although the relationships between some of the antecedent factors of patronage intentions have been tested in previous studies, they have never been tested jointly in the context of Internet shopping. Data were collected in three stages. The first two stages were the pretest studies that were conducted to select products as examples to represent each product category. The hypotheses were tested using data collected from a nationwide survey of those who previously purchased products or services on the Internet. The results of the analyses support the hypotheses.