Discuss the features of a departmental store. How are they different from multiple shops or chain stores?

Departmental stores are basically large, fixed establishments that deal in a wide variety of products. The following points highlight the features of a departmental store: 

1. Central locations: Department stores are generally located in central areas so as to attract a large number of customers. 

2. Defined hierarchy: The management in departmental stores follows the same hierarchy that is generally followed in any joint stock company. That is, the top management consists of a board of directors, with the managing director, the general manager and the department managers under it in that order. 

3. Absence of middlemen: Departmental stores purchase goods directly from manufacturers and sell them to customers. Thus, they eliminate the role of middlemen. 

4. Centralised purchase with decentralised sales: In a departmental store, the purchases from manufacturers are handled by a single division that follows a centralised purchase policy. On the other hand, the sales are handled by the respective sections of the departmental store, which follow a decentralised policy for sales. Differences between Departmental stores and Multiple shops

A departmental store is a large establishment offering a wide variety of products, classified into well-defined departments, aimed at satisfying practically every customer’s need under one roof. It has a number of departments, each one confining its activities to one kind of product, e.g., there may be separate department for toiletries, medicines, furniture, groceries, electronics, clothing and dress material. Thus, they satisfy diverse market segments with a wide variety of goods and services. Eg: Spencers, Reliance fresh etc.

Some of the important features of a departmental store are as follows:

1. A modern departmental store may provide all facilities such as restaurant, restrooms, etc. In this way they try to provide maximum service to higher class of customers for whom price is of secondary importance. 

2. These stores are generally located at a central place in the city, which caters to a large number of customers. 

3. They are generally formed as a joint stock company managed by a board of directors as the size of these stores is very large. 

4. A departmental store combines both the functions of retailing as well as warehousing. They purchase directly from manufacturers and operate separate warehouses there by eliminating undesirable middlemen between the producers and the customers.

5. All the purchases in a department store are made centrally by the purchase department of the store, whereas sales are decentralized in different departments.

Chain stores or multiple shops are networks of retail shops that are owned and operated by manufacturers or intermediaries. Under this type of arrangement, a number of shops with similar appearance are established in localities, spread over different parts of the country in contrast to departmental stores which are established at a central j place in the city.

These different types of shops normally deal in standardized and branded consumer products, which have rapid sales turnover. These shops are run by the same organization and have identical merchandising strategies, with Identical products and displays.