Describe what category specialist retailers are while providing specific examples of category specialist retailers and how they differentiate themselves from their competitors.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Category specialists are big-box stores that offer a narrow but deep assortment of merchandise. Most category specialists predominantly use a self-service approach, but they offer assistance to customers in some areas of the stores. For example, Staples stores have a warehouse atmosphere, with cartons of copy paper stacked on pallets, plus equipment in boxes on shelves. But in some departments, such as computers and other high-tech products, it provides salespeople in the display area to answer questions and make suggestions. By offering a complete assortment in a category, category specialists can "kill" a category of merchandise for other retailers and thus are frequently called category killers. Using their category dominance and buying power, they buy products at low prices and are ensured of supply when items are scarce. Department stores and full-line discount stores located near category specialists often have to reduce their offerings in the category because consumers are drawn to the deep assortment and competitive prices at the category killer.