You represent a group of investors who are exploring alternatives for entering the retailing business. Many of these investors have significant past experience working for other retailing companies and they realize the retailing business is very competitive. They also realize there is a high failure rate for startups in this industry. They ask you to recommend a retailing strategy that would meet the following criteria:
- No storefront would be needed
- No personal selling would be needed
- No traditional store operating expenses are necessary
- Customers can place orders via the Internet, telephone, or mail
- Low operating expenses and limited customer service required
Which of the following retailing strategies are you going to recommend they use?
telemarketing
automatic vending
direct selling
television home shopping
catalog marketing
Answer: catalog marketing