Retail: what it is, what it means in Spanish and types of retail
The business of selling directly to people, in store or online, and how it can sell more
Retail is the sale of products or services directly to the end consumer, in small quantities, whether in a physical store, online or both. In Spanish, retail is called comercio minorista or venta al por menor.
When you buy bread at the bakery, a pair of sneakers at a shopping mall or a book from an online store, you’re a customer of this type of business.
What does retail mean in Spanish?
Retail translates as venta al por menor or venta al detalle. The word comes from the Old French retaillier, “to cut off”, because merchants divided their goods into small portions to sell them.
Spanish uses the word as is, in the singular: “el retail” or “el sector retail”.
In Spanish it’s pronounced roughly /ríteil/, and it’s often misspelled as “reatil” or “ritail”.
The Spanish equivalent is minorista, meaning retailer. Its opposite is wholesale trade, which sells large quantities to other businesses, as a wholesaler does.
What is a retailer?
A retailer is the company or business that sells to the end consumer. It’s the last link in the distribution chain: it buys from the manufacturer or the wholesaler and sells to the public.
It can be a neighborhood store, a large supermarket chain or an online store.
What defines it isn’t its size but who it sells to: always people buying for their own consumption, in a B2C model.
What is the retail sector and what types are there?
The retail sector includes all the businesses that sell to the end consumer, from food to fashion, electronics or pharmacy. It’s one of the sectors that creates the most jobs in any economy.
By channel and format, these are the most common types of retail:
| Type of retail | How it sells | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Physical store or brick and mortar | On the premises, face to face | A bookstore, a shoe store, a bakery |
| Supermarkets and hypermarkets | Wide range of food and household goods | Mercadona, Carrefour, Lidl |
| Department stores | Many categories under one roof | El Corte Inglés, Liverpool |
| Specialty stores | A single category, with lots of variety | Decathlon, MediaMarkt, Sephora |
| Convenience stores | Long opening hours and quick shopping | OXXO, gas station stores |
| Ecommerce | Online only | PcComponentes, a WooCommerce store |
| Marketplace | Platform where many businesses sell | Amazon, Mercado Libre |
| Omnichannel retail | Physical and online stores connected | Zara, IKEA |
Today the line between physical and online stores has almost disappeared. Many customers search on their phone and buy in store, or the other way around.
What is retail marketing?
Retail marketing is the set of actions a business takes to attract customers, get them to buy more and keep them coming back. It ranges from shop windows and merchandising to online campaigns and loyalty points programs.
A classic way to sum it up is the 4 Rs of retail marketing:
| R | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Relevance | Offering what the customer is looking for, at the right time | Announcing back-to-school deals to families with children |
| Relationships | Staying in touch without overwhelming | A weekly newsletter with new arrivals |
| Reward | Rewarding loyalty | Points, coupons or discounts for customers |
| Cost reduction | Selling at a profit while keeping costs under control | Buying better and adjusting stock |
The ultimate goal is customer loyalty. Getting a customer to come back costs less than acquiring a new one.
Do you have a store, physical or online?
With Mailrelay, you capture customers on your website and in your store and send them offers they’re interested in.
What is retail media?
Retail media is the advertising a retailer sells on its own channels: its website, its app, its in-store screens or its emails. Brands pay to appear right where the customer is about to buy.
Amazon is the best-known example, but more and more supermarkets and chains have their own network.
For the retailer it’s a source of revenue; for the brand, a way to reach shoppers with real purchase data.
How is email marketing used in retail?
Email is one of the best-performing channels in retail, because it lets you talk to each customer based on what they buy. These are the most common uses:
Capture contacts. On your website, with a subscription form, and in your physical store, by offering a digital receipt or a discount for signing up.
Recover sales. The abandoned cart email reminds customers of what they left unfinished. We explain how to do it in this guide to recovering abandoned carts.
Segment. With segmentation you send different offers based on each customer’s usual store, favorite category or spending.
Make the most of key dates. Black Friday, seasonal sales and Christmas account for a large share of the year’s sales.
And if you need urgency, combine email with SMS marketing: it works well for last-minute alerts or order pickups.
How Mailrelay helps you
Mailrelay helps you stay in touch with your store’s customers, physical or online. You capture subscribers with forms, store their data in custom fields and send each group the offer that interests them.
You can also send SMS from the same platform, from €0.0345 per message (excluding VAT) and with no commitment. The free account includes up to 80,000 emails a month and 20,000 contacts, with human support by chat, ticket and phone.
Send your newsletters with Mailrelay
Up to 80,000 emails a month and 20,000 contacts for free, with human support on every plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
These are the most common questions about retail.
What is retail in Spanish?
It’s comercio minorista or venta al por menor: selling products or services directly to the end consumer.
How is retail pronounced?
In Spanish it’s pronounced roughly /ríteil/. In Spanish it’s written “retail”, with no accent mark.
What is a retailer?
It’s the company or business that sells to the end customer, such as a shop, a supermarket or an online store.
What’s the difference between retail and ecommerce?
Ecommerce is a form of retail: selling to consumers over the internet. Retail also includes physical stores.
What is the retail sector?
It’s all the businesses that sell to the end consumer: food, fashion, electronics, home, pharmacy and many more.