Door-to-Door Retailing

Although the definition of door-to-door retailing implies that the salesperson visiting houses to sell products, i.e., B-2-C, they can also perform B-2-B jobs, i.e., Business-to-Business.

Amongst the various types of retailing outlet, door-to-door retailing is one of the commonest one. The area of coverage for the salesperson of door-to-door retailing can be divided into two main groups. The first group comprises of those people who reside in a particular locality and the salesperson sells to the regular customers. Examples of this type of door-to-door retailing coverage are fresh meat shops or greengroceries that are made especially by the local salespeople. There will be regular “rounds” and a specific time will be allotted for the customers to visit at a given location. It can be daily, weekly or monthly. Gradually, the customers become dependent on the salespeople and the local door-to-door salesmen tries to extend their round in order to serve more customers.

The second group regarding the area of coverage for the door-to-door retailing salespeople is traveling. These traveling salespeople may procure their goods in a far more opportunist way by taking the advantage of bargaining or buying goods to coincide with the changes in environment or special events in the calendar. For example, these salespeople can sell woolen clothes at the onset of winter and also sells gift items during festivals. Once their goods are sold or have very few customers, they shift to another place and repeat the same process of retailing. At the same time they also buy goods for further selling. They can also sell such goods that have been made by themselves or their family members or the particular community they live in. Sometimes these salespeople also provide services to their customers like knife sharpening, sewing, mending, etc.

The advantages of door-to-door retailing are as follows:

• The prime advantage of door-to-door retailing is that here the overheads of the salesperson are comparatively low. Most of the salespeople in this type of retailing carry their own stock on a vehicle, while others store it in their small warehouse or homes.
  
  
• The salespeople in this retailing can be quite flexible in the range that they carry. This allows the salesperson to be very up-to-date with the products they offer for sale for meeting the current demands of the customers.

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