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JONAED

JOURNAL OF NIGERIAN ACADEMY OF EDUCATION

ISSN: 2278-095X

RETAIL WORKERS’ PERCEPTION OF SOFT SKILLS REQUIRED FOR SUCCESSFUL PERSONAL SELLING IN THE 21ST CENTURY: IMPLICATIONS FOR

Catherine Chiugo Kanu, PhD & Chiaka Augusta Obi Prof .

Retailing is important in the supply chain given that it links manufacturers to consumers. It includes all the activities involved in selling products or services directly to final consumers for their personal, non-business use (Kotler & Armstrong, 2008). Thus, a retailer is a business that sells products and services to ultimate consumers (Dibb, Simkin, Pride & Ferrell, 1994). Kotler and Armstrong (2008) define retailers more succinctly as businesses whose sales come primarily from retailing. Retailing can be non-store or in-store. Non-store retailing includes retail activities performed outside a store such as door-to-door selling of a restaurant’s offers. In-store retailing, on the other hand, involves the performance of retail activities within a retail facility such as sale of groceries in a supermarket or department store or sale of apparel in a specialty store.