Discuss nonstore retailing techniques. Nonstore retailing, which is shopping outside a store setting, has three major categories. Automatic vending uses machines to offer products for sale. In direct retailing, the sales transaction occurs in a home setting, typically through door-to-door sales or party plan selling. Direct marketing refers to the techniques used to get consumers to buy from their homes or place of business. Those techniques include direct mail, catalogs and mail order, telemarketing, and electronic retailing, such as home shopping channels and online retailing.

1. Go to the Gift Center at the online wine retailer's Web site at www.wine. com. How does this site help shoppers select gifts?

2. How much does the most powerful computer with the fastest modem, most memory, largest monitor, biggest hard drive, and all the available peripherals cost at www.dell.com? Then visit a store like Best Buy or CompUSA and price a comparable computer. How can you explain any price differences between the two retail operations? Explain any differences in features that you encountered. What conclusions can you draw from your research?

3. Most catalog companies also offer online shopping. Visit the Web site of one of your favorite catalogs to see if you can buy online. If so, surf the online catalog for a few minutes. Then compare the two retailing methods (paper and Internet) for prices, products, and so forth. Which do you prefer-the paper catalog or online shopping? Why?

4. To what can you attribute the renewed interest in the party format of retailing? Go to the library and research direct sales parties. Write a paragraph describing the target market for these parties and the shifts in the external environment that contribute to their resurgent popularity.