Study retail marketing and graduate with a university degree

Retailing is a large and diverse industry that contributes significantly to the overall economy, as well as something that we as consumers experience regularly as part of our everyday lives. Understandably, the retail industry attracts a lot of attention from governments, the media and consumer groups.

According to the British Retail Consortium, in 2010 the retail sector generated approximately eight percent of UK's GDP, with sales over £293 billion. The sector is a major employer with over 2.9 million people currently working in retailing, equating to 11 percent of the total workforce.

In recent years retailers have had to deal with increased levels of competition, the growth of the Internet, new forms of technology and consumers that are looking for better value together with higher quality service. As a result, retailers require managers with the necessary skills to tackle and meet these challenges.

Year 1

Highers BBBB.
A-levels BBC.
IB Diploma with a total of 32 points.
HNC or HND with Bs in graded units.

Access courses and other UK/EU and international qualifications are also welcomed.

Year 2

A-levels or Advanced Highers ABB to include Business Studies/Management.
Scottish HND in related subjects with Bs in graded units.

Year 3

Applicants with an HND in Business or Retailing will be considered on an individual basis with a good academic profile.

General entrance requirements apply.

International students can study our Undergraduate Certificate if they do not possess the necessary entrance requirements to be admitted directly to the first year of an undergraduate degree programme.

Other information

If examinations are taken over two sittings, or there are repeats or upgrades, the entrance requirements may be higher.

Required subjects

English Standard Grade (2), Intermediate 2 (C), GCSE (C) or equivalent.

Applicants with English Standard Grade (3) will also be considered, although alternative entry conditions may be made in this case.

Mathematics Standard Grade (3), GCSE (C) or equivalent. Exceptional students with no Maths will be considered.

information on possible sources of funding

Full-time (three modules per semester).
Part-time (one or two modules per semester).
February entry also available.

Semesters 1 – 4

You will take three modules in Business and Management alongside students from Marketing, Business Studies, Human Resource Management and Management Science. These modules are designed to give you a solid grounding in the general principles of industry, management, marketing, human resources and organisations.

Semesters 5 – 8

The Retail Marketing course is structured to ensure that core advanced (Level 10) modules in retailing and marketing are studied alongside an option module each semester.

You will take the following core advanced modules:

• Retail Operations
• Understanding Consumers
• Marketing Research
• Retail Supply Chains
• Retail Buying
• Human Resource Management
• Locational Strategy
• Brands and Branding
• Marketing Strategy
• Retail Dissertation

Some of the topics covered in the retail modules include:

• Retailers' responses to changes within the external environment
• Marketing in supply chain networks
• Different retail formats
• Managing change
• The impact of the Internet for retailers and shoppers
• Shopping behaviour and consumption choices
• The cultural challenge of internationalisation
• Customer service issues within retail operations
• Designing an effective store layout
• Effective buying and merchandising strategies
• Managing employees
• Retail planning policy

Teaching methods centre around lectures and tutorials with considerable emphasis being placed on the analysis of case studies. The dissertation in the final semester enables you to focus in on a particular retail topic. Where relevant, the theory in the lectures is complemented with site visits and guest speakers from industry. Assessment is through a combination of coursework and formal examinations.

Our staff have established an international reputation for the high quality of their research and teaching in this field. The Institute for Retail Studies (IRS), part of Stirling Management School, was founded in 1983 to undertake retail research and retail teaching around the world (www.irs.stir.ac.uk). The wide-ranging experience of the IRS staff helps to ensure that the retail marketing degree is practical and up to date with trends in the retail industry.

You may spend Semester 6 studying abroad under the ERASMUS European exchange programme, or exchanges administered by the University’s Study Abroad Office to destinations in the USA, Canada, Australia and elsewhere.

Teaching provision in the Marketing department has been assessed by the Scottish Funding Council and rated as ‘highly satisfactory.'

Our Institute

The Institute for Retail Studies at the University of Stirling was established in 1983 to act as a focus for the academic and applied study of the retail industry. It is now one of Europe’s largest University based retail institutes and has developed a reputation for offering a range of high quality education and training courses to the retail sector as well as undertaking research of an international standard.

The Institute (IRS) has for a number of years been recognised as a ‘Centre of Excellence’ by the Department of Trade and Industy’s Retail and Consumer Services Panel (and contained in their Foresight publication ‘Bridging the gap’: Building a partnership between Retail and Education)  for its contribution to retail education and training. The reputation of the Institute was further enhanced in the most recent Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) where retail research at Stirling was described as ‘World Leading’.

Our teaching

Retail Marketing students acquire a comprehensive range of analytical, problem-solving and professional skills, which are increasingly valued not just in the retail industry itself but also in other areas of commerce, education, government and non-profit making organisations. Thus, a degree in Retail Marketing can become your key to pursuing a specialised retail career or a more general management career.

A number of our earliest graduates in Retail Marketing have now attained senior positions in industry with more recent graduates securing relevant employment within the retail sector, such as management trainee positions in a large supermarket chain.