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Center for Education and Research in Retail

The demise of retail is a myth. Retail is one of the largest—and most innovative—industries in the world. It includes established companies like Walmart and Macy’s as well as thousands of smaller ones that may someday become the next Amazon.

The retail industry at a glance

Retail is the nation’s largest private-sector employer, contributing $5.3 trillion to the annual GDP and supporting more than one in four US jobs: 55 million working Americans, according to the National Retail Federation. The word retail is derived from the Norman French word "retaille" which means "to cut into small parts." This is essentially what retailers do: reduce bulk to allow for consumption by individuals. This broad view of retail is not constrained by the physical mechanism that delivers the value being consumed. It is independent of the form that creates the value. Retailers include restaurants that convert bulk food into on-site or delivered meals, stores like Amazon or Target who buy goods of all kinds in large quantities and deliver them to their individual customers, and even banks that bring in large amounts of money from the Federal Reserve and convert it into small loans for households. All of these entities are constantly innovating by employing smart people and technology to make it easier and more fun to acquire the things we need.

Retail education and research

The Center for Education and Research in Retail partners with students and companies to develop relevant curriculum to ensure students are successful in their careers. Graduates have gone on to executive leadership roles with esteemed retailers like Abercrombie & Fitch, Macy’s, American Eagle Outfitters, Walmart, TJX, and Meijer. Others have started their own retail businesses or work in retail consulting to advise companies.

Dana Olsen portrait

Meet the director

Dana Olsen leads the center's educational and research initiatives.

Read bio
Retail students from the Kelley School of Business visit the American Eagle offices in New York.

Student engagement with industry

The center works with several major national retailers and interacts with the leadership teams of these companies to provide authentic practitioner insights for our students. Recent engagements included a trip to New York to visit the headquarters of American Eagle Outfitters, Macy’s, and SPARC, a subsidiary of the Simon Property Group.

Kelley Retail workshop
Ray Burke, a male Kelley faculty member, presents a topic to a large group

Connect with faculty

The center supports faculty research in the retail industry. Meet our faculty and learn more about their contributions to knowledge in the field in areas such as data in retail, technology in marketing communications, and consumer behavior.

Meet the faculty

The Center for Education and Research in Retail works with many of the world’s best retailers to provide students with educational, internship, and career opportunities.

Partners

Abercrombie and Fitch logoAmerican Eagle OutfittersMacys LogoMeijer logo
TCC logoTJX logowalmart-logo.svg

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