Business domains: a pure retailing enterprise typically focuses on which functional areas—do engineering, plant operations, and maintenance belong to its core scope?

Introduction / Context:
Retail businesses primarily buy finished goods and sell them to consumers. Their core functions include merchandising, procurement, pricing, store operations, marketing, customer service, and supply chain/logistics. This question probes whether manufacturing-centric functions are part of a retailer’s mainstream scope.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• “Retailing business” refers to organizations that do not manufacture goods.
• Engineering and plant operations usually relate to manufacturing facilities.
• Maintenance, in the industrial sense, services production equipment.

Concept / Approach:
For a pure retailer (e.g., supermarkets, apparel chains), engineering, plant operations, and industrial maintenance are not central functions. Retail may have facilities management and store maintenance, but not production lines requiring engineering or plant operations. Therefore, none of the listed manufacturing-oriented functions define a retail core.

Step-by-Step Solution:

Verification / Alternative check:
Industry references and org charts for major retailers emphasize buying, assortment planning, stores, e-commerce, and distribution over manufacturing functions.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Each named function is typical of factories or industrial firms, not retail; “All of the above” would misclassify retail operations.

Common Pitfalls:
Confusing vertically integrated retailers (that also manufacture) with pure retailers; equating building maintenance with industrial maintenance for plants.

Final Answer:
None of the above