The Impact of Brand Delisting on Store Switching and Brand Switching Intentions

A tool retailers often use to improve their negotiating position with brand manufacturers is to delist - or threaten to delist - the manufacturers’ brand. Because brand manufacturers rely mainly on retailers to sell their products to consumers, a brand delisting will cause a sales loss for the brand manufacturer. Therefore, many brand manufacturers feel enormous pressure to give in and improve buying conditions to favor the retailer. The question thus emerges: Can a brand manufacturer resist a retailer's threat to delist its brand(s)? If a brand delisting severely hurts retail sales, it is easier for a brand manufacturer to resist. The authors study the impact of brand delistings on store switching and brand switching using a controlled online experiment and in-store shopper survey. They develop and test a conceptual model with several antecedents of consumers’ reactions to a brand delisting and conclude that brand equity, market share, and the products’ hedonic level drive store and brand switching.     

Managing a Global Retail Brand in Different Markets: Meta-Analyses of Customer Responses to Service Encounters

This study investigates how retailers can leverage their brand to shape customers’ satisfaction with service encounters. It develops and tests hypotheses about how brand, store, and consumer factors moderate customer responses to experience clues during retail service encounters. Six meta-regression analyses synthesize and compare results from 842 satisfaction equations describing customers’ encounters with a global retailer operating 400 stores in 32 countries. The results show how customers weigh their perceptions of service encounters differently depending on brand, store, and consumer factors. In markets where customers believe the retailer has high holistic brand quality, they place less weight on experience clues within the store. In markets where customers believe the retailer’s service brand promise, they place more weight on in-store experience clues. In markets where the retailer promises utilitarian value, customers weigh functional experience clues more heavily. In markets with an online purchasing channel, the effect of experience clues common to offline and online store environments is magnified, and unique clues are diminished. In addition, customers heavily weigh experience clues that fit their goals. In general, retail success factors include high brand quality (which makes customers more forgiving), a service brand promise that is mirrored in the store image (which makes customers attend to the experience clues aligned with them), and the careful monitoring and managing of retail touchpoints (to customize experience clues to each market). In this way, retailers can use customer-based strategies to effectively design and manage their global retail brand in different markets.     

Brand personality appeal in retailing: Comparing fashion- and grocery retailing

In a mature retail market, branding can offer retailers opportunities for setting themselves apart. This study examines the construct ‘brand personality appeal’ (BPA; Freling et al., 2011) in retailing. Two consumer surveys are administered, on fashion retailing (n = 104) and grocery retailing (n = 101), focusing on (1) store personality, (2) BPA, and (3) retailer brand equity. A SmartPLS estimation shows that ‘enthusiasm’ is a personality trait that appeals to consumers regardless of the retail context, whereas ‘sophistication’ matters more in fashion retailing and ‘unpleasantness’ in grocery retailing. BPA is a significant driver of retail brand equity, regardless of the retail context.     

Brand experience anatomy in retailing: An interpretive structural modeling approach

In today's highly competitive retail environment, retailers have recognized and embraced the concept of offering experiences with the retail brand across various channels beyond new launches and lower prices. To manage the experiences associated with a retail brand, retailers need to understand the concept of brand experience in retailing and the factors that actually comprise it. Interestingly, very few studies have imparted an understanding of brand experience in retailing. This study seeks to understand the retail brand experience and model the interrelationships among retail brand experience variables using interpretive structural modeling (ISM). Retail brand experience variables used in this study have been identified from existing literature on ‘brand experience’ and from brainstorming sessions with academicians and retail industry experts. Our findings show that the variables, namely, packaging of own label brands, customer billings, order and application forms, point-of-sales (i.e., shelf talkers) and recommendation by a salesperson have a high degree of influence and exhibit low dependence. These variables require a great deal of consideration due to their strategic significance to retailers. The approach applied in this study will enhance the understanding of retailers for improving the performance through managed retail brand experience initiatives.     

Integrative effects of firms' price and endorsement strategies on consumers' loyalty intention

This research examines the effects of price and brand endorsement that are adopted by firms from a consumer-based viewpoint, and provides practical brand management discussions as a reference for both manufacturer brands and retail store brands. According to the findings, manufacturer brands support high prices and boost those vivid impressions which are helpful in engendering consumer loyalty intention. Without a careful evaluation process, a brand-endorsing strategy may prove detrimental to the manufacturer. Retail store brands follow distinct pricing policies and carry out brand-endorsed strategies. Price/endorsement stimuli influence consumer brand loyalty through the partial mediating effect of brand impression. Manufacturers and retailers could define appropriate price premiums on products with a potential for a manufacturer–retailer brand co-branding as identified by market research, thus increasing the sales of both.     

Brand equity and retailer acceptance of brand extensions

Two important benefits of brand equity have largely been assumed in most previous research: reduced marketing expenditures required to launch brand extensions; and channel participants as an important source of brand equity. Results of a discrete choice experiment with independent retail grocers indicate that brand names influence independent retailers’ probability of listing brand extensions, but their sensitivity to mix elements such as consumer advertising, promotional allowances, and wholesale price, as well as competitors’ listing actions are not influenced by brand names. This means that retailers treat each dollar of consumer advertising or promotional allowance the same, regardless of who is spending it. Manufacturers should not assume that retailers will be less sensitive to other elements of the marketing mix for stronger brands.     

Retail atmospherics: The impact of a brand dictated theme

Although retail atmospherics has been an active area of study, a glance around a typical mall indicates many retailers still do not actively differentiate their retail environment from competitors. This is likely due to retailers considering the atmospheric elements (lighting, music, etc.) individually and making decisions regarding the elements based on what is “standard” for their customers, merchandise, and format. This approach leads to very little differentiation and fails to consider that today’s consumer is often expecting a more multi-sensory, interactive, and holistic shopping experience. This paper considers an alternative approach, where a brand dictated “theme” is used to guide the manipulation of the atmospheric elements. This allows retail brands to break free from standard design to create a more interactive, immersive, and authentic environment. Outcomes include increases in shopping enjoyment, positive brand attitudes, and brand loyalty. T-tests are utilized to compare the two approaches within both the apparel (Study 1) and restaurant (Study 2) industries.     

Omnichannel-based promotions’ effects on purchase behavior and brand image

This paper examines the effects of utilizing consumers’ digital shopping traces when designing in-store promotions on purchase behavior and brand image. In two experimental studies with 526 and 550 espondents, the authors examine the effects of omnichannel-based promotions (e.g. using digital shopping trace to offer a promotion when the consumer enters the physical store) in two different product categories (utilitarian vs. hedonic), spontaneous/planned purchases and two different retail industries (durable good vs. travel). The results show that retailers benefit from using digital shopping traces as it increases purchases and enhances brand imagery. The effects are moderated by product category and type of purchase.     

Consumers' Role Performance and Brand Identification: Evidence from a Survey and a Longitudinal Field Experiment

Why do some consumers evangelize brands and create value for them even without receiving any direct reward in return? How do their motivations influence their role behaviors and their identification with the company or brand? We draw on motivation theory and the in- and extra-role literature of leadership to propose a theoretical framework. We use this framework to analyze data from one cross-sectional survey conducted with members of two online brand communities and one longitudinal field experiment with consumers of one new online brand community. We first separate community members' motivations into three types of psychological needs (self-competency, self-belongingness, self-autonomy) that are fulfilled by membership in a brand community. We investigate how each of these needs influences consumers' in-role and extra-role behaviors, which in turn positively affect their brand identification and create value for the company. Our results show that self-competency motivates both in- and extra-role behaviors, self-belongingness only increases less involved in-role behaviors, and self-autonomy only affects more involved extra-role behaviors. Both role behaviors foster beneficial consumer brand identification. We discuss how these findings can inform marketers' brand community-building strategies.     

Crosswise and reciprocal interdependencies within retailers’ multichannel structures

Understanding consumer behavior across channels is the fundamental basis for implementing successful multichannel retailing strategies. This study analyzes the crosswise and reciprocal relationships between offline and online brand beliefs, offline and online retail brand equity and consumers’ conative loyalty to a retailer in multichannel structures. The relationships are contextualized by investigating fashion and grocery retail sectors and different prior channel performances that are likely to affect the paths to loyalty across channels. To provide insight into these issues, two cross-sectional and two longitudinal models are employed. The results show that former brick-and-mortar retailers are able to significantly increase consumers’ loyalty to the firm by primarily designing offline (secondary online) attributes and beliefs. The results hold for retailers in both fashion and grocery retailing, however, with stronger effects in fashion, as well as for retailers with strong vs. weak prior channel performance. However, indirect effects indicate that online brand beliefs and offline retail brand equity are the central strategic levers for prior strong (vs. weak) retailers. Reciprocal relationships between online and offline retail brands underline important channel interdependencies. Managers thus need to take these crosswise and reciprocal interdependencies between channels into account when designing successful multichannel retailing systems. This study introduces the novel idea of simultaneous crosswise and reciprocal relationships within multichannel retail structures and shows that paths to loyalty vary for retailers in different retail sectors and retailers with strong vs. weak offline and online channel performances.     

Private Label Development: The Large Food Retailer Faced with the Supplier's Opportunism

For the last 20 years, large food retailers have had an important place in fast-moving consumer good sales. This article describes their buying strategies, focusing on supplier selection in the case of private label contracts. It introduces the concept of opportunism to explain recent and probably irreversible developments in retail buying organisations, integrating a growing number of technologists and scientists. New businesses, with close relationships to industrial purchasing, have appeared in the retailing industry. In the end, they will require a new ‘species’ of managers, able to simultaneously monitor logistical, technical and commercial interfaces between large food retailers and their private label producers.     

Consumer Product Redistribution

Abstract

Formats for product redistribution are emerging and evolving, creating alternative channel options for consumers' disposition of unwanted possessions. These retail formats operate in both informal (e.g., garage sales) and formal (online auctions) economies. As consumers participate in redistribution channels, some retailers are confronted with new competition and the potential for declining sales. This article expands on both recycling and disposition literature by examining consumer disposition behavior and the flow of used products through various redistribution channels. Strategies are offered to address consumer disposition behaviors as well as to assist retailers in combating traditional and non-traditional competition.     

Optimal retail sales strategies for old and new products in monopoly and horizontal competition scenarios

Advances in technology have made product updates more frequent and allowed consumers to choose different versions of the same product based on their preferences. It is crucial for retailers to understand how to formulate optimal sales strategies based on those different consumer preferences. To this end, we develop game models that consider the heterogeneity of consumer preferences under both monopoly and horizontal competition scenarios and perform the sensitivity analysis to examine the impact of consumer proportions and consumer preferences on retailers’ sales strategies. The results show that (i) regardless of competition or monopoly status, the original retailer can always maximize profit by setting prices based on the market share of traditional consumers, as long as the retailer sells both new and old versions of the product; (ii) the greater the competitive advantage of the competitor, the more advantageous the hybrid sales mode; (iii) if the price of the old product is below a certain threshold, there will be a positive profit for the original retailer when selling both the old and new products; and (iv) when consumer acceptance of competing retailers is lower, entering the retail market is not a good choice for competing retailers.     

Relating brand anxiety,brand hatred and obsess: Moderating role of age and brand affection

Proficient brand management, including retail brands, is crucial for the success of the firms or retailers. One area of interest is consumers’ negativity towards brands (e.g., hate) due to negative consumer-brand relationships. The present article examines the relationships between brand anxiety, brand hatred and obsess, and illustrates the impacts of age and brand affection on these relationships. Data were collected through an online survey, and partial least squares path modelling was used to test the proposed paths on a sample of 416 consumers. The findings revealed that brand anxiety influenced obsess directly and indirectly through brand hatred. It was also evident that age moderated the path between brand anxiety and brand hatred, while brand affection strengthened the relationship between brand hatred and obsess. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications are discussed subsequently.     

The multichannel customer’s service experience: building satisfaction and trust

Multichannel retailers dominate today’s retail landscape. Practitioners and researchers are particularly interested in understanding how the multichannel strategy helps establishing and developing relationships with customers. Our findings, from 302 customers of multichannel financial services firms, show that frontline employees’ customer facilitation behaviors (traditional channel) have a stronger impact on satisfaction than e-psychological benefits (derived from the company’s Web site), while their positive influence on trust is not significantly different. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

The brand architecture of grocery retailers: Setting material and symbolic boundaries for consumer choice

This article discusses how the brand architecture of grocery retailers set material and symbolic boundaries for consumer choice, thus limiting consumer sovereignty. The article first discusses previous work on store atmospherics, servicescapes and brand architecture. It is argued that work based on these concepts has taken an internal management perspective on how retailers can manipulate aspects of the retail setting to serve their own interests. Then, we develop an alternative conceptualisation of retailer brand architecture that takes into account that consumers (and other constituents) are active co-constructors of material and symbolic aspects of retail settings. It is discussed how consumers participate in constructing retailer brand architecture and how this concept differs from previous research. Implications for both research and practice are discussed.     

How to retain customers in omnichannel retailing: Considering the roles of brand experience and purchase behavior

The opportunities and challenges of omnichannel in retail industry have been widely discussed, yet despite these benefits, the key elements that constitute an effective omnichannel and how customers respond to omnichannel retailing strategies remain unclear. This research conducted online surveys to test the effects of omnichannel elements on various brand experiences and customer retention, considering the moderating role of purchase behavior. The results indicate that omnichannel elements (integration, individualization, and interaction) are generally helpful in retaining customers, through omnichannel elements influence brand experiences differently. In addition, these omnichannel elements have different influences on customer retention due to different purchase behaviors. The findings suggest that retailers can use different omnichannel strategies to attract customers’ purchases and provide insights for practitioners who want to use omnichannel strategies to deliver superior experiences for customers.     

Analyzing the effects of private-label supplier disclosure on retailer image

Private-label retailers' disclosures of dual manufacturing agreements—that is, agreements with manufacturers that produce both their own national brands and private labels—can affect the images associated with the retailers. In this study, an experiment reveals moderating effects on retailer images, according to the images of both the national brand manufacturers and the retailers; and also depending on the brand equity of the private label. A low-image retailer's disclosure that a national brand manufacturer supplies its private label causes consumers to perceive that the retailer has a higher image. However, the positive effects of private label supplier disclosure on the retailer's image are weaker when the private label enjoys high equity.     

Capturing Retailers’ Brand and Customer Focus

This article uses information from two data sources, Compustat and Nexis Uni, and textual analysis to measure and validate the brand focus and customer focus of 109 U.S. listed retailers. The results from an analysis of their 853 earnings calls in 2010 and 2018 outline that on average, both foci increased over time. Although both foci vary substantially, brand focus varies more widely across retailers than their customer focus. Both foci are independent of each other. Specialty retailers have the highest brand focus, and internet & direct marketing retailers have the highest customer focus. A positive correlation exists between a retailer’s customer focus and its profitability, but not between a retailer’s brand focus and its profitability. The authors use the results to generate a research agenda that can direct future research in further systematically exploring firms’ brand and customer focus.     

Deviant behavior in retail,when sales associates “Go Bad”! Examining the relationship between the work–family interface,job stress,and salesperson deviance

The unique role of retail sales associates combined with retailers desire to establish relational selling, make associates vulnerable to work–family conflict (WFC). Unfortunately, research examining how retail sales associates cope with a WFC is limited. This research investigates relationships between WFC, job stress, and three dimensions of salesperson deviance: organizational, interpersonal, and frontline. Findings indicate that WFC has a significant direct effect on all three deviant behaviors, as well as job stress. Interestingly, the relationship between job stress and deviant behavior is not significant. This finding adds to the debate regarding job stress as a mediator between WFC and deviant behavior or outcome variable.