Neighborhood effects and trial on the internet: Evidence from online grocery retailing

For traditional retailers the customer pool is largely bounded in space, whereas an Internet retailer can obtain customers from a wide geographical area. We examine customer trials at Netgrocer.com, and drawing on studies in marketing and economics conjecture that exposure spatially to proximate others (through direct social interaction or observation), can influence decisions of those who have yet to try. Trials arise from utility-maximizing behavior and the model is estimated as a discrete time hazard. The data span: (1) 29,701 residential zip codes, (2) 45 months of transactions since inception, and (3) zip code contiguity relationships. The estimated neighborhood effect is significantly positive and economically meaningful.

The demand for and the supply of distribution services: A basis for the analysis of customer satisfaction in retailing

This paper brings together two bodies of literature. One of them is a literature on the special role of the consumer in retailing. The other one is the literature on customer satisfaction. This joining of literatures is accomplished by identifying distribution services as outputs of retail firms and fixed inputs into the production functions of consumers and relaxing the standard assumption that the demand for these services is always equal to the supply of these services. The result is a new conceptual framework for the analysis of customer satisfaction in retailing. This framework extends the basic ideas on customer satisfaction developed for manufacturing in a homogeneous single product setting to the heterogeneous multi-product setting relevant for many retailers. The paper illustrates one approach to the implementation of this framework with data for a set of supermarkets in Pamplona, Spain, that measure distribution services by asking consumers questions explicitly identifying these services. The five main categories of distribution services identified by the conceptual framework and measured in the data are economically important and statistically robust determinants of customer satisfaction with supermarkets. These results are obtained controlling for other variables typical of the customer satisfaction literature and measuring customer satisfaction in a manner consistent with that literature. The results are robust to corrections for sample selection and alternative estimation methods. Perhaps our most interesting novel result is that the effect of the determinants of customer satisfaction on future purchase intentions in the supermarket case is different when measured directly in a one stage process than when measured indirectly in a two stage process through the attributes/satisfaction/ purchase intentions chain.

Predicting future consumer purchases in grocery retailing with the condensed Poisson lognormal model

To identify the effect of marketing actions on consumer purchasing, analysts must disentangle the dynamic component of purchasing from expected period-to-period stochastic fluctuations. This is done by comparing marketplace observations to the conditional expectation of future purchasing. Current methods of deriving the conditional expectation contain systematic bias and rely on certain unrealistic modelling assumptions. We therefore propose a new model to predict future consumer purchases in grocery retailing. The new model is a mixture of Erlang-2, Poisson and lognormal distributions or a condensed Poisson lognormal model (CPLN). Using two grocery retailing datasets from the UK, we demonstrate that the CPLN model predicts future consumer purchases well with error of 7% and 9%, respectively. Compared with the previous benchmark model, the condensed Negative Binominal Distribution (CNBD), the CPLN model reduces error by 50% (7% versus 14%) and 67% (9% versus 27%), respectively. Theoretical and practical implications for retailers are discussed.     

Making working in retailing interesting: A study of human resource management practices in Danish grocery retail chains

This paper discusses how five retail chains in the Danish grocery industry attempt to make low-wage, low-status store-level retail jobs as checkout operators and sales assistants interesting. It does so from the perspective of both retailers and employees. Following analysis of the social and institutional context of Danish grocery retailers, we identify three types of retail employees (transitional workers, core employees and career seekers), who have different motivations and aspirations for working in grocery retailing. The central challenge for retailers is to make store-level retail jobs interesting to the different employee types. Although retailers mainly focus their attention on career seekers, we find that working in retailing is interesting for all employee types because the retailers are currently able to meet their respective motivations and aspirations. Nevertheless, we identify several areas in which retailers can improve their practices.     

Lookalikes and customer confusion in the grocery sector: an exploratory survey

This paper discusses the issue of copy-cat branding, an issue that has dominated the marketing and retail trade press recently. Brand owners have claimed that lookalike own-label products confuse consumers. Retailers, mean-while have claimed that similarities in packaging design are essential to enable consumers to recognize own-label products. There is, however, relatively little academic research on the issue of lookalikes and consumer confusion.

This paper reports the results of an exploratory survey which show that a considerable number of consumers are confused by the packaging of own-label products. It is also shown that consumer confusion varies by store, product and frequency of shopping. Safeway shoppers were found to be more confused by own-label packaging than shoppers who used other retail outlets. Significantly, shoppers at Sainsbury's - the store that has been criticized most heavily over the packaging of its own-label products - were found to be considerably less confused than the 'average consumer'. The purchasers of Coca-Cola, Head & Shoulders and Nescafe Gold Blend were found to be most confused by own-label packaging.     

Enabling and inhibiting factors in adoption of Electronic-Reverse auctions: A longitudinal case study in grocery retailing

Abstract

The paper aims to explore the factors that enable or inhibit the use of Electronic-Reverse Auctions (E-RAs) in the buying process of a large food retail organization, through a category management perspective. Using a case-study analysis based on in-depth interviews, examination of internal documents, simulation and direct observation of some E-RAs, we studied the experience of an Italian-based retailer conducting E-RAs during a two-year period. This approach enabled us to propose an E-RAs development model in retail buying groups, discussing enabling and inhibiting factors such as product, market, organizational and strategic factors. Propositions are developed to stimulate thought and provide guidance for future research.     

Drivers of customer satisfaction in the grocery retail industry: A longitudinal analysis across store formats

The design of satisfactory shopping experiences remains one of the main challenges for building long-term profitability in modern retailing. Therefore, companies are interested in identifying the key drivers of the service execution that shape customer shopping satisfaction. In this study, we developed a standardized questionnaire for evaluating the shopping experience, and conducted a large study in several grocery stores across different formats during a time span of five years. The resulting rich dataset enabled us to uncover interesting patterns using both individual and store-level analyses. Our results indicate that larger store formats are associated with greater satisfaction levels. When looking at the marginal effects of the various elements of customer service, we found that some specific elements of service execution present significant differences across store formats. In addition, we identified loss aversion on shopping experience, since poor performance impacts more on customer satisfaction than superior performance. Finally, our store-level analysis sheds light on how changes in the service performance determine changes in the shopping experience in the same store. These implied results may guide store and chain managers to evaluate the role of the store execution elements better, and to design the customer shopping experience successfully.     

Consumption and the retail change process: a comparative analysis of toy retailing in Italy and France

Set in the context of a review and critique of the retail change literature, this study conceptualizes the importance of cultural diversity in consumption practices, and their dialectical interplay with retail structures. Underpinned theoretically by concepts located in Critical Theory and Bourdieu's studies of 'Distinctions', a grounded approach at a macro-level of analysis is applied to the comparison of the French and Italian toy retail sectors, which serves as an empirical illustration of the conceptual categories and relationships posited. In the comparative analysis of the French and Italian toy retail industry, the links between market structures and macro-economic and demographic factors, on the one hand, and localized consumption habits, on the other, are discussed, highlighting the interplay of the properties of the emergent retail activity and consumption categories of analysis. The impact of global sourcing and market entry of international retailers is assessed. Conclusions point to the importance of the forcefield between localized meaning and the dynamics of toy retail capital. It is argued that the commodity form of toys, together with the values attached to them and the role they play in childhood, is influencing the structures of national toy retail sectors which are also dependent on the overall retail system and broader environmental factors. In this, retail change processes take place as a result of the interactions between the different spheres and their particular expressions cannot be generalized across borders as they depend on the specific dynamics within each system.     

Impact of customer experience on attitude and repurchase intention in online grocery retailing: A moderation mechanism of value Co-creation

The study proposes a comprehensive model framework, Online Customer Experience-Attitude Behaviour Context model for online grocery retailing in a digital scenario. The research also studies the concept of value co-creation in a moderated mechanism. Data was collected from 526 respondents buying groceries online. Analytical Hierarchy Process, SPSS 23, AMOS 22 and PROCESS Macro were applied for further analysis, testing the hypothesis and model formulation. The results reveal that the antecedent's convenience, recovery, and delivery experience impacted the attitude significantly. The emerging concept of value co-creation influenced the overall relationship between the antecedent of Online Customer Experience and attitude but at lower level of value co-creation. Thus, suggesting that involving customers time to time in co-creating a delighting Online Customer Experience may be a good strategy for the online grocery retailers to elevate online customers' attitude and repurchase intention.     

Consumer service and loyalty in Spanish grocery store retailing: an empirical study

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of consumer service on loyalty in retail establishments. Based on a theoretical discussion regarding the relationship between waiting time, product quality, store atmosphere and loyalty, an empirical research was conducted to test the proposed relationships. Multiple‐item indicators from previous studies were used to measure the constructs. Results from the study provide empirical support, suggesting that consumer service through three dimensions influences loyalty. Research results suggest that consumer service in retail establishments can be viewed as a threshold factor in order to maintain satisfied and loyal customers. Additionally, managers should consider that loyalty depends on waiting time, product quality and store atmosphere. The present study provides useful information on the relationship between consumer service and loyalty in retailing.     

Employee versus supervisor ratings of performance in the retail customer service sector: Differences in predictive validity for customer outcomes

Based on data from Maxham and Netemeyer [Maxham, J. G. and R. G. Netemeyer (2003). “Firms Reap What They Sow: The Effects of Employee Shared Values and Perceived Organizational Justice on Customer Evaluations of Complaint Handling,” Journal of Marketing, 67, 46-62], the authors present two field samples to examine predictive validity differences of service employee ratings of their performance versus supervisor ratings of employee performance with respect to customer satisfaction and customer likelihood of spreading positive word-of-mouth (WOM) after a service recovery attempt. The results generally show that supervisor ratings are more strongly positively related to customer satisfaction and WOM than are employee ratings of their own performances. The results also show that both supervisor ratings and employee ratings are related to customer satisfaction and WOM in a curvilinear fashion (as well as linear fashion). Employee extra-role performances (toward customers and the firm) show increasing returns at the higher levels of performance, and employee in-role customer performance generally shows a decreasing return at the higher level of customer in-role performance.These results suggest two managerial implications. First, supervisor ratings of customer service employee performances may be the preferred form of measurement for predicting customer outcomes. Second, maximizing in-role performance inputs may have decreasing returns for customer evaluations in the service recovery context; but maximizing extra-role performance inputs may actually “delight” customers, i.e., increasing returns for customer evaluations.     

Beyond convenience: the future for independent food and grocery retailers in the UK

The UK's independent food and grocery retail sector's competitive advantage of 'convenience' has been eroded in recent years as major retailers increase opening hours and develop their own convenience trading formats. As a result, large numbers of independent retailers are closing. A UK-wide survey was undertaken to identify other sources of competitive advantages, and the changes needed to stop or reverse the decline in this sector. Exploratory semi-structured interviews led to the development of a questionnaire on six major issues affecting the sector. 'Snowball' sampling, using industry partners, provided 142 respondents. The provision of a 'social shopping experience' emerged as a key competitive advantage that could be developed. Improving vertical and horizontal trading alliances, and the wider use of information technology, provided other options.     

Trade barriers in East and South East Asia: the implications for retailers

Many countries in East and South East Asia have erected trade barriers at various times since 1945. Many retail markets have therefore been closed to outside influence and investment. In the 1990s however such measures are being reversed and markets in East and South East Asia are becoming increasingly open. This openness is both a willing embrace of outside investment and a less willing acceptance of external pressures. This paper reviews the changes taking place and concludes that those retailers taking advantage of the opportunities are faced with a variety of problems. Indeed, it would seem that the removal of international trade barriers simply leads to their replacement with more difficult domestic market policies.     

Collaboration on technological innovation in Danish fashion chains: A network perspective

With brand owners struggling to compete with new products, physical production processes and sourcing logistics, innovation taking place in retail networks is often overlooked. Networks in retailing are comprised by the brand owner, the varieties of single- and multi-brand stores, chains and departments stores, technology and service providers, ownership structures and local level supply chain facilities. This paper analyses theoretical and empirical views of innovation in international retail networks using lead actors in the (Danish) fashion industry as a case to highlight how this industry maintains branded stores as primary retail channels better than other industries. In order to approach the retail network as an important organisational innovation system in relation to brand owners, the aim of this paper is to characterise key elements of innovation in retail networks. The approach of this work is based on four qualitative studies of medium/larger fashion brand owners and their respective retail and service provider networks. The study shows that innovation in retailing has a continuously emergent character with open-ended strategic design requirements and strong utilisation of relations in business networks. The network comprises an innovation system that focuses on organisational learning and iterative development of the intended technologies. Implications of the current study are suggestions to brand owners, network partners and retailers on how to identify, understand, support and promote innovation via this network through systematic management of the network rather than the innovation itself.     

Building customer trust and loyalty: an empirical study in a retailing context

This paper integrates the seller's characteristics and the consumer's individual characteristics in testing the person-to-person and person-to-firm effects of trust on loyalty in the department store. A multidimensional model of the behavioural components of trustworthiness is used to examine their differential effects on consumer trust. The results reveal that the effects of behavioural components of trustworthiness on trust in salespersons and trust in department stores are different. Trust in salespersons contributes to the trust in the department stores they work for. In addition, although both trust in department stores and trust in salespersons are expected to enhance customer loyalty, person-to-person trust has stronger influence on loyalty than does person-to-firm trust. The findings also suggest that customers' individual characteristics should be considered in assessing the role of trust in business relationships other than sellers' characteristics.     

我国运用“合规性”贸易壁垒的政治经济分析

“合规性”贸易壁垒是保护本国产业和市场的有效手段,但是如果运用不当也会损害国家的政治和经济利益,通过建立适合我国的“合规性”贸易壁垒的政治经济模型,并对模型进行详细分析,研究发展中国家如何对“合规性”贸易壁垒进行合理的运用,以达到政治利益和经济利益的统一。     

The role and management of product innovation in retailer assortments: evidence from the Italian FMCG market

This paper relocates the recent wave of internationalization in retailing in a much longer historical context. Utilizing a newly compiled database of all foreign entrants into British retailing since 1850, the paper reviews trends in overall entry patterns before considering the entry patterns in different retail trades. New empirical data on the branch counts of foreign entrants from 1850-1991 are presented. These data clearly indicate that what was new about the 1980s was not their number per se but the concentration of large numbers of relatively small entrants in clothes retailing. This analysis of the very long term developments of international retailing in Britain therefore concludes that any account of the upsurge in foreign entrants into British retailing in the 1980s needs to take the concurrent developments of high street demand for clothing more fully into account.     

An empirical examination of performance in the clothing retailing industry: A case study

This article estimates the efficiency of the 40 retail stores of a prestigious clothing company that operates in the Portuguese fast-fashion retailing market. The study compares the performance among the stores and provides insights into ways of improving performance in the retail clothing industry. A two-stage approach is used in this article. In a first stage, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) techniques are used to evaluate the performance of each store and to rank the stores. The input-oriented model was used to assess the summer and winter collections between 2010 and 2013. The results show that the total technical efficiency of the company decreases over time. Except for the year 2013, over 90% of the stores show increasing returns to scale during 88% of the period analyzed. The company faces a clear problem of productivity in its retailing operations. This deficiency seems to be intrinsic to the firm as it involves more than 60% of the stores. In a second stage, a quantile regression technique was used. This showed primarily that for the lowest quantiles of the efficiency score conditional distribution the coefficients on experience are very low, even close to zero, which suggests that the efforts taken by the stores in terms of experience are barely recognized by consumers in this fast-fashion retailing chain.     

The golden mean: Research on the mechanism of customer participation in employee service innovation

Service innovation is of importance in achieving business success. This study aims to understand how customer participation affects employees' service innovation through zhongyong thinking and verify the moderating role of leadership empowerment in the service section. Data were collected through a paired questionnaire survey with 352 valid frontline employees and their superiors in the starred hotel industry. Multiple linear regressions and bootstrap analysis were performed to examine the hypotheses. The results indicate that customer participation is positively related to zhongyong thinking and service innovation, and zhongyong thinking partially mediates the main effect. In addition, service innovation is more substantial when leadership empowerment is high, and customer participation has a weaker impact on zhongyong thinking when leadership empowerment is low. This study contributes to the employee service innovation literature by confirming that customer participation and employees' zhongyong thinking play vital roles in the Chinese service context. This study also helps service managers understand that empowering their subordinates can facilitate employees' service innovation.     

Offering value and capturing surplus: A strategy for private label sales in a new customer loyalty building scenario

The competition between private label brand and national brands in the diaper category is investigated from the view of the private label brand manager. In this category, new customers routinely enter the category buying entry-level diaper sizes (for infants) and then progress to buy larger diaper sizes over time (as their child grows older). Thus, consumer comparisons between the private label brand and national brands are focused on single diaper sizes during any single purchase scenario. Because private label brands are known to suffer from low quality perceptions that often understate the true quality levels of private label brands, this paper advances a pricing strategy to optimize private label performance in the category. The private label brand should price significantly low for small diaper sizes (maintaining a sizeable price gap from national brand competitors). Then, in most cases, the private label brand should shrink the size of this price gap for large diaper size offerings. This strategy will successfully offer initial value to new customers, build private label brand quality perceptions and loyalty, and then capitalize on these gains through higher dollar sales in the late stages of the customer relationship. The price gap shrinking strategy is found to be generally effective, but high national brand competition and too high of an initial price gap diminish the effectiveness of the strategy.