Retail Integration Strategies in the EU: Scandinavian Grocery Retailing

Until recently, restructuring activity in the EU retail industry has primarily been domestically oriented and focused upon growth opportunities in the retailers' home market. Alongside the on-going harmonization and integration of European markets, grocery retailers have become increasingly interested in cross-border integration activity. Although a salient feature of Scandinavian grocery retailing, this (r)evolution of the industry has attracted only minor attention in academic literature. This paper examines the motives and strategies underlying the intensified integration activity of Scandinavian grocery retailers in general and their integration across national as well as industry boundaries, in particular. The analysis of recent integration events displays a fairly balanced distribution between proactive and reactive motives, albeit the former motive tends to dominate in the case of grocery retailers' integration activity across industry borderlines. Above all, the proactive motive has been apparent in many of the recent partnerships established laterally between Scandinavian grocery retailers and other companies.     

A Case Study: How a Retail Jewelry Store Learned to Compete in the E-Commerce Market Place

ABSTRACT

The Case Study describes how a retail jewelry store adapted to a new e-commerce market place. Until the mid-1990s, their marketing strategy included (1) a large dramatic sign visible from surrounding streets, (2) local print and radio advertising, (3) a sales staff that aggressively pushed the perceived value and emotional component of jewelry, and (4) an after-sales follow-up program. Typical customers were in the lower to middle socio-economic segment.

E-commerce created more knowledgeable customers who recognized their buying alternatives. The Store reacted by developing several proprietary web sites, displaying products in the store “as seen on” the home shopping networks or on various web sites, and offering classes on how to become a more knowledgeable jewelry shopper. During the implementation of the e-commerce changes, problems arose in two areas: project management issues (deadlines, staffing, testing) and cultural adaptation issues. Once these issues were effectively addressed, and the e-commerce changes were implemented, sales stabilized and returned to prior levels.

The Case Study explores a well-known strategic principle: all organizations must monitor their changing environment and adapt accordingly, e-commerce is a current example; there will always be others.     

Aligning Company and Dealer Perspectives in Corporate Branding: Implications for Dealer Satisfaction and Commitment

Purpose: There is a contention in marketing literature that gaps between corporate and key stakeholders’ perspectives have unfavorable implications for corporate brand performance. The current article attempts to empirically substantiate this argument. As such, this article looks at the relationship between a car manufacturer and its dealers and examines it from the perspective of the relationship misalignment.

Methodology: Applying the Profile Deviation method, this study tests the effects of a manufacturer–dealer corporate brand misalignment on dealer satisfaction and commitment. The manager-specified ideal profile for a corporate brand was used as a proxy for a manufacturer perspective and a benchmark against which dealer perceptions were compared. The corporate brand construct encompassed the dimensions of corporate image, corporate personality and dealer-experienced value. Hypotheses were tested using Pearson correlations and multiple regressions.

Findings: Results, which were robust across all the corporate brand dimensions, support the hypotheses of negative performance impact of manufacturer-dealer misalignment.

Originality/value/contribution: This study identifies an important link between the theoretical proposition and the operationalization test of examining performance implications of misalignment. The current study argues for broader integrative thinking and cross-disciplinary research in business-to-business marketing. In the absence of the relevant literature on conceptualization and operationalization in the marketing literature, the article borrows a testing method of Profile Deviation from the management field. By developing a fine-grained analysis, the current study pinpoints specific aspects that require co-alignment in corporate branding, thus facilitating managerial decision-making.

Research implications/limitations: The current study demonstrates that deviation from a corporate perspective implies a weakness in corporate branding process with negative performance consequences. The Profile Deviation perspective used in this article has focused on a static, cross-sectional approach for specifying and testing misalignment between a manufacturer and its dealer principles. The researchers are encouraged to consider alternative mechanisms to test for misalignment as a dynamic task within a longitudinal research design.

Practical implications: Companies must be aware of the areas where gaps can occur that impede effective decision-making. Aligning a corporate brand between a company and members of the distribution channel requires careful implementation that encourages dealer inputs in brand operations while avoiding counter-productive implications.     

跨国零售企业中国市场营运模式比较及启示

纵观跨国零售企业中国市场的营销运作,显现出创新的竞争作为和卓越的竞争成效,因而有必要关注跨国零售企业中国市场营销个性的差异,尤其需要研究其营销共性的特征,将其营销运作模式进行对比分析,提炼核心能力的基本框架,把握核心能力关键所在,探索零售企业核心能力与行业竞争态势、目标市场竞争环境、以及总体竞争趋势的关联度,寻求我国零售企业跨入国际市场参与竞争的借鉴之路。     

Impact of Wal-Mart on Market Share in a Rural Grocery Market: An Application of the Markov Chain Model

With Americans spending up to 13% of their income on grocery shopping, smart shopping can help a typical family save. Many scholars have studied the effects on market share and profits from changing market share using the Markov model, and also studied the competitive strategies of grocery retailers under these conditions. While the forecast of the steady state is highly useful, examining the transition periods before the steady state is reached is also useful. In these transition periods, a retailer may opt for a new competitive strategy; therefore, the transition periods may provide greater insight into the dynamics of the competitive response. More attention should be paid to the revenues for groceries in transition periods before a steady state is reached—especially in markets dominated by retail giants, such as Wal-Mart. This study attempts to model that phenomenon and to explore appropriate competitive strategies.     

我国目前老年保健品营销市场现状及拓展分析

当前,我国保健品市场在发展中长期存在着生产企业重广告轻研发,品种单一不能满足需求,唯利是图甚至虚抬高价误导群众的情况等问题,导致老年人在选用保健品时受虚假广告影响较大,真假难辨,不能根据自身情况合理选择保健品,用后效果不佳,严重打击了消费信心。保健品生产企业在管理上应加快创新步伐,提高管理水平,产研结合,寻求科技含量突破注重树立品牌效应;在销售上应积极运用网络新型营销模式,探索精细化营销模式,根据购买力合理定价,注重售后服务,从口碑中改善品质,积极开拓国际市场,从而不断促进我国老年保健品市场健康稳定发展。     

The Outlook for European Grocery Retailing: Competition and Format Development

This article analyses retail trends in the main European countries, and particularly format evolution and competition amongst retailing firms. On the basis of the existence of European retailing landscapes that are sometimes similar without ever being identical, the article analyses the impact of the main factors of change on different national markets. Whilst retail internationalisation and new entrants, commercial policy, legislative environments, technological innovations, consumers and buying behaviour will have a convergence effect on different countries' retail structures, substantial differences will still exist. European retailing in the coming years will probably be characterized by increasingly less marked differences between countries than one finds today, but market segmentation, variety and differentiation of retailing formats and brand names will be stronger within each country.     

Competitive Arena Mapping: Market Innovation Using Morphological Analysis in Business Markets

Purpose: The authors argue that (1) marketing strategy should focus more on where to compete (rather than on how to compete); (2) making subjective market definitions or market innovations may be the key to growth; and (3) a starting point for business marketers wishing to outgrow their competitors is to increase the granularity of market definition to identify competitive arenas that are growing. The authors illustrate the use of morphological analysis for competitive arena mapping in a market definition and innovation context.

Methodology: Using action research, involving a group of twleve firms of various sizes from different industries over a period of three-and-a-half years, we applied morphological analysis in a competitive arena mapping procedure, which enables firms to systematically plot possible competitive arenas and use managerial judgment to select those which are growing and for which the firm has exploitation capabilities.

Findings: Competitive arena mapping allows firms to identify and investigate a large set of possible competitive arena configurations. The developed mapping method has certain characteristics: (1) it specifically focuses on the market boundaries and adjacencies, (2) it incorporates both exchange value and use value, and (3) it acts as a learning process that accelerates the practical application of the arenas in business strategy and practice.

Contribution: The article builds a bridge between the market definition literature in strategic management and the industrial market segmentation literature, by introducing a novel method for increasing the granularity of market definition, using morphological analysis. Furthermore, the paper responds to the lack of research addressing strategic segmentation processes by developing a six-step market definition process.     

市场营销行为的决策技术研究与应用——购物篮分析

目前,市场营销决策技术已成为商家获得成功的关键因素之一。数据挖掘是一种新的商业信息处理技术,其主要特点是对商业数据库中的大量业务数据进行抽取、转换、分析和其它模型化处理。结合数据挖掘技术,一种称之为购物篮分析方法,对市场营销行为决策具有重要的意义,已越来越受到零售企业的重视。     

Retail internationalization: A review and directions for future research

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to provide a review of scholarly articles that have examined retail internationalization issues. We identify three core areas within RI research: (1) RI drivers and impediments, (2) RI strategy, and (3) RI performance. We also discuss four RI strategy issues that have been examined: (1) RI speed, (2) Foreign market selection, (3) Foreign entry mode, and (4) Strategy employed. Based on the review, we point to multiple areas where RI research is lacking and can contribute to the advancement of the field as well as offer insightful implications for international retail managers.     

拓展国际市场的联合品牌策略:影响因素及实施过程研究

近年来,联合品牌已成为在世界范围内日益为企业所广泛采用的一种策略性营销工具。本文将联合品牌策略置于经济全球化背景之下,在论述联合品牌作用及其机制的基础上,分析联合品牌策略的影响因素,并对企业如何实施联合品牌策略以拓展国际市场进行了探讨。     

稻谷市场供求分析

近年来全球气候变化异常,粮食生产受到自然灾害影响,在一定程度上影响了供求关系,增加了人们对"粮食危机"的预期。作为全球种植生产和消费需求最广泛的粮食作物,稻谷与人们生活最为密切,稻谷的国际及国内市场供求日益受到人们的关注。本文以稻谷市场供求为研究对象,分析稻谷历年生产状况,探讨稻谷的消费情况,对稻谷市场供求形势及趋势进行分析。     

Shopper-Facing Retail Technology: A Retailer Adoption Decision Framework Incorporating Shopper Attitudes and Privacy Concerns

Continual innovation and new technology are critical in helping retailers’ create a sustainable competitive advantage. In particular, shopper-facing technology plays an important role in increasing revenues and decreasing costs. In this article, we briefly discuss some of the salient retail technologies over the recent past as well as technologies that are only beginning to gain traction. Additionally, we present a shopper-centric decision calculus that retailers can use when considering a new shopper-facing technology. We argue that new technologies provide value by either increasing revenue through (a) attracting new shoppers, (b) increasing share of volume from existing shoppers, or (c) extracting greater consumer surplus, or decreasing costs through offloading labor to shoppers. Importantly, our framework incorporates shoppers by considering their perceptions of the new technology and their resulting behavioral reactions. Specifically, we argue that shoppers update their perceptions of fairness, value, satisfaction, trust, commitment, and attitudinal loyalty and evaluate the potential intrusiveness of the technology on their personal privacy. These perceptions then mediate the effect of the technology on shopper behavioral reactions such as retail patronage intentions and WOM communication. We present preliminary support for our framework by examining consumers’ perceptions of several new retail technologies, as well as their behavioral intentions. The findings support our thesis that shopper perceptions of the retailer are affected by new shopper-facing technologies and that these reactions mediate behavioral intentions, which in turn drives the ROI of the new technology.     

Measuring Market Orientation: Generalization and Synthesis

This paper reports on an integrative, cross-nationalstudy which synthesizes and retests work of three separate groupsof researchers who in the late 1980s developed measurementsof a firm's Market Orientation. The projects resulted in threedifferent but syntactically similar Market Orientation scaleswhich, along with other measures, were used to support substantiveconclusions, particularly those involving firm Performance. Basedon a new study of 82 managers in 27 European and U.S. companies,we show that all three scales are reliable and valid. The scalesalso seem to generalize well internationally, both in terms ofreliability and prediction of Performance. We also show thatthe scales are similar to one another in terms of various validitymeasures and in terms of correlations with Performance measures.Finally, we synthesize a 10-item scale based on a more parsimoniousdefinition of Market Orientation as: the set of cross-functionalprocesses and activities directed at creating and satisfyingcustomers through continuous needs-assessment.     

移动电子商务在旅游中的应用模式与营销创新

当前,移动电子商务在旅游业的应用还处于探讨阶段,还没有真正进入到旅游行业应用。本文通过对移动电子商务的内涵分析,提出了在旅游业发展移动电子商务可行的三种模式,并指出其在旅游服务中应用价值,最后,从4个方面详细阐述了移动电子商务对旅游营销活动开展具有创新性的推动作用,为旅游服务供应商利用移动电子商务开展旅游营销指明方向。     

Retail Shelf Allocation: A Comparative Analysis of Heuristic and Meta-Heuristic Approaches

This research presents a retail shelf-space decision model that incorporates a nonlinear profit function, vertical and horizontal location effects, and product cross-elasticity. We propose a linear programming formulation of the nonlinear profit function that can solve the shelf-space problem optimally. We describe potential advances in heuristic and meta-heuristic algorithms and compare the approaches through simulations and a field experiment. We discuss the impact of the number of item facings, vertical location, and horizontal location (e.g., we find the vertical location effect is approximately double the size of the horizontal location effect on profit performance).     

外国背包旅游市场营销策略:以四川为例

背包旅游已成为旅游市场主流,采用访谈调查和统计分析方法,研究四川背包旅游市场行为特征,针对性地提出了四川背包旅游市场营销策略:四大旅游品牌构筑四川整体文化特色;点线结合空间战略促进背包客空间扩散;整合资源,发挥世界遗产旅游品牌优势;注重目的地背包旅游网络营销;与西部其它背包旅游目的地联合营销。     

浅析湖北省技术市场现状及发展对策

技术市场是科技成果转化的主要渠道．是引入市场机制对科技资源进行优化配置的重要平台,是促进科技与经济紧密结合的桥梁和纽带,是中国特色社会主义市场体系中重要的生产要素市场。文章对湖北省技术市场现状、特点和存在的问题进行了系统分析．并对下一步如何发展技术市场提出了几点具体意见     

消费行为与企业战略的融合——不同零售业态的价格定位及其市场细分战略

现代零售业态发展趋于多元化,零售企业针对不同消费者的价格敏感程度来定位零售商品的价格,从而选择不同的销售渠道即经营业态,通过不同产品线的组合来满足不同层次消费者的需求。以此来体现企业的市场细分战略,形成顾客忠诚,实现其经济效益的最大化。     

市场与地方保护主义:一个基于市场产权的分析框架

过去大量的研究强调行政性分权和财政包干下地方官员的财政激励是地方保护主义长期存在的主要原因。建立了市场产权模型,从市场产权角度研究地方保护主义,强调市场产权成本对地区间经济竞争和合作的影响。市场产权成本包含确定排他性产权成本和内部治理成本,打破地方保护主义实施地区市场共享将会导致这两类产权成本的变化,不同的变化会影响到地方政府之间的合作空间和竞争空间。