Managing heritage brands: A study of the sacralization of heritage stores in the luxury industry

We investigate the concept of the heritage store, that is, the locations that lies at the heart of a brand׳s identity and history. Based on store observations and interviews with managers and sales personnel in the luxury industry, we analyze the characteristics of heritage stores and their role in the management of heritage brands. We show how managers sacralize a store׳s heritage to nurture the value proposition of the brand. Our analysis yields new insights into retailing, introducing the concept of the heritage store and emphasizing its sacralizalization. We outline the implications for retail marketing in developing and maintaining the sacralization of heritage stores.     

The influence of price and brand loyalty on store brands versus national brands

Abstract

This article investigates how price and brand loyalty of three frequently purchased product categories can influence the purchase decision process of store brands versus national brands. A multinomial logit model was constructed to analyse the data obtained from a consumer panel. The results confirmed that brand loyalty is the main variable which influences the purchase decision process of both national and store brands. The influence of price on the purchase decision process is product specific. There is a clear distinction between the buyer's profile of store brands and national brands. But there is no evidence of any correlation between demographic variables and national brands or store brands.     

Retail service quality as a key activator of grocery store loyalty

This paper demonstrates the crucial role of retail service quality as a key activator in the formation of customer loyalty to the store; the latter is understood in a conative and action sense. Applying a modified version of the RSQS scale, a model is tested by administering a questionnaire to 450 customers in an under-investigated retail setting, i.e. supermarkets, within the Italian context. Structural equation modelling was employed. The results prove that customers consider retail service quality as a second-order dimension and recognize the main contribution of physical aspects and reliability first-order dimensions. Findings corroborate the crucial role played by perceived service quality and the mediating role of customer satisfaction and conative loyalty within the relationship between service quality and action loyalty.     

The Impact of a New Retail Brand In-Store Boutique and its Perceived Fit with the Parent Retail Brand on Store Performance and Customer Spending

With data from a specialty apparel retailer, we present two studies that investigate the impact of an in-store boutique displaying merchandise of a new retail brand on overall performance of the parent stores in which the boutiques are placed, and on customer spending on merchandise offered by each of the two brands. Findings from the two studies generally support that the in-store boutique enhances three key store-level metrics: average customer transaction value per store visit; comparable sales growth from one year to the next; and customer conversion ratio. At the customer-level both studies show that average customer transaction value on merchandise offered by the new brand is negatively related to average customer transaction value on the parent brand, and vice versa. Furthermore, both studies reveal that the relationship between the perceived fit between the two brands and average customer transaction value on the parent brand increases at an increasing rate (positive main and quadratic effects of perceived fit), but that the impact of perceived fit on average customer transaction value on the in-store boutique brand increases at a deceasing rate (positive main effect, but a negative quadratic effect of perceived fit). Implications for retail practice and theory are offered.     

Private label brands: major perspective of two customer-based brand equity models

In recent years the retail industry has been characterized by the fast growth of private labels, with an increase of the offer of private labels and the enhancement of their value in the marketplace. This research focuses in private label brand equity to deepen the understanding of its origins, by analyzing two alternative customer-based conceptual models. The present study was developed in the large retailing industry, comprising different retailing formats that offer private labels to consumers. Our findings suggest a conceptual private label brand equity model, which is slightly different from the Aaker's brand equity model, considering store image as an antecedent and stressing its importance in building and enhancing private labels' brand equity. Additionally, retailers searching for successful ways to compete in the retail market need to examine in more detail the customer-based brand equity related to their private labels.     

Persona-fied brands: managing branded persons through persona

We investigate how the concept of persona can be used in managing brand persona-fication. Based on interviews with informants working across the gastronomy sector, we examine the characteristics of the chef persona, and the role that chef persona plays in restaurant management. We differentiate persona-fied brands from other human brands, we dimensionalise the chef persona, and we identify two possible models of brand management through persona: (1) the distributed or fragmented persona-fication of the brand, which is based on a disjunction of different facets of the brand persona, each embodied in different persons; and (2) the unified persona-fication of the brand, which is based on the conjunction of the different facets of the brand persona. Here, the persona is embodied in a single person who embodies the different facets of the brand persona. Our analysis surfaces theoretical resonance with the performative turn in marketing scholarship.     

Opportunities and risks of combining shopping experience and artistic elements in the same store: a contribution to the magical functions of the point of sale

ABSTRACT

This article draws on the construct of store atmospherics to address one of the latest developments in that field, i.e. the strategy of incorporating artistic elements into the store. On the one side, incorporating artistic elements in store atmospherics constitutes an innovative way for retailers to differentiate their shopping experience. Such a hybrid retail strategy seeks to offer maximised hedonic gratification to store visitors, while adding symbolic value to the commercial offering. Store traffic and sales are thus stimulated. Incorporating artistic elements is also a magic way to conceal the store’s transactional purpose; through this association with the art world, the store is viewed as less mercantile. However, there is a risk that consumers will view the store as a ‘museum’ and visit without purchasing. Therefore we conduce a conceptual investigation of that experiential strategy in order to assess its effects on retailer’s commercial and marketing performance.     

Retail formations: tracing the fluid forms of an online retailer

ABSTRACT

Change has often been said to characterise retailing, and research on retail change is extensive. However, though much of that research has focused on retail formats, it has not sufficiently addressed the fluid nature of retailing and how its formats emerge. This paper offers a more dynamic conceptualisation of retail format change by introducing the concept of retail formation. Taking a constructivist market studies approach and drawing upon an ethnographic study of a Swedish consumer electronics retailer, the paper shows how retail formations are continually being made in a dynamic process that can be initiated by various actors, does not necessarily follow a logical order, and commonly produces unexpected results. The concept of retail formation allows us to better understand the increasing fluidity of retailing enabling us to trace complex market processes, examine multiple actors simultaneously, and taking into account the socio-historical and socio-cultural dynamics involved in shaping retail markets.     

Themed flagship brand stores in the new millennium: theory, practice, prospects

The flagship brand store is an increasingly popular venue used by marketers to build relationships with consumers. As we move further into an experience economy in the new millennium, retailers are refining the flagship brand store into new forms such as the themed retail brand store. This new form not only promotes a more engaging experience of the brand’s essence but also satisfies consumers looking for entertainment alongside their shopping. In this article, we conceptualize and explore themed flagship brand stores in terms of the mythological appeal of the narratives conveyed by their physical and symbolic structure. We utilize a field study of ESPN Zone Chicago to examine these features in a sports-themed retail brand store. Finally, we offer some projections, based on our research, of the possible transformations of the flagship brand store as the new century unfolds. We conclude that mindscape-related themes, which combine entertainment, therapeutics, and spiritual growth, are at the frontier of retail theming.     

The Role of Retail Competition,Demographics and Account Retail Strategy as Drivers of Promotional Sensitivity

We study the determinants of sensitivity to the promotional activities of temporary price reductions, displays, and feature advertisements. Both the theoretical and empirical literatures on price promotions suggest that retailer competition and the demographic composition of the shopping population should be linked to response to temporary price cuts. However, datasets that span different market areas have not been used to study the role of retail competition in determining price sensitivity. Moreover, little is known about the determinants of display and feature response. Very little attention has been focused on retailer strategic decisions such as price format (EDLP vs. Hi-Lo) or size of stores. We assemble a unique dataset with all U.S. markets and all major retail grocery chains represented in order to investigate the role of retail competition, account retail strategy, and demographics in determining promotional response. Previous work has not simultaneously modeled response to price, display, and feature promotions, which we do in a Bayesian Hierarchical model. We also allow for retailers in the same market to have correlated sales response equations through a variance component specification. Our results indicate that retail strategic variables such as price format are the most important determinants of promotional response, followed by demographic variables. Surprisingly, we find that variables measuring the extent of retail competition are not important in explaining promotional response.     

Retail Luxury Strategy: Assembling Charisma through Art and Magic

Luxury retail strategy differs from other retail strategies not merely in distinctive formulations of product, price, distribution, and appeals to customer distinction. Instead, it increasingly stands or falls on the legitimacy of a charismatic creative director. The director offers an aesthetic brand ideology. Luxury retail draws on the principles of art and magic to assemble the charismatic persona of the creative director and to diffuse his aesthetic ideology to the brand. Moreover, luxury retail strategy enlists magical and aesthetic principles within and without the store to achieve these ends. Finally, retail luxury is producer rather than consumer oriented and seeks to generate awe rather than community. This strategy appears to be to some extent a response to legitimacy crises provoked by recent strategic extensions of luxury brands into mass marketing. We offer some implications for marketing in which the charisma of a key personage is at stake.     

日本《大店法》的形成与废止

日本制定<大店法>的初衷是为了调整大规模零售店铺的零售业务活动,协调超市、百货店及中小零售商业者的业务范围,而不是抵挡限制外资流通企业的进入.本文认为,<大店法>在日本是一部自相矛盾,违背自由竞争原则,阻碍流通现代化,抑制日本零售业国际竞争力的法律,其预期目标与实际效果大相径庭,其教训和经验值得我们深思.文章指出,在零售业发展阶段,政府用调整的手段往往是事与愿违.     

电商化转型零售商的品牌权益提升机制与路径研究——基于双渠道品牌形象驱动的视角

网络零售强烈冲击下的国内传统零售业面临行业生存危机,电商化转型已经成为行业的必然发展趋势。文章通过界定电商化转型零售商及其品牌形象、品牌权益的概念,提出其“实体-网络”双渠道品牌形象结构的概念模型,并进一步构建其“双渠道品牌形象——品牌权益”驱动机制模型,以结构方程结合信度分析、效度分析等方法进行了实证分析。研究发现：电商化转型零售商的实体品牌形象各维度变量对网络品牌形象的对应维度变量都具有非常强的直接积极影响（即支撑效应）,价值维度、价格维度、供应维度的支撑效应由强至弱;实体品牌形象各维度变量对品牌权益产生明显的总积极影响（即提升效应）,价格维度、价值维度、供应维度的提升效应由强至弱,但供应维度无直接影响;网络性品牌形象各维度变量对品牌权益产生明显的直接积极影响（即提升效应）,供应维度、价格维度、价值维度的提升效应由强至弱。     

The Gaps in Retail Human Resource Management:

Human resource management is a critical determinant of retail organizational performance and profitability. It is estimated that the retail turnover currently is costing the industry $7.7 billion. If the current trends continue in constant dollars, this figure will be $9.2 billion in the year 2010. In current dollars this estimate will go up to $16.02 billion. Good human resource management can reduce this amount significantly. Despite its importance, retail human resource management remains a largely neglected area. Buildings on a basic model of the human resource management process, this paper provides a brief review of key personell issues, followed by a suggested research agenda. It is maintained that human resource management in the retailing sector has many major gaps. Eliminating these gaps by improving the overall human resource management activity in retailing will yield total quality management (TQM) in retailing and will enhance the retail competitive advantage. Additionally, there will be significant contribution to the overall performance of the total marketing channel.     

Keeping customers shopping in stores: interrelationships among store attributes,shopping enjoyment,and place attachment

Our research purpose was to identify and test variables that contribute to customer's willingness to continue to shop in brick and mortar stores, hereafter referred to as store loyalty. Specifically, we examined interrelationships among store attributes, shopping enjoyment, place attachment, and store loyalty with apparel shoppers. Significant store attributes that predicted shopping enjoyment included atmosphere, price, leisure, design, and service. Shopping enjoyment was a significant predictor of both place attachment and store loyalty. In turn, place attachment was found to be a significant predictor of store loyalty. The implications for store retailing are discussed as well as limitations and areas for future research.     

Creation of consumer loyalty and trust in the retailer through store brands: The moderating effect of choice of store brand name

Within the current economic context, store brands play an important role in differentiation strategies based on assortment and positioning in terms of distributor prices. To begin with, this study identifies three determining aspects of retail loyalty and trust: satisfaction with price levels, the perceived image of the assortment and loyalty to the store brands (SB). Secondly, this study proposes a theoretical relational model among the aforementioned aspects. Finally, this study analyzes the moderating role that the strategy of choosing SB name (umbrella brand label vs. brands different from the label brand) plays in the relationship between loyalty to SB and loyalty to and trust in the retailer. By including this moderating variable, we seek to contribute to current academic research and to provide insights into the importance that SB strategy (label vs. own name) has for the effect of loyalty to SB on the relative results of the retail company. Our research results show that making the umbrella SB name the same as the label brand name increases the positive effect of customer loyalty to SB on loyalty to the retailer, but not the effect of trust on this loyalty compared to chains that use SB names different from those of the label. These results have important implications for management.     

A study on China's time-honored catering brands: Achieving new inheritance of traditional brands

The time-honored brand is the best brand retained from centuries of business and handicraft competition, representing inestimable brand, economic and cultural value. However, it has encountered the issue of heritage in the new era. To address this issue, in view of the critical role of customer word-of-mouth (WOM) in brand inheritance and reputation, this study constructed and examined the WOM path of time-honored catering brands by investigating 606 customers. Its conclusions highlight the positive antecedent of brand authenticity for customers' in-person WOM and EWOM. The path is influenced by the mediation mechanisms of response (awakening of interest), cognition (brand experience) and affection (brand identification). Moreover, the interaction between creative performance and brand authenticity can positively promote customers' brand experience. However, cultural proximity plays different roles in the stages of customers' brand attitudes and behaviors. The results provide managerial implications for how to promote the sustainable inheritance of traditional brands.     

中国零售业业态结构调整与转型升级:动因、原则及操作标准

当前我国零售业正在经历一场以网络零售业成熟发展为最鲜明特征的技术升级和业态调整的深刻变革。本文从"技术创新"的视角对业态转型升级和业态结构调整动因分析的基础上构建了零售业态结构调整的原则和操作标准体系,结合零售业态发展的前瞻趋势和客观环境,对我国零售业空间布局优化提出对策建议。     

Evaluating and Managing Brand Repurchase Across Multiple Geographic Retail Markets

Many companies manage their business on a geographic basis and evaluate marketing metrics and managers correspondingly. Here, using a multi-level dataset from the U.S. retail gasoline industry, we demonstrate inherent differences in the levels of brand repurchase across territories. Furthermore, we show that the effects of factors that may improve repurchase—customer satisfaction and customers’ relational investments—are moderated by market share at the territorial level. Relational investments have relatively more effect on repurchase in territories where a brand's market share is higher, while customer satisfaction has relatively more effect in territories where a brand's market share is lower. These findings imply that one size does not fit all for either evaluating or managing brand performance at a territorial level.     

业态战略、企业规模、资本结构与零售企业成长——以零售上市公司为样本

作为零售企业成长中同时存在的两种战略,多业态战略和单一业态战略本身各有其利弊。在企业规模与资本结构的共同作用下,单一业态战略相较于多业态战略对零售企业成长的影响较大;企业规模与零售企业成长显著正相关;资产负债率对零售企业成长有显著的正向作用,而长期负债率对零售企业成长则有显著的负向影响;企业年龄与零售企业成长之间存在负向关系,但关系强度较弱,且在统计上不显著;区域类型对零售企业成长没有显著影响。为了促进零售企业成长,零售企业要发展自己的主力业态,使之成为企业成长的支柱,然后在时机成熟时向多业态的盈利模式转化;要进行适度的规模扩张;要确定资本结构的合理水平,并从根本上降低长期负债率。