Single and multiple person household shoppers: A focus on grocery store selection criteria and grocery shopping attitudes and behavior

Responses of single and multiple person household food shoppers are analyzed to determine whether the two groups differ with respect to (1) those store criteria which are important in selecting a food store, (2) attitudes and behavior concerning the grocery shopping activity, and (3) various demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Even though many similarities were found between the two groups of shoppers, some differences were observed. The implications of these similarities and differences are discussed, with emphasis given to their impact on retail food store management and strategic planning.     

Slotting allowances: a time series analysis of aggregate effects over three decades

Slotting fees and related discounts are important but controversial mechanisms for obtaining shelf space in marketing channels for consumer packaged goods. The theoretical field is divided between the efficient market and the market power schools of thought. Results from empirical studies and analytical models point in different directions. This paper analyzes trends in key macro economic variables to see if the patterns are more consistent with an underlying market efficiency model vs. a market power one. The data span 30+ years and focus on retailers in the marketing channel for food and kindred products. The variables studied include new product introductions, retail selling area, consumer price indices, profitability, cost of goods sold and selling expenditures. Efficient market explanations do not fare well in the analyses in comparison with market power explanations for practically all the variables studied. The paper conlcudes with recommendations for regulators and retail management.     

The role of slotting fees and introductory allowances in retail buyers’ new-product acceptance decisions

Although slotting fees and introductory allowances have become well established in the grocery and other industries, they remain a source of controversy among channel members. Retailers claim that these fees and allowances help mitigate the risks associated with new-product acceptance. Manufacturers counter that retailers are abusing slotting fees and allowances by using them as a source of profit. The authors investigate this controversy by empirically examining the role of slotting fees and allowances in the retail buyers’ product acceptance decision process. Results provide evidence to suggest that introductory allowances are indeed being used by retailers in the sample to offset perceived risks and costs of carrying new products. However, findings regarding slotting fees are much less supportive of retailers’ claims. J. Chris White (Ph.D., Texas A&M University) is an assistant professor at the University of Central Florida. His primary research and teaching interests include marketing strategy and management, retail management, international strategy, and promotion strategy. Lisa C. Troy (Ph.D., Texas A&M University) is an assistant professor of marketing at Utah State University. Her primary research and teaching interests include product innovation and new product development, marketing strategy, retail management, and international marketing. R. Nicholas Gerlich (Ph.D., Indiana University) is an associate professor of marketing at West Texas A&M University. He is actively involved in the development of Web-based courses and has research interests in the marketing of new products.     

A longitudinal study of the impact of market structure,firm structure,strategy, and market orientation culture on dimensions of small-firm performance

The purpose of this article is to determine market orientation’s relative impact on small-business performance, compared to other influences, in an integrated model using longitudinal data. Contrary to expectations based on the management literature, the results indicate weak causal relationships between market environment, small-firm structure, and small-firm strategy. The results further indicate weak influences of these variables, but strong and consistent influences of market orientation, on various measures of small-firm performance. Contrary to expectations based on business policy literature, relative product quality and new product success were not significant influences on profitability, perhaps due to the significant influence of market orientation on these variables. In addition, although increases in growth/share had a significant short-term influence on increases in profitability, high levels of previous years’ firm growth/share had a negative influence on current profitability. The previous year’s level of firm coordinating systems and market competitive intensity has a significant impact on the level of small-firm market orientation.     

Improving the profitability of retail merchandising decisions—Revisited

Despite the importance of managing retail profitability, little work was been reported in recent years that evaluates the effectiveness of various retail profitability performance measures. In this article the authors use regression analysis to evaluate the usefulness of Gross Margin Return on Inventory Investment (GMROI). The results suggest that GMROI warrants serious consideration for use in retail control and planning activities.     

When customers disappoint: A model of relational internal marketing and customer complaints

The objective of this study is to examine internal marketing relationships and their influence on salesperson attitudes and behaviors in retail store environments. The authors investigate the moderating role of customer complaining behavior on the nature of these relationships. Specifically, they examine the relationship between organization-employee and supervisor-employee relationships and their association with salesperson job motivation and commitment to customer service. Customer complaints are expected to have differential moderating effects on the relationship between organizational and supervisory support and these salesperson outcomes. Our hypotheses were tested using a sample of 392 retail employees within 115 stores of a national retail organization. The model was partially supported. Theoretical and managerial implications are explored.     

The product elimination function

Historically, major consideration given to product management has focused on research and development or the introductory stage of the product life cycle. The authors present an empirical study delineating the variables to be considered in the product elimination process. More specifically, the elimination process is evaluated under a situation of poor product performance despite a generally viable market. The basic objectives of the study were: to determine the significant variables in the product elimination process of the Small Appliance Industry; to determine the relative importance of the variables; to examine the interaction among variables. The data obtained through personal structured questionnaire interviews were analyzed and provided a ranking of twenty-six variables relevant to the elimination process. Moreover, the Johnson's Hierarchical Clustering Schemes was applied to determine the interaction among variables. The results indicate that profitability and financial variables are most significant in the elimination decision-process. Second, the primary clusters of importance are concerned with market share, market growth rate, consumer awareness, and competitive action.     

Retail store visitation and the cost-value hypothesis: An application of the AID algorithm

This paper provides insights into the cost-value implications of retail store visitation. It does this by relating the extent of retail store visitation to both consumer characteristics and situational variables in the context of a specific type of major appliance purchase. The assessment was based on the usage of the Automatic Interaction Detector (AID). This algorithm determines what variables and categorees within them combine to produce the greatest discrimination in group means by the dependent variable (the number of retail stores visited). An interpretation of AID-revealed binary splits suggests support for the cost-value hypothesis of retail store visitation.     

Explaining the variation in short-term sales response to retail price promotions

This study focuses on the short-term sales response to price promotions in retail grocery stores and attempts to explain its variation using frequency of price promotions and the consecutive scheduling of price promotions. Retail managers’ expectations and tenets from behavioral theories provide the basis for the hypotheses that the frequency of price promotions and consecutive scheduling of price promotions affect short-term response to price promotions. The hypotheses are tested on three frequently purchased product categories, using store-level data from retail chains in three major markets. The analysis is validated with additional data on the same product categories and markets. A variety of managerial implications are drawn from the results and suggestions for future research are offered. He has been recognized with numerous teaching and research excellence awards. Dr. Kumar has published numerous articles in many scholarly journals in marketing and forecasting. He has coauthored a text titledMarketing Research and is currently working on two other textbooks. He is on the editorial review board of many journals. Dr. Kumar has lectured on marketing-related topics in various universities worldwide. His research interests include developing forecasting models, international marketing strategy and international marketing research issues, models for sales promotions, and new methodologies for product positioning and market segmentation. Dr. Kumar received his doctoral degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He has published articles about retailing and marketing strategy in scholarly journals such as theJournal of Retailing, International Journal of Research in Marketing, andJournal of Business Ethics. His current research interest focuses on models for sales promotions and marketing strategy. Dr. Pereira received his doctoral degree from the University of Houston.     

The motivation for grocery store loyal behavior with marketing implications

Two different grocery shoppers can be equally loyal to the same supermarket but for entirely different reasons. For example, customer A may be loyal to a store because of convenience reasons while customer B may be loyal to the same store because he or she perceives that the store overall has very low prices. Because of these differences any attempt to segment the market based on store loyalty alone will be only partially effective. A more useful approach is to incorporate a motivation for patronage as well as a loyalty level in a market segmentation classification scheme. On data collected in Bangor, Maine, four types of grocery customers were identified and named price shoppers, convenience shoppers, involved shoppers, and apathetic shoppers. The particular advantage of the four group typology is that customers are defined in terms of response to marketing mix variables. Therefore, the implementation of or changes in marketing strategy is facilitated by the use of the typology.     

中国创业板上市公司盈利能力的因素分析——基于分位数回归的实证研究

影响上市公司盈利能力的因素有很多,不同的分位数水平下各因素对盈利能力的影响可能存在差异。传统的回归模型只能描述因变量的条件均值受自变量的影响,而分位数回归模型能够依据因变量的条件分位数对自变量进行回归,从而更加精确地描述自变量对因变量的影响。选取截至2013年6月30日的355家创业板上市公司的截面数据,从分位数回归的角度研究了不同分位数水平下各因素对公司盈利能力的影响,并且加入了地区虚拟变量,研究了区位因素与盈利能力的关系。     

京津冀物流业与经济协同发展的实证研究

随着京津冀一体化协同发展上升为国家战略,物流业的发展将形成区域经济发展的高效路径,降低区域经济运行成本,推动区域经济一体化的进程。本文运用灰色系统相关理论,选取六个经济变量,从总供给和总需求两个层面,对京津冀物流业发展与经济的关联度和协同性进行了实证研究。研究发现京津冀物流业与各区域经济的发展之间存在较高的关联性,总体上较为协调,但也表现出一定的差异。北京的工业、第三产业、社会消费品零售总额,天津的第三产业、社会消费品零售总额、净出口总额,河北的社会消费品零售总额和净出口总额与各区域的物流业发展不够协调。最后根据结论提出了相应的政策建议。     

Information seeking on competitors and perception of competition by food store managers

The dynamics of competition from the store manager's point of view has been neglected. This study was designed to investigate the perception of competition and competitive information seeking by food store managers. Competition was analyzed in relation to a set of independent variables suggested by concepts of retail competition and organization theory. The data was based on a questionnaire administered to 55 food store managers. It was predicted and found that the perceived competitive interdependency between two stores was related to the degree of perceived similarity between the stores. The results support the concept of competition for differential advantage. The frequency of information seeking on competitors was related to organizational variables, particularly the store managers concept of his job, but not the degree of perceived similarity between competing stores.     

Examining retail image before and after a repositioning strategy

This research examines changes in management's and consumers' perceptions of retail image during implementation of a major repositioning strategy. A prominent retail chain abandoned an older store in a strip shopping center of a southern SMSA, and built a larger one in a new regional shopping mall. Consumers and store management personnel provided image data for the old and new stores three months before and after the changeover. It was found that while consumers' and management's images significantly changed during the repositioning strategy, the magnitude of management's image change was significantly greater than consumers'. Management perceived greater changes than did consumers in parking, store classification, merchandise quality, style and assortment, return policy, and store layout and decor. Conversely, consumers experiented a greater image change on pricing and credit policy. The major implication for retailers is that problems can arise if management and consumers do not experience commensurate image shifts during repositioning. Fine tuning in advertising, personal selling, product strategy, and the physical environment (e.g., decor, parking) may be necessary to compensate for differential image shifts following a major repositioning strategy. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** A00BV035 00002     

Behavioral characteristics of the recreational shopper and implications for retail management

The success of a retail image is dependent upon the retailer's ability to appropriately match store attributes and benefits with target market characteristics. This study indicates that many consumers (recreational shoppers) shop for other than purely economic considerations. The results provide new evidence pertaining to the appropriate retail strategy for attracting such shoppers.     

A market segmentation analysis of users of a black-owned neighborhood shopping center

This study examines the characteristics and shopping behavior of urban blacks who patronize a black-owned and managed neighborhood shopping center in a large mid-western city. The shopping center is located in a community that reflects typical inner city characteristics of high unemployment, low income, and classic shortage of necessary retail and commercial facilities. The community promotion analyzed in the study was the shopping center's first formal attempt to promote the mall and provided an opportunity both to measure the traffic and the sales generating impact of the promotion and to learn about the profiles of the center's shoppers. Covered in the study are demographic and socio-economic variables, attitudes toward and perceptions of various characteristics of the mall, and various dimensions of the respondent's retail shopping behavior. Analysis of the characteristics of the shopping center's customers indicates two distinct market segments that live different distances from the mall with sex, income, age, and shopping behavior varying by segment. The hypothesis that the two groups of black shoppers, with different demographic characteristics, will also exhibit different shopping behavior was not rejected, and therefore, the authors could suggest marketing policy and strategy recommendations to management to more effectively reach and satisfy the heavy user of such shopping centers. Alpha Development Corp.     

Validating the retail store image concept

The perceived images of seven retail firms encompassing several lines of trade are presented in this paper. To determine these images, data on store attributes and the importance of these attributes were collected from a random sample within selected census tracts of a Southwestern city. The linear compensatory multi-attribute model approach of product attitudes was extended to that of store patronage. The ability of these image models to predict attitudes towards the retail outlets as well as patronage behavior is investigated. In addition, the power of importance weights in these models is statistically examined.     

零售业务：商业银行业务拓展的重要路径

我国商业银行零售业务发展的策略选择应是：从银行长远发展的战略高度，重视零售业务的发展；准确选择战略定位，分步实施；完善商业银行零售业务经营管理架构；树立市场营销理念；加强零售业务品牌建设等。     

Optimizing marketer costs and consumer benefits across “clicks” and “bricks”

The Internet has revolutionized the retailing landscape and how goods and services are sold and distributed to consumers. One avenue of significant growth in online selling comes from multichannel retailers who offer products in stores as well as over the Web. These hybrids may leverage their “brick” locations by allowing customers to pick up or return orders purchased online at retail stores. This option lets Web-based buyers avoid added shipping costs and long package carrier lead times, albeit at a cost to retailers. To examine the viability of this strategy, we develop a mathematical model that examines the cost and value of providing in-store pickup and return. The model is used to determine the best subset of brick-and-mortar stores to handle in-store pickup and return demand. One of the principal takeaways is that not all retail stores should be offering in-store pickups and/or returns. Our computational results show optimizing the set of pickup and return locations may reduce system cost over baseline marketing policies where these services are set up at all or none of a retailer’s stores. In addition, we show that retailers can significantly improve some consumer benefits at little extra cost.     

Grocery retail loyalty program effects: self-selection or purchase behavior change?

In the retail sector, consumers typically patronize multiple outlets for a variety of products, which raises the important issue of how outlets can gain a greater share of consumer expenditures. One such way is to increase repeat purchases through loyalty programs. This article examines the impact of loyalty programs, which target existing customers, on repurchase behavior in grocery stores. It finds that heavier, more frequent customers of a store enroll in the loyalty program earlier; that buying behavior changes only slightly after buyers join the program; and that small changes in loyalty appear to erode 6–9 months after buyers join.