RETAIL ON‐SHELF PERFORMANCE OF ADVERTISED ITEMS: AN ASSESSMENT OF SUPPLY CHAIN EFFECTIVENESS AT THE POINT OF PURCHASE

In the retail environment, one key prerequisite to satisfying customers is to have the product available, on the shelf, when and where the customer expects to find it. The study reported here evaluated the on‐shelf stock performance of three distinct types of retailers–mass merchandisers, category killers, and grocery retailers. Overall on‐shelf performance for advertised items was just 83.5% percent. Follow‐up interviews with store managers indicate that availability problems are often the result of merchandising or store operations issues and not necessarily logistics or warehousing problems. However, in today's supply chain world, the real measure of success is satisfaction all the way to the customer's trunk.     

When do loyalty programs work? The moderating role of design,retailer-strategy,and country characteristics

Many grocery retailers carry a loyalty program (LP). However, little is known under what conditions these programs are more or less effective. We provide a contingency framework that considers various design, retailer, and country characteristics that can moderate an LP's impact on a retailer's sales productivity. We test the framework across a large sample of 358 grocery banners from a broad cross-section of 27 western and eastern European countries. We find a positive effect of the more basic LP variant that offers direct and immediate rewards. This positive effect, however, disappears when retailers operate a more complex progressive-reward system and when they are part of a multivendor program. An LP's impact also differs between retailers and countries: it is lower when operated by discounters, and higher in countries that are more individualistic and long-term oriented, and where fewer competitors also carry a loyalty program.     

Retailing in the Transition Economies of Poland and Romania: A Comparative Analysis

This research compares and contrasts the current state of development in the retailing industry in the transition economies of Poland and Romania. Two issues examined in this research are (a) the process of market reforms and resulting developments in store-based and non-store retailing, including the competition among large multinational retail chains and small local retail stores, and (b) the structure of the retail industry in terms of market share of 17 different categories of retailers within their respective sectors, namely, grocery retailers, specialty retailers, and non-store retailers, and overall growth registered by these retailers in the last 5 years (2004–2009). Managerial implications of the findings in terms of the opportunities and challenges in different categories of retailing business in the two countries are discussed, and directions for future research are identified.     

International retailer performance: Disentangling the interplay between rule of law and culture

Understanding the complexity of institutional factors in host countries and adapting strategies accordingly is crucial for international retailers, given the high failure rate of global operations. This paper investigates the impact of formal institutions (i.e., legal environments) and informal institutions (i.e., cultural values) on the performance of international retailers. We analyzed the data on 144 international retailers and 565 subsidiaries owned by these retailers, using three measures of retailer performance: sales per square meter, return on equity, and Tobin's Q. Our findings show that retailer performance is influenced by the interactions of the host country's rule of law and three cultural dimensions. Specifically, strong rule of law enhances the performance of international retailers in host countries, especially with high power distance or high uncertainty avoidance. In highly collectivistic countries, retailers can also build strong relationships to govern transactions. Results provide key insights that explain international retailers’ performance in different countries and deliver guidelines for retailer strategies.     

Supplier-Retailer Relationships in Grocery Distribution in Malaysia: Indications of Dominance,Conflict, and Cooperation

ABSTRACT

This exploratory study sets out to assess the presence of dominance, conflict and cooperation in channel relationships between grocery suppliers and retailers in Malaysia. There have been extensive studies on these channel issues in markets of developed countries but very little is known in markets of developing countries such as Malaysia. The initial assessment identifies traces of dominance, conflict and cooperation in the Malaysian channel environment. The findings suggest that the retailers perceive the suppliers as being more in control of the grocery distribution channels as indicated by the extent of influence they exert on channel functioning. The suppliers also acknowledged their roles in channel functioning as they felt that most channel issues are within their control. There also appears to be evidence of relationship characteristics identical to aspects of relationship marketing.     

Alignment in the Base of the Pyramid Producer Supply Chains: The Case of the Handloom Sector in Odisha,India

This investigation seeks to explore the effectiveness of alternative approaches to supply chain management for developing the base of the pyramid (BoP) community. Using case research methodology, we investigate the issue of supply chain alignment when the supply base consists of BoP producers. We consider the handloom supply chains in Odisha, India, as the context of our analysis. The study analyzes the supply chains of four handloom retailers. The retailers represent cooperative and private organizational systems with varied levels of operational integration. In light of the insights from these case studies, we theorize factors contributing to operational cost‐effectiveness and conceptualize approaches and considerations for improving the BoP community. Specifically, we clarify the usefulness of alternative supply chain alignment practices in promoting efficiency, innovation, and equitability among the BoP constituents and advance a set of propositions linking the motivations, strategies, practices, and performance in handloom supply chains. Limitations, theoretical and managerial contributions, and future research directions are discussed.     

Grocery pickup creation of value: Customers’ benefits vs. spatial dimension

This article examines an Internet grocery shopping model very frequent in the UK and in France: the grocery pickup system. It strives to answer this research questions: does this system create value for consumers? The methodology relies on in-depth interviews with retailers and data from French retail grocery industries. The exploratory approach through experts’ interviews concerning the content of retailers’ selling propositions for consumers reinforces the theoretical framework related to customers’ value and grocery pickup. It appears that long term value could exist through the satisfaction of functional, experiential and relational benefits responsible for the uniqueness of the retailer's positioning. Given the asymmetry between retailers approach and consumer's one, the second part is focused on a particular aspect of the functional benefit: closeness in retailing. Then, an entropy measurement in a French context from two large samples of 1576 hypermarkets and 1473 grocery pickups are conducted. Results show that grocery pickup locations fulfill this sine qua non successful condition. Nevertheless, it is made evidence that this new channel is most of the time developed in overstored areas.     

The Impact of the Multi-channel Retail Mix on Online Store Choice: Does Online Experience Matter?

More and more grocery retailers are becoming multi-channel retailers, as they are opening an online alternative next to their traditional offline supermarkets. While the number of multi-channel grocery shoppers is also expanding at a fast growth rate, there are still large differences in online shopping frequency, and as a result, in the levels of experience with buying in the online grocery channel. This study wants to (i) identify the underlying drivers of online store choice and (ii) explore if and how these drivers change when multi-channel shoppers gain online grocery shopping experience. We investigate this question with an online store choice model using purchase data of an extensive UK household panel over a two-year period, covering all multi-channel retailers in the grocery market. Our results show that multi-channel shoppers, at the start of online grocery shopping, tend to select the online store belonging to the same chain as their preferred offline store, especially when the online store is strongly integrated with the offline store in terms of assortment. When online grocery shopping experience increases, multi-channel shoppers’ focus shifts from a comparison within a chain across channels to a comparison across chains within the online channel, resulting in an increasing importance of online assortment attractiveness and online loyalty when choosing an online store.     

The influence of national culture and industry structure on grocery retail customer loyalty

This study examines, for the first time, the influence of national culture and industry structure on customer loyalty in grocery retailing. Grocery retailers have a long and continued history of international expansion and it is vital to understand how loyalty can be nurtured in different contexts. Thematic analysis of focus groups conducted in the culturally and structurally disparate countries of the United Kingdom and Sri Lanka provide unique insights. Key differences have been identified around consumer preferences and perceptions of loyalty programmes and the key drivers of different loyalty types. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

The moderating effect of average wage and number of stores on private label market share: A hierarchical linear model analysis

Existing research on private label market share is primarily in the context of the Western market. The Chinese market context research is scarce, although private labels are developing rapidly in the past several years. This study investigates how the average wage and number of stores affect the Chinese market's private label market share. More importantly, this paper examines the moderating effect of the average wage and the number of stores on the relationship between the private label market share and product assortment as well as the relationship between the private label market share and pricing. Data collected from a Chinese supply chain dyad is analyzed to study category management using hierarchical linear models. The results reveal that the average wage and the number of stores positively affect the private label market share. Furthermore, the average wage enhances the negative effect of the number of brands, weakens the negative effect of the private label price, weakens the positive effect of national brand price. Meanwhile, the number of stores enhances the positive effect of the SKU proliferation of private label, enhances the negative effects of the number of brands, and enhances the negative effect of the private label price. This study contributes to category management. Furthermore, the findings will be valuable to domestic and international grocery marketers and retailers operating private labels in China.     

Why do online grocery shoppers switch? An empirical investigation of drivers of switching in online grocery

The article sets out to develop a deeper understanding of the drivers of switching behavior in an online grocery context, which is becoming a key area of focus for grocery retailers. Applying the push, pull, and mooring framework (PPM) popularly used in migration and switching literature, we empirically assessed factors that might contribute to online grocery switching. The results highlight that retailer-related push factors (customer service, issues with delivered products, technical issues, and high price perception) and competitor-related pull factors (WOM and alternative attraction) have significant direct effects on switching. Furthermore, the results also show that consumer-related mooring factors (switching cost and prior switching behavior) significantly moderate switching. The findings provide valuable insights to retailers on the drivers of switching behavior in online grocery retailing, which can be used to develop strategies to reduce consumer switching and hence increase consumer retention.     

CATALOG RETAILER IN‐STOCK PERFORMANCE: AN ASSESSMENT OF CUSTOMER SERVICE LEVELS

The purpose of this article is to study the level of “in‐stock” customer service performance being offered in the catalog channel of distribution. The article provides benchmark information for the catalog industry. More importantly, the article serves as one test of the effectiveness of the modern supply chain, where the expectation is for near perfect orders. Customer service levels are studied by using an empirical observation methodology in which catalog retailer's in‐stock performance was measured. Comparisons are made across item type, season, retailer type, and days from catalog receipt. Overall, items were out‐of‐stock during 15.9% of all checkpoints, compared to an 11.8% stock‐out rate in an earlier study of bricks and mortar retailers.     

Are supply-chain relationships more influenced by buyer-supplier relationships or the business environment of the country itself? Evidence from the ‘China-Australia’ trading relationship

In doing business with China, poor supply chain performance is reported as being caused by either poor relationships between firms in China or the business environment in which firms in China have to operate. This research paper explores the relative importance of these two factors for food supply chains from Australia to China. Results are based on surveys of 84 importers, wholesalers and retailers in China and 22 Australian exporters and wholesalers. They show that the country itself had a greater influence than firm to firm relationships. Firms exporting food to China should therefore keep supply chains as short as possible to minimize the uncertainties associated with the business environment.     

Measuring Unethical Consumer Behavior Across Four Countries

The huge amounts spent on store security and crime prevention worldwide, not only costs international businesses, but also amounts to a hidden tax on those law-binding consumers who bear higher prices. Most previous research has focused on shoplifting and ignored many other ways in which consumers cheat businesses. Using a hybrid of both qualitative research and survey approaches in four countries, an index of 37 activities was developed to examine consumers’ unethical activities across UK, US, France, and Austria. The findings indicate that around three quarters of consumers in all four countries can be classified as heavy offenders for these minor cheats. The paper argues that government agencies, marketers, and retailers should adopt more pro-active preventative approaches, rather than reactive loss limitation measures to combat unethical behavior.     

Understanding the role of situational factors on online grocery shopping among older adults

This paper seeks to identify the situational factors that drive the adoption of online grocery shopping among older adults. A two-step research process is employed. First, exploratory qualitative research is carried out to identify situational factors that older adults take into account when deciding whether to buy groceries online. This is followed by a conjoint experiment to determine which situational factors are considered most important when making such a decision. The sample consisted of 9 participants in the in-depth individual interviews and 206 respondents in the conjoint experiment. The findings indicate that health, mobility issues, and distance to a store are the most important situational factors driving older adults to buy groceries online. Moreover, the findings confirm that the adoption of online grocery shopping among older adults is a result of a complex trade-off of situational variables. The findings contribute to managerial practice by providing online grocery retailers with insight that can be applied when designing promotional programs targeted at older adults.     

The effect of concentration and market power on food prices: evidence from Finland

This research examines empirically the relationship between economies of scale, concentration, and market power in food retailing. With unique, local market data available Finland, the analysis could investigate the impact of both local concentration and industry-wide concentration (which can be interpreted as multimarket contact) are taken into account in the evaluation of grocery retail competitiveness. The results show that the main factor affecting market power is the size of the retail firm. Larger share grocery retailers, for both the local and the national markets, carried higher mark-ups. At the same time, no firm-level scale economies were found from these larger firms. I conclude from these findings that the main purpose of large grocery retail mergers is to gain market power not efficiency.     

Innovation Cloning: The Introduction and Performance of Private Label Innovation Copycats

A controversial trend in grocery is the practice by retailers to quickly copy innovative national brands (NBs) launched by manufacturers with their own private label (PL). In a sample of 1,100+ NB pioneers launched in The Netherlands between 2005 and 2009, 11.7% faced a PL copycat by at least one of the seven leading grocery retailers. These copycats obtained an impressive 5.8% category share at the retailer in the year after launch, thereby outperforming the NB pioneers they copy (2.1%) as well as non-copycat PLs launched in the same period (4.4%). Using a two-step selection model, we identify what motivates retailers to copy NB innovations, and what factors drive subsequent copycat performance, thereby taking into account retailers’ innovation assortment decisions. As expected, retailers are more likely to copy successful NB innovations, and these copycats indeed perform well in their stores. However, retailers do not only take into account financial considerations. They are especially hesitant to copy heavily promoted NB innovations and those launched by manufacturers with a strong reputation. To enhance copycat performance, retailers should keep prices of the copycat sufficiently below those of the NB pioneer and limit its promotions. Apart from guiding retailers in their copycat decisions, also NB manufacturers can learn from this study how to discourage retailers from imitating their innovations.     

Sustainable Retailing

As consumers seek products that cause minimal environmental harm and bring about positive social impact, and as awareness of supply chain impact grows, retailers must embrace sustainability. Given their unique position in the supply chain between upstream suppliers and downstream consumers, retailers are key to a circular economy in which products at the initial end-of-life stage are returned to the supply chain for continued use. By serving as a connection between suppliers and consumers, retail initiatives can help to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Furthermore, retailers can leverage their unique position in the supply chain to enable and legitimize a focus on social issues across the supply chain. We discuss such actions, the challenges that need to be overcome to have scalable impact, and the mechanisms retailers can utilize to make such progress.     

Equilibrium in supply chain network with competition and service level between channels considering consumers' channel preferences

This paper considers a dual-channel supply chain network consisting of multiple competing manufacturers, multiple competing retailers and multiple demand markets. Each manufacturer produces and distributes his products via direct e-commerce channel along with traditional physical channel. The manufacturers also provide services for the consumers in both channels, while the retailers only offer offline services to the consumers. On this basis, a dual-channel supply chain network equilibrium model with pricing and service decisions are established based on variational inequality theory. Nash equilibrium solutions are obtained by modified projection and contraction method. Combined with numerical examples, we analyze the impact of three critical factors on the equilibrium states and profits. Some interesting managerial insights are derived. We find that the profits of the manufacturers decrease (increase) in the raw material conversion ratio under single channel case (dual-channel case), while the increase of the raw material conversion ratio always benefits the retailers and the whole dual-channel supply chain network; the service level in each channel is positively correlated with its transaction volume. There are significant inconsistencies among the best combinations of cross-channel price coefficients between two channels for the manufacturers, the retailers and the whole dual-channel supply chain network. The same equilibrium decision (service level, price) or profit may exhibit the opposite changing trend with respect to cross-channel price coefficients under two cases of active e-commerce transaction and inactive e-commerce transaction. When the introduction of e-commerce channel can bring more profits for the whole dual-channel supply chain network, the manufacturers should provide reasonable allocation schemes of profit increment for the retailers to satisfy their participation constraints.     

供应链管理中信息共享的激励措施

在信息经济时代,商业环境正发生日新月异的变化,管理供应链所需的知识也在不断地推陈出新。客户需求变化、柔性生产能力、知识管理能力、创新能力、供应链企业间的合作能力、国际市场变化等是影响供应链管理信息共享能力的主要因素。文章通过对供应链企业信息共享前后的经营状况进行比较分析,论证了信息共享的“囚徒困境”,并提出了通过对供应商实行价格激励、减少零售商前置时间、防范信息共享风险、克服企业间文化差异等措施,以保证信息共享的有效性。