Transformation of Metrics and Analytics in Retailing: The Way Forward

The retail industry is undergoing tremendous changes that are driven by technology, changing consumer tastes, economic pressures, competition, stakeholder relationships, environmental concerns, and governmental regulations. Our article explores analytics as a capability that helps retailers excel in this dynamic environment. We identify the reasons behind the trends in the retail industry and provide guidance for retail managers on how to improve customer relationship management using appropriate metrics and effective analytics. Our guidance to retail managers emphasizes the importance of brand recognition, explores tactics for enhancing customer experience, recommends establishing superior customer engagement, forging social connections among consumers, and rendering service and support to customers, and highlights a data-oriented approach to retailing. We conclude with suggestions for future research in this domain.     

From Multi-Channel Retailing to Omni-Channel Retailing: Introduction to the Special Issue on Multi-Channel Retailing

The world of retailing has changed dramatically in the past decade. The advent of the online channel and new additional digital channels such as mobile channels and social media have changed retail business models, the execution of the retail mix, and shopper behavior. Whereas multi-channel was in vogue in the last decade in retailing, we now observe a move to so-called omni-channel retailing. Omni-channel retailing is taking a broader perspective on channels and how shoppers are influenced and move through channels in their search and buying process. We discuss this development conceptually and subsequently discuss existing research in this multi-channel retailing. We also introduce the articles in this special issue on multi-channel retailing and position these articles in the new omni-channel movement. We end with putting forward a research agenda to further guide future research in this area.     

Exploring the origin of retail stores in Europe: Evidence from Southern Italy from the 6th century BCE to the 3rd century BCE

Retail literature reports considerable research on the role that technology has played in retailing as an enabler of change, with emphasis on the shifting of power from retailers to consumers. While scholarly attention has been paid mainly to investigating the current scenario in order to predict future trends and preview retail settings for the coming years, the origins of the retail process, in terms of physical space for selling activities and history of retailing as discipline of business history, is less investigated. Using qualitative data gathered through historical documents and archaeological findings, the present study goes back beyond modern retail settings to explore the origins of points of sales as early as the Magna Graecia period (600 BCE – 300 BCE). Such historical analysis not only offers an insight into the origin of the modern retailing, but also cast broader questions about the degree to which historical interpretations of the growth of retailing have been evolved, by emphasising that after 2000 years, there are still similarities. To the authors’ knowledge, this current study is the first to extend the baseline for such an understanding back a further millennium or so.     

Strategizing Retailing in the New Technology Era

The world of retailing is being reimagined and transformed at breakneck speeds due to new technologies, as well as due to changes in consumer purchasing behavior resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. This dynamic retail marketplace is forcing retailers to strategize how to best position themselves to survive and flourish in this environment. Recognizing that we are at a critical inflection point in the world of retailing, we conceptualize a Strategic Wheel of Retailing in the new technology era that emphasizes technology as the core enabler of the strategies related to the 6Ps of retailing (retail place and supply chain management, product, pricing, promotion, personnel, and presentation). In particular, the articles calls for retailers to carefully their review their competitive ecosystem as they adapt to the new technologies, raises some issues, and offers new directions for further research on how technology can be leveraged to design profitable retail strategies.     

Parental Choice of Primary School: An Application of Q-Methodology

After rapid growth in off-centre retailing in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the UK Government is now determined to concentrate future retailing within urban areas and, wherever possible, close to existing town and city centres. By their very nature, however, major retail developments are extensive users of land. This makes suitable sites hard to acquire within cities, especially as large urban sites normally have to be assembled from several ownerships, while those of the periphery can often be purchased from a single owner. Within this context, this article examines how the availability of large redevelopment sites for future retailing within or close to the centres of four British cities was significantly constrained by multiple land ownership. It contends that, while tighter planning restrictions on retail development in off-centre locations may well be effective in thwarting development considered unacceptable in policy terms, such restrictions by themselves will not serve to re-direct retail development pressure to central areas, unless multiple land ownership can be readily resolved. Without such action, retail planning policy will increasingly frustrate retail competition and ultimately to become self-defeating.     

Future fantasies: a social change perspective of retailing in the 21 century

Experts expect great retailing changes in the next ten years. What do consumers expect? With increasing innovation in retail technology and the large-scale implementation of e-commerce formats, shifts in consumer behavior can be categorized as social change. Sociologists have long studied the interaction of social change and technology, focusing on society members’ characteristics to help predict the future. One characteristic of enduring influence is age. In this research note, we consider consumer expectations regarding the evolution of retailing, with an emphasis on expectations of social change and the variance of such expectations by age cohort.     

Crafting Integrated Multichannel Retailing Strategies

Multichannel retailing is the set of activities involved in selling merchandise or services to consumers through more than one channel. Multichannel retailers dominate today's retail landscape. While there are many benefits of operating multiple channels, these retailers also face many challenges. In this article, we discuss the key issues concerning multichannel retailing, including the motivations and constraints of going multichannel, the challenges of crafting multichannel retailing strategies and opportunities for creating synergies across channels, key retail mix decisions facing multichannel retailers, and the dynamics of multichannel retailing. We synthesize current knowledge drawn from the academic literature and industry practice, and discuss potential directions for future research.     

How uncivil customers corrode the relationship between frontline employees and retailers

This study investigates the effects of customers’ uncivil treatments on frontline retail employees’ emotions, deviant behaviors and relationship with the retail organization. Our theoretical model is based on both marketing and personnel management literatures. 415 frontline retailing American employees answered our questionnaire. Employees treated uncivilly by customers feel angry but have to hide their negative emotions, which leads them to emotional exhaustion and deviant behaviors. Paradoxically, employees’ strong commitment to their retailing organization brings about more deviant behaviors. We propose some managerial strategies to cope with uncivil customers, as well as future research on this important and under-researched topic.     

Measuring retail performance in an omni-channel world

Abstract

Driven by global advances in technology and changes in consumer buying behavior, brick-and-mortar retailers are being forced to become omni-channel retailers. This calls for new metrics for evaluating retail performance. We examine the challenges facing the retail industry, the metrics that traditional brick-and-mortar stores have used as well as the new metrics that retail industry experts are suggesting for online retailing. A conceptual framework for omni-channel retailers is suggested.     

Predicting resilience in retailing using grey theory and moving probability based Markov models

The level of resilience for an urban retail system is referred to as the ability of diverse types of retailing to adjust to any modifications, crises or shocks, which can adversely influence the system equilibrium, without compromising on performing its’ functions in a viable way. We use the case of retailing in an urban environment, considering a town center, and observed the resilience factors in retailing. Apart from that, we propose a methodology to measure and predict the level of retail resilience of urban town centers. The idea and theory of grey prediction models and moving probability based Markov models are used in this research for predicting the retail resilience of town centers using several identified indicators. Here, the retail resilience of a case town center, which is located in an Indian city, is evaluated based on the five indicators of retail resilience. From the results of prediction, an increasing trend in the level of retail resilience is observed for the case during 2020. This is perceived as per the results of predictions from the grey model of the first order and with one variable (GM (1, 1) model) and the grey moving probability state Markov model-based error correction. Managers can acknowledge the level of retail resilience and the stage of the adaptive cycle, where the town center stands in resilience, for improving the future trends in the resilience of the town center. Also, the policy implications points in the direction to mend or amend strategies to fit the town center within the adaptive cycle of resilience, as discussed in the paper.     

E-commerce and the retail process: a review

Views abound on the impact of the Internet and e-commerce on traditional forms of retailing. Scenarios range from on the one hand, the almost total devastation of existing physical retailing to, on the other, limited if any impact upon “real” retailing.Despite excessive hype, spectacular failures and the myriad of conflicting views and crystal-ball gazing, e-commerce processes and procedures provide the potential for a fundamental reassessment of how retailing operates and how retailers behave. Without doubt, the existing ways of operating and the associated cost structures within retailing will be reassessed under the onslaught of new technology and new retail structures.This paper reviews the published evidence on the impact of e-commerce on the retail process. It reviews the situation rather than introducing new evidence. The focus is on the process as it supports B2C activity and how retail processes and procedures could be affected by e-commerce, rather than a pre-occupation with sales impact through traditional merchandise and product sector typologies.Three conclusions are drawn. First, the largest retailers are now pursuing Internet-enabled advantages and cost reductions in operations, which could translate to an enhanced competitive position in process, structure and relationship terms. Secondly, consumer reactions to the new real and virtual offers will be fundamental to their success and failure, but as yet consumer reactions are not fully understood. Thirdly, existing retail floorspace will need enhancement in quality and presentation if it is to continue to provide retail functions.     

Valuing spatial accessibility to retailing: A case study of the single family housing market in Hillsboro,Oregon

Recently, urban planners in the US have been working to encourage Location Efficient Developments that enhance residential spatial accessibility to retailing. In this paper, we explore how spatial accessibility to retailing is valued by households in a single family housing market. We first use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to develop an Accessibility Index which measures single family residential units’ accessibility to retail stores. We show that our Index can measure accessibility in a more thorough way than previous measures. We then incorporate this Index into a hedonic price analysis evaluating the effects of enhanced access to retailing in a single family housing market in the City of Hillsboro, Oregon. We find that greater spatial accessibility to retailing is capitalized into residential property values. However, we also conclude that amenity effects associated with nearby retail stores diminish when a store is too close to adjacent residences.     

Perceived usefulness of innovative technology in retailing: Consumers׳ and retailers׳ point of view

Technology has always played important role in retailing. On one hand, technology enables retailers to improve their services to customers, to improve their management operations and reduce their cost as well. On the other hand, technology brings some benefits to consumers related to short lines at checkouts, higher speed in providing services in the store, no pricing errors, loyalty card programmes, etc. The main purpose of the paper is to discuss the benefits and limitations of technology in retailing in general. For the purpose of getting better insight into the importance of new technological solutions for retailers and consumers, different areas of technology in retailing have been explored in the selected retail context of the Republic of Croatia. The findings of the two-phase study, including a qualitative and a quantitative approach, suggest that innovative technology help consumers to make their shopping decisions, while better understanding of consumer goals and related stored information in turn would help retailers to develop successful retail strategy.     

Brand personality appeal in retailing: Comparing fashion- and grocery retailing

In a mature retail market, branding can offer retailers opportunities for setting themselves apart. This study examines the construct ‘brand personality appeal’ (BPA; Freling et al., 2011) in retailing. Two consumer surveys are administered, on fashion retailing (n = 104) and grocery retailing (n = 101), focusing on (1) store personality, (2) BPA, and (3) retailer brand equity. A SmartPLS estimation shows that ‘enthusiasm’ is a personality trait that appeals to consumers regardless of the retail context, whereas ‘sophistication’ matters more in fashion retailing and ‘unpleasantness’ in grocery retailing. BPA is a significant driver of retail brand equity, regardless of the retail context.     

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.     

Barcode Empires: Politics,Digital Technology,and Comparative Retail Firm Strategies

Like other service sectors, information technology has dramatically altered the growth and character of the retail trade sector in the affluent economies. Nevertheless, significant variation exists in the typical strategies of retail firms in different countries. This article explores this variation and proposes an explanation for why retailers achieved scale and solved their make, buy, and partner decisions along such different trajectories. It argues that national bases for scale retailing were shaped by a series of political negotiations starting in the 1960s and 1970s. This demonstrates once again that technology implementation is rarely determined by the technology itself, but more often by social and political rules. Future technology platforms, such as web-based or mobile commerce, should be expected to follow similar political logics. As multinational retailing firms spread around the globe, this has important implications for national competition policy.     

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.     

Personal Selling in Retail Settings: How Does the Internet and Related Technologies Enable and Limit Successful Selling?

Despite the proliferation of Internet usage both by retailers and by retail customers, little is know about the impact of the Internet on the retail salesperson's ability to add value to customer encounters. This article identifies and discusses Internet-related factors that potentially enable and/or limit the salesperson's successful execution of the personal selling process and also considers the effects of limitations of Internet retailing on achievement of desired retailer performance. Research questions are identified as a foundation for future work in the area.     

Mobile payment and online to offline retail business models

Mobile payments are services that use mobile devices to make payments. When digitalization moves across channel boundaries, online to offline channel retail will expand. Online to offline retailing will become the future retail owner stream and retail operators will move from cross-channel or multi-channel to omni-channel. This study investigates a market survey in Taiwan developing a data mining analytics including clustering analysis and association rules based on a snowflake schema database design. The role of mobile payment is determined in terms of new retail payment mechanism that promotes a better consumer purchase experience in an online to offline business environment.