The role of Swedish retailers in food innovations

Innovations should create value for increasingly individualistic consumers with varying demands and for other stakeholders. Today, retailers have the power in the supply/value chain. This research investigates how Swedish food retailers view innovations, their role and that of customers and suppliers in the development process and how they see future development. The study is based on open-ended interviews. The results show that Swedish retailers regard food product innovations as something to provide to consumers rather than achieve with consumers. Retailers want more collaboration with packaging suppliers to differentiate. Retailers are successful in establishing their own brands, in becoming brands themselves and in competing with producer brands. This follows the UK model and may result in fewer alternatives in stores and fewer product – or new technology-based innovations by Swedish producers. Service innovations can still occur for retailers to retain consumer loyalty. Consumers demand more than new products; they want to be excited by the shopping experience. More innovations will require deeper insight about consumers, efforts from the value chain and from outsiders. Collaboration is needed to establish trust among supply chain actors.     

Values,personality traits,and packaging-free shopping: A mixed-method approach

This research examines packaging-free shopping, which contributes to reducing the negative impact of plastic packaging on the environment, and its’ relationship with green consumption values, value consciousness, and psychological traits. A mixed-methods approach is adopted with quantitative followed by qualitative research. Study 1 recruits 240 respondents from social media and the lead author's university website to examine different factors that increase consumers’ likelihood of packaging-free shopping. Study 2 recruits packaging-free shoppers from Facebook Pages, explores these findings and provides further insights. Study 1 finds that consumers are driven more by green consumer values than by value consciousness, and consumers who are more conscientious are more likely to do packaging-free shopping. Study 2 supports this by finding that green consumer values drive packaging-free shopping, but this in only one part of their green efforts. The research contributes by illustrating the importance of conscientiousness specifically in the domain of packaging-free shopping and that these packaging-free shoppers are not driven in terms of value for money but by addressing their green consumer values. We recommend that packaging-free retailers and policy makers utilize promotional efforts to communicate how packaging-free shopping provides a balance with consumers’ green values for these shoppers, how it fits in with their other green efforts, and how these shopping efforts are making a difference in helping the environment.     

The effects of loyalty programs on customer lifetime duration and share of wallet

In the retailing sector, consumers typically patronize multiple outlets, which confronts these outlets with an important issue: determining how to gain a greater part of consumer expenditures. One potential avenue is to increase consumer lifetime duration and repeat purchases through loyalty cards. This research, using BehaviorScan single-source panel data, examines the impact of loyalty programs on customer lifetime duration in grocery stores. The findings suggest that loyalty schemes have positive effects on customer lifetimes and share of consumer expenditures. However, multiple loyalty card memberships of geographically close retailers reduce lifetime duration. Furthermore, the higher the share of consumer expenditures in a store, the longer the lifetime duration will be.     

Influence of personality traits on satisfaction,perception of relational benefits,and loyalty in a personal service context

The relationship between aspects of consumers’ personalities and their perception of relational benefits, satisfaction with, and active or passive loyalty toward the provision of a service (hair styling) are investigated by means of an empirical study of 800 Spanish consumers. The psychological traits examined are need for social affiliation, consumer relationship proneness and need for variety. Using partial least squares analysis (PLS), the results indicate that the perception of relational benefits leads to a higher satisfaction and passive loyalty. Need for social affiliation is a strong determinant of relational benefits, active loyalty and consumer relationship proneness. This latter trait influences the perception of relational benefits along with passive loyalty. Need for variety has a direct negative influence on consumer relationship proneness.     

Do Consumption Goals Matter? The Effects of Online Loyalty Programs in the Satisfaction‐Loyalty Relation

This study investigates the effects of online loyalty programs in the customer satisfaction‐loyalty relationship. It is proposed that loyalty programs may induce loyalty toward programs (program loyalty), which may then influence loyalty toward stores (store loyalty). According to the results of a two‐wave survey, consumption goals matter in the effects of program loyalty on online store loyalty. For consumers with hedonic goals, hedonic program loyalty (e.g., free gifts) has a significant effect on online loyalty. For consumers with utilitarian goals, however, utilitarian program loyalty (e.g., coupons) has a significant influence on online loyalty. Theoretical and managerial implications are also discussed.     

I am,ergo I shop: does store image congruity explain shopping behaviour of Chinese consumers?

Extant research on the relationship between consumer image congruence and retail store choice suggests that there exist four types of self congruity (actual self-congruity, social self-congruity, ideal self-congruity, and ideal social self-congruity) based on the identification of four types of selfconcept (actual self-image, social self-image, ideal self-image, and ideal social self-image). Mixed results have been produced by research undertaken in the western context particularly in terms of which type(s) of self-congruity is(are) significantly related to consumer attitudes and behaviour. To assess further the predictive power of different types of image-congruity, we conducted an empirical study among Chinese consumers on the relationship between self-congruity, satisfaction, perceived value and store loyalty. China was chosen for this study because recent entry of European and American retailers in China exerts strong need for better understanding of retail consumer behaviour. Moreover both anecdotal and literature evidences suggest that Chinese consumers could differ significantly from the western counterparts in terms of how their self-congruity influences their shopping behaviour. The results of structural equation modelling on our sample (n=320) indicate that consumer attitude and store loyalty are mainly driven by self consistence and social confirmation (i. e., actual self-congruity and social self-congruity) rather than by self-enhancement or esteem (i. e., ideal selfcongruity and ideal social self-congruity). Our finding offers strong managerial implications for western retailers' marketing strategies in the Chinese market.     

The behavioral responses to perceived scarcity – the case of fast fashion

The literature on scarcity has generally examined consumers’ attitudes towards scarce products and suggested that scarcity messages have a positive effect on the evaluation of and attitude toward the scarce object. However, literature has largely failed to explain consumers’ feelings or reactions to human-controlled scarce environments. This study examines how deliberate product scarcity influences the consumers’ behavioral responses, and provides an understanding of consumers’ reactions to conditions of scarcity that are strategically created by marketers. The context of this study is fast fashion retailers, as they are known to create extreme human-induced scarcity. We conducted 21 face-to-face interviews with fast fashion store managers, consumers, and an industry expert. Further, observational research was also conducted to observe the consumer buying behavior across 10 different fast fashion stores. The objectives were to (1) help the interviewees think about the various strategies adopted to induce scarcity within the stores (from retailer’s perspective), (2) understanding of scarcity in these stores (from consumer’s perspective), and (3) consumers’ responses to such deliberate manipulations. All the interviewees agreed that fast fashion stores were successful in creating perceived scarcity which reflected both limited merchandise supply as well as deliberate manipulation of merchandise availability by the retailer. The findings also suggest that consumers in these perceived scarcity conditions exhibit buying behavior like urgency to buy, which further leads to deviant and competitive behaviors like in-store hoarding and in-store hiding. Though perceived scarcity, urgency to buy, and in-store hoarding was consistent across the interviews with store managers and consumers, surprisingly, the phenomenon of in-store hiding behavior did not emerge from any of the interviews conducted with store managers, but was a consistent theme across most consumer interviews.     

Supermarket suggested shopping lists (SSSL), promotions and grocery purchases

This study examines the effect of providing or not providing millennial consumers with a supermarket suggested shopping list (SSSL). At the same time, it tests the effect of providing consumers with a large number of in-store promotions versus no promotions. The study also assesses the moderating effect of price concerns on both expenditure and the satisfaction attained after a shopping trip. The results of an experimental design with 240 subjects in a simulated supermarket setting show that SSSL users spend less, and that heavy supermarket promotions increase purchases. However, if an SSSL is provided while products are highly promoted, this decreases consumer satisfaction. Offering consumer promotions to millennials without providing an SSSL results in the highest level of store sales. Findings of this study will be of interest to retailers willing to offer a shopping list service to supermarket customers with the purpose of increasing loyalty.     

The influence of a retailer's corporate social responsibility program on re-conceptualizing store image

The construct of retail store image is typically built based on a variety of the store's functional attributes. This conceptualization fails to consider the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) polices and practices in forming store image. Results from a study of 460 consumers indicate CSR influences consumer store image. CSR is particularly effective at influencing store image when the retailer experiences a positive performance perception among its customers. Consumers shopping at such stores are more receptive to CSR programs, and experience significant increases in their level of satisfaction and loyalty to the store through the addition of these programs.     

Organizing Products with Complements versus Substitutes: Effects on Store Preferences as a Function of Effort and Assortment Perceptions

Retailers often organize at least part of their assortment by displaying complementary products from different product categories together (e.g., a pair of pants with a shirt) rather than grouping items by product type (e.g., a pair of pants with other pants). However, little is known about how retailers should choose between complement-based and substitute-based organizations. The present paper shows that consumers’ preferences for such store organizations are a function of the effort and assortment perceptions cued by these organizational formats. Holding the underlying assortment constant, complement-based organizations are always more effortful than substitute-based organizations. This difference in effort can create downward pressure on complement-based store choice. Moreover, the effects of organization format on assortment perception depend on whether consumers hold a hedonic or utilitarian focus. When consumers have a highly hedonic focus, complement-based based stores create more positive assortment perceptions than substitute-based stores. Such positive assortment perceptions can, in turn, raise complement-based store choice. However, as consumers’ utilitarian focus increases, substitute-based assortments are seen as both easier and more attractive, leading to a strong advantage in store choice. Our findings provide actionable guidance for retailers considering various store organizations and suggest opportunities for future research.     

Retailer Categorization: How Store-Format Price Image Influences Expected Prices and Consumer Choices

Prior research indicates that consumers may base their retail decisions (e.g., store choice, purchase quantity) on price image, which has been defined as consumer perceptions “of the aggregate price level of a retailer” (Hamilton and Chernev 2013, p. 2). The present research shows that consumers associate different price images not only with specific retailers, but more broadly with various store formats — such as grocery stores, convenience stores, and specialty stores. Six studies provide evidence that store-format price image exerts influence on consumer price expectations and store choice decisions, and that these retailer categorization effects are distinct from the effects of retailer price image.     

Does retail type matter? Consumer responses to channel integration in omni-channel retailing

A critical issue faced by marketing practitioners today is orchestrating strategies that provide a smooth consumer experience in an omni-channel environment. The extant literature offers limited guidance on managing the consumer journey in an omni-channel environment across different retail types. Using the S–O-R framework as its basis, this study generates novel insights by examining how different types of retailers influence consumer perceptions of channel integration (CPCI) as well as consumer empowerment, trust, satisfaction, and patronage intention. Data from 736 consumers was collected using purposive sampling to target those who interact with retailers from high-end specialty stores, department stores, and hypermarkets. The data was then analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). We find that consumers from high-end specialty stores, hypermarkets, and department stores have different perceptions when patronising the omni-channel retail business. The implications of the study are discussed and suggestions for future research are presented.     

Store attributes leading customer satisfaction with unplanned purchases

Understanding which specific factors of retail stores’ offering affect unplanned buyers’ satisfaction may be of great interest to store managers as they could set ad hoc strategies to target these consumers and establish long-term, profitable relationships with them. Satisfied unplanned buyers could indeed return to the store where they purchased their unplanned item(s) and/or positively talk about it with other customers. Nevertheless, we still know very little about such factors. To close this gap, this research gathered survey data on consumers’ store satisfaction and perceptions of store attributes in Spain during two time periods: in 2008, when the crisis was barely noticed by Spanish consumers, and five years later, when consumers were experiencing this economic situation. The results obtained evidence how grocery retailers can respond to customers’ awareness of the crisis by providing some managerial recommendations for bolstering satisfaction in consumer segments with diverse levels of unplanned buying behavior.     

Share of wallet in retailing: the effects of customer satisfaction, loyalty cards and shopper characteristics

In retailing, consumers typically patronize multiple outlets. Thus, an important issue is why consumers vary in how they divide their purchases across outlets and how outlets can get a greater share of consumer expenditures. Two potential avenues for increasing customer share are to raise customer satisfaction, and increase repeat purchase through loyalty cards. This study examines the effects of customer satisfaction and loyalty cards as well as consumer characteristics on customer share spent on the primary grocery store. The findings suggest that customer satisfaction has a positive, albeit modest, effect on share while consumer economic shopping orientation has a negative direct effect on share. The economic orientation of shoppers, their felt importance of a personal relationship with store personnel, and the level of their aggregate purchase volume moderate the effect of satisfaction on customer share. Finally, the results provide mixed support for the impact of loyalty cards on customer behavior.     

Effect of the use of social media in trust,loyalty and purchase intention in physical stores

This research evaluates the effect of the use of social media on consumer trust, loyalty and purchase intention in physical stores. We used six constructs in a structural model: a consumer’s use of social media, company-generated communication in social media, user-generated communication on social media, trust, loyalty and purchase intention. We considered 406 valid respondents in the analysis. The results suggest that the use of social media, company and user-generated communication positively affects trust of the physical store. Trust, in turn, has a direct positive effect on consumer loyalty to the store, and both trust and loyalty have positive impacts on a consumer’s purchase intention. We note the impact of the use of social media on purchase intention in physical stores, through the building of trust and loyalty with the store, as a fundamental element in the definition and implementation of a successful marketing strategy by high street retailers.     

Despite unethical retail store practices,consumers at the bottom of the pyramid continue to be loyal

Research in the area of retail store loyalty agrees that consumers reward retailers when they are satisfied with its products, services, and its image. Moreover, one would agree that if the retailer engages in unethical practices, the customer would quickly defect and even engage in word of mouth to influence others to defect. But this might not be the case universally. One consumer group that continues to be loyal to a retailer despite widespread unethical practices is the poor. A growing stream of research under the label of bottom of pyramid (BoP) and subsistence consumers has increasingly pointed out the market attractiveness of this segment to multinational companies. These poor consumers are individuals who earn approximately $2 per day. In this paper, we explain the nature of widespread unethical retail practices prevalent amongst the neighborhood retail stores (or kirana as they are referred to in India) that serve the BoP consumer, types of patronage behaviors, and the reasons ‘why’ these consumers continue to support the kirana store. The data for this paper comes from a qualitative study conducted with 58 urban poor consumers in India. This study carries significant implications for both domestic and multinational companies that market fast-moving consumer goods in the BoP market.     

Effects of store loyalty on shopping mall loyalty

The key purpose of this paper is to bridge a research gap in shopping mall literature by investigating the relationship between store loyalty and shopping mall loyalty. The paper also examines the effects of perceived store value and store relationship commitment on store loyalty en-route to loyalty towards the shopping mall hosting the stores. The study shows that store loyalty influences shopping mall loyalty under certain conditions and that such an influence is moderated by the geographic distance between the consumer and the shopping mall. Further, the study found that distance has a moderating effect on the relationship between perceived store value and store loyalty, but not on the association between relationship commitment and store loyalty. The insights provided by this study offer academics, retailers and shopping mall managers a richer understanding of the relationships between store loyalty and its antecedents, customers' distance from the mall, and shopping mall loyalty.     

Consumer–retailer love and attachment: Antecedents and personality moderators

Because loyalty to services remains elusive and unpredictable, there is a need to study consumer relationships with firms apart from the established satisfaction–loyalty chain approach. To that end, the present paper investigates feelings of attachment and love through two empirical consumer studies of two different grocery retailer brands. The findings of the current study imply that retail store image, perceived transactional value, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) associations positively influence consumer–retailer love levels. Furthermore, we find that for consumers scoring low on the value of warm relationships with others and for consumers characterized by an avoidant attachment style, the effect of consumer–retailer love on re-patronage intentions is less salient. Interestingly, in the case of highly avoidant individuals, the effect of consumer–retailer love is negative. Managerial implications for building consumer-firm love in the context of grocery retail, as well as future research perspectives, are provided at the end of the paper.     

On consumer trust and product loyalty

Using a multidimensional conceptualization and drawing on previous theoretical frameworks, this study identifies the dynamic relationships between consumer trust and product loyalty, and explores the mechanism, by which these constructs are formed. It further examines the nature and direction of the chain of effects related to the formation of consumer trust and loyalty and their links, all in the context of the core relationship between consumers and firms from the production to consumption, and back to production again. This analysis implies that blind consumer loyalty to a product may lead to the elevation of producer's power and give a blank card for setting prices, adjusting quality and altering services, and ultimately reversing consumer sovereignty. The analysis also implies that consumer satisfaction domain spans much more over and beyond the consumption of a product and the consumer–firm relationship extends way beyond having the product and paying for it.     

Exploring customers’ store loyalty using the means-end chain approach

The study is aimed at revealing the relationships in terms of customer store loyalty by using means-end chains (MEC) analysis, in order to examine the linkages between department stores’ service attributes, involvement, satisfaction and loyalty each of which the customer regards as important. In the study, customer involvement, satisfaction and service quality are connotations that are strongly linked with the customer store loyalty, with service quality being the element to which the platinum tier customers attach the most importance. Data are gathered for a MEC analysis by interviewing 34 platinum tier customers of department stores individually. The results reveal that platinum tier customers are department store customers with a relatively high degree of involvement which is likely to have a positive impact on both core and peripheral service quality, satisfaction toward store loyalty. Although there are numerous studies in the literature that use the means-end chain model to examine customer value within the realm of consumer behavior, few studies discuss platinum tier customers’ store loyalty which is a phenomenon currently receiving a great deal of interest. In contrast to prior research, three connotations are integrated in the study to represent the content and structure of stores’ loyalty attributes for MEC analysis which can offer a different perspective and better understanding for developing highly targeted marketing strategies.