Making working in retailing interesting: A study of human resource management practices in Danish grocery retail chains

This paper discusses how five retail chains in the Danish grocery industry attempt to make low-wage, low-status store-level retail jobs as checkout operators and sales assistants interesting. It does so from the perspective of both retailers and employees. Following analysis of the social and institutional context of Danish grocery retailers, we identify three types of retail employees (transitional workers, core employees and career seekers), who have different motivations and aspirations for working in grocery retailing. The central challenge for retailers is to make store-level retail jobs interesting to the different employee types. Although retailers mainly focus their attention on career seekers, we find that working in retailing is interesting for all employee types because the retailers are currently able to meet their respective motivations and aspirations. Nevertheless, we identify several areas in which retailers can improve their practices.     

Drivers of customer satisfaction in the grocery retail industry: A longitudinal analysis across store formats

The design of satisfactory shopping experiences remains one of the main challenges for building long-term profitability in modern retailing. Therefore, companies are interested in identifying the key drivers of the service execution that shape customer shopping satisfaction. In this study, we developed a standardized questionnaire for evaluating the shopping experience, and conducted a large study in several grocery stores across different formats during a time span of five years. The resulting rich dataset enabled us to uncover interesting patterns using both individual and store-level analyses. Our results indicate that larger store formats are associated with greater satisfaction levels. When looking at the marginal effects of the various elements of customer service, we found that some specific elements of service execution present significant differences across store formats. In addition, we identified loss aversion on shopping experience, since poor performance impacts more on customer satisfaction than superior performance. Finally, our store-level analysis sheds light on how changes in the service performance determine changes in the shopping experience in the same store. These implied results may guide store and chain managers to evaluate the role of the store execution elements better, and to design the customer shopping experience successfully.     

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.     

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.     

Scale economies of department stores in the People's Republic of China

This paper statistically tested three hypotheses about relationships between the size and efficiency of department stores in the People's Republic of China. The results show that the enlargement of the size of stores in China had a positive impact on the efficiency of large and medium-sized department stores, and that these department stores derived their economies of scale from cost savings rather than from an increase of the average transaction size.     

Prices Paid in Grocery Markets: Searching Across Stores and Brands

Using a large sample of prices paid for 21 homogeneous grocery products available in several brands in each of 16 markets, we simulate the search behavior of a consumer following different shopping strategies using as many as four supermarkets. We find that price search can lead to substantial savings. Brand switching can generate savings at least as large as visiting multiple stores to find the lowest price for a single brand. Buying a private label is usually a better way to save than any amount of search for low prices on national brands. A case study in a small metropolitan area grocery market yields results substantially the same as the simulation results.     

MEASUREMENT OF GROCERY PRICES: SOME METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND EMPIRICAL RESULTS

This paper examines some methodological issues in the design and execution of food price surveys, and presents findings from a recent survey of fifty-eight grocery stores in the Cardiffarea. The methodology discussed includes the design of samples of goods to be surveyed (the ‘shopping basket’), of shops in which grocery prices are to be measured, and derivation of the shop-price matrices to be used in analyses of grocery pricing strategies. The empirical results show, as expected, significantly cheaper prices in multiple and co-operative stores compared with independent and affiliated. No significant difference is found between the latter categories of store. There is limited support for the hypothesis that the larger the store the lower the prices. Prices measured in the Cardiff area are also compared with average ‘shopping basket’prices derived from a national survey carried out concurrently by the Consumers' Association. Finally, the value to the researcher of ‘one-off’ price surveys is assessed.     

Cost Analysis of Calcium in Store Brand versus National Brand Grocery Products

Objective: This study was to determine if calcium fortification yields a higher price per serving in grocery store products. Researchers compared store brand to national brand grocery products in relation to cost in order to examine if calcium values were similar between store brand and national brand products. Methods: A total of 112 store brand and 211 national brand grocery products were collected from three low (national chain store), middle and high priced (Virginia and North Carolina regional store) grocery venues. Products were compared using price and calcium percentage per serving. ANOVA was used to determine between store brand and national brand for price per serving and calcium content, and between grocery venues. Results: National brand fortified products had a significantly lower mean price per serving when compared to national brand non-fortified products (p = 0.0002). There was no statistical difference between store brand fortified and non-fortified products (p = 0.9256). Low priced store brand products had the lowest mean price per serving ($0.34 ±0.24). Conclusions: This study found store brand products have similar calcium content as national brand products. Product cost was lower at low priced store compared to middle and high priced stores.     

多渠道零售商线上线下营销协同研究——以苏宁为例

结合了实体门店与在线商店的多渠道零售模式已经成为全球零售业发展的趋势,但多渠道零售商线上线下协同效应与稀释效应并存,如何通过营销协同实现渠道整合成为零售领域研究的热点问题。本文以苏宁为研究对象,采用规范的案例研究方法对其营销协同策略、影响决策的关键因素以及营销协同绩效进行了深入分析。在案例研究的基础上,以渠道区隔与融合为基准构建了渠道分离、渠道协同、渠道融合、渠道并行四种类型的营销协同战略导向,并以案例分析得出的六个影响因素（消费者特性、成本因素、生命周期、竞争强度、互补性、规模经济）作为自变量,以企业自身因素与外部环境因素作为调节变量,以营销协同绩效作为因变量,构建了线上线下营销协同的理论框架。最后,文章为多渠道零售商的经营管理提供了可操作性建议。     

Efficiency,scale and scope economies in the Ukrainian banking sector in 1998

This paper evaluates the current development of the Ukrainian banking system. The research was concentrated on the evaluation of cost and profit efficiency and scale and scope economies for 79 from 168 Ukrainian commercial banks in 1998. There is evidence that small banks operate more efficiently in cost terms but are less efficient in profit terms and furthermore, there is a substantial difference in scale economies between small and large banks. Large banks show significant diseconomies of scale while small ones show significant scale economies. This result could suggest that current technology in the financial sector does not allow efficient growth and concentration of the financial sector in Ukraine.     

The Buying of Private Brands and Manufacturer Brands in Grocery Retailing: A Comparative Study of Buying Processes in the UK,Sweden and Italy

Private brands in grocery retailing have evolved from a way to compete on price by selling low quality products at a low price, into a brand category in their own right, with a wide range of positioning options open to retailers. The buying and selling of private brands means that retailers' add new activities and processes to those that are traditionally associated with retailing. This paper compares the buying processes for manufacturer brands and private brands across three European countries in an attempt to analyse how the extension of the buying process inherent in private brand ranges, and the organisational contexts within which these processes operate impact upon complexity in the retail buying process     

Prices and promotions in U.S. retail markets

We provide generalizable results on the price and promotion tactics employed in the U.S. retail grocery industry. First, we document a large degree of price dispersion for UPCs and brands across stores, both nationally and at the local market level. Base price differences across stores and price promotions contribute to the overall price variance, and we show how to decompose the price variance into base price and promotion components. Second, we document that a large percentage of the variation in prices and promotion tactics across stores can be explained by retail chain and especially market/chain factors, whereas market factors explain only smaller percentage of the variation. Third, we show that the chain-level price and promotions similarity can be explained by similarity in demand. In particular, a large percentage of the variance in price elasticities and promotion effects can be explained by retail chain and especially market/retail chain factors. Further, price elasticities and promotion effects across stores of the same chain are hard to distinguish from the chain-market-level mean, and cross-price elasticities are typically imprecisely estimated. These findings suggest that retail managers may plausibly consider price discrimination across stores to be infeasible.

     

Price competition in retailing: The importance of the price density function

Focusing on two determinant aspects of retail competition, prices and catchment area, this paper aims to specifically investigate the importance of the relative price density function. We answer such questions as whether it pays for a store to offer more low-priced items in a given category than its close competitors and whether a retailer should have a consistent assortment in terms of price tier frequency across all categories. To tackle these issues, we use a store-level panel database provided by IRI covering 34 categories and 150 stores in one province.     

Consumer observations on channel choices—Competitive strategies in Finnish grocery retailing

This article aims at providing consumers’ observations on their choices between various grocery retailing channels. The theoretical roots are based on Porter's competitive strategies and their further developed variations, but also the retailing research concerning competition and consumer perspective will be discussed. The results of the study confirm that consumers have one primary store, which is often a hypermarket or a supermarket. In addition, they prefer to shop in several supplementary stores located close to their homes. The empirical study also reveals that all retail channels have both weaknesses and strengths from the consumers’ viewpoint.     

Segmenting the growing UK convenience store market for retail location planning

Branded convenience grocery stores have become commonplace in UK retailing, increasingly adopted by retailers traditionally associated with superstore retailing. This paper initially explores the conditions in which this shift has occurred, looking at supply-side changes, planning policy, and changing demographics and consumer behaviour. Subsequently, this paper quantifies the geographical market share of a number of prominent convenience grocery retailers at the postal area level across the UK in 2012. Finally, the paper offers a segmentation of the convenience market into a series of clusters by location type. By understanding the drivers of trade in different locations, through the cluster analysis outlined in this paper, a more powerful set of location strategies can be adopted by companies expanding in this market.     

Local competition, entry, and agglomeration

This paper analyzes competition between two spatially differentiated multi-product retailers who encounter entry from a low-cost discounter. We assess how entry affects the pricing of the incumbent stores and the role played by the location of the entrant. Our primary objective is to identify how traditional retailers respond to new forms of low-cost retailing. Results show that post entry, the prices for some products are higher than the pre entry. However, which product prices increase depends on the incumbent’s location. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we find that the store closer to the entrant is better off compared to the incumbent located further away. We empirically demonstrate the main workings of our theory using sales data from several grocery stores that saw entry by discount stores in their trading areas.     

Costs, margins and competition. Causes of structural change in retailing

The paper analyses causes of structural change in retailing in terms of productivity and profit. The analysis of productivity focuses on economies of scale, and briefly considers the effects of an extension of shopping hours. The analysis of profits considers the factors that determine average margin per type of trade. The results are used to explain trends of increasing scale, concentration and declining share of independents.     

Banks,grocers and the changing retailing of financial services in Britain

The entry of the three largest grocery retailers into retail financial services marks an escalation of competition in financial services retailing in Britain. This paper explores the increasingly porous boundaries between banking and retailing, focusing on changes in the economics of information gathering, shifts in the production, marketing and consumption of retail financial services, and a series of changes in the competitive and regulatory environment of grocery retailing. The paper argues that grocery retailers’ moves into financial services raise important issues concerning both the management of strategic alliances and their impact on social inclusion and exclusion. The paper elaborates on this argument by examining four potentially problematic issues arising from the alliances between banks and retailers: the shifting geographies of financial services provision, the development and maintenance of brand leadership, the production and use of management knowledge and consumers’ access to financial services.     

Effects of time pressure,type of shopping,and store attributes on consumers’ satisfaction with grocery shopping

The aim of this study is to investigate whether satisfaction with grocery stores is affected by type of grocery shopping in conjunction with time pressure, and which attributes are important for satisfaction. Fictitious grocery stores are constructed according to a fractional factorial design by varying access, price level, supply quality/range, and service quality. In an Internet survey, 1023 Swedish consumers rated satisfaction with major vs. fill-in shopping imagining they were under high or low time pressure. The results showed that satisfaction is higher for fill-in shopping than major shopping, that time pressure has no effect on satisfaction, and that price level, service quality, and product quality/range are more important for satisfaction with major shopping, whereas access is more important for satisfaction with fill-in shopping. It is also found that the importance of attributes for satisfaction depends on type of shopping more than on individual characteristics.     

The Impact of Item Price Removal in Scanner Supermarkets: A Survey Study of Los Angeles Shoppers

The practice of removing item prices in scanner-equipped grocery stores has raised an important public policy issue relating to the ability of individual consumers to engage in effective shopping with less available price information at the point of purchase. This study investigated the likely impact of item price removal in scanner-equipped grocery stores as a function of consumers' use of price information, general consumer predispositions, and consumers' experience with scanner technology. Particular emphasis was placed on the likely effects of item price removal on disadvantaged consumers. The implications of the study for public policy are discussed.