Innovation management in retailing: From consumer perspective to corporate strategy

This special issue of the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services on innovation management in retailing from a consumer and corporate perspective includes seven papers. The papers cover a variety of interesting topics focusing on consumers׳ viewpoints and corporate strategies towards new advanced systems introduced at the points of sale. The issue is organised into two sections: (i) impact of new technologies on consumer behaviour (which includes new approaches for managing shopping experience), and (ii) corporate strategies (which includes retailers׳ actions and strategies). This introduction summarises the papers and identifies some empirical insights and contributions to the growing body of knowledge on innovation management that has appeared in the recent retailing literature.     

Editorial introduction: Advances in theory and practice of digital marketing

This special issue of the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services aims to bring together a variety of disciplines and a scholarly community for the advancement of knowledge regarding practice and research related to digital and social media marketing. Accordingly, the special issue includes papers using a variety of theories, research methods, contexts, and conceptualizations to enrich our understanding of digital and social media marketing from consumer and practitioner perspectives. The thirteen articles accepted for inclusion in this special issue are summarised in this editorial introduction.     

Introduction to the special issue of the 3rd International Colloquium on design,branding and marketing

Following the inaugural 1st International Colloquium on Global Design and Marketing that took place in 2011, the organisers wrote that ‘Notwithstanding the centrality of design to the practical world of marketing, …empirical studies of design issues are rare in marketing journals’ (Melewar, Dennis and Kent, 2014, p2241 citing (e.g.) Bloch, 2011; and Luchs & Swan, 2011). Since then, iterations of the Colloquium with associated journal special issues and books have been addressing this issue and developing the new sub-discipline of design | branding | marketing. This special issue of the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services contains a set of four articles that were selected after several rounds of evaluations and were presented during the 3rd International Colloquium on Design, Branding and Marketing. The symposium was hosted by Bournemouth University from 5 to 6 April 2017. The articles cover topics that deal with retail design, retail strategy, and adoption of innovation and retail education, while contributing to the theoretical perspectives of design, branding and marketing.     

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.     

Beyond explicit measures in marketing research: Methods,theoretical models,and applications

Whereas traditional self-report procedures and methods mainly tap into consumers explicit attitudes, the implicit cognition paradigm provide researchers and marketing practitioners with a unique tool to uncover consumer implicit attitudes, choices, decisions, and action tendencies. By means of the sheer extent and validated models and empirical studies in cognitive psychology, the application of implicit measures and techniques in marketing and consumer studies is in its infancy; thus, this special issue focuses on theories, tools and approaches for examining consumers unconscious attitude and sustainable consumption patterns. The objective of this special issue is to illustrate theoretical and methodological application of implicit consumer cognition paradigm in marketing and consumer studies. This special issue of Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services highlights the implicit cognition approach as a greater alternative in measuring consumer attitude and tendencies where scientist and marketers are impotent to capture.     

Navigating the Retailing Frontier through Academic and Practitioner Collaboration

Retailing academics and practitioners must develop close, collaborative relationships, which might involve various, meaningful efforts to assist the other side of the collaboration while also furthering their own respective objectives. Only through such collaborations can retailing ensure sufficient research rigor and relevance to advance the field and expand its reach to nonacademic audiences. To achieve some innovative insights on why and how academics and practitioners can work together, a thought leadership conference was organized at the Walton College of Business (University of Arkansas), and one of its key outcomes is this special issue. All the entries in this special issue were crafted by teams of academics and practitioners, working together to describe new frontiers in retailing. They worked collaboratively for more than a year on topical, timely, relevant topics for today’s technology-based era. The meaningful results should provide inspiration for more collaborations, pursued by both sides, with the support of university administrators and corporate executive leadership. Without the support of both, bridging the gap between research and practice is not possible.     

Retailing in the 21st century: reflections and prologue to research

Retailing in the 21st century will no doubt be very different from retailing in the 20th century, just as retailing in the 20th century was very different from retailing in the 19th century. To understand and explain current retailing phenomena and retailing-related phenomena, and accurately predict such phenomena, it is necessary to have a coherent and consistent definition of retailing as well as comprehensive retailing theories based on this definition. This introduction to the special issue argues for such a definition and related comprehensive theories.     

Current issues in retailing: Relationships and emerging opportunities: Introduction to the special issue from the American Collegiate Retailing Association 2005 and 2006 conferences

Retail innovation impacts the entire marketing channel, from manufacturers to retail employees, franchisors to international distributors, and Internet marketers to final consumers. Increased global expansion, a re-emphasis on relationship building, and the explosive growth of e-commerce have transformed all facets of retailing. The papers appearing in this special issue, consisting of the best papers from the Spring and Winter conferences of the American Collegiate Retailing Association held in 2005 and 2006, capture these cutting-edge issues. The papers have gone through two rounds of a double-blind review process and been screened by one of two selection committees.     

Categorization of multiple channel retailing in Multi-, Cross-, and Omni‐Channel Retailing for retailers and retailing

Business experts have enthusiastically projected a seamless, retail world where customers can shop across channels, anywhere and at any time. This type of multiple channel retailing is often referred to as Omni-Channel Retailing. Within academia, by contrast, there have been proportionately fewer attempts to systematically categorize the diversity of multiple channel retailing that currently exists. Hence, the concepts Multi-, Cross-, and Omni-Channel are used indistinctly. This article proposes a categorization of Multi-, Cross-, and Omni-Channel Retailing for retailers and retailing by means of a literature review, a taxonomy of multiple channel retailing, a literature classification table, and by way of illustration, a mobile Click and Collect shop.     

Editorial introduction: Luxury services focusing on marketing and management

Although recently the luxury service industry has rapidly grown and become an important segment, there are limited studies to understand customers' behavior in the luxury service setting. Thus, this special issue of the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services aims to expand the scope of luxury brand marketing and management research by focusing on emerging luxury services. Accordingly, the special issue includes papers which fulfil the following criteria: (1) describe unique attributes of luxury services, (2) identify the antecedents of consequences of customers’ positive response and decision making, and (3) apply theory to luxury service practices. The eight articles accepted for this special issue are summarized in this editorial introduction.     

Emerging Issues in Retailing Research

Retailing practice and the research resulting have experienced significant changes in recent years. This article reflects on Journal of Retailing articles published during our editorial tenure (2002–2007). Although Journal of Retailing publishes articles on many retailing topics, they have chosen four categories that they believe has had the largest impact on retailing research during that time, and the potential for the greatest contribution in the future: Growth of the Internet and e-commerce; branding and customer loyalty; service success strategies; and behavioral issues in pricing and patronage. Several illustrative studies are highlighted in each category, and directions for future research are provided.     

Scientific method and retailing research: A retrospective

In this paper, we review the 164 articles published in the Journal of Retailing over the 2002-2007 time-span, the period reviewed by Grewal and Levy in their recent article entitled “Retailing Research: Past, Present and Future” [Grewal, Dhruv and Michael Levy (2007), “Passing the Baton, Journal of Retailing 2001 to 2007,” Journal of Retailing, 83 (4) (in this issue)] for their content. Two study characteristics are reviewed for each publication: (1) approach adopted for methodology (classified into eight categories of Student Surveys, Consumer Surveys, Secondary Data, Laboratory Studies, Industry Surveys, Qualitative Methods, modeling, and other) and (2) inferential tools employed by the scholars. The latter are sub-grouped into six categories of regression, ANOVA/MANOVA, structural equation modeling (SEM), analytical modeling, qualitative analysis, and other. Patterns of the usage of these approaches and techniques are tracked over the years and across content areas. We find that researchers in a particular Substantive Content Area tend to focus on particular methodological approaches and inferential tools. We argue that much is to be gained by shaking up these historical patterns.     

Retailing evolution research: Introduction to the special section on retailing research

This JBR Special Issue on Retailing includes several high quality research studies presented at the 10th and 11th Society for Marketing Advances Retail Strategy and Patronage Behavior Symposiums. The articles cover a wide range of interesting and important retailing topics including topics such as atmospherics, self-esteem and advertising. This introduction offers a few comments on the 2007 and 2008 Symposiums' content including a brief overview of each article.     

Culture influences on emotional responses to on-line store atmospheric cues

On-line retailing created a global marketplace with an innumerable array of competitors. Essential to on-line store's ability to attract and retain customers globally is its store atmospherics, which are design elements used to garner attention and create a positive buying environment [Kotler Phillip. Atmospherics as a marketing tool. Journal of Retailing 1974; 49: 48-64.]. The research presented here assesses how behavioral and emotional responses to on-line store atmospherics vary across collectivist and individualist cultural value systems. The contribution is significant because additional research on understanding how culture affects customers' responses to the on-line store site design is needed [Chan Ricky Y. K. and Tai Susan. How do in-store environmental cues influence Chinese shoppers? A study of hypermarket customers in Hong Kong. Journal of International Consumer Marketing 2001; 13 (1): 73-104.; Eroglu Sevgin, Machleit Karen and Davis Lenita. Atmospheric qualities of on-line retailing: A conceptual model and implications. Journal of Business Research 2001; 54 (2): 177-184.; Menon and Kahn, 2002]. Using two different site designs for a fictional on-line retailer, American and Chinese University students evaluated their shopping experience at an assigned site. Findings: Cultural values do affect customers' responses to atmospheric cues. The study examines the inter-relationships between customers' emotional responses.     

E-satisfaction: a re-examination

E-satisfaction as a construct has gained increasing importance in the marketing literature in recent times. The examination of consumer satisfaction in an online context follows the growing consensus that in Internet retailing, as in traditional retailing, consumer satisfaction is not only a critical performance outcome, but also a primary predictor of customer loyalty and thus, the Internet retailer's endurance and success. The current study replicates the initial examination of e-satisfaction within the U.S. by [Szymanski, David M., & Richard T. Hise (2000). E-satisfaction: An initial examination. Journal of Retailing, 76(3), 309-322] among a sample of online consumers drawn from Germany. The replication was extended to two contexts—consumer satisfaction with Internet retail shopping and consumer satisfaction with Internet financial services sites. The results yield rich insights into the validity of extending the measurement and predictors of e-satisfaction to a trans-national context.     

Retail store managers' and students' perceptions of ethical retail practices: A comparative and longitudinal analysis (1976–1986)

Considerable attention is currently being directed to ethics in business, government and academia in both the professional and popular media. Most of these studies propound that ethics have eroded over time, resulting in their current low state. However, few, if any, of these articles provide comparative or longitudinal data to support their arguments. In this investigation, both comparative and longitudinal data were collected between 1976 and 1986 from retail store managers and retail students concerning their current perceptions of ethical retail practices. The results indicate a significant increase in the ethics of retail store managers, and a significant decrease in the ethics of retail students. Donald G. Norris is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Miami University. His research has been published in the Journal of Advertising Research, the Journal of Retailing and the Proceedings of the Association of Consumer Research and the American Marketing Association.John B. Gifford is a Professor of Marketing at Miami University and the Associate Dean for the School of Business Administration. He has published a number of articles in the field of retailing, and currently serves as Vice President of the American Collegiate Retailing Association.     

Cross-channel effects of omnichannel retail marketing strategies: A review of extant data-driven research

The authors review 50 empirical retailing research papers that have appeared over the last 20 years to take stock of what we know, need to know better, and do not know yet about within-retailer cross-channel effects of omnichannel retail marketing strategies on (a) consumer responses over their purchase journeys, i.e., online and/or offline search, purchase intention, frequency, amount, returns, loyalty, and (b) the retail firm's aggregate outcomes (e.g., sales, costs, profits, product returns) by channel and overall. Specifically, the authors focus on five strategies: (1) the addition of online channel by an offline retailer; (2) the addition (or subtraction) of offline channels by an online retailer; (3) addition of mobile shopping channel (website and/or app) by offline and/or online retailer; (4) cross-channel integration strategies; and (5) retail marketing mix strategies. The author/s integrate findings from empirical research on these strategies into a number of ‘insights’ about ‘what we know’. Prominent among these are the following: Adding a transactional online channel to an offline channel improves the retailer's overall sales even though offline channel sales can be cannibalized to some degree. Adding an offline channel by an online retailer, however, boosts online channel sales as well as overall sales of the retailer. Similarly, adding a mobile shopping channel usually increases customer purchase frequency and amount and overall sales of the retailer in the long-term. Strategies for greater cross-channel integration generally have a positive effect on a retailer's overall performance while online advertising has positive effects on offline channel consideration and sales as well as overall sales of a multichannel retailer. Other insights or findings that need further study or open questions are also identified. The paper closes with managerial implications of the derived empirical insights, and suggestions for future research.     

Are privacy concerns still relevant? Revisiting consumer behaviour in omnichannel retailing

Omnichannel retailing is a new retail norm that focuses on providing a seamless interaction between retailers and consumers. Although the effect of omnichannel retailing on business is increasingly recognised, privacy concerns remain a subject of debate and a delicate issue which could potentially inhibit its growth. Grounded in the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S–O–R) model, the current study investigates consumer behaviour in omnichannel retailing and uses Psychological Reactance Theory (PRT) as the theoretical basis to examine the moderating effect of privacy concerns. A quantitative approach was adopted by means of self-administered questionnaires. 736 consumers were sampled, and the data were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings show that consumer perception of channel integration (CPCI), consumer empowerment (CE), and trust significantly affect patronage intention in omnichannel retailing. In addition, when privacy concerns are low, the effects of CPCI and CE on trust are found to be stronger. It underscores the need to synergize channel integration, retailer-consumer relationship empowerment and effective mitigation of privacy concerns in the omnichannel retailing context. Implications of the study are provided.     

Omni-channel retailing: propositions,examples and solutions

Customers are not passive agents, but intrinsic to the value creation process. Because retailers are the customer’s link to the marketplace they are uniquely placed to develop value co-creation opportunities that give themselves a strategic advantage. Omni-channel retailing is a means to create an advantage by forging deeper customer relationships and potentially developing new markets. Omni-channel retailing can appeal to the heterogeneity in customers’ shopping orientations with the aim of providing a seamless cross-channel experience. However, without a clear strategic purpose, omni-channel initiatives can easily result in unbeneficial – or worse, counterproductive – investments. To address this, the purpose of this paper is to formulate guiding principles to facilitate decision-making with respect to developing an omni-channel marketing strategy. Consequently, two complementary research streams are presented. The first pertains to strategic considerations regarding omni-channel retailing; the second pertains to value co-creation as seen through a service-dominant logic lens. These research streams are then linked to derive five propositions– along with examples and solutions – to assist retailing decision-makers when developing an omni-channel marketing strategy. These propositions underline the importance of viewing channels as value-facilitating resources that should be aligned with the customer’s decision journey.     

Advances in internet consumer behavior and marketing strategy: Introduction to the special issue

This second special issue of the Journal of Business Research on Internet consumer behavior features twelve articles selected from the papers submitted following a call for submissions issued in January 2008. They cover topics related to advances in internet consumer behavior and marketing strategy, and the contributions are regrouped into four broad categories: influence of trust and role of virtual communities; understanding the role of electronic word-of-mouth; understanding consumer reactions to pricing on the internet; consumer issues in marketing strategy. It concludes with future research directions.