Determinants of international retail operation mode choice: Towards a conceptual framework based on evidence from French specialised retail chains

Abstract

More and more retailers have expanded internationally. Because of its impact on the success of a retailer's international operations, a critical aspect of an internationalisation strategy consists of choosing the appropriate entry and expansion modes. The phenomenon remains misunderstood as little research in international retailing has focused on this question and findings from international management literature find limited application to services.

This paper draws upon a literature review and six case-studies from French specialised retailers to provide an exploratory framework for examining key determinants of operation mode choice. It is found that retailers consider four underlying dimensions of operation modes. These dimensions are affected by situational, individual and marketing factors whose explanatory impacts are moderated by the motives for internationalisation and relationship networks.     

Consumer stockpiling behavior in the retail gasoline market

ABSTRACT

I examine consumer stockpiling behavior in the retail gasoline market and factors that affect consumer stockpiling. Past research such as Hendel and Nevo (2006b Hendel, I. , and A.Nevo . 2006b. “Sales and Consumer Inventory.” The Rand Journal of Economics 37 (3): 543–561. doi:10.1111/(ISSN)1756-2171.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) found evidence that implies stockpiling behavior. However, they did not observe actual inventory or consumption and have to rely on simplifying assumptions about these quantities. I collected a novel data set of gasoline purchase history of consumers with actual inventory and consumption to test several hypotheses that relate consumer stockpiling to price, duration between purchases, and consumption. I found that consumers purchase more gasoline when their inventory is low and those holding high inventory are more price sensitive. Consumption habits after a purchase may change due to two forces: previous consumption habit and purchase price. The exact change in consumption and duration between purchases depends on which force is stronger.     

The Importance of Fashion: The Chinese and U.S. Gen Y Perspective

ABSTRACT

A cross-cultural study is conducted to examine the perceptions, needs, preferences, influences and fashion buying habits of Generation Y consumers in both China and the United States. Chinese consumers appear to be more fashion-conscious in that the majority of their luxury purchases are fashion products. In this increasingly globalized world, it is important for a fashion marketer to determine if one strategy can be used to reach all Generation Y consumers or if separate strategies are necessary. Specifically, this study examines fashion leadership, need for uniqueness, and attention to social comparison information to determine if there are differences between these two cohorts and how best to reach them.     

Consumer satisfaction in retail stores: theory and implications

The substitution of small retail stores by the large stores has been a topic of debate among academics, practitioners, retailers and general public, especially in the context of foreign firms entering emerging markets such as China and India. The purpose of this research is to find out the determinants of consumer satisfaction in small and large retail stores in an emerging market, with a sample from India. Data were collected using a 39‐item structured questionnaire developed by the authors. The sample consists of 225 consumers who shop at retail outlets (Convenience sample of 125 consumers from small and 100 consumers from large stores respectively). Exploratory factor analysis grouped the 39 variables into 14 factors. Further, regression analysis revealed that six of the factors (Social desirability, staff friendliness, shopping economy, shopping ambience, family shopping and deal proneness) were major predictors of consumer satisfaction as they were found to be significant at 5% level. The significance of factors such as social desirability and staff friendliness imply that many consumers prefer those typical features of small stores, which in turn results in the likely coexistence of small retail formats in spite of the entry and proliferation of large retail stores from different countries. We posit three theoretical propositions to stimulate further research in this area.     

Access to the luxury brand myth in pop-up stores: A netnographic and semiotic analysis

Using semiotic analysis and a netnographic approach, this study examines the motivations of luxury buyers toward pop-up stores in France. It reveals their motivations in relation to this new kind of retailing in the luxury sector, and the advantages of new technologies for meeting the growing demands of a clientele eager for new purchase experiences. We show that pop-up luxury stores add new features to the traditional luxury sector: informality, friendliness, ludicity and accessibility in the context of shared emotions. The key results from this study reveal that the commercial activities of pop-up stores complement those of their luxury parent Houses, in that they contribute emotionality and playfulness, while at the same nourishing the brand's mythical aspect.     

Food waste in the retail sector: A survey-based evidence from Central and Eastern Europe

This paper explores the issue of food waste in the Lithuanian retail sector. A questionnaire survey was designed in order to collect the relevant data from both the largest retail chains with stores around the country and companies with small-scale stores in rural areas. The present case is interesting as the literature on Central and Eastern European countries is scarce in the sense of the quantification of food waste. In this paper, the amounts of food waste among different food product categories are discussed and then extrapolated to approximate food waste in retail trade for Lithuania by using sales revenue as a key parameter. The results suggest that food waste in the Lithuanian retail sector amounts to 36.4 thousand tonnes or 13.0 kg per capita per year. Fruits and vegetables account for more than a half (63%), whereas meat (products) come next representing some 9% of food waste. Therefore, these products can be considered as the major targets for valorisation schemes and other measures aimed at mitigation of food waste.     

Reaching the U.S. Hispanic Wine Market: Highlighting the Opportunities

With over 50 million Hispanics living in the United States commanding 1.2 trillion dollars in purchasing power, Hispanic wine consumers may comprise a lucrative market for the saturated wine industry. Yet the wine industry has largely ignored consumers who do not fit the profile of its traditional demographic base. This study aims to fill a gap in the existing body of knowledge on Hispanic consumers of wine. Building on acculturation theory, the current study investigates predominant attitudes, opinions, and interests of the Hispanic consumer relating to wine consumption. The results of three focus groups indicate that the core cultural values of family, food, and social interaction are critical factors in developing an interest in wine among Hispanic wine consumers. Levels of acculturation also play a significant role in wine consumption among Hispanic consumers. Special attention should be addressed to younger, more acculturated consumers, as they are not only the primary consumers of wine but also advocates for wine for their parents and other groups of consumers.     

Billion Dollar Baby: Local Foods and U.S. Grocery

This study reviews consumer purchasing of locally produced foods in retail grocery stores. A U.S. sample of 590 consumers was drawn via an online survey, with structural equation modeling used to assess hypothesized relationships of attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, intention to purchase, extent of purchase, and the moderating effects of shopping channel type. Results from structural model testing suggested that all hypothesized relationships except that of purchase intention and extent of purchase were found to be significant, with group differences existing between supercenters/warehouses and farmers’ market shopping channels. Implications and future research directions are provided.     

A Study on the Effect of Cause-Related Marketing on the Attitude Towards the Brand: The Case of Pepsi in Spain

SUMMARY

CRM is an effective tool for differentiating brands and for obtaining emotional positioning among consumers. However, an utilitarian use of this tool might be counteractive. This research aims to better understand the effect of CRM on attitude towards the brand. For this purpose, Pepsi's CRM campaigns in Spain have been analyzed. Results show that, unexpectedly, CRM campaigns might lead to adverse effects as a result of the mercantilist abuse of the concept of solidarity.     

Value co-creation and social media: Investigating antecedents and influencing factors in the U.S. retail banking industry

This study seeks to examine and unearth antecedents to co-creation behaviours within a U.S. retail banking context. A critical aspect for marketing managers and academics alike, co-creation has a strong influence on tangible factors such as profit and intangible factors such as referrals, satisfaction and feedback. Antecedents were identified as trust, customer engagement and participation attitude whilst social media usage was a consumer characteristic identified as influencing co-creation. Data was collected from 489 U.S. retail banking customers via an online survey. The data was analysed via structural equation modelling. The findings indicate that customer engagement influences trust, co-creation and participation attitude. Participation attitude was found to influence trust and co-creation but trust had no direct effect on co-creation. The study further found that social media usage intensity influenced co-creation behaviours. The findings contribute in three ways. First, this is one of the first studies to scrutinise participation attitude in an attempt to explain co-creation behaviours for U.S. banks over social media. Second, identification of precursors to value co-creation has been ascertained in a U.S. retail banking social media context. Third, the study additionally contributes to the findings that social media usage has a moderating effect in value co-creation and offers a potential segmentation strategy.     

Challenges and opportunities of new retail horizons in emerging markets: The case of a rising coffee culture in China

Economic growth and a rising middle class consumer base make emerging markets an attractive prospect for many international businesses. Changing patterns of retail in these countries present opportunities for business expansion that many are keen to capitalize on, but also present challenges for reaching their ambitions. This article examines the growth of the coffee shop industry in China—considering its key dynamics and drivers—in order to address questions about successful retail expansion in emerging markets. We aim to explore how changing consumer cultures have contributed to a rapidly growing industry and what strategies businesses have used to enter the market and maintain growth, as well as considerations for potential retail success in the future.     

Domain-Specific Consumer Involvement in the U.S. Wine Market

An 18-item multidimensional scale was developed to measure wine consumer involvement level impact on behavior and consumption dynamics. Data were collected at wine tasting events in Portland, Oregon, U.S., yielding a final sample size of 101 respondents. Male wine consumers do not display a higher level of involvement with wine as a product than females, and neither do consumers 45 years and older in comparison with younger consumers. Consumers with high education and income levels do not use these as a basis of their involvement level with wine. Price is not more frequently used by low involvement wine drinkers in the wine purchasing decision.     

The Role of Economic-Demographic Factors in U.S. International Restaurant Franchising:

This paper studies the effect of both economic and demographic factors on the international restaurant franchising (IRF). The study utilizes regression analysis of pooled cross-section (6 countries) and time series (10 years)data. It is found that among the economic factors, the market size has a strong positive effect on IRF. On the other hand, the ratio of female workers to the total labor force is positively related to international restaurant franchising. The paper also investigates the relationship between demo-economic factors and IRF for two subsets of interest, developed and developing countries.     

Perceived corporate social responsibility and job satisfaction in grocery retail: A comparison between low- and high-productivity stores

The relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and job satisfaction is underexplored in the retail sector. We aim to fill this gap by unpacking these constructs to analyse their interrelationships. Moreover, conceptualising productivity as a contextual factor able to generate multiple stressors for retail employees, we compare the CSR-job satisfaction relationship between low- and high-productivity stores. We argue that CSR strategies effectively contribute to maintaining high job satisfaction in both retail contexts. Working on a sample of 708 grocery retail chain employees, we apply structural equation modelling and multigroup regressions to test our hypotheses. The results show that CSR positively influences job satisfaction. In detail, internal CSR benefits job satisfaction more than external CSR. CSR strategies effectively work to strengthen job satisfaction even in high-productivity stores. These findings contribute to the debate about the employees’ job satisfaction management in busyness and high-productive retail contexts.     

Market orientation in the context of SMEs: A conceptual framework

A number of studies in the marketing literature have examined the construct of market orientation (MO). These studies generally show a positive link between MO and organizational performance. This paper examines MO specifically in the context of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). An in-depth review of the extant literature is used to develop a conceptual framework by exploring the major antecedents of MO, the MO–Performance relationship, and the key mediators and environmental moderators of this relationship. This paper also examines several studies on SMEs with respect to various aspects of this framework and offers suggestions for future research in order to understand more thoroughly how MO influences SME performance.     

Open all hours: spatiotemporal fluctuations in U.K. grocery store sales and catchment area demand

Conventional population estimates do not account for spatiotemporal fluctuations in populations over a diurnal timescale at the level of retail store catchments. This presents challenges for the retail location-based decision making process which seeks to predict sales volumes and their temporal characteristics prior to new store construction. We present a novel analysis of the temporal fluctuations of store sales, evidencing links between the spatiotemporal distribution of specific population subgroups and temporal store sales. Previous research linking spatiotemporal populations and store sales is limited owing to the fact that commercial data are not openly available to academic research. However, this research has unprecedented access to store level temporal sales data and an established loyalty card scheme from a major UK grocery retailer making these analyses possible for the first time. Additionally, we demonstrate that current store classifications were inadequate for grouping stores with similar sales profiles and propose four new clusters of stores based on the times of the day that they generate revenues. This development has clear academic and commercial benefits, aiding our understanding of consumer behaviours and a novel solution for improved location modelling. We lay the foundations for further research building spatiotemporal demand fluctuations into retail location models.     

Organizational buying effectiveness in supply chain environment: A conceptual framework

The idea of effectiveness measurement in supply chain context stresses the importance of value development process for the forthcoming member of the chain. The main purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model of organizational buying effectiveness in the supply chain context, emphasizing the importance of marketing orientation in the purchasing process. Literature has revealed that there are many focal interaction points between relationship marketing, supply chain management, and organizational buying. The effectiveness framework was developed regarding the value perception, organizational buying involvement, and decentralization of decision making     

‘Consumer Ethics: The Role of Acculturation in U.S. Immigrant Populations’

This study examines the role of acculturation in shaping consumers’ views of ethics. Specifically, it examines the relationships between the desire to keep one’s original culture, the desire to adopt the host culture, and the four dimensions of the Muncy and Vitell (Journal of Business Research Ethics 24(4), 297, 1992) consumer ethics scale. Using two separate immigrant populations – one of former Middle-Eastern residents now living in the U.S. and the other of Asian immigrants in the U.S. – results indicate that those who want to keep their original culture are less tolerant of unethical consumer activities, while those who are more willing to adopt the host culture are more tolerant of these same consumer activities. Furthermore, the immigrants in both studies who are more tolerant of unethical consumer activities are those who are generally somewhat younger and with less formal education. The relationship between gender and consumer ethics was not significant.     

An Exploration of U.S. Consumer Perceptions and Affect: Two Forms of a Soy-Based Food Product

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on a consumer comparison of fresh tofu and frozen tofu, and the investigation of consumer perceptions of and responses to, both products. A literature review of consumer perceptions and attitudes toward soy products was carried out. Consumer perceptions and affect were then qualitatively investigated using separate focus groups composed of “soy-users” and “health conscious” consumers. Extensive taste tests of the product, using five different recipes, comparing and contrasting frozen versus fresh forms of tofu were conducted to obtain sensory evaluations. The results indicate that many consumers are unfamiliar with the product, yet tofu is perceived to be an acceptable food for those inclined to use soy-based products, as well as those who are otherwise healthy eating conscious. In taste tests, it was found that the recipes in which tofu was disguised were preferred. In addition, frozen tofu was generally found not to be perceived as markedly different from the fresh product. Implications of the findings for marketing fresh and frozen forms of tofu are discussed.     

Qualitative analysis of customer behavior in the retail industry during the COVID-19 pandemic: A word-cloud and sentiment analysis approach

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a paradigm shift in customer behavior within the retail industry. Pandemic-induced restrictions and fear of product scarcity led to a change in purchasing frequency, with customers stockpiling non-perishable products such as basic foods and hygiene items. Media and social networks also played a significant role in fueling panic-buying behavior. Although sales decreased, consumption in all food categories increased due to the closure of restaurants and the need to prepare meals at home. The pandemic had a significant impact on both customers and retailers, resulting in staff reductions and a change in business strategies.To explore how Romanian food retailers’ representatives responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and adjusted to changing consumer behavior, the authors employed a qualitative research approach based on an interview guide. The data collected were analyzed using the statistical software R. In data analysis with R, the choice of functions used depends on various factors, such as the type of data, research questions, and analysis methods. Generally, commonly used functions in R for data analysis include data cleaning and manipulation functions such as subset, merge, and transform, data visualization functions such as ggplot2, and statistical modeling functions such as lm and glm, resulting in world clouds and a sentiment analysis.The results show that to develop effective business strategies, qualitative analysis helps identify the root causes of these changes. Sentiment analysis can reveal how retail chains representatives perceived the safety measures implemented in stores, such as social distancing and mask-wearing mandates, and how these measures affected customers’ shopping behavior. It also sheds light on how customers shopped and whether they planned to continue using these methods post-pandemic. Understanding these insights is crucial for retail companies to adapt their operations and better serve their customers in the post-pandemic world.