Editorial

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management

ISSN: 0959-0552

Article publication date: 7 September 2010

579

Citation

Towers, N. (2010), "Editorial", International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 38 No. 10. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijrdm.2010.08938jaa.001

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Volume 38, Issue 10

For this edition, we have four quite different papers that address different activities of cross cultural comparison of online apparel shopping, fast fashion in the responsive retail environment, the manufacturer’s perspective in private label products and retailer e-learning assessment effectiveness.

The first contribution, “A cross-national investigation of an extended technology acceptance model in the online shopping context”, by Xiao Tong, tests the cross-national application of an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) in online shopping across the USA and China. Specifically, the proposed model is tested for invariance, and used to investigate the effect of the TAM constructs on online purchase intentions and interrelationships among the constructs across the two samples. This study compares the USA and China for two reasons. First, the two nations are culturally and economically very different from one another. Second, they are the world’s two leading countries in terms of the number of internet users and strong growth in online retail sales. The study revealed that both perceived usefulness and perceived risk of online shopping have an invariant effect on consumers online purchase intentions, while prior online shopping experience does not have an invariant effect. Perceived ease of use shows an equivalent, positive effect on perceived usefulness; prior online shopping experience has an equivalent, positive effect on perceived ease of use and an equivalent, negative effect on perceived risks. But prior online shopping experience has a quiet different effect on perceived usefulness across the two countries.

The second paper “Fast fashion in the store retail environment”, by Liz Barnes and Gaynor Lea-Greenwood, aims to establish how fast fashion is translated and communicated in the retail store environment. Fast fashion has become a key feature of the UK fashion industry over the last decade. Although it was initially regarded as a niche concept offered by a few key players such as Zara and H&M, the concept has now been adopted in one form or another by virtually all the key own-label retailers in the UK fashion market, using improved and more efficient supply chains to be more responsive to changing trends and consumer demand. Previous research into fast fashion has focused on the supply chain aspect of the strategy. This paper focuses on the notional end of the supply chain, with an examination of what happens to fast fashion once it is delivered into the store addressing the translation of fast fashion in the retail environment and analysing how it is communicated to consumers. Whilst efficiencies in the supply chain have facilitated fast fashion’s success, centralised control structures have meant that these efficiencies and flexibilities have not been translated into the retail store environment. Marketing communications activity is evident in relation to aspects of fast fashion, for example through the use of “hero pieces” as identified in this research; however availability and retail presence must support the fast fashion proposition.

The purpose of the third paper, “Strategic objectives and competitive advantages of private label products: manufacturers’ perspective”, by Murat Hakan Altintas¸, Serkan Kiliç, Gokhan Senol, and Feride Bahar Isin, is to determine which strategic objective factors have significant effects on competitive advantage of private label manufacturers in Turkey. They found that three strategic objective factors have an effect on competitive advantage. The objective factors examined were the production efficiency, market embeddedness, and product selling control and according to the results of the study, competitive advantage is affected most by the evaluation of production capacity or efficient product selling control factors. They found that private label manufacturers in Turkey focused on production in general as well as better production of private label products to plan their production processes. They also inferred that these firms use private label product manufacturing as a lever to develop their own product, to learn the sector and to process planning.

The final paper, “Retail e-learning assessment: motivation, location, and prior experience”, by Jared M. Hansen and Michael A. Levin, aims to provide a more complete theoretical model of retail e-learning assessment module use. The location (i.e. onsite versus offsite) of assessment and prior experience is treated as moderators between motivation/intention, uses, and value and they investigate differences between subjective and objective value. However, we find that most retailers do not really know what factors might impact the strategic value of the e-learning. We find that both play important roles in use of retail e-learning assessment modules. It also answers the call for the incorporation of user-focused outcomes from users’ use of e-learning assessment modules. We find that when individuals can take the assessments offsite (e.g. at home, on the road), there is a positive impact on both objective and subjective performance. Thus, retailers should consider taking assessment software stored on intranets and posting the assessment modules on the internet for employees to complete at an offsite location (i.e. home, on the road) – especially since this should normally decrease pressures on training budgets (as less personal, facilities, and resources are required when completed offsite versus onsite). Finally, the importance of context in e-learning assessment module use is considered. This final area presents perhaps the most interesting conclusion to researchers.

Neil Towers

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