Search results

The purpose of this paper is to develop a taxonomy to describe and synthesize the retail strategies and store formats in the fast-changing modernization context of emerging markets. It identifies how these different formats are related to the existing literature about retail evolution. The paper proposes analogies between the empirical findings and the Big Middle Theory model developed by Levy et al. (2005).

Structured observations and personal interviews were conducted with managers/owners of 108 apparel stores located in three unplanned shopping districts in São Paulo, Brazil. Cluster analysis was used to derive the store formats.

The results identify four store formats – old fashioned, price focused, specialized, and consolidated – reflecting diverse marketing strategies and different stages in the retailing modernization cycle. There is a striking resemblance between these empirically derived formats and the four types of retail segments (Big Middle, Low price, Innovative, and in Trouble) proposed by the Big Middle model.

There are limitations due to the exploratory nature of the research: the specific context (São Paulo, apparel retail sector) where the empirical data was collected restricts the generalization of the results to other situations; lack of precision in the appraisal of the variables might limit the research replicability. Nevertheless, this research contributes to expanding the scarce knowledge about the retailing phenomenon in emerging markets. An extension of the Big Middle model is suggested to depict the existing retail formats in emerging markets, offering therefore a theoretical contribution to the retail literature.

The study provides retailers with a framework against which to map their format, competitive strategy, and stages of the modernization cycle, enabling them to better adjust the configuration of their marketing mix variables. It also offers a classification scheme of stores formats which will help to describe the apparel retailing industry in emerging markets.

Public policies are suggested to technically assist the modernization process and survival of more vulnerable retail formats.

Considering the fast-growing economic importance of the new “low-middle class” of emerging markets, and also the relevance of apparel retailing, this research is relevant and unique because it helps to bridge a gap in the limited literature and knowledge in this area.

The purpose of this paper is to qualitatively investigate various factors associated with e-tail store brand affect.

Data were collected by conducting semi-structured depth interviews following a storytelling approach. The data were coded using the grounded theory method.

Data analysis shows that anticipated service recovery, deal attractiveness and luxury e-tail brand image predict e-tail store brand affect. These predictors play their roles under the moderating influences of specific moderators. The desirable marketing outcomes of e-tail store brand affect are e-tail branded app usage, spreading positive word of mouth and secure attachment style toward e-tailer.

The value of this study lies in developing a grounded theory based causal process model that can provide managerial insights on how to enhance e-tail brand affect.

Retail store loyalty is essential to the survival and success of a retailer. The intangible benefits provided by the social exchange in-store influence the way consumers consider their relationships with the retailer. However, its relationships with social proximity and cultural factors are not clear. Therefore, this article investigates the effects of specific cultural dimensions on loyalty behaviour, as well as the mediating role of social proximity on the relationship investigated.

This research is based on an empirical investigation undertaken in Thailand with a sample of 636 respondents. Two retail chains were investigated (Big C and Tesco). Structural equation modelling was used to test the research model and a series of research hypotheses.

The results reveal that uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation have positive direct effects on loyalty, while collectivism does not. Furthermore, social proximity significantly mediates the effects of collectivism and long-term orientation on customer loyalty. These findings show that Thailand is a specific emerging market in which retail chains should adapt their loyalty programme accordingly.

The cultural differences could be used for segmentation strategy for retailers to engage customers in a relationship with the hypermarket. Social proximity is an efficient lever to build loyalty in Thailand. In addition, retailers could utilise certainty and steadiness message as a way to build shopper loyalty.

This research underlines the social, human dimension that consumers seek, which is opposed to the online purchase. Specifically, this study highlights the mediating role of social proximity between the relationship of cultural variables and loyalty in the retail context. Additionally, this research displays the direct and positive effects of culture on retail loyalty. That is, this paper enhances how culture and shopper-retail staff interaction can be managed to achieve store loyalty.

This study conducts a systematic literature review to synthesize the extant literature primarily on “online shopping consumer behavior” and to gain insight into “What drives consumers toward online shopping”.

The authors followed guidelines for systematic literature reviews with stringent inclusion and exclusion criteria. The review is based on 79 research papers published from 2000 to 2020 in 21 reputed peer-reviewed international journals. The papers were analyzed and synthesized based on their defining characteristics, methodologies, major constructs and themes addressed.

The literature synthesis indicated that consumers have to make a trade-off between 11 perceived benefits and six perceived sacrifices to improve their net perceived value before making the final decision to adopt online shopping. It is important to decode these factors as they could improve both the functional and recreational value of the shopping experience for online consumers, resulting in an improvement in conversion rates from a prospect to the final purchase at e-stores. This could improve turnover as well as profits for the e-tailers.

This study pioneers to consolidate these factors through the lens of the value adoption model. This study also suggests insightful directions for further research perspectives in the online context from both consumers' and retailers' perspectives.

The current study is exploring factors affecting social and sharing behavioral intentions. The paper proposes a new theory, the consumer social behavior theory, which aids in understanding social behaviors. This is through the convergence of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and norm activation theory (NAT) to foster the understanding of sharing and social behaviors. Religiosity, as a cultural and psychological factor, along with five major predictors of sharing practices are also incorporated. These predictors are economic benefits, sustainability, enjoyment, trust and difficulties in sharing practices.

The current study takes a new route through proposing a new theoretical contribution and developing a new theory termed consumer social behavior theory (CSBT) to be commonly used in social behavioral contexts.

The CSBT is an output of integrating two prominent theories in pro-social and pro-environmental contexts. It is found that integrating both theories help in thoroughly examining behavioral intentions. Religiosity is found to significantly impact intentions towards social behaviors, yet no study examined its role in sharing and social behaviors contexts.

This study is contributing to and enriching the sharing economy research domain through new theoretical developments. A theory adaptation for TPB and NAT was conducted to advance a thorough understanding of sharing and social behavioral intentions. This work is considered the first of its kind to develop an integrated view for sharing and social behaviors.

The advent of e-retailing has created multiple options for customers. Hence, most important concern is to identify the experience which entices customers for repurchase from the one particular e-retailer. This paper tries to identify the customer experience with reference to activities happening post-purchase. The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate online post-purchase customer experience (OPPCE).

The methodology of this scale development study starts with skimming of relevant literature to identify the knowledge gap and prepare a theoretical background for the study. Then scientific method is applied for scale creation. First, items of the scale been identified through interviews of online shoppers and marketing experts. Then the major dimensions were identified through exploratory factor analysis applied on the data collected from active shoppers, who transacted online in last six months, with the help of a structured questionnaire survey. These data are analyzed through structural equation modeling to validate the scale.

The study yields that the scale for measuring OPPCE is multi-dimensional. It has six dimensions, i.e. delivery, product-in-hand, return and exchange, customer support, benefits and feel-good factors. The proper focus on the items of these dimensions can help e-retailers improve customer experience and increase repeat purchase.

Post-purchase activities have a significant impact on customer and their repeat purchase intensions. But it has not received its due attention particularly in the online context. Hence, this paper fills this knowledge gap and gives e-retailers a tool to enhance their customers’ experience.

Identifying the patterns of retail institutional change has piqued the interest of retail academics for nearly a century. The Big Middle hypothesis is one of the most recent and hybridized versions of similar theories. According to it, retailers seeking a dominant position in retailing can migrate into the Big Middle, the largest market segment, by specializing in a large market with a broad product assortment or by focusing on a specific product category and simultaneously catering for multiple segments at the same time. This study provides empirical evidence for the latter proposition by employing fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) on the case of UNIQLO, a Japanese clothing specialist retailing giant.

The authors devised a survey to assess (1) consumers' perceptions of UNIQLO's store attributes and (2) their perceived distance between the UNIQLO and potential competitors. The authors used fsQCA procedures to identify multiple confluences of causal conditions that led to a high level of consumer patronage for UNIQLO from various market segments.

The findings show that UNIQLO's dominance in the Big Middle stems not only from capturing a sizable homogeneous market but from aggregating multiple heterogeneous market segments with disparities of various types. This finding explains how a specialty store retailer achieves its Big Middle position.

The findings gleaned from fsQCA are not statistically generalisable. It, therefore, is essential to ensure whether similar phenomena are observed under different spatiotemporal settings. Concerning the scope of the research, this study's finding is pertinent to only one part of the Big Middle hypothesis. Future studies are required to cover other dimensions of the Big Middle, including the generalist retailer's cases of the Big Middle.

The results of this study may present a valuable tool to deepen retailers' understandings on; (1) the multiple causal recipes of customer patronages to their retail offerings, (2) who the pure fans of their stores are, (3) who their principal rivals are in the mind space of the consumers, and (4) their overall market position upon aiming to realise the Big Middle. It will give retail managers an insight into how to design, implement, and churn an efficient and effective RBM.

The study's originality is in empirically scrutinizing and elaborating a part of the mechanism of retail change heralded by the Big Middle hypothesis.

Power structure research examines core issues in the discipline of sociology; yet this important area of study is declining because of the conceptual, theoretical, and methodological problems. In this paper, I address each of these problems and proposing solutions. I then test the validity of my proposed solutions by conducting empirical analyses examining how big business and labor political action committee (PAC) contributors influence U.S. House decision making. My findings vividly show significant big business influence on House decision making, but negligible labor influence. These findings carry considerable implications for power structure theorizing and research, and provide a solid foundation for future power structure work.