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The purpose of this paper is to examine how independent social and commercial activities have developed in response to the perceived decline in the UK High Street and in response to the challenges of increasing digital retailing opportunities. This examination is undertaken through the lens of the social supply chain as a means to understanding, suggesting and expanding on current research regarding retailing and the UK High Street. The authors reveal some of the challenges being posed by the changing patterns of growth and consumption in cities and couple these with shifting supply chain trends.

A case study approach is used to explore the rapid advances and influence of digital technologies on businesses operating on the primary business street of suburban centre, towns or cities (described in the UK collectively as the “high street”). The research is conducted through the analytical lens of the social supply chain.

Theoretically extending the “social” in the social supply chain, the authors illustrate the usefulness of the nuanced concept of the “social supply chain” with two related strategies concerning delivery and balance. These strategies are themselves interlinked with the actions of co-creation, co-production and co-consumption. Examples of social supply chain strategies presented include retail businesses giving away something as an incentive, where the underlying requirement from the customer is that they will bring their own specialist product, skill or social network to a specified location (real or virtual).

For the purpose of this paper, the authors use two distinct strategies relating to delivery and balancing and in relation to the actions of co-creation, co-production and co-consumption to emphasise and analyse changes currently occurring in the UK High Street. The authors take a social supply chain management (SCM) perspective to undertake a systematic critical review of the various recent efforts undertaken by local governments, communities and trader groups to revitalise the High Street.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the levels social media (SM) platforms are influencing consumer decision-making process for Generation X and Y consumers in the retail fashion environment.

This study adopts an interpretive, exploratory approach, applying a qualitative design. The research involved eight in-depth interviews and two focus groups in order to gain in-depth insights of two generational cohorts opinions, arguments, motivations and ideas.

The findings revealed that consumers use a variety of internal and external motivations that influence their behaviours and perceptions of high-street fashion retailers, and these factors are aided and facilitated by the use of SM. However, the research also revealed that SM is not the only source that motivates their consumer decision-making process, and with the proliferation of active users on SM, these platforms are (and will continue to have) an ever more increasing impact on consumer decision-makings. Participants were found to actively use SM to gain inspiration and information regarding high-street fashion retailers, however their final intentions to purchase were not as highly influenced by the content produced as previously expected.

Prior to consumers’ making any decisions they are impacted by various stimuli, however, with the proliferation of active users on SM, the influence these platforms unconsciously have on consumer behaviour is vast. Therefore, suggesting that consumers are not as predictable as traditional consumer decision-making process (CDMP) theory postulates. Although thought processes do appear to exist, consumers now demonstrate a much more complex process, which create multiple layers of motivations where internal and external factors overlap.

The findings of this study present valuable implications for high-street fashion marketers and are anticipated to enhance and deepen fashion marketers understanding of CDMP when using SM. Thus, they must strive to understand and provide relevant content to consumers’, not only for Generation Y but also Generation X, responding to quickly changing consumer demands and expectations with both of these cohorts. Overall, these findings propose that high-street fashion retailers on SM must understand the complexity of internal and external factors motivating consumers to interact with retailers online and off, and therefore, generating added value for their consumers. This is useful within marketing practises.

This paper gives some clarity and insight into the motivations of consumers in the fashion retail environment, from a digital influential perspective.

The findings concluded that SM has created a consumer that can be impacted at any stage of the decision process and has added to the research regarding unplanned consumer behaviour. Participants behaviours were stimuli-driven and user-controlled. Therefore, this had a larger impact on inspiration as opposed to modifying their behaviours to align exactly with trends or products.

• Retail agglomerations are predestined to capitalise on the combination of the strengths of traditional retailing and digital service innovations.

• Digital touchpoints can enhance the visitor experience throughout the whole customer journey, that is not only on-site but also before reaching as well as after having left the agglomeration.

• Digital service innovations can provide additional value to visitors of a retail agglomeration through four elements of the digital marketing mix: Information, orientation, communication and atmosphere.

• Technologies like augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) can create unique and memorable customer experiences, ensuring that retailers and service providers as well as the retail agglomeration as a whole continue to thrive.

• Key success factors for the implementation of digital services in the context of retail agglomerations include participative innovation processes, cooperation and the communication of clear benefits to stakeholders.

Retail agglomerations are predestined to capitalise on the combination of the strengths of traditional retailing and digital service innovations.

Digital touchpoints can enhance the visitor experience throughout the whole customer journey, that is not only on-site but also before reaching as well as after having left the agglomeration.

Digital service innovations can provide additional value to visitors of a retail agglomeration through four elements of the digital marketing mix: Information, orientation, communication and atmosphere.

Technologies like augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) can create unique and memorable customer experiences, ensuring that retailers and service providers as well as the retail agglomeration as a whole continue to thrive.

Key success factors for the implementation of digital services in the context of retail agglomerations include participative innovation processes, cooperation and the communication of clear benefits to stakeholders.

Several high street retail banks are extending their brands into digital banking through fully digital, app-only neobanks, which have been described as traditionally-driven neobanks (TDNBs). These TDNBs are considered a form of brand extension, representing the increased complexity of branding banks and financial institutions. This study explicitly addresses the branding strategies employed by TDNBs.

This study has adopted a case study research design, using a multi-stage data collection strategy. Initially, interviews were conducted with bank managers, followed by interviews with customers. Later, user-generated content was extracted through verified reviews from the app store. Subsequently, these three strands of data were thematically analysed and triangulated, in order to gain a holistic understanding of the branding strategies used by TDNBs.

Three key themes emerged regarding the branding strategies of the TDNBs: aligning with the parent brand, reinforcing the digital experience, and enhancing the brand image.

This study contributed to the growing body of research on marketing, branding, and digital transformation of bank services. As more traditional banks are exploring opportunities to pivot and explore other fintech options, this study offers significant insights that will help in managing brand experience and promotion across customer journeys in the banking sector.

This study contributes to the growing body of research on marketing, branding, and digital transformation of bank services. Even as more traditional banks explore opportunities to pivot as well as other fintech options, this study offers significant insights to help manage brand experience and promotion across customer journeys in the banking sector.

While previous studies on banking and financial services have concentrated on traditional retail and high street banks, there is a need for a greater understanding of the brand positioning of digital banks, especially those created by traditional banks.

Drug sales facilitated through digital communication on the surface web and on darknet cryptomarkets have increased during the past two decades. This has resulted in an increase in drug law enforcement efforts to combat these markets and a subsequent increase in judicial sentencing of people selling drugs online. The aim of this study was to analyze how Swedish courts describe sentenced sellers and how the courts apply case law.

The empirical material consists of 71 sentencing documents produced by Swedish courts in cases of online drug selling between January 1, 2010 and January 1, 2020. In total, 99 sentenced persons occur in the documents. Using a qualitative research design, the authors analyzed the material through thematic text analysis.

Overall, in their descriptions of online drug sale operations, the courts’ characterizations of the concepts of street capital and digital capital show a dichotomy. These forms of capital are situationally described as both aggravating and mitigating aspects in the application of case law, indicating that it may be fruitful to view both street and digital capital as resources used on contemporary drug markets in general.

Very little research exists into how judicial systems describe and perceive the developing phenomenon of online drug sales. Using a relatively large sample from a decade of sentencing, the authors provide an analysis of how Swedish courts view and valuate capital forms in the online drugs trade.

Contemporary cities are the subject of new forms of visualization that are not only changing how we see the urban world but how it operates as a social environment. This chapter explores Google's Street View database and the Google Maps platform as sites for the production of distinctive new streams of visual data about cities around the world. I argue that this kind of digital infrastructure presents urban researchers with both new opportunities and new challenges, raising complex questions about the role of visual images in the context of the ongoing transition to a digital, computational, and networked image world.

Recently, the Government of India has emphasized digital financial inclusion for promoting cashless transactions with a vision to transform India from a traditional cash-based economy into a cashless economy. Technology-driven payment apps are facilitated greater access to cashless financial services and improve the speed, efficiency, accuracy and effectiveness of financial transactions. This study aims to explore the determinants of quick response (QR) code mobile payment (m-payment) adoption intention among marginalized street vendors in India.

The proposed research model was tested using 320 responses from QR code m-payment users. An interview schedule was performed using the structured questionnaire from marginalized street vendors by adopting a purposive sampling technique. The proposed research framework of this study developed on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). In addition to the existing variables proposed in the UTAUT model, three more variables have been added, namely, digital financial literacy (DFL), personal innovativeness (PI) and perceived trust (PT). Besides, the study used confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling techniques to analyze the data.

This study confirms that factors such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, PT and customers’ DFL are significant determinants of street vendors’ intention to use QR code m-payment services. However, social influence and PI have shown an insignificant relationship with adopting a QR code m-payment system.

The results provide insights for policymakers and service providers. Specifically, government and bankers design promotional campaigns emphasizing the ease of use, perceived benefits, security and faster business transactions to accept and use the QR code m-payment system to encourage prospective users to achieve a cashless economy.

Many prior studies have widely concentrated on m-payment adoption intention in India. However, only a few studies have attempted to examine the factors influencing the adoption of QR code m-payment services among merchants from emerging economies. There is a dearth of studies on QR code adoption from an unorganized sector perspective, specifically marginalized street vendors. Therefore, this study explicitly examines the extent to which the determinants of adoption intention toward QR code-based m-payment services among marginalized street vendors within the framework of the extended UTAUT model by incorporating DFL, PI and PT. The findings of this study contribute, theoretically and practically, to the existing literature.

Because of the special “State of the States” issue of Library Hi Tech and other circumstances beyond my control, the four quarterly “Comp Lit” compilations for 1996 appear here in a single and possibly peculiar chunk. A lot changes in a year of personal computing, but on reflection it seemed useful to include the citations and comments as I originally wrote them.

The purpose of the paper is to present and critically discuss the findings of the ESRC-funded HS2020 project. The aim is to discuss the retail-led change that has happened to the High Streets that participated to the project that, in some cases, is revolutionary and is leading to the reinvention of the place. To do so reference is made to various retail change theories discussing both institutional and consumer-led change.

This is a discussion paper on the findings of the HS2020 project.

The major finding reported in this paper is that the reinvention is a natural learning process that involves the comprehension of change and the development of knowledge that will lead to the reinvention of the High Street.

The findings of the research are based on data that were collected from a total of ten towns across the UK.

The paper suggests that to reinvent the High Street the stakeholders that are involved in the place decision-making processes they should embrace the change as a natural development and try to understand and learn from it rather than resisting to it. The HS2020 project provides a comprehensive guide of the areas that change can be managed and if it happens it can facilitate the reinvention.

The paper is relevant to the academic community, as it offers insight to the theories of retail change, and to the practitioners, as it provides evidence as to how to deal with the change that happens to the High Streets.