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1 – 10 of over 16000Huifeng Bai, Jin Shi, Peng Song, Julie McColl, Christopher Moore and Ian Fillis
This empirical study aims to examine luxury fashion retailers' localised multiple channel distribution strategies in China.
Abstract
Purpose
This empirical study aims to examine luxury fashion retailers' localised multiple channel distribution strategies in China.
Design/methodology/approach
Through case studies of 15 participating retailers, qualitative data were collected from 33 semi-structured interviews.
Findings
Strong impacts of internationalisation strategies, distribution strategies and channel length towards multiple channel retailing are revealed. Multi-channel retailing is widely employed by firms who have entered China and further developed their businesses through local partnerships and adopted a selective distribution strategy via relatively longer channels. Omni-channel retailing is only suitable for the few retailers using an exclusive distribution strategy through direct marketing and wholly owned customer relationship management. As a dynamic transformation from multi- to omni-channel retailing, cross-channel retailing is adopted by those who are withdrawing from local partnerships and shifting to wholly owned expansions and operations in host markets.
Research limitations/implications
The results are potentially challenged by relatively small sample size.
Practical implications
Practitioners are suggested to adapt multiple channel retailing to their international expansion strategies, distribution strategies and channel length in the host markets.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature in both multiple channel retailing and international retailing by offering insights into the motives, development patterns and suitability of multiple channel retailing in the international retail marketing context.
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The purpose of this paper is to further theorize the concept of the “sustainable temporary store” and explore benefits and challenges for slow fashion retailers using temporary…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to further theorize the concept of the “sustainable temporary store” and explore benefits and challenges for slow fashion retailers using temporary stores to promote a new value proposition and develop a business model.
Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical part combines the findings from marketing and human geography literature to theorize pop-up retailing from the slow fashion SME perspective. The empirical part uses a critical case study and a qualitative method approach (primary sources, half standardized interviews, ethnographic observation).
Findings
The study provides theoretical insights into five success criteria for the “sustainable temporary store” across geographies. Empirical findings allow for further conclusions about challenges in regards to spatial requirements and business modeling for slow fashion retail entrepreneurs in the Netherlands.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations of the study are the geographical scope of exiting literature on the global north and the restricted sample size. However, by selecting a critical case, careful geographically restricted generalizations can be made.
Practical implications
The study provides useful information for slow fashion entrepreneurs who want to use cheap temporary space to develop their retail business model.
Social implications
The results show that there is placemaking value (social value creation) in temporary slow fashion retailing.
Originality/value
The study provides a relevant contribution to the theory of pop-up retailing and more precisely to the concept of the “sustainable temporary store.” It also delivers a replicable empirical research design for other geographies.
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China represents around 20% of the world's population, and her economy is still performing well under economic crisis. Historical events have shaped different parts of China with…
Abstract
China represents around 20% of the world's population, and her economy is still performing well under economic crisis. Historical events have shaped different parts of China with different economic developments and cultural encounters. The most prominent difference is between Hong Kong and the Mainland. This chapter would like to examine the development and issues of fashion retailing in China. For better understanding, this chapter starts with a brief discussion on apparel industry development and fashion culture in Hong Kong and the Mainland, follows by historical development and then presents systems of fashion retailing in both Hong Kong and the Mainland. Desktop research and exploratory research techniques were employed. Stores of international fashion luxury brands in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing were visited. Comparison of branding issues, particularly for luxury market in Hong Kong and the Mainland are discussed, so are future directions of fashion retailing in these places.
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Huifeng Bai, Weijing He, Jin Shi, Julie McColl and Christopher Moore
This empirical research, adopting an international retailing perspective, aims to examine the parenting advantages offered by emerging market multinationals (EMNCs) in luxury…
Abstract
Purpose
This empirical research, adopting an international retailing perspective, aims to examine the parenting advantages offered by emerging market multinationals (EMNCs) in luxury fashion retail sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The researchers adopted a qualitative case study, and the qualitative data were collected through ten semi-structured interviews with senior managers.
Findings
It is a win–win situation for the EMNCs as parent groups of Western luxury fashion brands, as the EMNCs can access critical assets including advanced brand management expertise, retailing know-how, and the services skills needed for higher income consumers. Meanwhile, the subsidiary brands benefit from a high degree of autonomy, intra-group resource utilisation, a competitive brand portfolio and most importantly economies of scales in the value chain, particularly in production. The perceived risks of EMNCs ownership include potentially restricted autonomy and the uncertainty over corporate development activities in the future, as well as the risks of diluting brand image caused by the inconsistency between country of origin and country of ownership.
Research limitations/implications
Very few EMNCs have moved into luxury fashion retailing to date, which means that the sampling frame was small. The findings were generated from China, which is perceived to be of considerable psychic distance in terms of culture and policies compared to other emerging markets that have been heavily influenced by colonialism.
Practical implications
This paper suggests that practitioners, particularly EMNCs, support their subsidiary luxury fashion brands through parenting advantages and develop their own high-end fashion brands through internationalisation.
Originality/value
This empirical study contributes to the current international retailing literature by offering in depth insights of parenting advantages offered by EMNCs in luxury fashion retailing. It also enriches the EMNC literature, which has mainly adopted an international business scope, by extending this understanding into luxury fashion retailing.
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Qiong Tao and Yingjiao Xu
Fashion subscription service is a newly emerged retailing model that provides an innovative way of shopping to meet consumers’ fashion needs. From the perspective of innovation…
Abstract
Purpose
Fashion subscription service is a newly emerged retailing model that provides an innovative way of shopping to meet consumers’ fashion needs. From the perspective of innovation adoption, the purpose of this paper is to provide an insight of consumers’ perceptions as well as adoption intention of this innovative retailing format.
Design/methodology/approach
This research is qualitative in nature, utilizing focus group study approach. In this paper, content analysis was applied to analyze the data.
Findings
While possessing varying degrees of knowledge about fashion subscription retailing, the participants shared the following perceptions of relative advantages, including convenience, personalization, consumer excitement, opportunities to try new styles, and opportunity to better manage their apparel budget. Concerns mainly focused on missing social shopping experiences and the hassle in the cancellation process. The overall adoption intention was high.
Research limitations/implications
Due to the nature of this research, the sample size was limited and results may not be generalized. This research paid less attention to individual differences, in terms of demographic and psychographic characteristics.
Practical implications
Future marketing could focus more on educating consumers about the attributes of the services they provide. Retailers can strategically leverage the positively perceived advantages in their marketing communications to enhance consumers’ adoption intention of their services.
Originality/value
The paper fills a gap in the literature on consumer behavior toward fashion subscription retailing and sheds light for companies in their endeavors to excel in this new retailing venue.
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Online retailing is continuing to grow at a time with many fashion brands are closing retail stores. Social media is now an essential component within the purchase journey of a…
Abstract
Online retailing is continuing to grow at a time with many fashion brands are closing retail stores. Social media is now an essential component within the purchase journey of a fashion consumer. As social media networks continue to develop transactional capabilities, this has giving rise to the expansion of social shopping. Fashion brands need to consider how best to optimise social shopping opportunities as an extension of the retail shopping experience. Reviewing developments within retailing, a conceptual model of social shopping is proposed, which places mobile technologies as central to the social shopping experience both on social media and in store.
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Abstract
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Chiara Colombi, Pielah Kim and Nioka Wyatt
The state of interactive digital technology is evolving rapidly and has shifted the ways in which customers shop dramatically. This trend heightens the need for research that…
Abstract
Purpose
The state of interactive digital technology is evolving rapidly and has shifted the ways in which customers shop dramatically. This trend heightens the need for research that examines the latest interactive digital technology tools adopted in fashion retailing. In response, the purpose of this paper was to examine fashion retailers’ incorporation of new interactive digital technology – in both online and offline retailing formats, and including new hybrid contexts – and its results in providing new experiential quality that contributes strongly to engage with customers.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper first reviews the literature and then proposes the research questions. This is followed by exploratory substantiation of those propositions with the findings from case studies that examined the new interactive digital technology implemented by six leading fashion retailers.
Findings
Various digital technology tools implemented in brick-to-click, click-to-brick and brick-and-mortar retailing offer customers a variety of experiential qualities that allow them to co-create products, engage in emotion-driven sensational and personalized shopping experiences and seamless shopping virtually, all of which derive from interactive digital technology implemented to enhance customer engagement.
Originality/value
This research examined the implementation of interactive digital technologies across the full spectrum of the fashion retail settings above. This paper makes an original contribution by adopting a customer-centric perspective and assessing the advantages technology provides to customer’s engagement quality in shopping, which differs from the traditional firm-centric perspective that views technology as a way to innovate retailers’ operations.
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Christopher M. Moore and John Fernie
This paper examines the growth strategies adopted by fashion design houses which have undergone significant transformation in the past decade from being privately owned, niche…
Abstract
This paper examines the growth strategies adopted by fashion design houses which have undergone significant transformation in the past decade from being privately owned, niche market companies to stock‐market‐listed businesses selling fashion and other lifestyle products to a lucrative and international middle retailing market. In order to illustrate this transition, the paper will focus upon the entry of American fashion design houses into central London. The expansion activities of these firms are identified and the resultant impact of their strategies upon central London fashion retailing is considered, providing invaluable insights to the impact of fashion retailer internationalisation and strategic growth at the micro environmental level.
Bethan Alexander and Anthony Kent
Continuous change has long been recognized as a core characteristic of retailing, its recent acceleration unprecedented, yet innovation in retailing remains under-researched…
Abstract
Purpose
Continuous change has long been recognized as a core characteristic of retailing, its recent acceleration unprecedented, yet innovation in retailing remains under-researched, especially within fashion retailing. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to generate a deeper understanding of if, and to what extent, fashion retailers across different market segments are innovating in terms of in-store technology diffusion over time by taking a long-term perspective over five years.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on retail change and innovation diffusion theory, the study takes a qualitative approach, using direct observation of 71 fashion stores in London (UK) in 2014 and 2019. In total, 142 stores were tabulated in Excel and qualitatively analysed manually and with NVivo.
Findings
The findings identify the innovation adoption strategies implemented, the types of in-store technologies adopted over time and the fashion retail innovation adopters.
Originality/value
The research offers new knowledge in terms of retail innovation and retail change, specifically on retail diffusion of innovation and the importance of in-store technology integration. Several practical implications for improving technology innovation management are also identified.
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