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The purpose of this paper is to provide a general understanding of retail format choice among consumer electronics shoppers in the US market.

US consumer electronics shoppers (n=252) were surveyed via telephone. Linear regression was used to evaluate the data.

Profiles shopper groups who frequent specific retail formats (department stores, specialty stores, discounters, category killers, internet‐only retailers, and catalogs) based on demographic characteristics (gender, age, education, income) and desired retail attributes (price competitiveness, customer service, product selection, presence of new products, hours of operation, ease of access to the retailer, store atmosphere).

Although general observations and predictions about the demographic variables and important retail attributes for shopper groups are possible, future studies could expand upon this exploratory work by initiating comparisons of specific retail formats and examining cross‐shopping behavior among consumer electronics shoppers.

This paper provides consumer electronics retailers with specific knowledge of the attributes that consumers consider to be important when making format choices and identifies the demographic characteristics of shoppers who frequent each retail format.

This exploratory study uses demographics and retail attributes to profile consumer electronics shoppers of each major retail format in the USA. The paper is unique because the investigation of retail format choice among consumer electronics shoppers has been very limited.

As retailers in the discount sector proliferate into US retail markets their presence poses competitive challenges for all types of formats that vie for the same target consumer. Practitioners and academics traditionally characterize the discount consumer as one who seeks low‐cost goods and broad assortments. Yet, as US discounters have begun to differentiate their retail offerings, consumers appear to be responding to these initiatives, suggesting that they may seek value beyond low price in this context. The purpose of this paper is to identify the price cues used by consumers in the discount environment, segment these consumers based on their price cue usage, and describe the price segments in terms of store choice and demographics.

A telephone survey was used to gather a nation‐wide sample of US discount format shoppers (n=354). Confirmatory factor analysis is used to evaluate the price cue measures and K‐means cluster analysis is used to identify unique price cue segments. χ², analysis of variance and descriptive statistics are used to describe the price cue segments.

Four shopper segments are identified with distinct operations of the price cue, suggesting that discount shoppers seek more than low price in the discount environment. Differences in segments in terms of store choice, income and age emerge from the data.

The study provides understanding of the manner in which consumers perceive and act upon price, beyond low‐price and value, in the discount sector. The results suggest that popular wisdom regarding price and the US discount shopper is oversimplified, which may portend even greater opportunity for discounters and threat to their intra‐type competitors.

The purpose of this paper is to explore consumer patronage of extreme value retailers in the USA.

The paper employs a sample generated from Retail Forward panel data (n=1,107) to explore consumer patronage of extreme value retailers. Descriptive statistics and decision tree analysis chi‐square automatic interaction detector is used to evaluate the data.

The paper examines extreme value shoppers based on patronage frequency, expenditures, and primary reason for shopping in the extreme value format. Results suggest that although patronage frequency of extreme value stores is not increasing, expenditures for food/household essentials are increasing. Demographic characteristics (income and age) are revealed as predictors of the primary reason for patronizing the format.

Generalizations of the findings of this paper to markets outside the USA are limited due to the differences in consumers and retail formats available in various countries. Future research could investigate additional patronage motives of extreme value shoppers, predict propensity to shop in the format, and compare changes in the customer base over time as a response to changing economic conditions.

The findings of this paper provide extreme value retailers with information on patronage frequency, expenditure, and patronage motivations among extreme value shoppers. The results offer support for the development of competitive strategies within the extreme value segment. As competition in the retail industry continues to evolve and new retail formats emerge, understanding shoppers' reasons for patronizing extreme value retailers will be critical to performance.

This paper is unique because of the lack of attention to extreme value shoppers in the extant literature.

The purpose of this paper is to profile the private label apparel consumer using demographic and behavioral predictors. The paper also aims to examine cross‐shopping behaviors among purchasers of private label apparel across the five top US private label apparel retailers.

Decision tree analysis is used to model the impacts of demographics and behaviors on private label purchasing. A secondary database (n=1,289) of US private label purchasers provides data for the analysis.

Findings indicate demographic predictors as important drivers of private label apparel purchase among retailers positioned as providers of value, while behavioral drivers are more common among patrons of retailers that are differentiated on service or brand. Cross‐shopping is more common among the retailers positioned on value.

The research design provides a profile of the private label consumer but does not explain why this consumer chooses private labels over national brands. The data‐mining approach provides an innovative tool for identifying the drivers of private label consumption. Future research should investigate these drivers more deeply, to establish a fuller understanding of this consumer. The sample is limited to US consumers.

Findings suggest that retailers positioned on value/low price need to differentiate private labels to deter cross‐shopping. Likewise, comparatively upscale retailers need to continue to be sensitive to the behavioral demands of their respective target market.

Results provide a profile of the private label consumer and offer insight into private label cross‐shopping using an innovative modeling approach that facilitates examination of actual purchase data.

The purpose of this paper is to explore retail format choice among male shoppers, using desired store attributes and shopping orientations as predictors of format choice.

Male shoppers in the USA (n=560) were surveyed via the internet. Multiple regression was used to evaluate the data.

The findings identify distinctive predictors of male patronage across several retail formats including department stores, discounters, category killers, dollar stores and internet only stores.

The findings identify desired store attributes and shopping orientations of frequent male patrons of several retail formats. The information provided is useful for advancing the retail format choice literature as well as for retailers to better understand male patrons. Future research could examine patronage of newly developed retail formats and include situational variables that could provide additional predictive power for retail format choice among males.

This research provides retailers with specific knowledge to identify males who are likely to frequent specific retail formats based on desired store attributes and shopping orientations.

This exploratory study uses desired store attributes and shopping orientations to profile male shoppers of several retail formats in the USA. The research is unique because the investigation of retail format choice among males has been very limited.

This paper seeks to provide an updated, general understanding of supercenter shopping behavior in the USA.

The study employs a sample generated from Retail Forward panel data to assess the impact of demographic variables, including gender, age, ethnicity, education, income, marital status, and household size, on supercenter shopping frequency across four product categories (apparel, health and beauty, home furnishings, and consumer electronics). Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques (regression, ANOVA) are used to evaluate the data.

The paper identifies demographic groups who frequent supercenters and examines patronage motives as drivers of supercenter shopping behavior.

Generalizations of the findings of this study to markets outside the USA are limited due to the differences in consumers and retail formats available in various countries. Future research could compare shopping behavior within large formats across international markets.

This research provides supercenter retailers who operate within the USA with specific knowledge of the patronage motives driving cross‐category shopping in supercenters (e.g. value, one‐stop shopping convenience, brands, product assortment) and identifies the demographic characteristics of cross‐category shoppers. The results suggest marketing strategy implications for supercenter operators in the US market. As competition in the sector continues to evolve and consumer demographics change within the US market, understanding cross‐category shopping will be critical to retailer performance in the industry.

This study uses demographics and patronage motives as a framework for profiling cross‐category shoppers in the US supercenters. The paper is unique because there are few similar empirical studies which focus on consumer behavior within supercenters.

To provide a general understanding of grocery consumers' retail format choice in the US marketplace.

A random sample of US grocery consumers (N=454) was surveyed using a self‐administered questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques (regression, ANOVA) were used to evaluate the data.

Identifies demographic groups who frequent specific formats (specialty grocers, traditional supermarkets, supercenters, warehouse clubs, internet grocers) and examines store attributes (e.g. price competitiveness, product selection, and atmosphere) as drivers of format choice.

The results included in this research were gathered and reported on an individual format basis. In order to capture consumer choices across a range of grocery retail formats, forcing respondents to compare formats was not initiated. In addition, data pertaining to whether consumers had access to each and every type of format in the study were not collected. Examination of how dimensions of consumer access limit or expand retail patronage behavior could also be highly beneficial to grocery retailers.

This research provides grocery retailers that operate within the USA specific knowledge of the attributes that consumers consider to be most important when making format choices (e.g. cleanliness, price competitiveness, product assortment, courtesy of personnel), and identifies the demographic characteristics of these consumers. The results suggest marketing strategy implications for grocery retailers that operate in the US market. As competition in the sector continues to evolve and consumer demographics change within the US market, understanding the consumer‐format choice linkage will be critical to retailer performance in the industry.

This exploratory study uses demographics and store attributes as a framework for profiling consumers by their ultimate retail format choice. The paper is unique because there are few similar empirical studies focused on the US grocery sector.

To explore US consumers' perceptions of the level of fun associated with non‐price retail promotions and to predict likelihood of participation among demographic groups.

The study employs a sample generated from retail forward panel data (n=500) to assess the impact of demographic variables including gender, age, educational attainment, income and household size on consumer perceptions and likelihood of participation in five types of non‐price retail promotions. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques (t‐tests, regression) are used to evaluate the data.

Identifies demographic groups who perceive high levels of fun associated with non‐price retail promotions and examines relationships between demographics and likelihood of participation in these types of promotions.

Generalizations of the findings of this study to markets outside the USA are limited due to the differences in consumers and forms of retail promotion within various markets. Future studies could examine perceptions of non‐price retail promotions across international markets as well as identify additional predictors of response to non‐price retail promotions.

This research provides retailers that operate within the USA specific knowledge of consumers' perceptions of non‐price retail promotions and identifies demographic characteristics of consumers who are likely to participate in such activities. As price competition in the sector continues to evolve, understanding non‐price forms of competition is critical to superior performance and survival in the industry.

This exploratory study uses demographics as a framework for examining consumers' perceptions of and likelihood of participation in non‐price retail promotions. The paper is unique because there are few similar empirical studies focused specifically on non‐price retail promotions.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a suggested framework for improving the understanding of consumer receptiveness to incoming international retailers. The consumer perception of country of origin against consumer receptiveness index (CRI) is proposed as a method to explore the receptiveness of consumers in the host market to incoming international retailers.

This paper reviews the international retailing literature, highlighting the need for specific knowledge regarding consumer receptiveness to incoming international retailers. A method is proposed to explore how consumers in the host market respond to incoming international retail firms.

The literature review indicates that the majority of the extant work investigates the process from the perspective of the internationalising retailer, while consumer receptiveness to the international retailer has not been fully considered.

This paper does not present an empirical study. The consumer perception of country of origin against CRI is presented as a means to suggest and guide future research in the area.

The paper makes a practical contribution by suggesting a method to explore how consumers in the host country receive incoming international retailers.

This paper is unique because previous research has provided limited knowledge of consumer receptiveness to international retailers.

This paper aims to examine differences in generational perceptions of market cues related to price, quality and shopping enjoyment in the apparel retailing context.

A cross‐section of US apparel consumers (n=342) constitutes the sample for the study. Analysis of variance and multiple comparisons are used to investigate differences in market cue perception among US generational cohorts.

Results indicate significant differences in the cohorts in terms of their perception of quality related to country‐of‐origin, price consciousness, prestige sensitivity and shopping enjoyment.

The results should not be extrapolated to markets outside of the USA. Further, the sample characteristics should be considered for interpretation and application of the results for US markets.

The findings related to the market cues provide both operational and strategic direction for apparel marketers and retailers in terms of country‐of‐origin quality, pricing policy and managerial efforts to control the shopping experience.

The research expands upon the general research into US generational cohorts and consumer behavior by incorporating the entire social cycle within a single study: millennials, the thirteenth generation, the baby boomers and the silent generation.