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In the May/June 1982 issue of RDM we published an article by Stuart Eliot of UMIST which discussed the contribution that superstores can make to inner city areas. In this article Leigh Sparks develops some of the points made by Stuart Eliot, and in particular discusses the employment and locational policies of superstore retailers in more detail. However, there are considerable costs involved for retailers in opting for inner city location, as has already been pointed out by more than one major retailer. Occupancy costs — especially rates and car‐parking — are considerably more than the same costs in an edge‐of‐town location. There are also indirect costs in terms of the greater risks arising out of vandalism and shrinkage. Distribution and handling costs are, in general terms, lower in single‐storey stores which are more suited to edge‐of‐town locations. But, argues Leigh Sparks, why should retailers be expected to pay the cost of the government's inner city dilemma? The government should recognise the contribution that inner city superstores can make in employment and social terms, and extend inducements to retailers by way of capital expenditure and rates allowances.

The purpose of this paper is to present the background to the development of the World Towns’ Framework, developed in June 2016 at the inaugural World Towns Leadership Summit in Scotland. The paper also provides an academic underpinning to the four pillars of the agreement; a unique sense of identity and place, economy, leadership and citizenship and environment. It ends with a call to action for practitioners, policymakers and organisations providing support to people in places who want to contribute to the development of the Framework and adopt it.

The paper is divided into four sections. The first section gives the background to the development of the World Towns Framework. The second section publishes the World Towns Framework in its entirety. The third section builds an evidence-base for the components or pillars of the World Towns Framework, based upon work undertaken by the think tanks and academic partners involved in its development. The final section sets out a call for action – explaining how the Framework can be further developed and utilised.

The paper contains three main contributions. It articulates a new narrative for towns, neighbourhoods and city districts in responding to contemporary urban challenges; it shapes a new urban agenda for these urban places and it asserts the need for new alliances and approaches essential for a strong competitive economy, which is more inclusive of towns and smaller places, combined with a fairer, more equal society.

The evidence base for the research is limited to the work that has been carried out by the academic institutions and think tanks that supported the development of the World Towns’ Framework.

The practical implication of the World Towns Framework are a shared understanding of how towns and smaller places can engage in management, development and marketing practices that will lead to a stronger economy and fairer society.

The focus upon place uniqueness and identity, a more equitable economy, a greener and cleaner environment and stronger place leadership and citizenship can lead to better, fairer and more liveable places.

This is the first attempt to develop a World Towns Framework to shape urban change outside of cities and metropoles.

The purpose of this paper is to extend the understanding of the influence of slogans (e.g. “Dare for More”) on brand awareness and purchase behaviour of students.

Data were collected thorough 34 in-depth face-to-face interviews with university students, using the customer decision process model as an approach.

The authors’ research confirmed that conciseness, rhythm and jingle are key features strengthening customers’ recall and recognition, both being moderators of slogans’ power. The role and influence of slogans depend on the stage of the customer decision-making process. Key influencers remain product quality, popularity and price, but appropriate and memorable slogans enhance products’ differentiation and sale.

The authors’ findings deliver a particular justification for marketers not to promise young consumers too much through slogans, as this leads to too high expectations adversely influencing their post-purchase feelings. During the information search, slogans can create or strengthen or weaken the willingness to buy the advertised product, depending on the slogan, thus emphasising the need for care over slogan design and use.

This research expands the understanding of slogans and brand awareness from the perspective of their impact on purchase behaviour. The results revealed that the model approach to shopping behaviour does not confirm the belief that slogans influence consumers the most during the phase of Evaluation of Alternatives. Slogans provide a reference point for young consumers to decide whether they are satisfied or dissatisfied with their purchase during the post-purchase phase and provide information during the information search phase. The authors’ results add to the literature in terms of the criteria determining consumers’ recognition and recall of slogans.

While some football clubs are recognised as popular brands, little is known about the way they leverage their brand in their merchandise retailing. To address this gap the purpose of this paper is to investigate retail branding strategies used by professional football clubs through brand equity and supply chain management. In particular, it analyses the type of product merchandised, the reasons for selling certain products and the ways through which football clubs merchandise, including their partners in distribution channels.

A qualitative approach was undertaken involving content analysis of 22 Scottish professional football clubs’ websites and annual reports, and semi-structured interviews with seven football clubs retail managers and four supply chain partners. Transcribed data were coded and thematically organised through an inductive process using the qualitative data analysis software NVivo 10.

Three types of merchandise have been identified: basic, fashion and short season. Building brand equity is considered the main motive for retailing merchandise. Some football clubs use intermediaries or outsourcers to respond to sudden consumer demands and to ensure high levels of service, whereas others have an integrated supply chain which allows for greater control.

This paper contributes to the discussion on the role of retailing in football club brand equity. It suggests initiating intermediaries in the distribution channels to build brand equity thus enabling clubs to become more responsive to consumer demand.

This is the first paper to look at retail branding strategies of professional football clubs.

This paper aims to investigate place-based loyalty schemes and place marketing. It focuses on the practical issues of implementation and use as perceived by place managers and businesses.

The investigation incorporated a three-stage procedure: focus group, quantitative data analysis and semi-structured interviews with place managers and business managers.

The study showed wide interest and potential for place based loyalty schemes, acknowledged by all stakeholder groups. The major concerns were practical issues such as complexity, security of data and costs of implementation (equally time/effort and money). The key finding is the need for simplicity to avoid competing desires and priorities.

Place marketing is claimed to be a priority for town and city managers. There is less agreement however on how to achieve effective place marketing. The authors show how different stakeholders have different views and how these need to be considered to obtain the benefits all agree are possible.

Recent years have seen a plethora of media comments about prices in Britain compared to overseas. This “rip‐off Britain” campaign culminated with the two‐year Competition Commission enquiry into supermarket retailing. International price comparisons, however, are not straightforward and there are many difficulties in their undertaking and in reporting such a complicated subject. This paper examines a BBC TV main news report on the night of the publication of the Competition Commission report and illustrates the problems in covering the subject. If we are to really understand pricing in British businesses compared to overseas, then much more sophisticated research and reportage is required.

The 1990s have seen a major expansion in both the interest in retailing as an academic research subject and in the availability of European retail academic journals. Using a bibliometric approach, this paper investigates the development of published academic retail research in these journals. It identifies different emphases within the retail journals and retail research. Overall, however, retailing is identified increasingly as a synthetic rather than an interdisciplinary subject. A gulf between the direction that European scholars and US scholars are following is considered.

Argos is Europe’s most successful catalogue showroom retailer, with annual sales of over £2.0bn. Its success is dependent on many aspects of its retail system, but arguably the key component is the requirement to get the catalogue into the hands of potential customers. The catalogues are therefore advanced selling systems in their own right, which provide information on product retailing and consumption of the time. This paper takes the first Argos catalogue of 1973/1974 and compares it with the 50th catalogue produced in 1998. Whilst using arbitrary dates and issues, the analysis allows us to consider aspects of retailing, product and consumer change. The comparison demonstrates changes in presentation techniques and merchandising. The product mix is much altered with considerable product development, both in terms of technological change and “lifestyle” components.

The proliferation of retail loyalty schemes has been one of the most marked features of retail marketing in the 1990s. Many retailers have one in some guise or other. Their sheer volume has meant that some have begun to question whether there is a limit to loyalty. Presents results from exploratory research that demonstrates that consumers may be becoming more wary of cards and schemes and being more selective. Managerial lessons from this are developed.

The UK food retailing sector has undergone a radical transformation over the last 70 or so years. It has become a sector dominated by very large businesses with considerable power over both the upstream and downstream supply chain. The scale and power of those leading retailers has attracted considerable academic focus and political attention. In the first two decades of the twenty-first century, global concern has emerged via a number of grand challenges including sustainability. Retailers have increasingly sought to address issues of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability, both to stave off criticism and for reasons of operational efficiency. The scale of the UK’s leading food retailers thus becomes a two-edged sword; should these retailers be co-opted in the fight for global sustainability or radically challenged as the cause of many of the problems? This chapter reviews the changing roles of food retailers, their steps in CSR and then poses the question as the future role of retailers in this changing environmental landscape.