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For generations retailing has had to fight against its image as a second‐class occupation. Successive governments have tended to regard it as less important than manufacturing industry, and this view has been reinforced by careers officers who, in the palmy days when school‐leavers were in the privileged position of having an element of choice in their jobs, adopted a condescending if not dismissive attitude to “working in a shop”. If anything this attitude has been even more marked at graduate level; as our contributor writes, retailing has been generally neglected by universities, and even by many management centres and business schools. There are, of course, some exceptions. One of the most notable of these is the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology; UMIST was one of the first in the UK to develop courses in retailing, and these are described here in some detail. The author is only too well aware that there are a number of universities and polytechnics whose retail courses have not been mentioned in this feature; equally that there are personnel officers who will justifiably feel that they are not guilty of the charges levelled against them in the section entitled “Graduate Retailers”. We welcome correspondence from educational organisations or individuals who desire to put the record straight.

Telecommunications companies world‐wide are developing 3G mobile phones and applications. In the UK, mobile banking is considered to be one of the most value‐added and important mobile services available. However, the adoption rate of using 3G mobile phones for financial services is yet to be determined. The current research examined both innovative attributes and customers’ perceived risk in order to understand customers’ behaviour and motivation toward this innovation. It has advanced the theoretical frameworks of innovation and customers’ risk perception as new attributes and risk dimensions were identified. The findings provide banking executives with a better understanding of what are the perceived advantages and disadvantages of 3G mobile banking services, helping them to plan marketing strategies and promotion approaches for 3G mobile banking services in the future.

In spite of the ubiquity of seasonal and other retail “sales”, they have been curiously neglected within the marketing literature. This is most surprising, given their impact on profit‐margins, brand/store images, supplier‐retailer relationships and consumer behaviour. Since 1980, the effects of comparison price advertising on consumer behaviour have received growing attention from researchers, although much of this literature has been at the individual product level and confined to groceries. Builds on this research in the specific context of store wide “sales”, where the impact of reductions extends far beyond the sum of individual price changes. Based on focus groups and preliminary surveys of “sale” shoppers, develops and tests a typology of motivations. Presents a taxonomy of responses to “sales”, illustrating alternative behavioural responses. Concludes with a model of the “attitude problem” brought about by recession, overcapacity, overuse of the strategy and growing scepticism on the part of consumers.

Discusses the applications and limitations of current geodemographic classifications for the identification, segmentation and targeting of consumer markets. Then discusses future developments and opportunities drawing on the results of a Delphi Study conducted with market analysis industry experts. Issues discussed include factors inhibiting market development, market potential, 1991 census, computer developments, non‐census data‐bases, bespoke classifications, education and Europeanization.

Looks at consumer research in Greater China including Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Maps out the contributions within this area and guides future research. Examines the state of the art over the 1979‐97 period, with particular emphasis on the topics that have been researched, the extent of the theory development in the field and the methodologies used in conducting research. Uses content analysis to review 75 relevant articles. Suggests that, while a considerable breadth of topics have been researched, there remains much to be done, there is further room for theoretical development in Chinese consumer behaviour studies; and the methodologies used need improvement and further refinement.

The rapid development of retail management and marketing in research, theory and academic courses is reflected in this comprehensive collection on retail marketing.

It is no news that severe losses have been incurred by independent chemists over the last five to ten years, both in terms of numbers and share of turnover, and that to a great extent this has been due to increased competition from supermarkets and grocery multiples. In the past, research has been done into the distribution of retail pharmacies, but now a new study has been carried out by Peter McGoldrick and Emily Chan of UMIST. Their project has a rather different purpose. Instead of looking at shifts in share of trade, they choose to focus on the pharmacy customer, her shopping problems and attitudes, and this approach has pointed up ways in which the pharmacist as retailer can effectively develop his ‘over‐the‐counter’ trade — precisely that part of his business which up to now has been eroded by supermarkets and grocery multiples.

Some studies concerned with the allocation of tolerances have been published, but only a few deal with both cost and function. In order to overcome this drawback, and to tighten the liaison between design and production, work has been carried out in the area of tolerance, with cost, function and process capability the main parameters in mind. Such work is discussed, where the problem covered is the manner of specifying the component tolerances of an assembly, so that the resulting functional variables of the assembly can meet their respective functional requirements, and the cost of manufacturing all the components to their respective tolerances is minimised. It shows that, when manufacturing cost information and process capability information are available, functionally correct design at minimum cost can be achieved. Furthermore, how statistical analyses of the manufacturing processes involved can lead to the relaxation in requirements, thus, promoting industrial harmony while, at the same time, maintaining the desired levels of product quality and reliability, is shown.

Given the ways in which the research pressures on university staff are becoming seemingly ever greater, an issue of the European Journal of Marketing that is given over to a survey of the kinds of research initiatives which are currently being carried out is timely. The study which provides the basis for this was conducted between December 1994 and February 1995, with questionnaires being sent to staff in universities throughout Europe. At the time the final selection was made, a total of 150 responses had been received from 18 countries.

Global brands are attracted to emerging markets because of increasing wealth among their middle classes. However, amid increasing levels of consumer financial stress in many emerging markets, evidence points towards increased preferences for domestic products. The purpose of this paper is to examine the psychological constructs that mediate and moderate the relationship between reduced perceived financial well-being (PFWB) and domestic product purchases.

The authors develop a model drawing from three theoretical perspectives: consumer stress and coping, consumer information processing and social identity theory. Hypotheses are tested via structural equation modelling and moderated mediation analyses using data from a survey of Brazilian consumers (n=1,043).

Results show that the positive relationship between reduced PFWB and domestic product purchases is partially mediated by perceived value of global brands and frugality descriptive norm. Further analyses demonstrate that consumer confidence moderates the mediating effects of perceived value of global brands and pro-social consumer ethnocentrism on the relationship between reduced PFWB and domestic product purchases.

The antecedents of domestic product purchases identified in this study indicate opportunities for marketers of domestic and foreign products to respond to reduced PFWB, especially in relation to pricing, branding and communications. Future research should examine implications of PFWB on different populations, including other emerging markets, developed markets and lower-income consumers.

This study contributes to international marketing literature by examining the hitherto unexplored influence of reduced PFWB on domestic product purchases.