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Drawing on the resource-based view, this study aims to investigate the conditions under which small- and medium-sized retailers can improve competitive benefits through the lens of brand equity and strategies for competitive advantage in retail buying groups.

This study collected 241 samples from small- and medium-sized supermarket retailers who joined retail buying groups in Japan.

This study offers two key findings. First, the results indicate that a buying group’s brand equity partially mediates the relationship between member retailers’ strategic integration and their buying group benefits. Second, member retailers with a stronger differentiation orientation strengthen the positive impact of strategic integration on the buying group’s brand equity and buying group benefits. The moderating effects of low-cost orientation were not found to be significant.

To highlight the sustainable growth of small- and medium-sized retailers in retail buying groups, which are often ignored in the extant literature, this study offers practical guidance on the importance of a buying group’s brand equity. In addition, based on the findings, this paper postulates that member retailers pursuing differentiation orientation, rather than low-cost orientation, are more beneficial to retail buying groups in terms of relational outcomes and performance consequences.

By conceptualizing brand equity in retail buying groups, this study suggests a novel approach for retail management that investigates how a buying group’s brand equity is linked to strategic integration, strategies for competitive advantage and buying group benefits from the viewpoint of member retailers.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the conditions under which small independent retailers can improve their business performance by adopting a merchandising information orientation and strategically integrating into retailer buying groups.

This study tests hypotheses using a hierarchical multiple regression model and data obtained from 241 supermarket retailers that are existing members of buying groups in Japan.

The results indicate that merchandising information orientation alone may not be a beneficial strategy for small independent retailers to improve their business performance; however, by combining a merchandising information strategy with strong strategic integration with a buying group, optimal benefits can be achieved.

The findings highlight the potential benefits small independent retailers can gain from buying groups when pursuing a merchandising information orientation, which may prompt such retailers to actively integrate the policies and activities of the buying group into their business strategy.

The authors conceptualise retailers’ merchandising information in a model that demonstrates the link between a firm’s information strategy and its performance from the perspective of resource-based theory. Thus, this study advances the knowledge of the strategic behaviours of small independent retailers and provides valuable information for buying groups in the retail sector.

As an important form of the e-commerce industry, online group buying is under the spotlight from with two sides: cheaper price but longer waiting time. The purpose of this paper is to adequately investigate the interaction between saving and waiting time of group buying comprehensively.

To fill the research gap, the authors elaborate a dual-channel supply chain (SC) with regular retail (individual buying) and group-buying channel, and formulate the demand based on the consumer utility with the positive effect of saving money and the negative effect of wasting time.

The authors find that power structure only changes the optimal prices, instead of the waiting time. The selling price mainly influences consumer demands, instead of the price discount of group buying. The SC profits are only positive to the channel preference, and it is the decisive parameter of consumers' choice. The price sensitivity lays a more remarkable impact on the SC compared to the time sensitivity. Above all, the price is the main factor of group buying, instead of time.

These results underscore the improvement for the dual-channel SC of group buying, providing managerial insights for the group-buying industry.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the circumstances under which the retailers' use of the buying group's brand name may benefit them.

A sample of 121 retailers of home appliances, members of a buying group, provided useful information about the key variables of interest in this study through self‐administered questionnaires. That information was used to test the research model and the hypotheses proposed in the paper.

The data show that the retailer's use of the buying group's brand name is more capable of improving the retailer's economic satisfaction with the buying group when differentiation is perceived to be a source of competitive advantage, when environment is perceived as more dynamic and when the retailer is strategically integrated in the relationship with the buying group.

Sample is restricted to a limited type of retailers: retailers of electric appliances integrated in buying groups.

The implications extracted are of special interest for buying groups managers about the potential of the buying group's brand to generate value to the buying group's members.

Brand equity in business‐to‐business markets is still an under‐researched and very descriptive topic. Specifically, in the context of retailers' buying groups, the issue is completely missing. This paper reflects the current interest in brand research into non‐consumer relations by empirically demonstrating that brand equity is not only useful but also a powerful tool to explain value creation in business relationships.

To understand the potential for various types of retailers, it is essential to appreciate retailer' positioning in the marketplace. Positioning has a critical effect on retailers' competitiveness and performance. Despite the significance and popularity of retail positioning, a few gaps remain that prompt the need for this research. First, little has been written about positioning in the building materials distribution industry, as compared with other retail sectors. Second, the retail classification literature has rarely included positioning as a dimension of retailer characteristics, although, in essence, they are both ways to understand retailer strategy and behaviour. To fill these research gaps, the objective of this research is to contribute to retail positioning research, using the Swedish building material distribution industry as a study setting. Specifically, it has two key goals: to develop a classification framework focusing on the Swedish building material distribution market; and to analyse those distributors by strategic groups and identify their common business priorities.

This research looked at a majority of building material distributors in the Swedish market. A total of 23 interviews were conducted with managing directors or similar from case companies. Interviews ranged from 40 to 90 minutes in duration. This research adapted materials developed for other purposes in order to enhance and strengthen primary data.

This study develops a classification framework of building material distributors and provides an overview of distributors operating in the Swedish markets. Drawing on theory from retail positioning and classification, the research result suggests that the studied distributors can be classified into three strategic groups: DIY‐service focused; DIY‐cost focused; and builders' merchant (BM)‐service focused. Research also showed that distinguishing building material distributor by customer type is not as effective as it once was; there is a trend of internationalisation in the Swedish building material distribution industry; and distributors exert growing central control over certain areas, such as purchasing and marketing.

The building material distribution industry attracts little research attention when compared to other sectors, for instance food and grocery retailing. Given this, the value of this article lies in identifying the leading companies in Sweden and offering strategic analysis of their business developments and focus. Insights into building material distributors' supply requirements are provided.

Retail buyers' decisions result in billions of dollars of merchandise being purchased and offered for sale by retailers around the world. At present, retail buyers do not appear to be adequately harnessing consumer input to improve their forecasts. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue by introducing a new approach involving both retail buyers' consensus forecasts and those from a sample of “ordinary” consumers.

The authors introduce a new approach to online forecasting that involves both retail buyers' consensus forecasts and those from a sample of “ordinary” consumers.

The results suggest an opportunity to create what are termed retail prediction markets that offer significant potential to improve the accuracy of buyers' forecasts.

The authors go beyond crowd sourcing technology and show how retail prediction markets may offer significant potential to improve the accuracy of retail buyers' forecasts.

The Financial Times had a full house for their recent conference on Retailing in Europe. Chaired by Lady Hall, Fellow of Somerville College and an RDM Advisory Board member, and Mr. James Gulliver of Oriel Foods, the conference examined a number of issues of relevance to retailers with a European outlook. Some of the more recent newcomers on the retail scene will continue to develop: specialist discounters will expand fast in their own trades, and more conventional retailers will adopt forms of discount trading. Voluntary groups, already well‐established on the continent, will present UK voluntary groups with opportunities for international marketing. The march of the large‐scale units — hypermarkets or superstores, call them what you will — will certainly not be halted, but in Lady Hall's view it is probably the larger supermarket and multiple groups who will be directly affected by this development rather than the smaller independents. Finally Dr James Jefferys is of the opinion that the continent offers more opportunity for trying out new ideas than the UK. Prospects of further change, he thinks, are very strong indeed.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Small retailers are able to overcome their resource disadvantage by joining a retail buying group. Strategic integration with other group members and pursuit of a differentiation competitive strategy can enhance group brand equity and improve the benefits available to member firms.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Buying power within the European food sector is becoming concentrated within the hands of a relatively few but highly powerful retailing groups. This industry restructuring will have profound implications for all food manufacturers and processors during the next decade. Dairy companies, of any scale, will need to be innovative, flexible, produce high quality products and have good distribution links in order to survive. Established international dairy businesses such as BSN and Yoplait are sufficiently geared up to face a relatively secure future. It is the smaller nationally oriented dairy processors which will be most at risk from an increasingly concentrated and aggressive retailing sector.

Examines a list of the 50 largest retail firms in Europe in terms of sales. Looks at their differences and similarities and also forecasts their future. Draws valuable lessons for other organizations in the sames marketing areas.