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1 – 10 of over 38000Sharon M. Davidson and Amy Rummel
The state of Maine was selected for study, since adequate sales tax records were available during the early 1990s, when Wal‐Mart entered the state. The sales tax reports were used…
Abstract
The state of Maine was selected for study, since adequate sales tax records were available during the early 1990s, when Wal‐Mart entered the state. The sales tax reports were used to document the retail sales of Wal‐Mart towns, neighboring towns, and other towns in the state, in the years before and after a Wal‐Mart store’s arrival. The change in each community’s various categories of retail trade (building supply, food stores, general merchandise, other retail, auto and restaurants) was examined. The results indicate that the towns in each of the three categories were affected in the same manner: Wal‐Mart towns attract new shoppers and total retail sales increased at rates substantially higher than other towns in the state, while neighboring towns’ retail sales levels declined or increased at very low rates.
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Nari Sivanandam Arunraj and Diane Ahrens
Weather is often referred as an uncontrollable factor, which influences customer’s buying decisions and causes the demand to move in any direction. Such a risk usually leads to…
Abstract
Purpose
Weather is often referred as an uncontrollable factor, which influences customer’s buying decisions and causes the demand to move in any direction. Such a risk usually leads to loss to industries. However, only few research studies about weather and retail shopping are available in literature. The purpose of this paper is to develop a model and to analyze the relationship between weather and retail shopping behavior (i.e. store traffic and sales).
Design/methodology/approach
The data set for this research study is obtained from two food retail stores and a fashion retail store located in Lower Bavaria, Germany. All these three retail stores are in same geographical location. The weather data set was provided by a German weather service agency and is from a weather station nearer to the retail stores under study. The analysis for the study was drawn using multiple linear regression with autoregressive elements (MLR-AR). The estimated coefficients of weather variables using MLR-AR model represent corresponding weather impacts on the store traffic and the sales.
Findings
The snowfall has a significant effect on the store traffic and the sales in both food and fashion retail stores. In food retail store, the risk due to snowfall varies depending on the location of stores. There are also significant lagging effects of snowfall in the fashion retail store. However, the rainfall has a significant effect only on the store traffic in the food retail stores. In addition to these effects, the sales in the fashion retail store are highly affected by the temperature deviation.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations in availability of data for the weather variables and other demand influencing factors (e.g. promotion, tourism, online shopping, demography of customers, etc.) may reduce efficiency of the proposed MLR-AR model. In spite of these limitations, this study can be able to quantify the effects of weather variables on the store traffic and the sales.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the field of retail distribution by providing significant evidence of relationship between weather and retail business. Unlike previous studies, the proposed model tries to consider autocorrelation property, main and interaction effects between weather variables, temperature deviation and lagging effects of snowfall on the store traffic or the sales. The estimated weather impacts from this model can act as a reliable tool for retailers to explain the importance of different non-catastrophic weather events.
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Linda S. Pettijohn and Charles E. Pettijohn
The retail environment of the future is likely to be increasinglycompetitive. Department and specialty stores must provide services whichdistinguish them from the competition. One…
Abstract
The retail environment of the future is likely to be increasingly competitive. Department and specialty stores must provide services which distinguish them from the competition. One method that may be used in attaining a distinctive position entails the development of a well‐trained, skilled retail salesforce. Examines retail sales training from the perspectives of 202 retail salespeople employed by full‐service retailers. Provides insight into the amount of training which should be provided and the topics which should be included in sales training programs.
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Chao Yu, Chuanxu Wang and Suyong Zhang
This paper aims to analyze the impact of the cost coefficient of product emission reduction, coefficient of low-carbon product advertising effort cost, and sharing ratio of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyze the impact of the cost coefficient of product emission reduction, coefficient of low-carbon product advertising effort cost, and sharing ratio of low-carbon product advertising effort cost on the profit of a dual-channel supply chain. After determining the best model and relevant influencing factors, the paper puts forward corresponding management inspirations and suggestions.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper opts for an exploratory study using Stackelberg game theory to construct a centralized decision-making (MC mode), a low carbon product advertising effort cost free sharing decentralized decision-making (SD model) and a low carbon product advertising effort cost sharing decentralized decision-making (JD model) game model. Through using optimization methods to get the equilibrium solution, the relevant management suggestions are obtained by comparison analysis.
Findings
The paper shows that the JD model is better than the SD model in terms of the profits of the manufacturer, retailer and supply chain, and the improvement of Pareto is realized. The proportion of cost sharing of low carbon product advertising effort is positively related to the wholesale price and direct influence coefficient of low carbon product advertising effort on channel, while negatively related to the retail price and the cross influence coefficient of low carbon product advertising effort on alternative channels. Under the JD model, the manufacturer can reduce advertising costs through improving the efficiency and pertinence of direct channel advertising and urging the retailer to do a better job in sales management to improve gross margin and require the retailer to increase advertising efficiency and pertinence of retail channel to reduce advertising costs of retail channel and other ways to increase their profits. The retailer can make use of its advantages closer with consumers to improve the efficiency and pertinence of advertising in the retail channel to raise the influence coefficient of advertising and reduce the advertising cost in the retail channel.
Originality/value
The innovations of this paper are listed as follows: First, it has considered advertising investment from both the manufacturer and the retailer simultaneously. Second, it has considered a low-carbon background to investigate cooperative advertising decision for low-carbon products. Third, it has considered the decision on the level of product emission reduction and the level of low-carbon product advertising effort investment simultaneously.
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Jean-Louis Bertrand and Miia Parnaudeau
Retailers have long been aware that weather affects the sales of a myriad of products, but until now, most were not in a position to manage the risks weather presents. Rising…
Abstract
Purpose
Retailers have long been aware that weather affects the sales of a myriad of products, but until now, most were not in a position to manage the risks weather presents. Rising weather variability combined with advances in weather-index financial instruments have prompted new interest in investigating the relationship between sales and weather. The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of changes in weather on UK retail sales, to estimate the contribution of weather to sales, and evaluate the maximum potential loss caused by adverse weather, for each season and retail sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors present a methodology to identify and quantify the extent to which a company is exposed to weather risks, in order to incorporate them into its risk management policy and take actions to mitigate these risks. For each season and each retail category, the authors provide a measure of the impact of weather on sales that can be used as a benchmark to analyse sales performance.
Findings
The authors propose a new risk assessment indicator to evaluate the potential losses caused by adverse weather (WeatherRisk). The authors show that intra-annual changes in weather significantly affect retail sales. The exposure of retail categories to weather are not the same depending on the season, and the response of individual retail categories to the same change in weather varies considerably. Although temperature is a predominant explanatory variable, the authors show that weather-sensitivity analysis should include precipitation, humidity rate and wind.
Research limitations/implications
One limitation of this study is that the authors individually compute WeatherRisk for each significant weather variable. Further research could explore new approaches to evaluate Total WeatherRisk, which take into account potential multicollinearity issues between weather variables.
Practical implications
The methodology allows retailers to measure the effects of weather on sales performance, evaluate the risks at stake, and protect sales and margins from weather risks, with newly available index-based financial instruments. Managers may now actively use weather as a differential advantage, and at the same time focus their efforts on improving resiliency to increasing climate variability.
Originality/value
In this paper, the authors produce a detailed analysis of the exposure of each retail sectors to unseasonal weather. This is the first time all retail sectors are analysed and ranked per season at a national level. The authors provide managers with actionable information to improve their understanding of how weather impact sales over each season, and to allow them to structure weather-index-based instruments with financial partners.
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Danny Claro, Valter Afonso Vieira, Raj Agnihotri and Rafael Serer
As manufacturers and retailers aim to increase return on marketing investments, value- vs experience-related trade promotions gain attention. These two trade promotions become…
Abstract
Purpose
As manufacturers and retailers aim to increase return on marketing investments, value- vs experience-related trade promotions gain attention. These two trade promotions become complicated in the presence of different retail format strategies (generalist vs specialist) and channel structures (direct to retailer vs distributors). Building on trade promotion literature, this study aims to show the main effect of value-related and experience-related trade promotions on retailers’ sales and the moderating role of different retail strategies and channel structures.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use unique panel data from 8 personal care brands with 1,920 observations to test the hypotheses. The authors investigate how consumer goods manufacturer sells products using different channels structures and retail strategies. Estimated panel regressions provide the empirical evidence and robustness analyzes provide extra confidence to the findings.
Findings
Results reveal higher retail sales when the manufacturer invests in value-related trade promotions rather than experience-related trade promotions. The results also demonstrate how the manufacturer successfully invests in trade promotion by adequately accounting for channel structure and retail strategy. While temporary price reduction’s positive effect on retail sales is enhanced in generalist retailers (e.g. supermarket stores), shelf display’s positive impact is enhanced in specialist retailers (drug stores).
Research limitations/implications
The authors used unique panel data accounting for 15 months, limiting the findings. The results supported the investment allocation decisions in each period. However, future research may evaluate the effectiveness over a longer period and thoroughly address each investment’s seasonal effects.
Practical implications
The authors unveil how retailers achieve higher sales with value-related trade promotions when compared to experience-related trade promotions. The authors also shed light on the way manufacturers design their relationships with generalist and specialist retailers by working in direct and indirect channels. Trade promotions yield better results when the direct channel structure couples with a retailer’s generalist strategy.
Originality/value
The empirical findings help manufacturers achieve success in trade promotions by developing an equitable evaluation to contrast value- and experience-related promotions accounting for generalist and specialist retail strategies and direct and indirect channels.
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Julie Johnson‐Hillery, Jikyeong Kang and Wen‐Jan Tuan
Suggests that a significant trend affecting American society today is the dramatic rise in the number of persons aged over 65. Consequently, retailers are interested in knowing…
Abstract
Suggests that a significant trend affecting American society today is the dramatic rise in the number of persons aged over 65. Consequently, retailers are interested in knowing how this segment can be best served in the marketplace. Outlines a study which utilized person perception theory to examine how retail sales personnel’s perceptions relate to elderly consumers’ satisfaction. Results indicate that elderly consumers viewed older sales personnel more positively than they viewed younger sales personnel. Also reveals that retail sales personnel’s perceptions of elderly consumers’ marketplace preferences and satisfaction were significantly different from those reported by elderly consumers. In addition to the theoretical implications, findings provide retailers with valuable information for improving their service to elderly consumers.
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A. Meenaghan and Peter W. Turnbull
Reviews product life cycle theory and examines empirical evidence. Reports on empirical research carried out to determine the applicability of the theory to popular record…
Abstract
Reviews product life cycle theory and examines empirical evidence. Reports on empirical research carried out to determine the applicability of the theory to popular record products. Proposes a framework of the relationship between the producer life cycle and the marketing mix.
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This study aims to examine the evolution of category killers or big‐box retailers over a 17‐year time span and the impact that this retail format has had on seven retail sectors…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the evolution of category killers or big‐box retailers over a 17‐year time span and the impact that this retail format has had on seven retail sectors, sales revenue, and per capita retail consumption in the USA.
Design/methodology/approach
Sales revenue, average store size and per capita income were examined over a 17‐year period – 1988‐2004 – for the book, sporting goods, home center, electronic, toy, home furnishings and the grocery sector (warehouse stores) to determine the effect of large retail formats on sales revenue and per capita spending.
Findings
This longitudinal study demonstrates that evolving to big‐box formats had a positive impact on both sales revenue and per capita spending in each of the retail sectors.
Research/limitations/implications
It is a starting‐point for fully understanding the impact of large retail formats on the retail industry.
Originality/value
The evolution of large format retailers has not been studied from a macro view. Most studies have focused on their impact on small markets. This study focuses on the overall trend and examines their impact on the industry and per capita spending.
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In contrast to rents which are prescribed by contract to remain fixed or constant during the term of a lease, the expression variable rents simply implies that the rent to be paid…
Abstract
In contrast to rents which are prescribed by contract to remain fixed or constant during the term of a lease, the expression variable rents simply implies that the rent to be paid during the tenure of occupancy will be subject to change with the passage of time.