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Distribution has been a major element of retailers′ marketing strategy in recent years as companies strive to control costs but at the same time seek competitive advantage through improving service to stores and gaining greater control of stock in the supply chain. In an interview survey of distribution directors from major multiple groups, all companies were reviewing their distribution strategy and many had made major changes to their distribution system. Centralisation of stock in strategically located RDCs and the use of third party contractors were main features of retail companies′ strategy. Contractors were much more aggressive in marketing their services to retailers than hitherto. This is partly related to the competitive and turbulent nature of the industry. In a survey of marketing directors/managers of distribution companies, it was clear that firms were trying to raise their profile in the market as they “went public” and/or because they were moving into new industry sectors away from their “core” specialist areas.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework to help business marketers with a mixed online and traditional retail channel (multi‐channel company) to find the optimal pricing strategy and market structure in order to maximize their profits.

A game theory model is developed to determine the optimal pricing strategy for the multi‐channel company.

It was demonstrated that an optimal pricing strategy exists under different market structures for a multi‐channel company. When a company uses multiple channels to sell its product, the optimal pricing strategy is to use a low‐high pricing strategy if the online marginal cost is equal to or less than the traditional marginal cost, or a high‐low pricing strategy if the online marginal cost is far larger than the traditional marginal cost. Furthermore, in order to maximize its profit, the company using multiple channels should adopt channel integration as the optimal market structure.

The present study assumed that all consumers have perfect information. However, information with the consumers could be incomplete. It is recommended that future research explore the pricing strategy under incomplete information settings.

The paper provides a very useful model framework, pricing strategy, and market structure for business managers who are using or planning to use multiple channels to sell their products.

This paper fills a conceptual and practical gap for a structured analysis of the current state of knowledge about multi‐channel pricing strategies. It provides practical and solid advice and examples demonstrating the application of the different types of pricing strategies for business managers.

Why do some retail networks operate shop-in-shops along with stand-alone units while others do not? Drawing on a resource-based and intellectual capital (IC) perspective as a broad theoretical lens, the purpose of this paper is to focus on retailer-run shop-in-shops and examine the determinants of their adoption.

To gain a comprehensive understanding of shop-in-shop adoption by retail branded networks, a research design mixing a quantitative study (n = 170) and a qualitative study (n = 19) was adopted to test nine hypotheses regarding these determinants of the adoption of retailer-run shop-in-shops and explore in greater depth the processes whereby they actually occur.

The main findings show that intangible resources are major determinants of the choice to operate shop-in-shops while tangible resources are minor determinants. The more robust results of the analysis lie in the positive effect of own-label merchandise range, premium pricing strategy, positioning based on symbols, retail concept fast renewal and high sector specialisation on the choice to operate a shop-in-shop. The effect of financial constraints on the decision to expand via shop-in-shops is limited.

The authors emphasise the importance of marketing-related and company-related characteristics in differentiating the likelihood of retail networks to expand via shop-in-shops. These results lend support to the relevance of a resource-based and IC perspective in explaining the propensity of retailers to develop via shop-in-shops.

The decision to operate shop-in-shops should depend on the extent to which intangible resources – the most important being retail positioning grounded in symbols, an own-label merchandise range, and a high retail branded network reputation – can be valued and enhanced. Expanding a retail network via shop-in-shops does not appear to be a financially constrained expansion strategy: it must be considered as a relevant first best strategy when an independent and young retail company has intangible resources to value but limited tangible resources.

The study contributes to channel management and retailing research in four ways. First, it precisely delineates the specific characteristics of shop-in-shops. Second, it provides theoretical explanations – based on a resource and IC perspective – of determinants that influence the choice of shop-in-shops. Third, it empirically tests the influence of marketing-related and company-related characteristics when adopting shop-in-shops. Fourth, it provides insights into how adopting shop-in-shops. To the authors’ knowledge, the research is on the first to analyse theoretically and test the determinants for the choice of retailer-run shop-in-shops.

To investigate the integration process of retailer's information technology strategy within logistics strategy and to find out those aspects of the retailer's distribution and operational performance that are mostly influenced via that integration.

A qualitative case study methodology is used where the managers of the major domestic and multinational firms operating in the Greek food multiple retail market are interviewed. The integration process of the information technology and logistics strategies of these retail firms is linked to their relevant distribution and operational functions. Secondary data for the Greek food multiple retail sector are also employed.

The findings show that logistics and information technology strategies are developed and implemented in a parallel way by both local and multinational food multiple retailers in Greece. A financial ratio analysis carried out for these firms, suggests that multinational firms possess greater operational efficiency at both secondary and in‐store distribution operations compared to domestic firms, something that is largely attributed to their integration of logistics and information technology operations. Multinational firms' superior operational efficiency is also resulting in a higher profitability performance.

The paper proposes that a successful integration process between the logistics and the information technology functions seems to confer a competitive advantage upon retailers' distribution operations. The paper will assist retail managers and researchers responsible for the development of logistics and information technology strategies to understand that fully absorbed information technology and logistics strategies and operations will be rewarded with superior pecuniary and operational efficiency benefits.

This paper seeks to explore antecedents for online success and conceptualizes the stages by which a small‐sized “pure‐player” has achieved profitable and sustainable e‐retail in the fashion sector by utilizing a multi‐niche strategy involving an e‐portfolio of five fashion‐related cyberstores.

This qualitative critical‐case utilizes the in‐depth interview technique and rich thematic data analysis to provide insight into e‐retail development, with conceptualizations inductively developed from the data. Findings are linked to business growth, e‐business strategy, portfolio management and entrepreneurship literatures.

Findings identify a staged, evolutionary approach to transactional cyberstore development and outline 20 key factors for e‐retail success. The “web‐weaving” process is conceptualized: this strategic “e‐portfolio management” approach identifies a multi‐niche opportunity for e‐retail, which spreads risk, maximizes revenue streams, utilizes knowledge economies/synergies across multiple‐web sites, promotes customer added value and offers potential for competitive advantage and sustainability for the smaller‐sized e‐retailer.

This is an in‐depth study of a single, long‐standing e‐retailer maintaining superior retention levels across an international customer base. That this enterprise bucks current trends by surviving (when 75 per cent e‐retail ventures fail) adds validity to web‐weaving as a sustainability strategy. Future research should explore this phenomenon within a wider inter/intra‐niche context to further contribute to the enhancement of e‐retail strategic marketing/enterprise development.

Implications indicate that a (niche) e‐portfolio strategy is perceived as defensible, from an owner‐director perspective, for sustaining a fashion e‐retail enterprise. Targeting multiple‐niches via “web‐weaving” provides a clear route to critical‐mass and sustainability, which could prove a valuable lesson for many small e‐retailers – potentially providing a framework for internet‐strategy development in other marketing domains.

This research presents a rich picture of how an e‐retail enterprise, in a highly competitive/dynamic market, can develop and sustain transactional e‐business over the longer‐term – presenting obvious implications to SME retail/marketing management.

The British retail banking market has changed markedly since the beginning of the 1970s, and important trends and developments have increased the competitive pressures facing banks. The whole nature of competition in British retail banking has altered. New competitors and new forms of competition have appeared with increasing rapidity. These changes and the associated pressures on banks have intensified during the 1980s. At the same time, banks have increased the comparative importance of retail banking within their strategies. These pressures and their associated implications for British retail banking strategy are explored. It is emphasised that marketing will need increasingly to dominate bank strategies in retail banking. This orientation towards marketing has important strategic and managerial consequences for banks.

We investigate the extended service strategy choices of competing manufacturers and examine their impact on the retail platform.

We construct a supply chain model with a retail platform as the leader and manufacturers as the followers. Manufacturers face differential consumer preferences on the same agency retail platform, and they can sell a bundled extended service product and sell a separate product without any extended service.

The sale of extended warranty services on the retail platform leads to lower pricing of the manufacturers' products and changes in the product market structure in response to differences in consumer preferences. The retailing platform tends to provide an extended warranty conditionally. The sale of extended warranty services on a retail platform would be detrimental to the interests of the manufacturer who sells products with extended warranty services and in favor of the manufacturer who sells products without them.

The equilibrium results of the retail platform’s non-sales and sales of extended warranty services for the no-extended warranty product under the same commission rate and differential commission rate models are discussed, and the product structure of the market is investigated, respectively.

Although inflation has abated somewhat in the United States, its specter still looms on the horizon. Indeed, inflation is expected to remain endemic to most advanced nations in the coming years. Perhaps no industry is as affected by inflation as retailing. In order to cope, retailers need to understand the changes in the behavior of their consumers, suppliers, and competitors and must formulate constructive strategies to respond to these.

This study aims to explore how a relational brand experience can be designed using an integrated retail experience. It addresses the research gap between relational brand experience strategy, retail experience design, as well as online-offline integration, by providing applicable tools and knowledge.

Based on a literature review, a relational experience analytical framework (REAF) was developed as a diagnostic tool for relational brand experience. A case study was then conducted using the REAF to determine the relational brand experience factors, strategies in practice and related initiatives.

Three distinguishing integrated relational brand experience factors were identified (online-offline integration, overall activeness and the centre of relationships). A typology for an integrated relational brand experience was established with clarifying experiential characteristics and the required initiatives for each type. Based on the findings, a framework was proposed for an integrated brand experience design and its application in the retail experience design process.

The frameworks and strategies proposed can serve as a guide to industry professionals in designing integrated relational brand experiences.

The theoretical contributions of this study are in clarifying the relational brand experience dimensions and an integrated relational brand experience strategy typology. It also illustrates the strategic application of integrated retail experience based on a brand experience strategy using the proposed framework and the process.

This paper aims to initially explore the effects of online retailing on corporate real estate strategies today, examining current trends and the approaches of leading edge retailers in this evolving marketplace. The UK has the greatest proportion of online sales worldwide.

Context is provided through existing literature, and the methodology considers specific case studies. Information from financial reports, websites and evidence directly from retailers is derived to examine selected sectoral responses (food shopping, fashion retailing and department stores) to online shopping. The research considers the interface between the virtual and physical retail landscapes.

The Internet is undeniably driving change, and large retailers have responded by embracing multi-channel sales strategies in which the adapted physical store remains a central element.

The case studies are arguably limited in their market assessment by examining only large retailers, but it is these retailers who occupy much of the real estate space in shopping centres. Data on Internet sales and retail space of individual retailers are not publicly available. This paper offers a qualitative introduction into ongoing research on the evolution of Internet retailing today.

For large retailers, a multi-channel corporate sales strategy is enhanced by physical stores that can act as showrooms and collection points and enhance consumer service. Multiple retailers have a competitive advantage in the form of store networks and a recognisable brand that they can exploit to capture the sales opportunities the Internet offers.

The paper is the first to collate and analyse corporate real estate strategic responses to online retailing.