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The purpose of this paper is to focus on the use of retail customer service as a value added component and potential success strategy for rural tourism retailers. More specifically, service quality expectations and perceptions as a means for segmenting tourism markets are to be examined.

Data were collected using a case study methodology in an established rural tourism community. Local customers, tourist customers, and retailers participated in the study. A canvassing approach was employed for administering a hand‐delivered, self‐report survey that examined parallel sets of service quality expectations and perceptions among the three groups, along with service satisfaction outcomes (i.e. retailer loyalty and purchase intentions). Descriptive analysis, factor analysis, t‐tests, and regression analysis were conducted.

Local and tourist customers' prior expectations for retail service quality were similar; however, local and tourist customers' post‐experience service quality perceptions differed significantly. A modified version of the SERVQUAL scale represented two service quality perception constructs important to local customers and retailers and one service quality perception construct for tourist customers.

Generalizability of findings may be limited as the in‐depth study was conducted within a single rural tourism community in Iowa.

The study sheds light on service quality perception dimensions that are salient to local customers, tourist customers, and retailers. Results aid in the development of customer relationship management strategies for both local and tourist customers and enhanced competitive options for rural tourism retailers.

Findings provide baseline information regarding customer relationship management strategies aimed at establishing rural tourism retailer sustainability by simultaneously meeting service expectations and enhancing service perceptions for local and tourist customers.

This study aims to understand how retailscape of pop-up stores could influence young Chinese tourists’ emotional response and their subsequent shopping intention in the context of luxury retailing.

A quantitative approach was chosen. Building on the theoretical framework of the stimulus–organism–response (S–O–R) theory, a pop-up store retailscape behavior model was developed to explore the effect of retailscape on young Chinese tourists’ emotional response and patronage intention in a luxury retail setting. In total, 226 structured questionnaires were collected onsite.

The multiple regression analysis reveals that a luxury pop-up store’s retailscape has a positive influence on young Chinese tourists’ emotional response, but it only has a partial influence on their patronage intention. In addition, the result suggests that young Chinese tourists’ emotional response positively influences their patronage intention in luxury pop-up stores.

The study reveals how retailscape influences behavior among the younger generation, and the results provide important references for the luxury retailers in future design and management of pop-up stores so as to attract and retain the interest of the younger generation.

This study puts retailscape effect under scrutiny in the context of luxury pop-up stores which attract young Chinese tourists, who are regarded as one of the major patrons supporting exclusive retail brands in the world. The stimuli element in the S–O–R model is, thus, reexamined in the context of luxury pop-up stores.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which luxury brand retailers use new technologies as a tool for corporate marketing communication.

The authors used a multiple-case study approach consisting of five information-rich cases, with the similar characteristics of large firms selling luxury brands which are aware of the importance of innovation. In each company, the authors interviewed the key person in charge of marketing innovation strategies and collected data from annual reports, press releases and direct observation of all the new technology categories used.

The findings of this paper reveal that this sector is considerably aware of the benefits of using new media as a marketing communication tool, while the effective use of these new media is still limited.

This paper provides an empirical contribution to the emerging topic of innovation and technology management in retailing, with the emphasis being placed on the luxury sector through an in-depth investigation of the usage of new technologies by the firms studied.

This paper is the first one investigating thoroughly the luxury sector usage of new technologies to improve corporate marketing communication.

This study aims to focus on the unique challenges of retail service delivery in rural tourism markets. This paper specifically seeks to address: factors attracting individuals to a rural tourism community; factors motivating resident and tourist customers to engage in tourism shopping; satisfaction of resident and tourist customers with local retailers; and strategies to assist retailers in successful service delivery.

Using Dillman's survey techniques, data were collected from two different groups: resident customers and tourist customers in a rural Iowa tourism community. Given the study's exploratory focus, a case study methodology was selected.

Shopping experiences were much less satisfying for resident customers than for tourist customers in this study. Tourism retailers may not be effectively differentiating their customer service and providing adequate attention during the shopping experience, particularly to resident customers.

One limitation is that the study represents an initial test of self‐designed and/or modified scales to capture the variables of interest in a single rural tourism community in Iowa. Therefore findings may only be generalizable to the unique nature of an established tourist population in Midwestern regions of the USA.

An important implication from this study is rural tourism retailers need to develop a comprehensive customer relationship management strategy to encourage repeat shopping and sustained patronage behavior.

This study provides valuable strategic implications for rural tourism entrepreneurs, business consultants and economic development professionals in rural tourism communities, and fills a void in the tourism and patronage literature.

This study seeks to determine differences between recruitment processes and methods and training practices used in small and large businesses in the retailing, manufacturing, and tourism sectors in an emerging economy, Barbados.

The research utilized a quantitative survey covering 49 retailing, manufacturing and tourism‐oriented organizations to ascertain whether small organizations practice the procedures and methods outlined in the prescriptive literature on recruitment and training compared with large organizations. Institutional theory and resource‐based view informed the research.

It was found that recruitment processes and methods and training practices vary among small and large organizations. It suggests that, in Barbados, small businesses are likely to rely on informal recruitment methods and informal training practices compared with large businesses.

This study is only conducted across the retailing, manufacturing and tourism sectors in Barbados. The findings may have implications for management in other sectors, and small and large businesses in emerging economies.

The results provide academics and managers in both large and small businesses with insights into recruitment and training practices in small and large businesses in an emerging economy.

This paper contributes to the limited research done on recruitment and training activities among small‐sized and large‐sized firms in the English‐speaking Caribbean.

This paper aims to understand Chinese tourists’ changing shopping experience in Macao. In scrutinizing reviews posted in the pre-COVID and during COVID eras, the study has identified changing patterns in Chinese tourists’ shopping experiences, including increased leisure components while shopping, decreased luxury pursuits and an improved overall leisure and shopping experience because of decreased prices in accommodation and a less crowded retail and leisure environment. An emergent opportunity to provide “retail-tainment” experience is discussed.

The purpose of this study is to assess the evolution of restaurant locations in the city of Hamilton over a 12‐year period (1996 to 2008) using GIS techniques. Retail theories such as central place, spatial interaction and principle of minimum differentiation are applied to the restaurant setting.

A database of restaurants was compiled using the NZ yellow pages and contained 981 entries that consisted mainly of location addresses and types of cuisine. This paper focuses on locational patterns only.

A process of geo‐coding and clustering enabled the identification of two clustering periods over 12 years for city restaurants, indicating locational patterns of agglomeration within a short walking distance of the CBD and spill over effects to the north of the city.

The data do not allow statistical analysis of the variables causing the clustering but offer a visual description of the evolution. Explanations are offered on the possible planning regimes, retail provision and population changes that may explain this evolution.

The findings allow identification of land use patterns in Hamilton city and potential areas where new restaurants could be developed. Also, the usefulness of geo‐coded data in identifying clustering effects is highlighted.

Existing location studies relate mostly to site selection criteria in the retailing industry while few have considered the evolution of restaurant locations in a specific geographic area. This paper offers a case study of Hamilton city and highlights the usefulness of GIS techniques in understanding locational patterns.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the papers in this Special Issue of IJCTHR on dark tourism. These papers take either a demand‐side, supply‐side, or integrated demand‐and‐supply side perspective to understanding dark tourism. Collectively, the papers explore tourist experiences at dark sites, the management of dark sites, ethical issues in profit making, and the involvement of indigenous peoples in site management.

This editorial draws lessons from the papers presented in the Special Issue.

Just as we contemplate our mortality in different ways in our daily lives, so we contemplate death in different ways in tourism praxis. The papers presented here stretch the boundaries of the current definition of dark tourism. We move beyond a discussion of classifications of dark tourism to recognise dark tourism as both an individual experience and a complex socio‐cultural phenomenon.

The move from a purely descriptive to an experiential and critical investigation of dark tourism bodes well for the development of a dark tourism body of knowledge. This paper suggests several avenues for future research on dark tourism.

Due to the emergent use of social media for marketing purposes, and the limited number of studies focusing on the use of social media by firms, the purpose of this paper is to explore the inclusion of social networks in the traditional marketing mix models.

A sample of 20 small and large Italian liquor producers was used, and their Facebook profiles were content analyzed.

The results provide evidence about the emerging shift from the use of social media for communication purposes through static advertising (characterized by pictures and slogans), to its use as an interactive channel that can influence consumers’ purchasing behaviour through multimedia tools (i.e. games and interactive applications able to solicit users’ interest), by emphasizing the extent to which a higher level of participation by a firm involves a higher level of consumer interaction. The findings also suggest that the firm’s participation should be considered as a new element of the traditional marketing mix model and as an additional tool for efficient market sizing and sensing.

The study offers findings on actual usage of Facebook as part of marketing mix strategies based on large and small enterprises operating in the food and beverage sector, where a dearth of studies is observed. The study enhances and advances the social media and marketing literatures.

This paper aims to extend the knowledge of travelers’ shopping behaviors at airport duty-free stores by investigating the role of multiple quality factors, value dimensions, trust and satisfaction. Moreover, the influence of possible barriers to airport shopping is examined.

Quantitative data collection including a survey was used. A structural equation modeling was used for data analysis.

The results showed that the proposed conceptual framework provided sufficiently explained travelers’ post-purchase intentions for airport duty-free shopping. Hedonic value and trust in airport duty-free shopping were of greatest importance in determining intentions. The quality of products and physical environment also showed relative importance among cognitive drivers. The findings from the metric invariance test indicated the significant moderating impact of travelers’ perceived barriers to airport shopping. The mediating impact of study variables was also identified.

Findings help airport practitioners improve their knowledge of travelers’ shopping behaviors at airport duty-free stores and help them to develop efficient methods to facilitate air travelers’ commercial activities at an airport.

Non-aeronautical business is emerging as a means of revenue maximization in the airport industry, yet there is a lack of understanding about air travelers’ commercial activities at airports. This study filled this void through the development of sturdy framework for air travelers’ non-aeronautical commercial activities at an airport.