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US retail executives' perspectives of the future of apparel retailing were explored in this study. Data were collected through personal interviews conducted at the 1996 National Retail Federation (NRF) Convention in New York City. Current and future changes in demographic, consumer behavioural and technological trends impacting apparel retailing were studied; current challenges in the apparel retailing field were discussed and future business strategies were recommended. Respondents' predictions include the emergence of a new competitive culture focused on the development of unique products and business strategies beyond price‐based retail competition. Retail executives recommend the development of niche markets and strong product development programmes. Based on study results, implications for retail practitioners and researchers are discussed with relevant hypotheses inductively generated from study findings. The research was funded, in part, by the Graduate Student Research Fund, College of Family and Consumer Sciences, Iowa State University.

After China's accession to the WTO, different formats of retailing outlets have emerged and competition within China's apparel retail market has become keener. This paper presents a comparison research on four influential retailing outlets in the current Shanghai apparel retail market: upscale shopping centers, modern shopping malls, joint discount superstores (joint ventures with foreign retail giants), and manufacturers' wholly‐owned flagship stores (factory outlets). Corresponding to each retailing outlet, Plaza 66, Grand‐Gateway Mall, Carrefour Store in Quyang Road, and Youngor Flagship Store in Nanjing Road are studied, with an investigation of apparel brands covered by each. The results identify the four retailing outlets' characteristics, and future prospects in the Chinese apparel retail market are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a taxonomy to describe and synthesize the retail strategies and store formats in the fast-changing modernization context of emerging markets. It identifies how these different formats are related to the existing literature about retail evolution. The paper proposes analogies between the empirical findings and the Big Middle Theory model developed by Levy et al. (2005).

Structured observations and personal interviews were conducted with managers/owners of 108 apparel stores located in three unplanned shopping districts in São Paulo, Brazil. Cluster analysis was used to derive the store formats.

The results identify four store formats – old fashioned, price focused, specialized, and consolidated – reflecting diverse marketing strategies and different stages in the retailing modernization cycle. There is a striking resemblance between these empirically derived formats and the four types of retail segments (Big Middle, Low price, Innovative, and in Trouble) proposed by the Big Middle model.

There are limitations due to the exploratory nature of the research: the specific context (São Paulo, apparel retail sector) where the empirical data was collected restricts the generalization of the results to other situations; lack of precision in the appraisal of the variables might limit the research replicability. Nevertheless, this research contributes to expanding the scarce knowledge about the retailing phenomenon in emerging markets. An extension of the Big Middle model is suggested to depict the existing retail formats in emerging markets, offering therefore a theoretical contribution to the retail literature.

The study provides retailers with a framework against which to map their format, competitive strategy, and stages of the modernization cycle, enabling them to better adjust the configuration of their marketing mix variables. It also offers a classification scheme of stores formats which will help to describe the apparel retailing industry in emerging markets.

Public policies are suggested to technically assist the modernization process and survival of more vulnerable retail formats.

Considering the fast-growing economic importance of the new “low-middle class” of emerging markets, and also the relevance of apparel retailing, this research is relevant and unique because it helps to bridge a gap in the limited literature and knowledge in this area.

The Indian retailing industry has undergone dramatic changes because of the government's recent liberalization in retail sectors along with the country's rapid economic development and emerging consumer groups with market power. Despite the increasing importance of India in the global market, little is known about apparel retail sectors in India and the information available is fragmented and under‐developed. The purpose of this paper is to assess the competitiveness of the Indian apparel retail industry and the changing market conditions since the 2006 retail trade liberalization to identify the opportunities and challenges of operating in the Indian market.

This study employs Porter's diamond model as the theoretical framework. This study conducts an extensive review of published documents including academic journals, trade publications, and government and industry web sites and discusses them within the framework of the diamond model.

By analyzing the multi‐determinants of the diamond model (factor conditions, demand conditions, related and supporting industries, firm strategy and rivalry and the role of government), the authors identified key opportunities and challenges of entering the Indian apparel retail industry.

This study provides a comprehensive view of the rapidly evolving Indian apparel retailing industry by evaluating multi‐dimensions of competitive conditions in Porter's model.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of consumers' shopping orientation on their satisfaction level with the product search and purchase behavior using multi‐channels.

A total of 181 students in a large US mid‐western university provided usable responses to the survey. Exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression analyses were employed to examine the research questions.

The results showed that more than three quarters of the respondents shopped via the internet and catalogs, and about 95 percent shopped at non‐local retailers. About 60 percent reported that they never shopped from TV shopping channels. Confident/fashion‐conscious shopping orientation and catalog/internet shopping orientation were found to be key predictors of customer satisfaction level with information search via multi‐channels. Both confident/fashion‐conscious consumers and mall shopping‐oriented shoppers were more satisfied with store‐based retail channels for apparel purchases, whereas non‐local store‐oriented shoppers and catalog/internet‐oriented shoppers were more satisfied with non‐store‐based retail channels for their apparel purchases.

The sample of this study was biased by gender and age. For the apparel retail industry, this paper offers practical knowledge about the relationships between shopping orientation and consumer search and purchase behavior in a multi‐channel retailing context.

No study has utilized the shopping orientation framework to explain consumer behavior in a multi‐channel environment. This study provides understanding of consumer product information search behavior on four dimensions (price, promotion, style/trends, and merchandise availability) via multi‐channels.

The objectives of this study are to: evaluate the task relevance of information components of apparel retail web sites from consumer perspectives; assess the performance of extant apparel retail web sites in providing both high and low task‐relevant information components; and explore whether differences in performance exist across different types of internet retailers.

Survey methodology was used to assess the task relevance of apparel web site information components from the consumers' perspective and a content analysis of apparel retail web sites was conducted to assess the availability of information components from apparel retail web sites.

The study finds that availability of high and low task‐relevant information varied regardless of task‐relevance. For both high and low task‐relevant information components, catalog e‐tailers provided the most information, followed in order by multi‐channel retailers, store e‐tailers, and pure e‐tailers.

This study can assist web site designers in meeting the needs of consumers by providing comprehensive understanding of the role of task‐relevant information in relation to internet shoppers' perceptions of the web site. In addition, the coding guide developed in this study provides an easy and practical tool that can be used by internet retailers for the self‐assessment of web site service performance.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether service attributes available on women's apparel web sites differ from those available on men's apparel web sites in relation to the nine dimensions of E‐A‐S‐QUAL (E‐S‐QUAL for apparel).

Using three separate sources, 97 women's and 97 men's apparel web sites were selected, which constituted a variety of apparel retail web sites that are a fair representation of available US retail apparel web sites. ANOVAs and chi‐square analysis were performed.

The results of content analysis suggest that differences exist between women's and men's apparel web sites in providing online services that improve e‐service quality in such a way that women's web sites provided more service attributes that improve e‐service quality than men's web sites.

The results of content analysis suggest that the distribution or availability of almost half the e‐service attributes analyzed significantly differed between women's and men's apparel web sites. For the further growth of men's apparel shopping via the internet, e‐retailers of men's apparel need to provide e‐services at a more sophisticated level.

This study provides valuable information to both men's and women's apparel e‐retailers to understand their current performance in delivering e‐service and areas for improvement.

The study aims to identify and analyse complex interrelationships among factors influencing omnichannel retailing adoption in Indian apparel firms.

The study applies an integrated interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) approach for understanding the hierarchical and contextual relationship structure among the factors influencing omnichannel retailing adoption.

The integrated ISM–DEMATEL approach identifies that financial commitment is the most crucial factors followed by technological capability, training and development, performance metrics, supportive organisational structure, collaboration and knowledge sharing, offline–online information aggregation and integrated technological platform. Also, the study reveals that financial commitment and supportive organisational structure impact the majority of factors but are affected by only a few factors.

Unlike previous studies, this study suggests an alternate approach to theory building emerging from the various factors that could be considered while developing omnichannel retailing.

Practitioners should pay close attention to leading factors that influence the adoption of omnichannel retailing, namely, financial commitments, supportive organisational structure, technological capability, integrated technological platform and training and development rather than focusing on significant receivers, such as warehouse management and assortment management.

The integrated approach of ISM-DEMATEL offers a hierarchical model and cause–effect relationship among factors influencing omnichannel retailing adoption.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of product coordination and a model's face on consumer responses in terms of affective states, perceived amount of information and purchase intention.

The design of the study was a 2 (product presentation: coordinated vs uncoordinated) × 2 (model's face: present vs absent) between‐subjects design. A convenience sample of 243 college students participated in a web experiment.

The results suggest that complementary apparel items should be coordinated together (e.g. pairing t‐shirt and pants together on a model) on the web sites to produce favorable consumers' shopping outcomes. However, contrary to prior research findings, consumers perceived more information when no model's face was present with the product than when an attractive model's face and body were shown together.

This study used a convenience sample of college women. Thus, future research needs to include a more diverse group of e‐shoppers to enhance generalizability of the findings.

The findings of the study provide useful insights that apparel e‐retailers can utilize to develop more effective e‐retailing web sites. Based on the findings, product coordination without a model's face is recommended for e‐retailers.

Overall the paper's findings provide empirical support for the Stimulus‐Organism‐Response (S‐O‐R) model and the ensemble effect.

The purpose of this study is to propose a comprehensive efficiency evaluation approach to measure the efficiency of the retailers and to determine the relative importance of a wide variety of apparel retail-specific factors that support efficiency.

The first stage of the proposed approach is the measurement of the relative efficiency of the apparel retailers by using data envelopment analysis (DEA) for identifying the best practice frontier and determination of the improvement ratios. The second stage is the prioritization of the factors that are important in the apparel retail efficiency using analytical hierarchy process (AHP).

The findings of the study revealed that the quantitative criteria to be considered for efficiency through input minimization and output maximization were “number of employees” and “profit before tax,” respectively, however, focusing on output maximization was found to be more critical. In addition, it was seen that the most important qualitative components of efficiency were satisfied customers, qualified staff and branding.

The managerial actors in the apparel retail industry can be alerted for new strategic actions to adopt best practices or take precautions for future inefficiencies with the help of the results obtained. The customized hierarchical structure allows determining the priority areas that need to be focused on for increasing the performance of apparel retailers.

In this study, DEA and AHP were combined to build a comprehensive efficiency evaluation approach in the apparel retail industry for the first time in the literature. Thus, both qualitative and quantitative variables that are important in apparel retail efficiency were put forward and evaluated. The originality of the hierarchical structure in AHP was its customization to the apparel retail industry.