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Article
Publication date: 21 June 2022

Irfan Ahmed, Sanjay S. Mehta, C. Ganeshkumar and VivekShankar Natarajan

The objective of this paper is to develop a map of the contours of the phenomenon of retailer failure by aggregating, parsing and extracting known findings regarding business…

Abstract

Purpose

The objective of this paper is to develop a map of the contours of the phenomenon of retailer failure by aggregating, parsing and extracting known findings regarding business failure in marketing, business and other streams of inquiry to provide a comprehensive understanding of research on the topic. Defined as the converse of retailer performance, an understanding of retail failure is expected to yield insights for performance measurement and benchmarking studies.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper includes a systematic literature review, employing state-of-the-art tools such as VOSViewer.

Findings

The analysis reveals patterns in the intellectual structure of the research on retail failure, as well as patterns of influence. While the discipline of marketing has been surprisingly limited in the study of retail failure, study of retail failure has been pursued by other branches of the business discipline, and even some disciplines other than business.

Originality/value

This paper provides a comprehensive and systematic literature review on the topic of retail failure.

Details

Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. 30 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-5771

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 3 December 2018

Dev Narayan Sarkar, Kaushik Kundu and Himadri Roy Chaudhuri

The present study is aimed at understanding the survival strategies of Subsistence-type Rural Independent retailers, henceforth called SRIs, in the Bottom-of-the-Pyramid (BoP…

Abstract

The present study is aimed at understanding the survival strategies of Subsistence-type Rural Independent retailers, henceforth called SRIs, in the Bottom-of-the-Pyramid (BoP) markets of developing economies through a qualitative study. SRIs constitute a pivotal channel of distribution of goods to BoP consumers living in the rural areas of developing economies. A process of long interviews was chosen for data gathering to allow SRIs to go into details to allow them to expound upon their beliefs, life-situations, and societal norms. Narratives were collected verbatim from SRIs. The concept of socio-economic embeddedness is used as the central concept to interpret and connect the elements, discerned from the narratives, into a conceptual framework. The aforesaid theory combines the neo-classical economic concept of utility maximization with behavioral economics and economic sociology. The analysis of the narratives is interpretive against the identified elements of the concept of economic embeddedness. The survival strategies of SRIs seem to stem from sociological, psychological, and utility-maximizing behaviors. The elements of SRIs’ responses to its environment provide valuable insights into their purchase motivations.

Details

Bottom of the Pyramid Marketing: Making, Shaping and Developing BoP Markets
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78714-556-6

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 3 December 2018

Abstract

Details

Bottom of the Pyramid Marketing: Making, Shaping and Developing BoP Markets
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78714-556-6

Article
Publication date: 22 June 2022

Satyam Satyam, Rajesh K. Aithal and Debasis Pradhan

The objective of the study is to understand the reasons for the resilience of rural periodic markets. Small retailers patronise these markets, and by identifying the reasons for…

Abstract

Purpose

The objective of the study is to understand the reasons for the resilience of rural periodic markets. Small retailers patronise these markets, and by identifying the reasons for their continued market participation, an attempt has been made to explain the continued existence of these traditional evolved retail agglomerations.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative research design was adopted for the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 35 small retailers, and responses were used to identify the reasons for their continued market participation. A mix of purposeful and snowball sampling was used to select the respondents.

Findings

In a novel endeavour, this study presents rural periodic markets as an evolved retail agglomeration. It identifies six factors responsible for the continued participation of small retailers in these markets. Seven attributes of the rural periodic market, an evolved retail agglomeration, were also identified which contribute to the resilience of these markets.

Research limitations/implications

This study contributes to the literature on retail agglomerations and identifies the reasons for the continued market participation of small retailers, suggesting some trends about their future in emerging economies.

Social implications

Rural periodic markets have affected the overall well-being of surrounding villages by providing opportunities to participate in many ways. This has been identified as a reason for the economic growth of the area.

Originality/value

To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first studies to explore the resilience of periodic markets from the perspective of small retailers by identifying the reasons for their continued market participation.

Details

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 50 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-0552

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 August 2019

Surabhi Koul and Sahil Singh Jasrotia

Owning to the influence small retailers have on the customer’s final choice, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that dominate small retailer’s assortment…

Abstract

Purpose

Owning to the influence small retailers have on the customer’s final choice, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that dominate small retailer’s assortment planning decisions. Drivers of product adoption by small retailers are the focus of study. Earlier research works have primarily focused on the profit oriented factors of retailing. It is a multidimensional approach of understanding the decision making of small retailers.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is an exploratory in nature, using a mixed method approach that involves both qualitative and quantitative methodology. In the first stage of the study, grounded theory has been adopted that helps in building a conceptual model, which is further validated using SEM. Rural areas of Jammu and Punjab have been targeted to collect data.

Findings

The study provides a conceptual model of product assortment planning for small retailers. The results indicate retail margin, which is the most important criterion toward product selection. Small retailers understand the customer profile and their catchment before selecting a product for their store. Store design is an important variable which impacts the number of categories kept in the store as the shelf space is limited. While determining the assortment planning for the store the retailers need to think in advance about buyer, supplier, environmental and the surplus oriented factors while determining the assortment planning for the store.

Research limitations/implications

In developing economies like India, major population (customers) lie in the rural areas of the country and prefer small retailers to shop their daily necessities. The study proposed that the manufacturers need to maintain good and healthy relationship with the associates of the channel and the retailers that are in connected with the end consumer. Marketing managers of firms with target audience as small retailers can draw many inferences from the present study. They may devise rural strategies keeping attributes like localization of supplier, doorstep delivery, supply frequency, etc., on the basis of product demand and attribute.

Originality/value

This paper fulfills an identified need to explore the assortment planning criteria of BOP retailers in India. Also the mixed methodology is attractive and new in the retail domain.

Details

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 47 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-0552

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 October 2022

Yukti Sharma and Saravana Jaikumar

Subsistence marketplace can be characterized as a marketplace with widespread cognitive and social vulnerabilities, due to low income and low literacy levels. This may result in…

Abstract

Purpose

Subsistence marketplace can be characterized as a marketplace with widespread cognitive and social vulnerabilities, due to low income and low literacy levels. This may result in retailers exploiting the consumers. The purpose of this research paper is to develop a holistic learning program to impart marketplace intelligence to overcome these vulnerabilities of subsistence consumers.

Design/methodology/approach

Using vicious cycle approach, the authors illustrate the self-perpetuating nature of consumer vulnerabilities. The authors argue that retailers behave in an opportunistic manner and exploit the consumers. This further reinforces the vulnerabilities of subsistence consumers resulting in a vicious cycle. The authors draw insights from Sen’s capability approach and propose marketplace intelligence as a potential solution to eradicate consumers’ vulnerabilities. The authors apply Biggs’s 3Ps model to design a learning program to impart two types of marketplace intelligence – marketplace metacognition and marketplace social intelligence.

Findings

Based on a review of literature on subsistence marketplace initiatives, persuasive knowledge management and education research, the authors have devised a holistic learning program comprising an integrated learning environment (presage), problem-based approach (process) and assessment strategies for learning outcomes (product).

Originality/value

This study marks a pioneering effort toward liberating subsistence consumers from the vicious cycle of retailers’ exploitation by empowering them with marketplace intelligence. This study’s novelty lies in conceptualizing consumer vulnerabilities in the subsistence marketplace as a self-perpetuating phenomenon and subsequently designing a holistic learning program to impart intelligence toward alleviating these vulnerabilities.

Book part
Publication date: 3 August 2007

Madhubalan Viswanathan

This chapter examines the marketplace activities of subsistence customers in South India. It presents a picture of the day-to-day behaviors and interactions of subsistence

Abstract

This chapter examines the marketplace activities of subsistence customers in South India. It presents a picture of the day-to-day behaviors and interactions of subsistence customers in terms of the products they purchase and their interactions with sellers and outlets. The method involved observations and in-depth interviews of a variety of buyers and sellers over several years in urban and rural South India. Needs, products, and market interactions, as well as typical budgets in subsistence contexts are described. These descriptions are used to derive broader characteristics of product and market interactions in terms of uncertainty, complexity, and lack of control; one-on-one interactions; transactional fluidity; and make or buy decisions.

Details

Product and Market Development for Subsistence Marketplaces
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-477-5

Book part
Publication date: 3 August 2007

Steven Michael Burgess and Pfavai Nyajeka

This study examines the effects of market orientation on the performance of retail outlets in Zimbabwe, a low-income country (LIC). LIC retailers operate at the nexus of…

Abstract

This study examines the effects of market orientation on the performance of retail outlets in Zimbabwe, a low-income country (LIC). LIC retailers operate at the nexus of subsistence marketplaces and the market economy. Socioeconomic, cultural and regulative institutions are more dynamic and differ substantially from the industrialized West. This provides an interesting context in which to test the generalizability of market orientation theory. A covariance structure model of the hypothesized relations indicates that market orientation improves performance. Reward systems have a positive effect on market orientation and a positive indirect effect on performance through market orientation. However, consistent with the characteristics of Zimbabwe, which are not unexpected in the LIC institutional context, interdepartmental conflict, centralization, and formalization do not have significant effects on market orientation. The results suggest that the market orientation–performance link generalizes but that some antecedents of market orientation identified in previous research may not apply in LICs.

Details

Product and Market Development for Subsistence Marketplaces
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-477-5

Book part
Publication date: 3 August 2007

Madhubalan Viswanathan and José Antonio Rosa

In August 2006, 85 academicians and practitioners from industry and the nonprofit sector came together on the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago for a conference…

Abstract

In August 2006, 85 academicians and practitioners from industry and the nonprofit sector came together on the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago for a conference unlike others in recent management research history. This conference focused on the subsistence marketplace and its constituents – the billions of individuals and families living in substandard housing, with limited or no education; having limited or no access to sanitation, potable water, and health care; and earning minimal incomes. Subsistence consumers and entrepreneurs have been largely ignored by contemporary marketing and management research and practice, but are poised to become a driving force in 21st century economic and business development. It is expected that as many as 1 billion new consumers wielding discretionary income will enter global markets before 2020. In addition, even among those consumers who lack discretionary income, it is expected that they will be much more active in the marketplace in the near future, because of expanded access to products and information through the Internet and wireless technologies (Davis & Stephenson, 2006). Moreover, the combined purchasing power of these consumers, already in the trillions of dollars, is likely to grow at higher rates than that of consumers in industrialized economies. These factors come together to suggest that consumer markets will need to adjust radically to the needs and demands of these emerging markets over the next 2 to 3 decades, even though companies and scholars across the business disciplines know very little about subsistence consumers. It was this need for knowledge about subsistence marketplaces that inspired the conference and the research presented here.

Details

Product and Market Development for Subsistence Marketplaces
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-477-5

Article
Publication date: 31 October 2008

Srinivas Sridharan and Madhu Viswanathan

The purpose of this paper is to discuss innovative consumer marketing approaches for simultaneous business success and social empowerment at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) or in…

3913

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss innovative consumer marketing approaches for simultaneous business success and social empowerment at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) or in subsistence marketplaces.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws from a research program comprising qualitative methods as well as case study analyses. The central aspect of the approach to this topic is that it is a bottom‐up perspective grounded in understanding consumers. The theoretical scope of the paper includes consumption, entrepreneurship, and social capital in impoverished environments.

Findings

The authors' key finding is that businesses must follow three principles for consumer marketing – deep understanding of subsistence consumer psychology, social embeddedness, and entrepreneurial empowerment.

Research limitations/implications

This research has implications for theoretical and empirical advancement in the areas of structuring marketing activities, social embeddedness of marketing, and consumer policy.

Practical implications

This research has implications for several aspects of consumer marketing strategy. The authors categorize these under the following: marketplace research, marketplace solutions, value propositions, communications, partnerships, harnessing social capital, designing marketing structure, and evolving the marketing mindset.

Originality/value

This paper suggests that consumption and entrepreneurial productivity are inextricably linked in subsistence contexts with important implications for consumer marketing. The paper has value to BOP researchers and BOP business practitioners wishing to take a nuanced view to understand their markets and serve them better.

Details

Journal of Consumer Marketing, vol. 25 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0736-3761

Keywords

1 – 10 of 550