Branch Stores Research Articles

Flexibility and performance of branch store stock plans for a manufacturer's product line

This study examines the sales performance effects of flexibility in the branch store stock plans for a retailer of a manufacturer's product line. Arguably, stock turnover and manufacturer share of product category sales are two sales performance outcomes that are sensitive to this decision variable. The contingency theory of channel coordination implies that branch-flexible planning, although generally an effective policy, may be less effective for a volatile product category—one characterized by relatively greater numbers of line additions and deletions—than for a more stable product category. A simple structural equation model tests and supports these hypotheses using measures based on archival stock planning and sales performance data.

Attitudes of Retailers and College Educators Toward Fashion Retail Internships

This study examined the attitudes of retailers and college educators toward fashion retail internships to provide information useful in the development of meaningful and realistic retail internships. The attitudes were related to characteristics influencing retailer participation in internship programs, intern selection criteria used by retailers, prerequisite coursework to internships, and activities to which interns should be exposed. Groups compared in the study were (a) retailers and educators, (b) different types of stores (department, specialty, and discount), (c) chain and non-chain stores, and (d) main and branch stores. The results showed some significant differences in all the comparison groups. The major differences were related to the amount of exposure to buyer-related activities interns should receive versus manager and salesperson-related activities. Educators (compared to retailers), non-chain stores (compared to chain stores), and main (compared to branch) department stores indicated that interns should receive more exposure to buyer related activities.

The Development of Underground Shopping Streets in Nagoya

Japanese cities have mainly expanded their urban areas horizontally. In recent years, however, drastic vertical integration has occurred through the construction of multistoried buildings, particularly in CBD. In large cities the increase of offices and motor cars has aggravated managerial circumstances of retail in CBD. As a result, underground shopping streets have been constructed as a type of vertical differentiation of urban functions. Connected with the basement of multistoried buildings, they have created new space for retail in CBD.The author investigated underground shopping streets in Nagoya. The main results are summarized as follows:(1) Underground shopping streets in Nagoya were constructed at the traffic junctions namely “Sakae” and “Nagoya-ekimae” (the front area of Nagoya Station), below public roads, simultaneously with the construction of subways. They were connected with the subway stations. This has provided many people with easy access to underground shopping streets, showing rapid development after 1957.(2) The Process of development on underground shopping streets In the first place a group of shops were located along the underground pedestrian passageways which connect subway stations and other means of transport. Then shopping promenades interconnected these areas and the basements of adjacent multistoried buildings. This resulted in the increase of underground space for retail. A further step was taken after 1969. The extension of underground shopping streets was run on such a large scale as over 10, 000 square meters and was linked to the existing underground shopping streets. Thus the enlarged underground shopping streets came to be the central shopping areas of the city.(3) According to the categories of business they contain, underground shopping streets can be classified into two types: one containing many restaurants, coffeehouses and food stores with a choice variety, the other containing many specialty shops dealing in clothes. The underground shopping streets below the front area of Nagoya Station belong to the former type. Those at Sakae district belong to the latter; Sakae has a long prosperous history as a central shopping center of the city.(4) There are many chain stores among shops on underground shopping streets. As their head offices are located in Tokyo, their window decoration and their line of commodities have lost regional characteristics peculiar to Nagoya. This has promoted among people of the city an inclination to the center-oriented fashion and culture.(5) Floor space of a shop on underground shopping streets is rather small compared to that of a shop on ground shopping streets. Because of the favorable location, the rents are very high. Shops on underground shopping streets thus specialize highly in the assortment of goods to attract young customers. Under these circumstances the underground shopping streets cannot raise their importance as central figures in retail of the city without maintaining a strong interdependence with neighboring department stores that aim at a large custom with a rich assortment of goods.(6) There are many branch stores on underground shopping streets and very few shops are run by proprietor in person. Thus underground shopping streets constitute a community of employees. Besides they are doing business with young people as regular customers, there are many young employees accordingly. The underground shopping streets with these young employees thus form a community of tradespeople functioning under the control of their head offices. It affords contrast against the community of merchants heretofore in general in Japan.(7) One of the reasons why underground shopping streets have developed in CBD of large cities in Japan is that there are many people availing themselves of public mass transport and that underground shopping streets have been constructed at its junctions.

Projecting Sales Potentials for Department Stores in Regional Shopping Centers

INCE 1948, the planned regional shopping center has had tremendous growth as a major merchandising and investment vehicle. Projecting the sales potentials for department stores in such centers is becoming an increasingly more critical task in both department store and shopping center planning. For purposes of this discussion, regional shopping centers are defined as planned projects usually under single ownership and having as principal tenant at least one department store branch with a store size in excess of 150,000 square feet of gross store area. These projects range in floor area size from 350,000 square feet to over 1,200,000 square feet. While this discussion relates to planned regional centers, the same general approach is applicable to calculating sales potentials for any branch store in any location.

Customer Patronage of a Parent and New Branch Store

THE SUBURBANIZATION of our large cities is being well documented. Contrarily, the adaption by retailers through branch operations to the changing travel orbits of customers has had little publication. The history of the opening of a Philadelphia department store branch, therefore, may have general interest to students of marketing. An analysis was made of the credit records of 852 customers residing in the trading area of the branch store; in addition, facts, opinions and identification data were taken from mail questionnaire returns from 55 per cent of these customers.' The analysis covers a sixmonth period of I949-I950 following the branch opening and the comparable period one year earlier. The branch store studied is located in the largest secondary shopping center of metropolitan Philadelphia in an area lying just outside of Philadelphia itself. In designing the sample for the study, Dr. Ralph W. Breyer had to delimit this area. He was aided in this by studies made previously by two separate research agencies and by an analysis of branch sales for one week. The area decided upon covered most of the county in which the branch is located, part of an adjacent county and a section of Philadelphia proper lying near to the shopping center. From 6,448 credit accounts taken at

Customer Patronage of a Parent and New Branch Store

Customer Patronage of a Parent and New Branch Store