In-store Product Research Articles

The Sales Model and Brand Building of Lululemon: Key Factors in Market Success

Lululemon, a Canadian brand specializing in yoga apparel, has distinguished itself in the fiercely competitive sportswear market with its unique marketing strategies. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of Lululemon's current development status from multiple perspectives, including market performance, product innovation, customer demographics, and competitive landscape. The study reveals that Lululemon has built a strong brand influence through precise brand positioning and innovative promotional methods. Additionally, by leveraging grassroots endorsements and effective salesperson techniques, the brand has enhanced its interaction with consumer needs. The unique in-store product mix and brand settings further boost its market competitiveness. Finally, this paper examines the impact of Lululemon's marketing strategies on the marketing environment, covering aspects such as brand loyalty and word-of-mouth marketing, the utilization of digital and social media, and adjustments in competitors' strategies. This study offers valuable insights for the selection and implementation of marketing strategies for sports brands in China.

Impact of visual merchandising on purchase intension (A mediating effect of brand image)

In order to improve brand awareness, impact consumer behavior, and promote in-store product discovery, visual merchandising is essential. This study looks at the effects of shelf presentations, product exhibits, and window displays on the purchase intentions of customers through visual marketing. Utilizing a quantitative methodology, the study collects data via an online survey completed by Pakistani clients. The findings show a substantial positive correlation between visual merchandising and consumer intent to buy.

Understanding consumers in-store behavior: The dual role of episode-specific motive adjustment and motive selection

Understanding purchase motivations is vital but challenging due to their unobservable, concomitant, and dynamic nature. Recent research has proposed frameworks to examine their impact on choice by treating motivations as latent states. This study contributes to this line of research by introducing the notion of “episode-specific motive adjustment,” that accounts for variations in consumers' willingness to pursue specific motives during a shopping trip. Utilizing this concept, the study uncovers valuable insights into how different types of purchase motivations influence consumer product interactions and choices. Analyzing a comprehensive dataset from multiple Indian cities, the research contributes to a theoretical understanding of and practical applications for businesses seeking to comprehend and influence consumer behavior. Theoretically, we show that consumers display diverse patterns of in-store product engagement behavior as they adjust the intensity of instrumental and experiential motives across purchase episodes. Furthermore, we illustrate that the relationship between willingness to pursue a motive (motive intensity) and the likelihood of making a choice follows distinct functional patterns. We highlight the significance of considering individual-level heterogeneity and dynamic behavioral patterns to enhance consumer experiences and purchase decisions. Practically, this research identifies the key drivers that influence motive intensity in stores, providing managers with insights to optimize store layouts and effectively influence consumer purchase motives that align with their business objectives. Emphasis is placed on context-specific strategies, as the impact of these drivers varies with purchase context.

Penerapan Algoritma Apriori Untuk Rekomendasi Produk Bagi Pelanggan Toko Online Berbasis Website

Today, almost all activities in various sectors of life have been transformed into digital systems to support various related activities. Consideration of the efficiency of dissemination of information outreach and data management that can be recorded properly is the main reason for switching to a digital system. In the economic sector, global business developments are rife with the use of digital devices in marketing various products to increase marketability. Based on this, this research was conducted to apply the Apriori algorithm association data mining to provide product recommendations for online shop customers. The CodeIgniter framework and the waterfall method are used to build a website-based information system. Sampling data was obtained from transaction data at the Rizvenastore store which was used for the database using MySql. The application of the a priori algorithm can form association rules as a reference in-store product promotions and decision support in providing product recommendations to customers based on predetermined minimum support and confidence values. From testing the system using the black box method, the results obtained for all activities on all actors can run as expected.

The effects of appearance personification of service robots on customer decision-making in the product recommendation context

PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic has made contactless services such as those provided by robots increasingly pervasive. Some stores are gradually adopting service robots to sell products, which has not been explored in previous research. This study aims to explore how appearance personification of service robots affects customer decision-making in the product recommendation context.Design/methodology/approachBased on authentic in-store product recommendation service interactions, an experiment for three simulated scenarios was conducted and data was collected from 338 valid samples.FindingsThe results show appearance personification has a positive impact on customer purchase behavior while it has negative impacts on customer decision time and degree of hesitation.Originality/valueThis study not only enriches the literature on application scenarios of service robots but also supplements the literature on various customer decision-making variables in the field of service robots. It provides important practical guidance for designing robots to optimize their impact on customer decision-making.

Applying Big Data Analytics to Retail for Improved Supply Chain Visibility

Retail supply chains generate huge volumes of data that can provide valuable insights if analyzed effectively. This paper explores how retailers can leverage Big Data analytics techniques on supply chain data to gain enhanced visibility into their operations. We examine three use cases of data-driven supply chain visibility: (1) predictive replenishment to anticipate future demand and optimize inventory levels; (2) personalized assortment optimization to tailor product selections for local customer segments; and (3) optimized order fulfillment to improve delivery times and reduce transportation costs. We analyze how retailers can apply machine learning algorithms and statistical analysis on point-of-sale data, inventory data, customer data and external data sources to uncover hidden patterns and drive data-driven decisions in these areas. The results include reduced excess inventory, fewer stock-outs, higher in-store product availability, lower fulfillment costs and improved customer experience. Data-driven supply chain visibility allows retailers to transition from a reactive, speculative business model to a predictive, personalized model that enhances competitiveness.

Forays into omnichannel: An online retailer’s strategies for managing product returns

E-commerce has witnessed a steady growth with advances in digital technologies. However, one of the challenges faced by online retail is its inability to provide customers with the opportunity to “touch-and-feel” a product before purchasing, thereby resulting in a higher rate of product returns. To address this, online retailers, nowadays, are adopting various omnichannel configurations. Using a stylized model, we study three such omnichannel configurations: selling the product online, establishing a showroom while selling the product online (‘Experience-in-Store-and-Buy-Online (ESBO)’), and selling the product through both a brick-and-mortar (B&M) store and the online channel while allowing in-store product returns (‘Buy-Online-and-Return-In-Store (BORS)’). Based on product attributes such as product standardization and valuation we recommend optimal omnichannel strategies. Our results show that depending on whether a premium product is highly personalized or standardized, opening an additional showroom or a B&M store becomes optimal for the retailer. In contrast, for a low-valued, highly personalized product, the retailer prefers opening an exclusive showroom. Otherwise, for a low-valued, standardized product, the retailer opens an additional B&M store or continues to operate only online based on the product return rate and valuation. If the unit cost of transporting the returned products from customers is low, the retailer prefers to sell the product online only. Moreover, if the hassle cost of online purchase is too high, the strategy of in-store return becomes uneconomic. We also analyze the impact of customers’ exchanging returned items at the B&M store and their product fitness heterogeneity on the retailer’s optimal omnichannel strategy.

The sales effect of in-store product displays: The special case of total product relocation

Purpose of the research: Special product displays are expected to increase sales of the products they contain. Opposite to the rich existing literature on the impact of product in-store displays, we investigate the case of total product relocation instead of using the display location as an additional sales spot (secondary location strategy). Design/methodology: In our setting, products are fully taken off the usual shelf and put into special displays close to the checkout area. We use data from a field experiment conducted in 214 stores of a German perfumery chain, in which eight products were moved to an in-store display. Results/findings: Compared to the control group, the treated products placed in display boxes show a statistically significant increase in sales. The precise effect differs markedly between the investigated products, ranging from 80% to 478%. Accumulated sales increased by 217.69€ per week on average due to the installation of product displays. We can conclude that complete relocation, indeed, boosts sales, but the precise magnitude seems to be driven by factors not covered in this study. Practical implications and Conclusions: Based on the product selection, the results seem transferable to both other perfumery stores as well as general supermarkets. However, given the low additional revenues, retailers must consider all the additional costs associated with the implementation of product displays such as the costs of installing and maintaining the display, the costs of removing tags and rearranging the former shelf, and any opportunity costs. If these costs do not exceed the estimated effect, then the installation could be of economic importance.

From brain variations to individual differences in the color–flavor incongruency effect: A combined virtual reality and resting-state fMRI study

When consumers are searching for a packaged food with a certain flavor label, they are slower and less accurate when the target’s packaging color and flavor label are incongruent than when they are congruent. Here, we conducted a combined virtual reality (VR) and resting-state fMRI study to investigate the spontaneous neural basis of individual differences in this color–flavor incongruency effect. Our results revealed a positive correlation between the behavioral effect and the local synchronization for the left fusiform, a brain area associated with the retrieval of color information. The results also revealed a positive correlation between this behavioral effect and the intrinsic neural interactions between the left fusiform and the left putamen, a brain area associated with the processing of expectation. These findings revealed the role of expectation violation in in-store product searches. The potential implications of these findings for packaging design in the food industry are discussed.

The effect of a shelf placement intervention on sales of healthier and less healthy breakfast cereals in supermarkets: A co-designed pilot study.

Supermarkets are the principal source of grocery food in many high-income countries. Choice architecture strategies show promise to improve the healthiness of food choices. A retailer-academic collaboration was formed to co-design and pilot selected commercially sustainable strategies to increase sales of healthier foods relative to less healthy foods in supermarkets. Two co-design workshops, involving supermarket corporate staff and public health nutrition academics, identified potential interventions. One intervention, more prominent shelf placement of healthier products within one category (breakfast cereals), was selected for testing. A pilot study (baseline, intervention and follow-up, 12-weeks each) was undertaken in six supermarkets (three intervention and three control) in Auckland, New Zealand. Products were ranked by nutrient levels and profile, and after accounting for the supermarkets' space management principles, healthier products were placed at adult eye level. The primary outcome was change in sales of healthier products relative to total category sales. Secondary outcomes were nutrient profile of category sales, in-store product promotions, customer perceptions, and retailer feedback. There was no difference in proportional sales of more prominently positioned healthier products between intervention (56%) and control (56%) stores during the intervention. There were no differences in the nutrient profile of category sales. A higher proportion of less healthy breakfast cereals were displayed in intervention versus control stores (57% vs 43%). Most customers surveyed supported shelf placement as a strategy (265, 88%) but noted brand preferences and price were more salient determinants of purchases. Retailers were similarly supportive but balancing profit, health/nutrition and customer satisfaction was challenging. Shelf placement alone was not an effective strategy to increase purchases of healthier breakfast cereals. This study showed co-design of a healthy eating intervention with a commercial retailer is feasible, but concurrent retail environment factors likely limited the public health impact of the intervention.

Reveal or hide? Impact of demonstration on pricing decisions considering showrooming behavior

Unlike online stores, offline stores can provide product demonstration services, such as product display, product fit, and other kinds of in-store solutions, to help consumers understand the suitability of products. Consumers are increasingly using offline stores to obtain in-store demonstration services and then switching to online stores to purchase the product. This behavior is called “showrooming.” This study considers the pricing problem in a dual-channel supply chain with an online retailer and a manufacturer that owns an offline direct sales store. The manufacturer's product has digital attributes that can be evaluated through both online and offline channels, as well as non-digital attributes that can be evaluated only through in-store product demonstration. We investigate the impacts of the demonstration informativeness on online and offline retail pricing decisions under showrooming behavior. Given the demonstration informativeness and other relevant factors, we then compare the outcomes of the manufacturer's strategies on whether to demonstrate and the retailer's strategies on whether to avoid showrooming. We find that showrooming behavior may be beneficial to the manufacturer that owns an offline store and harmful to the online retailer. When the demonstration informativeness level is medium, the manufacturer will be better off choosing the non-demonstration strategy, and the online retailer will select the non-showrooming strategy. We also show that, in comparison to exogenous wholesale prices, when the manufacturer sets the wholesale price endogenously, it helps the two firms choose the same strategy; moreover, the endogenous wholesale price leads to Pareto improvement in the supply chain.

Beyond Showrooming: Category Expansion from Offline Stores

Many online-first retailers have adopted omnichannel strategies to expand their territories from online to offline. In this paper, we seek to understand the function of offline showroom for multi-category online retailing platforms, which is relatively understudied. Using detailed transaction-level data along with in-store product scanning information from a major online retailing platform in China that introduced its first offline showroom during the data period, we identify a positive category expansion effect for the existing customers who visit the offline showroom using difference-in-differences approach. That is, a customer tends to purchase products from new categories that otherwise not purchased in the online environment, after visiting the offline showroom. Furthermore, we find evidence that (1) in addition to the physical display of the products in the showroom, sales people working onsite contribute to half the category expansion effect; (2) the effect is not a mere frenzy of impulsive purchase, and the showroom helps to better match customer needs with products; (3) the effect is smaller among experienced customers. Practical implications are discussed.

Toward circular economy of fashion

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the challenges and solutions emerging when fashion brands develop and test circular economy solutions within their existing business models.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a 34-month case study in a global fashion brand, which launched a new in-store product take-back initiative.FindingsThe results indicate that fashion brands need to cope with multiple challenges in the process of developing circular business models in the organization, including: diverging perspectives of value and unclear success criteria, poor alignment with existing strategy, limited internal skills and competences, and limited consumer interest.Research limitations/implicationsThe results of this paper are grounded in a single case study and thus limitations associated with broad generalizations apply. In addition, the paper only investigated one aspect of circularity, namely, product take-back and did not investigate design for circularity, product reuse, recycle and other circularity related issues.Originality/valueThe findings derive from practical experiences of a fashion brand implementing an in-store product take-back system in the existing business model. The study reveals new insights into the actual process of making circular fashion operable.

Showrooms and B&M Stores: Omnichannel Strategies for Managing Customer Returns

E-commerce retail has witnessed a steady growth in sales with advances in digital technologies. However, one of the primary challenges that has plagued online retail is its inability to provide customers with the opportunity to “touch-and-feel” a product before purchasing, thereby resulting in a higher rate of product returns. To address this, online retailers, nowadays, are adopting various omnichannel configurations, such as operating an additional offline channel (i.e., either a showroom or a brick-and-mortar (BM 2) establishing a showroom (“Experience-in-Store-and-Buy-Online (ESBO)” channel) while selling the product online, and 3) selling the product through both a B&M store and the online channel while allowing in-store product returns (“Buy-Online-and-Return-In-Store (BORS)” channel). Additionally, we compare the retailer’s profit across various scenarios and propose several key managerial insights. Based on product attributes such as product standardization and product valuation, we recommend optimal omnichannel strategies for the retailer. For example, if the product is premium and highly personalized (e.g., designer apparel), the retailer should open an additional showroom.

Product Availability, Consumer Stockpiling, and Hurricane Events: Empirical Evidence From a Natural Experiment

The provision of essential supplies is a key service provided by retailers when demand spikes due to consumer stockpiling during environmental emergencies. Moreover, it is important for retailers to quickly recover from these events by replenishing the stock of essential supplies to meet the continuing needs of local residents. As exogenous events, hurricanes provide natural experiments to test retail operational performance in the face of environmental emergencies. The main purpose of this research is to determine how consumer stockpiling (or precautionary buying) behavior, as well as storm and retail characteristics, impact the availability of essential supplies at retailers following a hurricane. We study consumer stockpiling behavior prior to the onset of hurricane landfalls, and determine the impact of this behavior on in-store product availability for various formats of retail store outlets. Specifically, we focus on the bottled water product category, an essential emergency category in hurricane preparedness. On average, consumers stock 58% more bottled water than regular purchases before hurricanes approach. This study combines an event analysis methodology with econometric models using archival retail scanner data from 60 U.S. retail chains located in 963 counties and real-time data from four recent U.S. continental hurricanes. We find that supply-side characteristics (retail network and product variety), demand-side characteristics (hurricane experience and household income), and disaster characteristics (hazard proximity and hazard intensity) significantly affect consumer stockpiling propensity as the hurricanes approach. The increased consumer stockpiling has immediate and longer-term impacts on retail operations, namely, in-store product availability. Among various retail formats, drug stores are associated with the highest consumer stockpiling propensity before hurricanes, while dollar stores and discount stores are associated with the lowest in-store product availability following hurricanes. Our study points to the need for retailers and policymakers to carefully monitor factors affecting consumer stockpiling behavior that will allow for better allocation of critical supplies during the hurricane season.

The extent and nature of supermarket own brand foods in Australia: study protocol for describing the contribution of selected products to the healthfulness of food environments

ABSTRACTBackgroundWhile public health experts have identified food environments as a driver of poor diet, they also hold great potential to reduce obesity, non-communicable diseases, and their inequalities. Supermarkets are the dominant retail food environment in many developed countries including Australia. The contribution of supermarket own brands to the healthfulness of retail food environments has not yet been explored. The aim of this protocol is to describe the methods developed to examine the availability, nutritional quality, price, placement and promotion of supermarket own brand foods within Australian supermarkets.MethodsPhotographic audits of all supermarket own brand foods present in three major food retail outlets were conducted. Two researchers conducted the supermarket audits in Perth, Western Australia in February 2017. Photographs showing the location of the in-store product display, location of products on shelves, use of display materials, and front-of-pack and shelf-edge labels were taken for each supermarket own brand food present. An electronic filing system was established for photographs from each of the supermarkets and an Excel database constructed. The following data were extracted from the photographs: front-of-pack product information (e.g. product and brand name, pack weight); packaging and label design attributes (e.g. country of origin; marketing techniques conveying value for money and convenience); shelf-edge label price and promotion information; placement and prominence of each product; and nutrition and health information (including supplementary nutrition information, nutrition and health claims, and marketing statements and claims). Nutritional quality of each product was assessed using the principles of the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, the NOVA classification of level of food processing, and the Health Star Rating score displayed on the front-of-pack.DiscussionApproximately 20,000 photographic images were collected for 3940 supermarket own brand foods present in this audit: 1812 in the Woolworths store, 1731 in the Coles store, and 397 in the IGA store. Analysis of findings will enable researchers to identify opportunities for interventions to improve the contribution of supermarket own brands to healthful retail food environments. This protocol is unique as it aims to investigate all aspects of retail food environments and address the contribution of supermarket own brands.

The Effects of Sister-Store Presence and Market Competition on Product Assortment: Evidence from Book Retailing

Product assortment is a critical competitive tool for retailers to increase sales, maximize profits, and attain customer satisfaction. Increasingly, more and more retailers provide in-store product assortment information online or via smartphone apps for consumers to check if their preferred items are carried by local stores. Such information systems make it easier for customers to switch between sister stores of the same chain, as well as between competing chain stores, which poses new challenges to retailers’ assortment strategies. Retailers must understand and evaluate the important role of sister-store presence and market competition in their product assortment strategies. In this paper, the authors obtain product assortment data from all stores of a nation-wide bookstore chain. The authors then study how competition and the presence of sister stores affect the retail chain’s product assortment. The authors also explore how product popularity affects this assortment and moderates the impact of competition and the presence of sister stores. The authors find that having a sister (competing) store nearby reduces (increases) product assortment and such effects are stronger for niche products.

Price and in-store promotions in an emerging market

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate the influence of price and products on the promotion (through in-store temporary displays) on consumer sales in an emerging market context (i.e. Brazil) in different regions with contrasts in the market and store formats analyzed.Design/methodology/approachThe data originate from retail market audits conducted over three years and are broken down by a region and a channel for a product category that has experienced increased competition and growth and is highly distributed throughout the analyzed regions and channel formats (i.e. the ready-to-drink juice category). This study uses a panel vector autoregression framework and an impulse-response function to determine the effects on sales over time.FindingsThe results suggest that price sensitivity and the effects of promotions on sales vary with the type of store format rather than through structural differences between regions with lower vs higher levels of economic development in an emerging market.Practical implicationsManagers should consider differences in store format more than the heterogeneity among regions when making price and promotion decisions. Additionally, this paper highlights the importance of in-store product visibility through temporary displays of promoted products, especially in smaller stores in an emerging market.Originality/valueBy considering the challenges of managing a consumer brand for which market heterogeneity is key, this paper extends the current research by contrasting consumer price and in-store promotion decisions across two heterogeneous regions and store formats within an emerging market.

The Use of Observational Technology to Study In-Store Behavior: Consumer Choice, Video Surveillance, and Retail Analytics.

The store is the main laboratory for in-store experimental analysis. This article provides an introduction to a research program aimed at improving research practices in this laboratory, particularly emphasizing the importance of behavioral data and the new opportunities that technology offers. This complex modern-day Skinner box has sets of well-studied stimuli-behavior interactions that constantly adapt to the latest economic environment and as such constantly stretch the boundaries of behavioral analytic theory. However, the retail setting is highly important to applied behavior analysis for such issues as health, debt, environmental conservation, animal welfare, self-control, and consumer protection in general. This article presents a research strategy that emphasizes key environmental touch points throughout the customer journey in grocery retailing. We highlight the latest development by examining a particular research case and discussing the need for behavioral economic understanding of the start of the grocery journey, that is, the consumer choice of in-store product carrying equipment (e.g., cart, basket, or nothing). The conceptual system consists of a molecular four-term contingency framework as well as a more molar approach with conversion-rate modeling, where actual choice behavior is detected through video surveillance. The data are analyzed using a Shopper Flow© Tracking System in which software is designed to provide automatic data on shopper behavior and to assist human observers in tracking individual shopping trips. We discuss behavioral classifications, methodology, and implications related to the data from consumer tracking efforts.

An Assessment of When, Where and Under What Conditions In-Store Sampling is Most Effective

In-store product sampling is a commonly used promotional technique designed to give prospective consumers an opportunity to experience a product prior to purchase. While prior research has documented a positive relationship between short-term sales and perceptual measures of the customer shopping experience, little is known about the long-term impact of sampling or factors that moderate its success. In this paper, we develop an empirical approach that allows us to study the short-term and long-term effects of in-store sampling on both own and competitive products. We apply our approach to six store-level scanner data sets across four different product categories and show that in-store sampling has both an immediate (short-term) and sustained (long-term) impact on sales. We also show that the impact of sampling on sales is moderated by the characteristics of the store conducting the event, and that repeated sampling for a single product leads to a multiplicative increase in its long-term sales performance. We find that, unlike many types of in-store promotion, sampling results in a category expansion effect as opposed to a pure substitution effect. We contrast the immediate and long-term sales patterns for in-store sampling to those of product displays and discuss managerially relevant differences. Finally, we demonstrate incremental profit implications and store selection scenarios for different incremental costs of conducting the in-store events using constrained optimizations.