Major Retail Research Articles

Vertical integration, peaking plant commitments and the role of credit quality in energy-only markets

Resource adequacy in energy-only markets is of continual interest to policymakers and in Australia has historically been navigated via energy retailer investment commitments in peaking plant capacity. This in turn has been driven by the National Electricity Market's very high Market Price Cap (AUD $15,000/MWh). The market is rapidly transitioning with rising levels of renewables and coal plant closures. Ironically however, investment commitments in peaking plant capacity by major energy retailers has stalled. This raises the question as to whether the model of vertical integration, a pattern which dominated energy-only markets, has somehow broken down. In this article, peaking plant dynamics are tested using historic data – first as a stand-alone generator, then as part of a merged vertical entity over 16 years of trade. Results reveal the canonical merchant peaking plant remains too risky as a stand-alone project financing, but vertical integration and energy retailer incentives to commit to on-balance sheet peaking plant remains strong, with transaction cost synergies of 13% and investment grade credit quality being contingent on integration. Any lack of commitment must be explained by other variables.

Plastic Formulation is an Emerging Control of Its Photochemical Fate in the Ocean.

Sunlight exposure is a control of long-term plastic fate in the environment that converts plastic into oxygenated products spanning the polymer, dissolved, and gas phases. However, our understanding of how plastic formulation influences the amount and composition of these photoproducts remains incomplete. Here, we characterized the initial formulations and resulting dissolved photoproducts of four single-use consumer polyethylene (PE) bags from major retailers and one pure PE film. Consumer PE bags contained 15-36% inorganic additives, primarily calcium carbonate (13-34%) and titanium dioxide (TiO2; 1-2%). Sunlight exposure consistently increased production of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) relative to leaching in the dark (3- to 80-fold). All consumer PE bags produced more DOC during sunlight exposure than the pure PE (1.2- to 2.0-fold). The DOC leached after sunlight exposure increasingly reflected the 13C and 14C isotopic composition of the plastic. Ultrahigh resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry revealed that sunlight exposure substantially increased the number of DOC formulas detected (1.1- to 50-fold). TiO2-containing bags photochemically degraded into the most compositionally similar DOC, with 68-94% of photoproduced formulas in common with at least one other TiO2-containing bag. Conversely, only 28% of photoproduced formulas from the pure PE were detected in photoproduced DOC from the consumer PE. Overall, these findings suggest that plastic formulation, especially TiO2, plays a determining role in the amount and composition of DOC generated by sunlight. Consequently, studies on pure, unweathered polymers may not accurately represent the fates and impacts of the plastics entering the ocean.

PREDICTION OF STOCKS USING MACHINE LEARNING METHODS

Retail trade or retail is a sale of certain goods to the end consumer or intermediary for further sale, which is implemented through trade in specially equipped premises, through personal sales, etc. Also, retail trade is a commodity exchange process aimed at meeting the demand of customers. In addition, the retail sector currently occupies a leading position in terms of the intensity of development of the CIS countries economy. Excellent indicators have been achieved and many companies have reached a new level of trading. By about 2005, more than a dozen major retail chains had passed the billion-dollar milestone in terms of annual net revenue, and this is in dollars. The turnover of individual stores and retail facilities competed with some industrial enterprises with solid turnover and production bases. Thus, we can claim that the sphere of trade affects the growth and development of related industries. The product promotion chain involves the participation of customers and their demand, as well as other participants in the process. Moreover, the development of trade requires sellers to pay more and more attention to working with the product range and inventory balances. Working with inventory and product balances is a main issue for many retailers. And the many companies needed to make sure that there is a sufficient quantity of goods in the warehouse. Another point is that, exclude overstocking, because this is also one of the problems of retailers with a high degree of accuracy is required to make decisions. To sum up, making decisions in inventory management directly affects sales volumes, logistics costs, revenue, profit, and profitability. Inventory prediction is a necessary task to maintain an optimal level of inventory. I would like to note that the goal of the project / dissertation is to solve this problem using modern prediction methods based on machine learning technologies. The result is that in this way it is quite possible to analyze the dynamics of sales(consumer demand) thousands or even more products.

It\u2019s the Weather: Quantifying the Impact of Weather on Retail Sales

The weather is considered as an influential factor on consumer purchasing behaviours and plays a significant role in many aspects of retail sector decision making. As a result, better understanding of the magnitude and nature of the influence of variable UK weather conditions can be beneficial to many retailers and other stakeholders. This study addresses the dearth of research in this area by quantifying the relationship between different weather conditions and trading outcomes. By employing comprehensive daily sales data for a major high street retailer with over 2000 stores across England and adopting a random forest methodology, the study quantifies the influence of various weather conditions on daily retail sales. Results indicate that weather impact is greatest in the summer and spring months and that wind is consistently found to be the most influential weather condition. The top five most weather-dependent categories cover a range of different product types, with health foods emerging as the most susceptible to the weather. Also, sales from out-of-town stores show a far more complex relationship with the weather than those from traditional high street stores with the regions London and the South East experiencing the greatest levels of influence. Various implications of these findings for retail stakeholders are discussed and the scope for further research outlined.

Corporate social responsibility in the retail business: A case study

AbstractIn an economic scenario that sees greater attention paid to sustainability issues, the retail sector features significant economic influence and resources to address sustainability challenges successfully. The retail industry is challenged to carry on corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives whilst aiming at competitive prices and communicating such CSR activities to its customers and employees. Employing a case study conducted within one of the major European retailers in clothing, the paper aims to provide a new perspective on CSR in the retail business. Results highlight the importance of clear and extensive communication and translation of CSR initiatives as a central element to raise awareness and engagement for both employees and customers, positively impacting retail organizations in boosting their business performance and sustainability outcomes at the same time. Practical implications include the need for retail firms to organize their CSR external and internal communication effectively.

Evaluation of sustainable e-waste collection method for urban and rural region of India.

Electronic waste is one of the most challenging waste streams to manage. It has become a significant concern in developing countries due to the ever-increasing volume of generation coupled with deficient growth in collection and processing infrastructure. For the various stakeholders, it is of paramount importance to adopt a robust and sustainable collection method for hazard mitigation. The prevalent e-waste collection methods are categorized under four major heads, namely take-back, retail store, door-to-door and curbside collection. The e-waste collection problems are analysed from various perspective, based on literature that cited developing country-specific survey and data that includes India. Economic sustainability and potential risk are included as attributes in the evaluation scheme. We attempt to establish a decision-making model. Discussion with the field experts and decision-makers (DMs) provided the weights for various attributes and sub-attributes. A fuzzy linguistic scale is used to take care of ambiguity in DMs' opinion. Fuzzy- Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) is used to determine the importance of various attributes and sub-attributes, while Fuzzy-VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (FVIKOR) is used to determine the rank of the alternatives. Based on the analysis, 'take-back collection' and 'retail store based collection' are found the most suitable options for urban and rural regions respectively. The attributes, social awareness and economical sustainability are found to have the highest significance in both cases. Implementation of a collection method is an expensive activity, and the proposed Fuzzy-Multi Attribute Decision Making attempts to capture various attributes and their complex interplay to arrive at a decision on optimum e-waste collection option(s) in a specific locality.

The Attitude of Consumers towards Organised Food Retailing: An Application of Attitude-towards-Object Model

Organised retail sector is booming in metros, cities and now even in small towns; and organised food retailing is one of the fastest growing sector among them. The different types of food retail formats have its own characteristics, focus and target market. The customer or consumer has their own criteria to select a particular food retail format. The selection is based on the attitude of the customer or consumer towards the attribute of the retail format. There are many model to find the attitude of customer or consumer towards any product, service and brands. This study is an attempt to find out the customer's or consumer's attitude towards three major food retailing formats i.e Big Bazaar, a hypermarket; Reliance Fresh, a convenience store and Suvidha, a supermarket.

Investigating the financial impact of collection-and-delivery points in last-mile E-commerce distribution

The rapid growth in e-commerce volumes, coupled with customer expectations of faster, flexible and cheaper parcel deliveries is increasing the pressure on retailers to design the most efficient delivery network. Collection-and-delivery points (CDPs aggregate demand for both forward and return flows and help minimize additional tours in the case of failed deliveries. In this paper, we formulate an optimization model that integrates CDPs in the design of the overall distribution network, including the location of upstream transshipment facilities. The model accounts for changes in demand density due to the placement of CDPs. It considers demand aggregation at the CDP for both forward and return flows, and the impact of failed deliveries and failed return pickups on the routing cost. The model considers different route options and solves them using extended routing cost approximation formulae thus allowing the implementation of the model on large-scale problems. We then apply the model to solve a real-world case study on the distribution network of a major Brazilian retailer. The results demonstrate that failed deliveries and failed return pickups increase both the last-mile cost and the overall cost of distribution, and CDPs effectively reduce these costs by aggregating the demand and minimizing travel time.

Community noise from a drone delivery distribution center: challenges and options

As drone package delivery services are expanded, community noise will be an issue that every operator will need to consider. Drones represent a unique new community noise source that will operate and be perceived differently than traditional aircraft and ground transportation vehicles. It is also likely that some early implementations of drone delivery services by major retailers will operate out of existing distribution centers, which may not be ideally located from a noise perspective. This study considers potential drone delivery noise in the community surrounding an existing distribution center, assuming the facility were to be utilized as the hub of a future drone package delivery service. The predicted noise levels from drone deliveries are compared to typical community noise limits, and potential alternative noise metrics for assessing annoyance from drone noise in communities are discussed. Options to reduce community noise from drone deliveries by altering flight altitude and speed, utilizing different flight path routing strategies, and taking advantage of the potential masking of drones by existing roadway noise are considered.

Inter‐Retailer Channel Competition: Empirical Analyses of Store Entry Effects on Online Purchases

This study empirically examines the effect of offline store entry on a competing online retailer in the footwear industry and investigates how this effect depends on the relative product assortment and price between the offline store and the online retailer. Using transaction data from a large online footwear retailer and offline store entry data from 19 major shoe retail chains and 3 department store chains, we quantify the entry effect of offline stores. Categorizing offline stores by assortment and price, we find that the entry of regular‐price narrow‐assortment stores generates a complementary effect that increases online purchases, while the entry of discount wide‐assortment stores leads to a substitution effect that reduces online purchases. The store entry of other types has no significant effect on online purchases. We further find that the complementary effect is mainly driven by the mechanism of unsatisfied product exploration due to a narrow assortment in stores, rather than the mechanism of product uncertainty reduction due to overlapping products with lower prices online. Therefore, the complementary effect not only increases the online purchases of store‐brand products but also creates spillovers to other brands. Moreover, the substitution effect driven by the reduced transportation cost is mitigated primarily by consumers’ proximity to pre‐existing stores.

Economies and employment in growing and declining urban peripheries in South Africa

Urban peripheral growth takes diverse forms, including the development of new economic centralities, raising questions about access to employment for residents, especially in contexts where unemployment is high and economies are shifting towards more skilled and service-related employment. This article explores two case studies of residents’ experience of access to employment close to economic centralities on the urban edge in South Africa: the growing northern eThekwini area (Durban), which has developed major retail and office complexes since the 1990s and more recently a new airport and industrial spaces, and a declining industrial decentralisation point established in the 1980s on the eastern edge of the City of Tshwane (Pretoria). It shows the severe impact of industrial decline in the Tshwane case, but while unemployment is less in northern eThekwini, access to employment for low-income residents in these areas is still very limited and constrained. Experiences are however differentiated, suggesting a complexity of outcomes. The cases point to the vulnerability of these economic centralities to economic change and the limits of new developments on the urban periphery to addressing unemployment. These findings have implications for the current advocacy of ‘new cities’ in economic contexts such as South Africa.

Digital Marketing of Commercial Complementary Foods in Australia: An Analysis of Brand Messaging.

The digital marketing of commercial complementary foods (CCF) is an emerging area of concern in Australia. Although research into traditional methods has identified a range of problems, the marketing and messaging strategies employed within digital spaces have gone largely unscrutinized. This study sought to examine the methods used by CCF manufacturers to promote Australian baby foods and brands in a digital space. A multiple step approach was used to assess the CCF brands available in major Australian retailers, the social media platforms they used, and to thematically analyze the text and visual messages contained in posts published over a three-month period. Of the 15 brands identified, 12 had a digital presence, and all of these used Facebook. Four themes emerged from an analysis of 216 Facebook posts; (1) general product attributes, (2) socially desirable attributes (which included messaging related to taste (41%), self-feeding (29%) and fun (19%)), (3) concern-based attributes (including organic status (40%), age targets (39%) and additive-/allergen-free status (18%)) and (4) health-focused attributes (which included messaging related to healthy/nutritious ingredients (45%), and child development/growth (15%). Messages contained in Facebook posts were mostly positive brand/product aspects (Themes 1 and 2) or parental concern-based aspects (Theme 3 and 4). These themes match previous analyses of marketing content in traditional media and should be closely monitored due to the personalized nature of consumer social media interactions.

The provenance of loyalty card data for urban and retail analytics

The deployment of loyalty card and other consumer data in geographic research brings opportunities to explore and understand patterns of purchasing behaviour in unprecedented detail. However, valid generalisation requires thorough evaluation of their potential bias. We argue that, in competitive markets where consumers can choose to shop across competing retailers, loyalty card data from just one of these may not represent a ‘complete’ view of all purchases, and that this ‘completeness’ must be controlled for when assessing bias. To this end, we undertake a UK wide analysis of loyalty card data assembled by a major UK grocery retailer and provide guidelines for their effective deployment in the domains of urban and retail analysis. We assess, for the first time, the ‘completeness’ of circa 500 million customer transactions recorded by a major customer loyalty programme in representing the overall purchasing patterns of circa 16 million consumers across the entire UK, and develop a method by which to do this. Moreover, no operator has complete national store coverage, and so we suggest ways of accommodating this when conducting analysis using loyalty card data. We illustrate the importance of these issues before providing recommendations for the wider use of consumer loyalty card data.

The underground industry of wastewater adulteration: how to trick legal testing with COD removers

Adulteration is an illegal practice often committed in food and cosmetic industries, yet rarely in environmental regulation compliance. The Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment recently issued a law prohibiting any intentional use of ‘interfering agents’ during wastewater compliance testing. For the first time, such illegal practices are brought to public attention, though they have been barely discussed previously in the scientific literature. The fraudulent method involves the addition into wastewater of a sodium chlorate-based compound, named 'COD remover,' which artificially decreases the chemical oxygen demand (COD) measured during legal testing using the dichromate method. Such practices can decrease COD from 214 mg/L to below 100 mg/L. COD removers are designed to work under testing conditions, and they do not effectively purify wastewater. The use of COD removers has created an underground industry, where users can anonymously purchase those products in 25-kg packages from all major domestic online retailers in China. A notable case was recently publicized after the new legislation, where 131 tons of COD remover had been used in a municipal wastewater treatment plant. Nonetheless, very little is known about other possible cases in China and elsewhere, and whether COD is the sole target of fraudulent practice in wastewater testing. For instance, nitrites could be used as interfering agents in the iodometric method for measuring dissolved oxygen in water and wastewater. There are also reports of chemical adulteration in online monitoring of gas emissions. Since targeted chemical adulteration is based on the knowledge of reactions and mechanisms of testing methods, there is a need to develop more robust and adulteration-proof methods for wastewater testing.

Interacting User-Generated Content Technologies: How Questions and Answers Affect Consumer Reviews

This article studies the question and answer (Q&A) technology of electronic commerce platforms, an increasingly common form of user-generated content that allows consumers to publicly ask product-specific questions and receive responses, either from the platform or from other customers. Using data from a major online retailer, the authors show that Q&As complement consumer reviews: unlike reviews, questions are primarily asked prepurchase and focus on clarification of product attributes rather than discussion of quality; answers convey fit-specific information in a predominantly sentiment-free way. Drawing on these observations, the authors hypothesize that Q&As mitigate product fit uncertainty, leading to better matches between products and consumers and, therefore, improved product ratings. Indeed, when products suffering from fit mismatch start receiving Q&As, their subsequent ratings improve by approximately .1 to .5 stars, and the fraction of negative reviews that discuss fit-related issues declines. The extent of the rating increase due to Q&As is proportional to the probability that purchasers will experience fit mismatch without Q&A. These findings suggest that, by resolving product fit uncertainty in an e-commerce setting, the addition of Q&As can be a viable way for retailers to improve ratings of products that have incurred low ratings due to customer–product fit mismatch.

Comparison of the Nutritional Quality of Branded and Private-Label Food Products Sold in Italy: Focus on the Cereal-Based Products Collected From the Food Labeling of Italian Products Study.

The packaged foods sold in food stores may be “private-label” products (PL), when branded by the supermarket, and “branded” products (BR). PL products are generally cheaper than the BR counterparts, and this can be perceived as a sign of general low quality by consumers, when items are compared with their branded counterparts. Thus, the aim of the present study was to compare the nutrient content of BR and PL cereal-based foods, by evaluating the nutritional declaration reported on the food pack of products on the home-shopping website of major retailers present on the Italian market. A total of 3,775 items (~58% BR and ~42% PL), collected in the period from July 2018 to March 2019 and updated in March 2020, were included in the final analysis. Data were analyzed by means of the Mann–Whitney nonparametric test for two independent samples for differences between BR and PL categories and types. Overall, BR products showed higher contents of total and saturates than PL items. When products were grouped for categories and types, items only differed for the content of total fats, saturates, total carbohydrates, proteins, and salt. No differences were instead found for energy and sugar contents among any of the categories. However, we did not find any consistency in the direction of results. These results could be useful for future education activities aimed to help consumers in making informed food choices.

RETAILING IN BANGLADESH: EVOLUTION AND EXPANSION

Clothing manufacturers in Bangladesh are known around the world for their low prices. As a destination for clothing sourcing from foreign retailers, it offers low labor costs and a large pool of human resources. This makes Dhaka a sourcing hub for global apparel buyers and retailers. Major clothing retailers in top urban destinations across the Western Hemisphere exclusively display these products in front of their customers.In an effort to develop a theoretical framework to explain Bangladesh's retail industry, three main theories can be outlined. Essentially, these theories propose that as a result of external forces (such as environment or conflict), a retail institution will develop into another type or a new type will develop because of a need, conflict, or other factors. When explaining the international expansion of Bangladeshi retailers, we intended to look at three specific theoretical frameworksie; Environmental theory, Cyclical theory and Conflict theory. The article has gone through available literatures to establish relationships between there interrelated theories and justify their selection to explain the evolution and expansion of retail industry in Bangladesh.

Lactose-Reduced Infant Formulas Are Over-Consumed Whereas Hypoallergenic Infant Formulas Are Not - When Compared to Medical Necessity

ObjectivesWe aimed to report the macronutrient composition of powdered infant formula purchased from major US physical-location retailers from 2017 through 2019. We then compared the percentage of lactose-reduced and hypoallergenic powdered infant formula consumed with the estimated prevalence of infant conditions necessitating a lactose-reduced or hypoallergenic formula. We also compared the proportion of formula consumed that was lactose-reduced between WIC and non-WIC purchases. MethodsAnnual powdered infant formula volume and purchase data from all major brick-and-mortar stores in the United States (excluding Costco) from 2017 through 2019 was obtained from IRi (Information Resources Inc). Protein, carbohydrate, fat composition and scoop size for each formula was obtained from formula companies and equivalent liquid ounces (“formula consumed”) was calculated. Small can sizes of “standard” (intact and partially hydrolyzed protein) formulas served as proxies for WIC purchases. Proportions were compared to published medical prevalence by calculating a z-ratio, t-test. ResultsAverage infant carbohydrate consumption consisted of 56.6% lactose, 37.7% glucose, and 5.7% sucrose. 21% of formula consumed contained sucrose. 55% of all formula and 47% of standard formula consumed was lactose-reduced, both higher than the estimated 7.5% prevalence of medical necessity (p < 0.0002). Lactose-reduced standard formula represented 51% of non-WIC sales which was greater than the 44% of WIC sales (p = 0.003). Protein consumption consisted of 5.0% soy protein, 74.1% intact dairy, 11.1% partially hydrolyzed dairy, 7.1% fully hydrolyzed protein, and 0.3% amino acid based. Hypoallergenic (fully hydrolyzed and amino acid-based) formula represented 7.4% of formula consumed, which did not differ from liberal estimates of cow’s milk allergy prevalence (7.5%). ConclusionsEstimated consumption of hypoallergenic formula in the US matches liberal estimates of medical necessity. However, a high proportion of formula-fed infants are consuming non-lactose-based carbohydrate; more than is medically warranted, necessitating further research into metabolic implications. Funding SourcesNone.

Nonmotorized Commuting Behavior of Middle-Income Working Adults in a Developing Country

Although nonmotorized transport (NMT) offers economic, environmental, and health benefits to individuals and communities, understanding nonmotorized travel behavior is a challenging task due to complex interactions of a wide range of factors. While behavioral models offer a conceptual framework to understand human behavior, their use in the study of travel behavior in developing countries is still in its infancy. This study uses three behavioral models—the theory of planned behavior, the theory of triadic influence, and the ecological model of health behavior—to identify potential factors influencing intentions and behavior toward the use of NMT by middle-income working adults, inhabiting the Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) area of Bangladesh. A total of 720 middle-income working adults (aged between 18 and 65 years) were randomly selected and interviewed at major commercial and retail business areas of the CCC. Multiple linear and binary logistic models were developed to quantify the extent of the influence of different factors on nonmotorized mode choice behavior. Results indicated that personal factors (proximal) such as attitude, subjective norm, and behavioral control influence respondents’ intentions and motivation in choosing NMT. However, the current use of NMT was less controlled by intention, while factors associated with the social, cultural, and built environment had (distal) significant influence. The findings of this study could assist urban planners in adopting structural and nonstructural measures to promote NMT use.

Examining the Relationship between Sugar Content, Packaging Features, and Food Claims of Breakfast Cereals.

Excessive free-sugar intake has become highly prevalent in numerous countries, and Portugal is not the exception. One product category that contributes to the daily intake of free sugars is breakfast cereals. In the current work, we identified 289 exemplars from two major retailers in Portugal and collected information on their nutritional profile (e.g., sugar, salt, fiber per 100 g), price, packaging features, type of food claims present (e.g., statements about the composition, sensory features, the origin of the product), and ingredients list. Overall, the sugar content of breakfast cereals was high (Mean = 19.9 g), and less than 10% of the products complied with the current national guidelines (i.e., 5 g of sugar per 100 g of product). Sugar (or other sugar sources) was listed in the top three ingredients for over 85% of the products. On average, each product included about four claims (Mean = 3.9), and sugar content was lower when the claims were related to the product composition. Critically, the sugar content was particularly high for children-oriented products (Mean = 26.4 g). Correlation analysis showed that breakfast cereals with higher sugar content also were cheaper and had lower quantities of fiber, proteins, and salt. Our findings suggest the need to implement strategies to reduce sugar in this product category (e.g., incentivize manufacturers to reformulate products). Also, our results may inform strategies aimed at promoting consumers’ awareness about the sugar content in breakfast cereals and other processed foods, facilitating healthier decision-making.