National Retail Research Articles

Challenges in the supply of perishable products to island communities

This article examines the specific retail challenges associated with supplying to the island communities around the UK. It examines the main difficulties in supplying short shelf life products to both remote as well as larger urban island conurbations. Using a qualitative research methodology, this article reports interviews with individuals who had either strategic or operational responsibility for island retailing and supply. The research identifies a variety of factors that disproportionately influence the efficiency and effectiveness of a retailer's operations. It also notes that island retailers operate under a significantly different cost base from that of a mainland operation. While national multiple retailers may choose to absorb this additional expense into their overall cost base, many local retailers have followed a conglomerate strategy and operate wholesale or multi-service functions.

The impact of the introduction and use of an informational website on offline customer buying behavior

Do customers increase or decrease their spending in response to the introduction of an informational website? To answer this question, this study considers the effects of the introduction and use of an informational website by a large national retailer on offline customer buying behavior. More specifically, we study a website's effects on the number of shopping trips and the amount spent per category per shopping trip. The model is calibrated through the estimation of a Poisson model (shopping trips) and a type-II tobit model (the amount spent per category per shopping trip), with effect parameters that vary across customers. For the focal retailer, an informational website creates more bad than good news; most website visitors engage in fewer shopping trips and spend less in all product categories. The authors also compare the characteristics of shoppers who exhibit negative website effects with those few shoppers who show positive effects and thus derive key implications for research and practice.

Brand Advocacy and Sales Effort by Retail Salespeople: Antecedents and Influence of Identification with Manufacturers’ Brands

Retail salespeople represent an important link for manufacturers in communicating value propositions to retail customers and for implementing target market strategies. Past research reveals that the recommendations provided by retail salespeople exert significant influence on customers’ brand choice, especially in the context of consumer durables. However, as the retail environment is often characterized by an inherent tension between manufacturer and retailer strategies, a major challenge for manufacturers is to induce retail salespeople to recommend their brands over those of rivals. Relationship marketing and social identity theory suggest that psychological attachments motivate the direction and intensity of individuals’ volitional efforts and extra-role behaviors. Extending past research, this study examines brand identification among retail salespeople as a critical psychological mechanism that mediates the influence of manufacturer and manufacturer representative–related factors on brand advocacy and sales effort. Using data gathered from retail salespeople employed in the consumer durables division of a major national retailer, a framework integrating the antecedents and outcomes of brand identification is tested. Based on the study’s results, implications for theory, manufacturers, and retailers are offered.

The Relationship between Work-Family Enrichment and Work-Family Satisfaction Outcomes

In this study, we investigate the positive aspects of the interface between work and family by examining the relationship between work-family enrichment and work-family satisfaction outcomes. Employees ( N = 336) at a national retail chain completed a survey questionnaire. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that work-to-family enrichment explains a significant proportion of the variance in both job satisfaction and career satisfaction and that the affective component of family-to-work enrichment explains a significant proportion of the variance in family satisfaction. Implications for both work-family theory and management practice are discussed.

The Impact of the Introduction and Use of an Informational Website on Offline Customer Buying Behavior

Do customers increase or decrease their spending in response to the introduction of an informational website? To answer this question, this study considers the effects of the introduction and use of an informational website by a large national retailer on offline customer buying behavior. More specifically, we study its effects on the number of shopping trips and the amount spent per category per shopping trip. The model is calibrated through estimation of a Poisson model (shopping trips) and a type-II tobit model (amount spent per category per shopping trip), with effect parameters that vary across customers. For the focal retailer, an informational website creates more bad than good news; most website visitors engage in fewer shopping trips and spend less in all product categories. The authors also compare the characteristics of shoppers who exhibit negative website effects with those few who show positive effects and thus derive key implications for research and practice.

Employees as customers: Exploring service climate, employee patronage, and turnover

The role of retail employees as customers was explored by quantitatively examining the influence of service climate and employee patronage on employee turnover intentions. Employees representing all shifts in two stores of a national retailer participated. Results indicated that employee patronage partially mediates the effects of service climate on employee turnover intentions. The findings suggest that employee patronage is a highly relevant organizational concept that warrants additional study. Practitioners may apply these findings in developing management and supervision training programs and designing employee selection and retention programs. Researchers may incorporate the variable of patronage when studying populations where employees can be external customers. Future research is necessary because the concept of employee patronage has not been adequately studied.

Lifting the Burden: Fundamental Tax Reform and U.S. Economic Growth

This paper presents a comprehensive treatment of the cost-of-capital approach for analyzing the economic impact of tax policy. This approach has provided an intellectual impetus for reforms of capital income taxation in the United States and around the world. The most dramatic example is the Tax Reform Act of 1986 in the United States. In this landmark legislation the income tax base was broadened by wholesale elimination of tax preferences for both individuals and corporations. Revenues generated by base broadening were used to finance sharp reductions in tax rates at corporate and individual levels. The cost-of-capital approach presented in this paper shows that important opportunities for tax reform still remain. This approach suggests two avenues for reform. One would retain the income tax base of the existing U.S. tax system, but would equalize tax burdens on all forms of assets as well as average and marginal rates on labor income. Elimination of differences in the tax treatment of all forms of assets would produce gains in efficiency comparable to those from the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Equalization of marginal and average tax rates on labor income would more than double these gains in efficiency. Proposals to replace income by consumption as a tax base were revived in the United States during the 1990's. The Hall-Rabushka Flat Tax proposal would produce efficiency gains comparable to those from equalizing tax burdens on all forms of assets under the income tax. However, a progressive National Retail Sales Tax, collected on personal consumption expenditures at the retail level, would generate gains in efficiency exceeding those from the Flat Tax by more than 50 percent! Equalizing marginal and average rates of taxation on consumption would double the gains from the Flat Tax.

Prediction of gastrointestinal disease with over-the-counter diarrheal remedy sales records in the San Francisco Bay Area

BackgroundWater utilities continue to be interested in implementing syndromic surveillance for the enhanced detection of waterborne disease outbreaks. The authors evaluated the ability of sales of over-the-counter diarrheal remedies available from the National Retail Data Monitor to predict endemic and epidemic gastrointestinal disease in the San Francisco Bay Area.MethodsTime series models were fit to weekly diarrheal remedy sales and diarrheal illness case counts. Cross-correlations between the pre-whitened residual series were calculated. Diarrheal remedy sales model residuals were regressed on the number of weekly outbreaks and outbreak-associated cases. Diarrheal remedy sales models were used to auto-forecast one week-ahead sales. The sensitivity and specificity of signals, generated by observed diarrheal remedy sales exceeding the upper 95% forecast confidence interval, in predicting weekly outbreaks were calculated.ResultsNo significant correlations were identified between weekly diarrheal remedy sales and diarrhea illness case counts, outbreak counts, or the number of outbreak-associated cases. Signals generated by forecasting with the diarrheal remedy sales model did not coincide with outbreak weeks more reliably than signals chosen randomly.ConclusionsThis work does not support the implementation of syndromic surveillance for gastrointestinal disease with data available though the National Retail Data Monitor.

A threshold model for respondent heterogeneity

Continuous models of respondent heterogeneity assume the existence of a response function where variables of interest are continuously related to explanatory variables. In many situations this assumption may not be true. In this paper we propose an approach of modeling respondent heterogeneity that identifies abrupt changes in the distribution of response coefficients around a threshold specification. Our model differs from traditional threshold models by introducing the threshold effect to describe across-unit behavior as opposed to within-unit behavior. We illustrate our proposed Bayesian threshold model for survey data from a large national retail bank that examines the effects of service wait times on customer satisfaction. We find evidence of a threshold effect where long in-process wait times are associated with bank branches characterized by weak associations between service quality drivers and overall perceptions of service quality. Branches with wait times below the threshold are found to have much stronger associations.

Private Label Vendor Selection in a Supply Chain: Quality and Clientele Effects

We model a supply chain consisting of a national brand manufacturer and an independent manufacturer, both of whom are potential suppliers of store brand to a single retailer. The retailer serves two customer segments—a quality sensitive segment (high type) and a price sensitive (low type) segment. The retailer serves these two segments by targeting the national and store brands to the quality and price sensitive segments, respectively. When the national brand manufacturer supplies the store brand he internalizes the effect of store brand quality on the national brand's retail prices. This leads the national brand manufacturer to choose a lower store brand quality than the independent manufacturer. This decrease in store brand quality has the benefit of increased revenues from the high type customers along with an associated cost of decreased revenues from the low type customers. Thus, when the benefit outweighs the cost the retailer chooses the national brand manufacturer to supply the store brand. We show that the retailer will choose the national brand manufacturer to supply the store brand when (a) the size of the high type customer segment is large relative to the low type customer segment, (b) the valuations of the high type customer segment is large relative to the low type customer segment, and (c) the retailer's margin requirement on the store brand is not very high. Overall, these results suggest that retailers who serve a bigger sized quality (price) sensitive clientele would have the national brand (independent) manufacturer supply the store brand.

In the NEWS A QUICK ROUNDUP OF NEWS AND INFORMATION FROM OUR COMMUNITY

In the NEWS A QUICK ROUNDUP OF NEWS AND INFORMATION FROM OUR COMMUNITY

Optimizing and Evaluating Retail Assortments for Infrequently Purchased Products

This article develops a methodology for choosing optimal retail assortments for infrequently purchased products and assessing the robustness of such assortments with regard to shifts in customer preferences. The approach incorporates heterogeneous consumer preferences and uses integer programming to determine optimal retail assortments. The robustness of the resulting assortments is examined using alternative consumer choice assumptions and ranges of parameter values. The methodology is illustrated using adaptive conjoint data collected via the Internet and is assessed against the sales results from an assortment offered by a national retail chain.

Making work safer: Testing a model of social exchange and safety management

Introduction This study tests a conceptual model that focuses on social exchange in the context of safety management. The model hypothesizes that supportive safety policies and programs should impact both safety climate and organizational commitment. Further, perceived organizational support is predicted to partially mediate both of these relationships. Methods Study outcomes included traditional outcomes for both organizational commitment (e.g., withdrawal behaviors) as well as safety climate (e.g., self-reported work accidents). Questionnaire responses were obtained from 1,723 employees of a large national retailer. Results Using structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques, all of the model's hypothesized relationships were statistically significant and in the expected directions. The results are discussed in terms of social exchange in organizations and research on safety climate. Impact on Industry Maximizing safety is a social-technical enterprise. Expectations related to social exchange and reciprocity figure prominently in creating a positive climate for safety within the organization.

Department store advertising in newspapers, radio, and television, 1920‐1960

PurposeFocusing on the early development of the three major forms of local advertising employed by independent department stores across the USA – newspapers, radio, and television – this paper examines continuity in the industry's commercial use of new technologies.Design/methodology/approachThe research draws on different types of primary sources, including department store financial records and correspondence, retailing trade literature, industry publications, newspaper advertisements, and radio advertisement transcripts.FindingsThe local and regional markets of the independent department store, and to some extent, department store chains, required local advertising, something best served by newspapers in the period under study. While many retailers embrace the commercial potential of radio and television as they appear in the 1920s and late 1930s, respectively, others are reluctant to divert their advertising budget away from newspapers. Trade writers for the department store industry and radio and television reveal tension between the National Retail Dry Goods Association, with its progressive orientation and professionalizing goals, and the more traditional merchants these experts are trying to modernize. The paper also suggests, perhaps as a subject for future research, that as radio and television lost their local orientation and became increasingly commercialized and national, independent department store advertising would not have been able to compete with department store chains.Originality/valueAlthough much has been written about national advertising, cultural, and business historians have conducted little research on local advertising, the type typically employed by independent department stores. This paper provides an introduction to the three major advertising formats most often used by independent department stores as each medium first emerged as a potential selling tool.

Impact of Medicare Part D on Medicare–Medicaid Dual‐Eligible Beneficiaries' Prescription Utilization and Expenditures

To examine the effect of Part D on 65-78-year-old noninstitutionalized dual eligibles' prescription utilization and expenditures. Random sample of unique pharmacy customers of a national retail pharmacy chain who filled at least one prescription during both 2005 and 2006. For each subject, we obtained claims data for every prescription filled between January 1, 2005, and April 31, 2007. Generalized estimating equations were used to examine the experience of a "treatment" group (dual eligibles between 65 and 78 years on January 1, 2005) with that of a "control" group (near-elderly patients with Medicaid coverage between 60 and 63 years on January 1, 2005) during the first 18 months after Part D implementation. Expenditures for the treatment and control groups tracked each other closely in the pre-Part D period. Immediately following the implementation of Part D, expenditures for both groups decreased and then leveled off. There were no significant changes in trends in the dual eligibles' out-of-pocket expenditures, total monthly expenditures, pill-days, or total number of prescriptions due to Part D. We find no evidence that Part D adversely affected pharmaceutical utilization or out-of-pocket expenditures of dual eligibles during the transition period, nor during the 16 months subsequent to Part D implementation.

Assessment of consumer exposure to nutrition information on food labels: penetration study across the twenty-seven EU member states (EU-27) plus Turkey

Food Labelling to Advance Better Education for Life (FLABEL) is a project funded under the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme. Its objective is to understand how nutrition information on food labels affects dietary choices and consumer habits. Fundamental to this objective is the assessment of current exposure of consumers to nutrition information on food labels. At present, few data exist on the penetration of nutrition information on food labels in Europe, with previous studies involving only a small subset of countries and not looking at all products within a product category (1) . The present study aimed at designing and conducting a reproducible audit, assessing the current penetration of nutrition information on food labels in various product categories in the EU-27 plus Turkey and to identify the major ways in which nutrition information is provided on labels. In each of the twenty-seven EU countries plus Turkey three types of retailers were chosen for the audit: a retailer within the top five in terms of market share; a national retailer or consumer cooperative; a discounter. The product categories examined were sweet biscuits, breakfast cereals, ready meals, carbonated soft drinks and yoghurts. A data collection grid was designed to record where nutrition information occurred on the pack (front of pack v. elsewhere), in which format it was given (e.g. nutrition table), which nutrients were covered and whether nutrition or health claims were present. The majority of products in these five categories in all countries contained nutrition information of some kind (highest in the UK and Republic of Ireland, lowest in Eastern European countries). The most widespread format across all countries was the nutrition table on back of pack, stating either the main four (energy, protein, carbohydrates, fat) or the main eight (main four plus sugar, saturated fat, fibre and salt). Overall, breakfast cereals was the category with the highest penetration of nutrition information. Nutrition claims and guideline daily amounts were the most prevalent front-of-pack forms of nutrition information. Nutrition information was found on a large majority of products audited and its presence seems higher than reported previously (1) . The findings will provide a solid starting ground for subsequent studies involving attention, reading, liking, understanding and use of different nutrition labelling formats.

A Threshold Model for Respondent Heterogeneity

Continuous models of respondent heterogeneity assume the existence of a response function where variables of interest are continuously related to explanatory variables. In many situations this assumption may not be true. In this paper we propose an approach of modeling respondent heterogeneity that identifies abrupt changes in the distribution of response coefficients around a threshold specification. Our model differs from traditional threshold models by introducing the threshold effect to describe across-unit behavior as opposed to within unit behavior. We illustrate our proposed Bayesian threshold model for survey data from a large national retail bank that examines the effects of service wait times on customer satisfaction. We find evidence of a threshold effect where long in-process wait times are associated with bank branches characterized by weak associations between service quality drivers and overall perceptions of service quality. Branches with wait times below the threshold are found to have much stronger associations.

The interactive effects of political skill and future time perspective on career and community networking behavior

Scholars have suggested that skill (Ferris et al., 2007) and motivation (Forret and Dougherty, 2001) need to be considered in predicting the direction and intensity of networking behaviors. Congruently, the present study argues that skill and motivation operate interactively and assesses the interactive impact of political skill (i.e., the ability to interact effectively with others) and future time perspective on differentially predicting community-based and career-based networking behavior. Results from a sample of managers from a national retail chain ( n = 291) indicated that politically skilled individuals who possessed a deep future time perspective were more involved in career-related networking than politically skilled individuals who perceived a shallow future time perspective. Additionally, politically skilled respondents with shallow organizational time perspectives engaged in higher levels of community-based networking than did their counterparts with deeper organizational time perspectives. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of political skill, social networks, and socioemotional selectivity theory.

Developing a Typology of Perceived Communication Challenges Experienced by Frontline Employees During Organizational Change

This study sought to develop a typology of communication challenges perceived by frontline employees during the implementation of organizational change. A sample of midlevel managers (N = 166) self-reported 486 challenges they perceived encountering while implementing a new customer service program at a national textbook retailer. These perceived impediments were inductively analyzed into a five-tiered typology including (a) resistance from external stakeholders, (b) a lack of resources and decision-making authority, (c) personal management issues, (d) competing changes, and (e) staff resistance.

Mr Drage, Mr Everyman, and the creation of a mass market for domestic furniture in interwar Britain1

This article examines strategies used by durable goods retailers to create a mass market in interwar Britain, via a case study of domestic furniture. Interwar demand for new furniture witnessed particularly rapid growth—mainly owing to the extension of the market to lower‐income groups. A number of innovative national retailers developed liberal hire purchase (HP) facilities in order to bring furniture within the economic reach of these groups, while sophisticated national advertising campaigns were used both to legitimize the buying of furniture on HP and to project the idea that furnishing by this means was key to achieving the type of aspirational lifestyles being promulgated in the popular media.