Trends In Retailing Research Articles

Managing big data in the retail industry of Singapore: Examining the impact on customer satisfaction and organizational performance

Much of the research on big data analytics has been centered on technical or system development. Research has been carried out on the usage of big data analytics to understand customer relationships and experience, amongst others. Still, there is a lack of research in the retail industry considering big data management, examining the impact on customer satisfaction and organizational performance in the retail sector. Retailers explore analytics to gain a unified picture of their customers and operations across the store or online channels and make strategic decisions contributing to the growth of the retail industry. Thereof, this study has been conducted by majorly focusing on the Singapore retail industry to clarify the feasibility of big data management analytics. Quantitative research method was employed involving 500 participants from the retail industry of Singapore. The results of the study stated that amongst the different big data analytics utilized within the retail industry of Singapore, social media analytics had been majorly answered by the participants. Future researchers can study about the upcoming retail trends in Singapore and how the effects of big data analysis changed in the past few years and deal with the unexpected future recessions in the retail industry within Singapore.

The Antecedents of Slow Fashion Product Purchase Decision Among Youth in Bandung, Jakarta, and Surabaya

The global trend of apparel industry is having positive correlation with Indonesia fashion retail trend. Recently, there has been growing in awareness among Indonesia consumer about environment make slow fashion product become more popular. However, there are lack of empirical evidence about Indonesian consumers’ slow fashion purchase decision and environment-friendly attitudes. This research aim to investigate the influencing factor of slow fashion product purchase decision among Indonesian youth. Based on the result, researcher can determine influencing factor of slow fashion product purchase decision. This research used quantitative approach through questionnaire with total 250 respondents ranging age 18-24 in 3 major cities in Indonesia which is Bandung, Jakarta, and Surabaya. In investigating the influencing factors, researcher gain four hypothesis from literature review. The factor tested in this research are personal environmental norms, past environmental friendly behaviour, green marketing, and peer influence in green context. The result of the study shows only peer influence in green context has significant correlation to slow fashion product purchase decision. This study is important to understand customer behaviour in slow fashion product and help marketer to find right marketing strategy.
 Keywords: Purchase Decision; Slow Fashion; Indonesian Youth; Green Behavior; Environmental Friendly Attitudes

The 'store of the future' in popular culture: Trends in press coverage of experiential retailing

Abstract Since the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, the global retail market has witnessed massive demographic and technological changes that have re-defined consumer experience. Such changes include the rise of the millennial consumer cohort, and the introduction of retailers implementing enhanced artificial intelligence (AI) data methodology to analyse business, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to enhance experience and co-customization interfaces. Two seminal pieces of literature regarding consumer experience are Ballantine and Parson's analysis of consumer experience factors and Pine and Gilmore's (1999) Experience Economy. However, these studies were conducted nearly a decade ago, leaving a void in the literature that does not consider more current factors impacting consumer experience. The purpose of the present research was to: analyse popular press coverage to understand trends in experiential elements; and to extend the Ballantine and Parsons' framework by proposing more current experiential elements. The researchers used the EBSCO database to generate a list of articles written from 2008 to 2018; these articles were then analysed via a qualitative content analysis method, using Ballantine and Parson's and Pine and Gilmore's frameworks as a base. Emergent themes that did not fit the above frameworks were added, thereby updating and extending the current body of knowledge. Findings indicated an increased emphasis on 'experiential retailing' over the years 2016‐18. Product display, employees, colour and comfort features emerged as the most important Ballantine and Parsons themes, while new emergent themes of technology, uniqueness/personalization and entertainment/escapism/discovery were added to the Ballantine and Parsons framework, thus updating it to reflect current retailing trends. Implications for industry and academia, along with directions for future research are provided.

Order fulfillment policies for ship-from-store implementation in omni-channel retailing

One of the recent trends in omni-channel retailing is ship-from-store which allows a retailer to fulfill online orders by using inventory from a nearby store. The benefits of this fulfillment model include faster delivery, lower shipment costs, higher in-stock probability, increased sales and customer satisfaction, etc. Despite its many benefits, this fulfillment model introduces many new operational challenges to the retailer, including the need to identify from which location to fulfill an online order when it arrives. In this study, we consider a retailer having both online and store operations, with each channel carrying its own inventory. Store orders are fulfilled from store inventories, whereas an online order can be shipped either from an online fulfillment center or from any other store that maximizes the retailer’s overall profit. Our study investigates dynamic fulfillment decisions: from which location to fulfill an online order when it arrives. We incorporate the uncertainty both in demand and in the cost of shipment to individual customers to characterize the optimal cross-channel fulfillment policy. Due to the optimal policy being computationally intractable for large-sized problems, we construct an intuitive heuristic policy to guide the retailers in their fulfillment decisions. We find that the proposed heuristic method is effective and obtains solutions within a reasonable amount of time for the cross-channel fulfillment problem.

Економіка мінімального контакту в умовах глобальної конкуренції

The article reveals the concept of the economy of minimal contact, analyzes the period of business functioning under quarantine conditions in 2020 in Ukraine, considers the main indicators of the retail market in Ukraine and the world, and also identifies the main players in the global and Ukrainian retail markets, which are topical issues of our time, which is why the relevance of the research topic is determined. The article considers the modern processes taking place in the global retail market. The analysis of the world’s purchase behaviour tendencies has been conducted.The purpose of the article is to substantiate and identify the advantages and obstacles of the ways of trade progress in the low touch economy in conditions of global competition.The study revealed the transformation of consumer behavior due to the economy of minimal contact, which provokes changes in the business model of enterprises, the value of their goals, focuses on reducing costs and increasing the influence of consumers. In accordance with this, key global retail trends and its future in the next 5-10 years were predicted.

Traditional agriculture product repositioning: goat milk in Taiwan

Traditional foods facing market decline can use consumer science approaches to define market segments and redesign the product. This study highlights the traditional food of goat milk in Taiwan that is locally well-known for its healthiness and has a historical distribution channel oriented to conveniently serving the young child market-post weaning and milk allergies. Market shifts and demographic trends place this traditional approach at risk. We show how conjoint analysis is used to define the most important attributes of this traditional food and what parts can be updated to better fit modern retailing trends. Eighteen conjoint scenarios are presented to consumers through images, defining both the part-worth utilities and importance of product attributes in a sample of 208 respondents. Results show the key attributes linked to tradition help define, in the mind of the consumer, this traditional food and the attributes that are open to updating.

Тенденции развития розничной торговли пищевыми продуктами

Тенденции развития розничной торговли пищевыми продуктами

The coincidence of private branding and foreign sourcing: Is there a causality direction?

Private branding, a retail trend whereby products made by unaffiliated manufacturers are sold under the private brands owned by retailers, has coincided with another trend known as foreign sourcing, whereby retailers outsource products from foreign manufacturers. Prior studies have tended to treat private branding and foreign sourcing as two separate trends without paying much attention to their coincidence. In this paper, we take a transaction cost approach to explore why the two retail trends coincide and whether there is a causality direction between them. Focusing on the manufacturer-retailer relationship, we point out that a special case of asset specificity (i.e., brand specificity) can drive up the costs of intra-channel transactions in foreign sourcing, in that private branding serves to neutralize the transaction cost disadvantage of foreign manufacturers and preserve their production cost advantage. Empirical data drawn from a multi-product/single-retailer sample confirm this transaction cost view and reveal a clear causality direction between the two retail trends. Both scholars and managers can derive useful insights from the conceptual framework and empirical evidence presented in this paper.

In-Store Experiences that Indian Fashion Retailers Need to Create in the Age of Omni Channel Shopping

Traditional marketing strategies in India have focused on developing models with emphasis on marketing and selling aspects. This paper highlights the importance of accepting, implementing and managing innovation and technology for Indian fashion retail in the physical market space as against the evolving digital market space, which is the convenient alternative to a physical store. The research supports the suggestions offered to create an engaging shopping journey that may help the Indian brick and mortar stores gain trust and buyer motivations. Delivering integrated service system of the e-shopping store in a real store, the fashion and lifestyle retailers can increase the store footprint despite a fast evolving digital market space. Modern retailers are experimenting with Internet of Things and Digital technology to offer new services, improve shopping experience by creating brand contact points, and reshape customer relationship management to enter new markets. The Internet of things brings with it an enormous amount of data that can be of great value to the overall customer experience. Study of emerging trends in fashion retail in India is discussed to bring forward the needs of the Indian smart consumer who is fashionable and eager to adopt technological innovation for an immersive shopping experience. This paper discusses opportunities which Indian brick and mortar stores can create for immersive shopping experience in order to retain consumers who belong to today’s era of technological advancements.

Online Retailing in South Africa: An Overview

Online platforms and e-commerce have revolutionized retail, expanding the opportunities for companies and businesses to reach a wider range of customers, personalize preferences, lower prices and enhance consumer experiences. Online stores provide routes to market for smaller businesses and could potentially result in lower transaction costs. In South Africa, e-commerce has grown rapidly but at 1-2%, accounts for a small proportion of total retail spend, and lags behind other developed markets. The growth of e-commerce in South Africa is reported to have been hindered historically by the high prices and poor quality of internet services, and the reliability and cost of delivery mechanisms. However, e-commerce is growing rapidly from a small base and, as data costs come down, logistics improve and trial increases it can be expected to grow even faster. It is therefore important that South Africa considers the implications of e-commerce for its own industrial strategy and growth plans. This paper aims to provide an overview of online retailing South Africa. It outlines the patterns and trends in online retailing in South Africa as well as segments in the value chain including payments and logistics systems. It also identifies some of the opportunities and challenges in the sector and provides policy recommendations for future industrial policy.

The Symbiosis of Offline and Digital Retail: Ukrainian Context

It is substantiated and scientifically proved that retail is one of the components of the Ukrainian economy in the context of ensuring its sustainable development. The arguments about the determination of the symbiosis of offline and digital retail as one of the alternatives for successful operations in a modern environment with permanent market changes are summarized considering the trend of digitalization. The purposes of the paper are to investigate the landscape and features of digital and offline businesses of retailers, and to justify recommendations for retailers with a trade network for their persistent digital business development in the context of Ukrainian realities. The object of the study is the largest Ukrainian retailers in the food retail segment, which carrying out simultaneous online and offline trade. As part of the study, the analysis of the volumes of online trade in the general structure of Ukraine's trade turnover during 2014–2019 years was carried out. The trends of the Ukrainian online trading market in Europe are identified. The comparative analysis of the spending volume of online retail in Ukraine, Eastern Europe and the world in 2014–2020 years was conducted. Prospects for doing digital business for retailers in Ukraine are substantiated. The features of the online buyers’ activities in the online space are diagnosed. The digital activity of consumers by the types of gadgets and devices in Ukraine and the world is determined. Trends in Ukrainian online retail is interpreted. The development of the digital business of Ukrainian food retailers is analysed. Based on the results of diagnostics of the Ukrainian retailers’ activity in the food retail segment and taking into account current market trends, perspective directions of persistent progressive development of their digital business are determined. Approbation of the recommendations that are provided in the article, is confirmed the feasibility of their usage by online retailers in Ukraine to maximize the satisfaction of heterogeneous requests, needs and preferences of online buyers, as well as the rapid expansion of new market segments. Key words: digitalization, digital business, digital transformation, offline business, retail.

Traditional Agriculture Product Repositioning: Goat Milk in Taiwan

Traditional foods facing market decline can use consumer science approaches to define market segments and redesign the product. This study highlights the traditional food of goat milk in Taiwan that is locally well-known for its healthiness and has a historical distribution channel oriented to conveniently serving the young child market-post weaning and milk allergies. Market shifts and demographic trends place this traditional approach at risk. We show how conjoint analysis is used to define the most important attributes of this traditional food and what parts can be updated to better fit modern retailing trends. Eighteen conjoint scenarios are presented to consumers through images, defining both the part-worth utilities and importance of product attributes in a sample of 208 respondents. Results show the key attributes linked to tradition help define, in the mind of the consumer, this traditional food and the attributes that are open to updating.

Food Access in the Age of Online Grocery: An Evaluation of Current Retail Trends and Their Potential to Alleviate Food Deserts in the U.S.

Online grocery shopping is growing rapidly and has been heralded as a potential solution to food insecurity. Supermarkets are increasing their online presence, and some have joined the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) pilot program aimed at increasing online grocery access among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants. Although both the growth of the online grocery industry and the launch of the USDA pilot program are steps in the right direction for greater food access, it is worth asking how these initiatives will address food access among low-income consumers. This paper aims to answer the following questions: does online grocery shopping reduce or eliminate food access barriers for low-income consumers? Does it introduce new barriers? Does online grocery shopping have the potential to reshape the definition of a food desert? Using Hilary Shaw’s (2006) categorization of food access barriers—ability, asset, attitude—as a framework, online grocery shopping motivations were reviewed, and a case study on current practices at Kroger, Wal-Mart, and Amazon Fresh was conducted. The results suggested that none of the retailers’ current practices significantly reduce the barriers that low-income consumers are likely to experience when trying to shop online. Although the online channel eliminates the physical barrier of having to carry groceries, it in turn introduces new barriers, such as sensory risk aversion to buying perishables online, the necessity of possessing relevant technological skills, and having access to a computer. This paper proposes a new term, “digital food desert,” to define (1) a community without access to online grocery due to infrastructure constraints, or (2) a community with access to online grocery, but whose market manifests the conditions of a physical food desert online.

A metaheuristic for the time-dependent vehicle routing problem considering driving hours regulations – An application in city logistics

Abstract New retail trends show the increasing importance of providing cost efficient deliveries in cities, where congestion and compliance with driving hours regulations should be incorporated into routing software. This paper introduces a large neighbourhood search algorithm that substantially improves the benchmark solutions (in terms of the number of vehicles required, travel distance and duty time) for the vehicle routing problem variant considering time windows, time-dependent travel times and driving hours regulations (EC) 561/2006 that apply to vehicles over 3.5 tons in European cities. Additionally, instances for The Road Transport (Working Time) Regulation 2005 that applies to drivers in the United Kingdom are introduced. The proposed algorithm is also used in scenarios that represent home delivery conditions to evaluate the impacts of the length of time windows, customer density, congestion and regulations in terms of cost and environmental impact.

Trends of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in the Fashion Industry

This study analyzes recent trends in fashion retailing instigated by the fourth industrial revolution and approaches the trends in terms of the convergence of big data and artificial intelligence. The findings are as below. First, companies like 'Edited' and 'Stylumia' offer solutions that support t...

Who is shaping the food choices of the future?

AbstractA conference was held by the British Nutrition Foundation in October 2017 to explore future trends in agriculture, manufacturing and retailing, and the relationship between these trends and food choice. Topics explored by the speakers included sustainability, climate change, Brexit, the ageing population, technological advances in food production, product reformulation, consumer behaviour and public health agendas. This report summarises the conference proceedings.

Modern food retail and unfair trading practices

The abuse of bargaining power by retailers is reflected in unfair trading practices (UTPs) and there has been a growing interest among EU MSs to address them using regulatory approach and self-regulatory initiatives among market participants. The experiences of ex-YU and neighboring EU MSs are of interest for Serbia. Serbian food suppliers are not protected from UTPs apart from general competition and contract rules and payment terms regulation. Therefore, after a brief review of the global food retail trends and the role of power in the supply chain management in the introduction, the discussion focuses on UTPs and regulatory mechanisms to address them at the EU level, in selected EU MSs and in Serbia. Regarding existing EU and MS practices, it is recommended that Serbia introduce specific UTP regulation in the food supply chain and authorize the Commission for Protection of Competition for the enforcement.

The ‘online high street’ or the high street online? The implications for the urban retail hierarchy

The U.K. has the greatest proportion of online sales in Europe. This study seeks to explore the differential effects of online retailing on the (evolving) hierarchy of shopping centres by examining current trends and underlying forces. The overall objectives of the paper are to qualify and explore the influence of online retailing in the decision-making processes of leading retailers today; and to assess how virtual influences become manifest in the tangible built environment and have impacted the retail hierarchy? It differentiates online retail trends by sector and retailer size, and examines the consequences for different types of shopping centres. The empirical research is based on the changing location of stores of a major fashion retailer and interviews with three of Britain’s leading retailers that have seen the more substantial increase in online turnover in recent years. Major retailers are found to have integrated online offerings, such as click and collect, into a ‘multi-channel’ retailing approach. Online retailing has therefore become an inherent and central element within large retailers’ business and therefore real estate strategies, with considerations such as online marketplace penetration and possible ‘cannibalisation’ coming to the fore in decision-making about store location. Online retail sales are, to a degree, drawing sales away from shopping centres but its impact on the existing shopping hierarchy is largely to reinforce established long-term trends driven by the motor age and the shift to out of town retailing. This is symbolised by the largest ‘high street’ fashion retailer now having more branches in retail parks than town centres. Out of town shopping centres for example are benefitting because of the ease of goods collection offered by these locations.

Engaged scholarship on the High Street: the case of HSUK2020

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to introduce engaged scholarship as a method for addressing the “wicked problem” of High Street change through successful collaboration and co-production of knowledge between academics, practitioners, citizens and other place stakeholders.Design/methodology/approachThe first part of this paper introduces engaged scholarship as a participatory form of research and situates it within the context of the High Street. The second part presents the case of High Street UK 2020 (HSUK2020) via Van de Ven’s diamond model of engaged scholarship as a guide.FindingsEngaged scholarship’s focus on knowledge production and on collaboration between the research team and the community enabled us to improve the understanding of factors affecting High Streets amongst a diverse group of stakeholders and focus on what works for the towns. The ongoing impact of HSUK2020 on the project towns’ action plans and on this current research is testament to how engaged scholarship research can drive the agendas for both academics and communities.Originality/valueThe paper presents engaged scholarship as an alternative collaborative method of conducting research on the High Street, one that is more in line with the current trends in retailing and works as a motivating factor for community engagement.

Zara vs. Uniqlo: Leadership strategies in the competitive textile and apparel industry

Zara from Spain and Uniqlo of Japan are leading firms in the fast fashion sector of the textile and apparel industry. An analysis of their corporate history and operational strategies explains their success in a highly competitive global environment. Maintaining distinct competitive advantages in brand visibility and quality, they continue to prosper through their ability to respond to consumer tastes, seek economies of scale through their global value chains, cultivate supplier networks that contain prices, and keep pace with Web‐based marketing platforms and online retailing trends. Their experiences offer valuable lessons in growth and international expansion.