UK Retail Sector Research Articles

The effect of CSR on corporate financial performance, considering the role of female representation in the retail industry

AbstractThe aim of this study is to examine relationships between CSR and corporate financial performance, considering the role of board diversity in retail industry in the UK. The theories examined include Friedman's theory and Stakeholder theory, which have conflicting ideas on whose needs a company should serve. Quantitative methodology is utilized to capture sample data comprising 10 years of financial data. Data were collected on companies listed on the FTSE 100 during 2012–2021 that were operating in the UK retail sector. This study uses regression analysis to test the hypothesis that analyses the relationship between CSR, gender diversity, and financial performance. There is no significant relationship between gender diversity and financial performance. The number of female directors on the board does not impact financial performance, so the regression analysis does not allow us to reject the null hypothesis. Instead, past performance, sales growth, and leverage impact financial performance.

Barbarians at the Tills? Post-pandemic reflections on violence and abuse against workers in the retail industry

The UK retail sector is witnessing substantial increases in violence and abuse towards its customer-facing workers in the post-pandemic era. The costs of this violence to employee wellbeing, local community stability and economic losses to the retail industry are manifold. COVID-19 has been implicated as a central driver in these increases, as the legacy of abuse in retail settings during the pandemic lockdowns continues to affect workers across the sector. This article adopts a series of conceptual tools from critical criminology to argue that rising violence against retail staff cannot be explained by the pandemic alone. Rather, criminology must consider these trends against a background of longer-standing increases in interpersonal violence and rapidly shifting cultural currents under late-neoliberal capitalism. This article also reflects on the hardening of consumer subjectivities and declining deference to mechanisms of authority that continue to manifest under postmodern cultural conditions. These all serve as prominent features in the contextual aetiology of abuse against retail staff and render the possibility of addressing retail violence through deterrence and prevention measures problematic.

How can big data analytics improve outbound logistics in the UK retail sector? A qualitative study

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore how big data analytics (BDA) as a potential information technology (IT) innovation can facilitate the retail logistics supply chain (SC) from the perspective of outbound logistics operations in the United Kingdom. The authors' goal was to better understand how BDA can be integrated to streamline SCs and logistical networks by using the technology, organisational and environmental model.Design/methodology/approachThe authors applied existing theoretical foundations for theory building based on semi-structured interviews with 15 SC and logistics managers.FindingsThe perceived benefits of using BDA in outbound retail logistics comprised the strongest predictor amongst technological, organisational and environmental issues, followed by top management support (TMS). A framework was proposed for the adoption of BDA in retail logistics. Contextual concepts from previous literature have helped us understand how environmental changes impact BDA decision-making, as such: (i) SC maturity levels and connectivity affect BDA utilisation, (ii) connected SCs improve data accessibility and information exchange, (iii) the benefits of BDAs also affect adoption and (iv) outsourcing complex tasks to experts allows companies to focus on core businesses instead of investing in IT infrastructure.Research limitations/implicationsOutside the key findings listed, this study shows that there is no one-size-fits-it-all approach for use within all organisational settings. The proposed framework reveals that the perceived benefit of BDA is non-transferrable and requires top-level management support for successful implementation.Originality/valueThe existing literature focusses on the approaches to applying BDA in SC and logistics but fails to present a deep dive into retail outbound logistics activity. This study addresses the “how” and proposes a social-inclusive framework for a technology-enabled topic.

Impact of Brexit policy on textile/clothing and footwear UK imports

On 23 June 2016 the UK voted to leave the EU, (Brexit). A four year and six-month period of uncertainty ensued before Article 50 was activated. Eventually the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) came into force on 1 May 2021. The UK retail sector, in particular the textile/clothing and footwear, relies on high levels of international importation to the UK. As the negotiations between the UK and the EU were undertaken, key elements featured in the development of the new Brexit policy. This paper examines the impact on the textile/clothing and footwear UK importation trade in relation to three of these key elements:- • June 23, 2016, UK voted to leave the EU. • 29 March 2017 Article 50 was triggered. • October 2019 Article 50 extended. The data was modelled using the main five UK import partners in relation to textile/clothing and footwear from the WITS (World Integrated Trade Solution) database and the UK Office of National Statistics annual and monthly data sets, in relation to the three key elements of policy. The study provided an initial insight into the impact of policy decision making during the Brexit process. The findings show that Key elements of Brexit policy making had a negative impact on importation trade in relation to Textile/Clothing and Footwear. Further research is recommended to establish the long-term effects of Brexit policy on the UK retail economy as a whole, over the next five years. This to be extended to the export of textile/clothing and footwear from the UK to EU and Non-EU trading partners.

Exploring customer concerns on service quality under the COVID-19 crisis: A social media analytics study from the retail industry

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a set of government policies and supermarket regulations, which affects customers' grocery shopping behaviours. However, the specific impact of COVID-19 on retailers at the customer end has not yet been addressed. Using text-mining techniques (i.e., sentiment analysis, topic modelling) and time series analysis, we analyse 161,921 tweets from leading UK supermarkets during the first COVID-19 lockdown. The results show the causes of sentiment change in each time series and how customer perception changes according to supermarkets’ response actions. Drawing on the social media crisis communication framework and Situational Crisis Communication theory, this study investigates whether responding to a crisis helps retail managers better understand their customers. The results uncover that customers experiencing certain social media interactions may evaluate attributes differently, resulting in varying levels of customer information collection, and grocery companies could benefit from engaging in social media crisis communication with customers. As new variants of COVID-19 keep appearing, emerging managerial problems put businesses at risk for the next crisis. Based on the results of text-mining analysis of consumer perceptions, this study identifies emerging topics in the UK grocery sector in the context of COVID-19 crisis communication and develop the sub-dimensions of service quality assessment into four categories: physical aspects, reliability, personal interaction, and policies. This study reveals how supermarkets could use social media data to better analyse customer behaviour during a pandemic and sustain competitiveness by upgrading their crisis strategies and service provision. It also sheds light on how future researchers can leverage the power of social media data with multiple text-mining methodologies.

The Application of Role-Based Framework in Preventing Internal Identity Theft Related Crimes: A Qualitative Case Study of UK Retail Companies

This paper aims to examine the challenges of preventing internal identity theft related crimes (IIDTRC) in the UK retail sector. Using an in-depth multiple case studies of a selected number of cross-functional management teams in the UK retail companies, management roles were analysed. We used semi-structured interview as a qualitative data collection technique and used Nvivo aided thematic analysis and interpretivism underpinned by Role-Based Framework (RBF) for analysis. Our findings revealed that vagueness of roles and lack of clarity in sharing data security responsibilities are the major challenges of preventing IIDTRC in UK retail companies. We suggest an application of RBF which provides a conceptual analysis for cross-functional management team to address the challenges of preventing IIDTRC. RBF enables clarity of shared roles where both information security and crimes prevention teams work in unison is required to prevent IIDTRC to maximise internal data security. Contributions for policymakers are offered in this paper.

Impact of Brexit policy on textile/clothing and footwear UK imports

On 23 June 2016, the UK voted to leave the EU, (Brexit). A four year and six-month period of uncertainty ensued before Article 50 was activated. Eventually the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) came into force on 1 May 2021. The UK retail sector, in particular the textile/clothing and footwear, relies on high levels of international importation to the UK. As the negotiations between the UK and the EU were undertaken, key elements featured in the development of the new Brexit policy. This paper examines the impact on the textile/clothing and footwear UK importation trade in relation to three of these key elements:- June 23, 2016, UK voted to leave the EU. 29 March 2017 Article 50 was triggered. October 2019 Article 50 extended. The data was modelled using the main five UK import partners in relation to textile/clothing and footwear from the WITS (World Integrated Trade Solution) database and the UK Office of National Statistics annual and monthly data sets, in relation to the three key elements of policy. The study provided an initial insight into the impact of policy decision making during the Brexit process. The findings show that Key elements of Brexit policy making had a negative impact on importation trade in relation to Textile/Clothing and Footwear. Further research is recommended to establish the long-term effects of Brexit policy on the UK retail economy as a whole, over the next five years. This to be extended to the export of textile/clothing and footwear from the UK to EU and Non-EU trading partners.

Data-driven digital transformation for emergency situations: The case of the UK retail sector

The study explores data-driven Digital Transformation (DT) for emergency situations. By adopting a dynamic capability view, we draw on the predictive practices and Big Data (BD) capabilities applied in the UK retail sector and how such capabilities support and align the supply chain resilience in emergency situations. We explore the views of major stakeholders on the proactive use of BD capabilities of UK grocery retail stores and the associated predictive analytics tools and practices. The contribution lies within the literature streams of data-driven DT by investigating the role of BD capabilities and analytical practices in preparing supply and demand for emergency situations. The study focuses on the predictive way retail firms, such as grocery stores, could proactively prepare for emergency situations (e.g., pandemic crises). The retail industry can adjust the risks of failure to the SC activities and prepare through the insight gained from well-designed predictive data-driven DT strategies. The paper also proposes and ends with future research directions.

Delineation of UK Retail Sector: An Actor-Network Perspective

This paper provides a contextual discussion about the UK retail market by screening the relevant literature bodies. The UK retail market is analyzed in terms of its dynamic; the influence market concentration, globalization, and supply chains, and the emerging shifts in the power position. Drawing on ANT, the paper shows how this market comprises a set of networks of various human and non-human actors who interact and negotiate among themselves. It also shows how the power of the UK’s big retailers can be regarded as a consequence of these networks and the interrelationship between them.
 
 Received: 14 October 2021 / Accepted: 11 January 2022 / Published: 5 March 2022

Antecedents of corporate social responsibility disclosure: evidence from the UK extractive and retail sector

PurposeThis study aims to examine the level of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure among the UK extractive and retail sectors and consequently ascertain whether corporate board characteristics and firm characteristics can explain observable differences in the extent of CSR disclosure.Design/methodology/approachBased on the KPMG survey 2017, the sample comprises all the firms in the extractive industries, such as mining and oil and gas and also retail industries, such as food and drug retailers and general retailers for the sample period of 2005 to 2018.FindingsThe findings show that the level of CSR disclosure from extractive sector is much higher than that of their counterparts in retail sector. In addition, the multiple regression results show that CSR disclosure is positively and significantly associated with board gender diversity, board independence, board size. Nevertheless, the results show that board meetings and Chief Executive Officer duality do not have a significant impact on CSR disclosure.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the existing literature on CSR in that it advances the understanding of the interaction between governance mechanisms and specific firm characteristics of two distinct sectors of the UK economy and how this in turn influences the CSR in the two sectors.

Supply chain resilience and business responses to disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeAt its peak, the COVID-19 pandemic has created disruption to food supply chains in the UK and for the entire world. Although societal changes created some resilience within the supply chains, high volatility in demand creates supply, logistics and distribution issues. This is reflected in the economic instability of businesses and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In this paper, the authors explore factors behind this initial disruption in the supply chains and offer suggestions to businesses based on the established practices and theories.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use mixed methods research. First, the authors conducted an exploratory study by collecting data from published online sources. Then, the authors analysed possible scenarios from the available information using regression. The authors then conducted two interviews with UK retail sector representatives. These scenarios have been compared and contrasted to provide decision-making points to businesses and supply chain players to tackle current and any future potential disruptions.FindingsThe findings from the current exploratory study inform the volatility of supply chains. The authors suggested some possible responses from businesses, during and after the pandemic.Originality/valueThe regression model provides a decision-making approach to help supply chain businesses during the pandemic outbreak. Once a complete data set of COVID-19 is available, the authors can create a resilience model that can help businesses and supply chains.

Archetypes of Footfall Context: Quantifying Temporal Variations in Retail Footfall in relation to Micro-Location Characteristics

The UK retail sector is constantly changing and evolving. The increasing share of online sales and the development of out-of-town retail provision, in conjunction with the 2008–09 economic crisis, have disproportionately impacted high streets and physical retail negatively. Understanding and adapting to these changes is fundamental to the vitality, sustainability and prosperity of businesses, communities and the economy. However, there is a need for better information to support attempts to revitalise UK high streets and retail centres, and advances in sensor technology have made this possible. Footfall provides a commonly used heuristic of retail centre vitality and can be increasingly estimated in automated ways through sensing technology. However, footfall counts are influenced by a range of externalities such as aspects of retail centre function, morphology, connectivity and attractiveness. The key contribution of this paper is to demonstrate how footfall patterns are expressed within the varying context of different retail centre architypes providing both a useful tool for benchmarking and planning; but also making a theoretical contribution to the understanding of retail mobilities. This paper integrates a range of contextual data to develop a classification of footfall sensor locations; producing three representations of sensor micro-locations across Great Britain: chain and comparison retail micro-locations, business and independent micro-locations and value-orientated convenience retail micro-locations. These three groups display distinct daily and weekly footfall magnitudes and distributions, which are attributed to micro-locational differences in their morphology, connectivity and function.

Are UK retailers well placed to deliver ‘less and better’ meat and dairy to consumers?

Retailers can play an important role in facilitating a transition to sustainable diets in the UK. They have been implementing strategies aimed at helping customers make healthier choices and are now considering how to broaden this to include sustainability, which is a live discussion in the UK retail sector. Focusing on ‘less and better’ meat and dairy as a core component of sustainable diets, this study investigates retailer perceptions of sustainable diets and their strategies and challenges to provide and promote customer purchasing of ‘less and better’ meat and dairy. Results from a series of semi-structured interviews with senior health and sustainability professionals within the UK retail sector indicate that retailers have a diverse understanding of sustainable diets that seldom includes ‘less and better’ meat and dairy. Retailers are adopting a range of different strategies linked to ‘less and better’ meat and dairy – from improving the sustainability of their meat and dairy supply chains to influencing customer purchasing through ‘nudge’ interventions. While strategies related to ‘better’ meat and dairy are being adopted, no retailer is implementing interventions focused on reducing purchasing of meat products. The promotion of sustainable diets is seen by some retailers as a way of positively engaging with customers and improving brand loyalty, but there are external barriers to reducing purchasing of meat and dairy products that are beyond the direct control of the retailer.

Exploring how social media platforms influence fashion consumer decisions in the UK retail sector

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the levels social media (SM) platforms are influencing consumer decision-making process for Generation X and Y consumers in the retail fashion environment.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts an interpretive, exploratory approach, applying a qualitative design. The research involved eight in-depth interviews and two focus groups in order to gain in-depth insights of two generational cohorts opinions, arguments, motivations and ideas.FindingsThe findings revealed that consumers use a variety of internal and external motivations that influence their behaviours and perceptions of high-street fashion retailers, and these factors are aided and facilitated by the use of SM. However, the research also revealed that SM is not the only source that motivates their consumer decision-making process, and with the proliferation of active users on SM, these platforms are (and will continue to have) an ever more increasing impact on consumer decision-makings. Participants were found to actively use SM to gain inspiration and information regarding high-street fashion retailers, however their final intentions to purchase were not as highly influenced by the content produced as previously expected.Research limitations/implicationsPrior to consumers’ making any decisions they are impacted by various stimuli, however, with the proliferation of active users on SM, the influence these platforms unconsciously have on consumer behaviour is vast. Therefore, suggesting that consumers are not as predictable as traditional consumer decision-making process (CDMP) theory postulates. Although thought processes do appear to exist, consumers now demonstrate a much more complex process, which create multiple layers of motivations where internal and external factors overlap.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study present valuable implications for high-street fashion marketers and are anticipated to enhance and deepen fashion marketers understanding of CDMP when using SM. Thus, they must strive to understand and provide relevant content to consumers’, not only for Generation Y but also Generation X, responding to quickly changing consumer demands and expectations with both of these cohorts. Overall, these findings propose that high-street fashion retailers on SM must understand the complexity of internal and external factors motivating consumers to interact with retailers online and off, and therefore, generating added value for their consumers. This is useful within marketing practises.Social implicationsThis paper gives some clarity and insight into the motivations of consumers in the fashion retail environment, from a digital influential perspective.Originality/valueThe findings concluded that SM has created a consumer that can be impacted at any stage of the decision process and has added to the research regarding unplanned consumer behaviour. Participants behaviours were stimuli-driven and user-controlled. Therefore, this had a larger impact on inspiration as opposed to modifying their behaviours to align exactly with trends or products.

Profit, reputation and ‘doing the right thing’: Convention theory and the problem of food waste in the UK retail sector

In 2014, Tesco – one of the world’s largest food retailers – revealed that it had generated almost 57,000 tonnes of food waste in its UK operations over the previous twelve-month period. This shocking statistic added to existing evidence of a significant environmental and social problem in the UK and across the world. This paper utilises convention theory to examine the role of major retailers in the context of this global problem and assesses their motivations for acting on food waste. Drawing on interviews with key stakeholders (including major retailers), the analysis investigates their main justifications for action on food waste. It finds that retailers mostly appealed to three conventions or ‘orders of worth’ (civic, market and opinion) and used these as a basis for their commitment to food waste reduction. We argue that the combination of these different justifications is feasible and necessary in the context of the retail sector but that they may also lead to some unintended consequences (in the retail sector and beyond). Crucially, we demonstrate how the dilution of civic justifications (by their financial and reputational counterparts) might produce negative outcomes and inaction as retailers attempt to adhere to the so-called ‘food waste hierarchy’. The paper highlights the continuing significance of convention theory as a framework for analysing possible responses to the social and environmental challenges confronting global agro-food systems.

(De) regulation of working time, employer capture, and ‘forced availability’: a comparison between the UK and Cyprus food retail sector

This article is concerned with exploring how working time is regulated and experienced in the international food retail sector in the UK and Cyprus. Following Martinez-Lucio and Mackenzie the article accepts that regulation in employment relations is a multifaceted phenomenon shared by a number of competing actors at different institutional levels. The paper highlights the limitations of working time regulation in the two countries and argues that employers are increasing their control over the timing and allocation of shifts and working time. The paper illustrates how employers ‘capture’ working time regulation by exercising their prerogative to more closely match working time with the exigencies of customer demand. In this environment, the paper reveals how employees are experiencing practices such as ‘forced availability’, coupled with pressure to extend working hours as well as facing increasing levels of unpredictability as to when they are required to attend work.

Impact of customer loyalty and service operations on customer behaviour and firm performance: empirical evidence from UK retail sector

Retail networks are striving to achieve competitive advantage by increasing value through loyalty and efficiency with a focus on service operations. As sales promotions have become an integral part of the retail supply chain planning, customer behavioural aspects based on loyalty and service operations have been challenged greatly. Subsequently, management capabilities, such as planning and timely replenishment, have become complicated tasks for many retail store managers. This study develops a model integrating retail network value and efficiencies with customer behaviour and performance. We validate the model using survey data from prominent U.K. retail store customers. Our data analysis shows that both loyalty and service operation attributes have positive significant impact on customer behaviour, while the service operation mediates the relationship between loyalty and customer behaviour. This result gives a new outlook to build managerial capability based on customer loyalty and service operations. Our results specifically show that the service operation attributes will indirectly influence the customers’ buying behaviour even in the presence of loyalty attribute such as promotion schemes. This result sends a strong signal to retail supply chain managers to offer customised promotions considering local community rather than having uniform sales promotion nationwide.

Improving UK retail academic-practitioner research: insights from relationship marketing

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons for the continuing “gap” between UK retail academic research and practice. A relationship marketing (RM) lens, focussing on relationship antecedents, is used to develop a deeper understanding of the barriers to collaboration and propose new solutions to close the gap.Design/methodology/approachThe paper adopts a qualitative methodology to compile the evidence, using multiple data sources to identify the dynamics of the retail academic-practitioner divide.FindingsThe research illustrates a marked absence of the majority of the customer focussed, seller focussed and dyadic antecedents, essential for effective relational exchanges, and highlights that at the heart of the problem lies a lack of shared understanding of mutual relationship benefits with academics currently neither motivated nor incentivised to develop such relationships.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research is needed to explore what characterises a successful sustainable research relationship. There is also a pressing need to understand the experience, skills and knowledge of “boundary spanners” who operate successfully in both academic and business cultures.Practical implicationsUniversities should adopt a strategic approach towards building relationships with retailers based upon relationship antecedents. Reward structures should be developed to encourage academics to develop research relationships. Resources should be allocated to better defining and communicating the benefits of a university research relationship with retailers.Originality/valueThere has been limited empirical research on the academic-practitioner gap within the context of the UK retail sector. The RM lens draws attention to new insights about barriers to successful relationships and generates concrete ideas for closing the gap moving forward.

Perception and Importance of Entrepreneurial Leadership in Small and Medium Sized Companies

The competitive advantage is difficult to obtain in ever-changing business environment. A solution to this problem is entrepreneurial leadership which is vital to attain and uphold competitive advantage in the competitive markets. Hence, this research study was aimed at finding the perception and the importance of entrepreneurial leadership for the UK retail sector particularly the small and medium sized retailers. The small and medium sized retailers registered in the Chamber and Commerce Industry in UK were selected for survey intention. The link to a web-designed questionnaire was sent to business managers and CEOs of these retailers. The responses of survey participants showed a positive perception and the importance of the role of entrepreneurial leadership. However, the UK retail sector needs to work on improving the perception of chaos in order to avoid the high failure rate of small and medium retailers.

Investigating the Extent to Which Personality Traits and Demographics Affect Job Satisfaction

The primary concern of this paper is to investigatethe extent to which three variables (i.e. personality traits, demographic variables, and job satisfaction) are interrelated with each other and what effect they have on each other in relation to the UK retail sector. The four different types of retail stores i.e. Tesco, Primark, Ikea and WH Smith were selected for survey purpose to minimise the class biasness.Total 300 close-ended questionnaires were distributed and 220 responses were obtained.The findings reveal that ‘Neuroticism’ is negatively associated with job satisfaction as well as with ‘Extraversion’. However, it is positively correlated with other three personality groups including ‘Agreeableness’, ‘Conscientious’, and ‘Openness’. On the other hand, ‘Openness to experience’ has a negative relationship with ‘Agreeableness’.It is also found from the ranking analysis that employees with ‘Agreeableness’ and ‘Conscientiousness’ personalities are more successful in their career and consequently they are more satisfied with their jobs.