Off-price versus price-off

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (10) ◽  
pp. 902-928 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald L. Hess Jr ◽  
Lawrence Ring
Keyword(s):  
Marketing Research ◽  
Extreme Points ◽  
Department Store ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Department Stores ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Store Attributes ◽  
The Us ◽  
Retail Format ◽  
Retail Formats

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to better understand the unique competitive positioning characteristics of off-price retailers and how they compare to other types of retailers. The authors compare off-price and upscale off-price retailers with four major formats of retailers: first, discount department store/warehouse club retailers; second, moderate department store retailers; third, department store retailers; and finally, specialty department store retailers. Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs a representative sample that was randomly drawn from four primary metropolitan cities in the USA. The data were collected using telephone interviews by a prominent, marketing research firm. A series of discriminant analyses were conducted to examine the data. Findings – The findings of the paper indicate that the off-price formats were consistently positioned at extreme points along the price/value continuum, signifying the strongest value-orientation among the other retail formats. The authors also found that while the upscale off-price format followed the specialty department stores in terms of fashion. The results point to an important disadvantage of the off-price format – although strong on price/value, they often fall short on fashion and many other store attributes that may be important to luxury-oriented customers. Research limitations/implications – The paper employed a sample from several cities collected using a telephone interview methodology within the US. Due to these limitations, the findings of this paper may be hampered by this methodology and not generalize to regions outside of the US. Future research should examine how the demise of most of the upscale off-price retailers and growth of flash web sites have changed the competitive structure of retailing. Practical implications – The results demonstrate that the positioning of the off-price retail format is unique from other formats. The retail formats occupy distinct positions. The off-price retail format is strongly associated with the price/value position but only moderately fashionable to customers, especially when compared with the department and specialty department store formats. In contrast, the upscale off-price format, while also strongly positioned along the price/value continuum, is considered much more fashionable than the off-price retail format. In fact, the upscale off-price retail format only trails the specialty department store format in terms of fashion. Originality/value – The unique characteristics of the off-price retail format and growing interest from upscale department stores underscores the need for a comprehensive understanding of the motives of the off-price shopper. This paper provides retailers with a more complete understanding of the store attributes that differentiate the off-price retail format from other major retail store formats. The overall objective of this study is to offer a comprehensive view of the positioning of off-price retailers compared with many alternative retail formats.

Marketing to the Big Middle: establishing Australian discount department stores

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 416-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Public Relations ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Department Store ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
Department Stores ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Retail Chain ◽  
Retail Formats ◽  
Gain Access

Purpose This study focuses on the marketing strategies of the two most successful discount department store chains in Australia between 1969 and the late 1980s when consumer acceptance of both brand and format were being determined. It examines how they approached marketing a new-format national retail chain to the Big Middle of the market and the ways in which brands were differentiated. Design/methodology/approach Archival sources and oral histories provide evidence about the marketing strategies of each firm. These are integrated with press coverage, advertising and promotional activity to analyze marketing programs. Consumer research from the time offers insights into the effectiveness of campaigns. Findings The Coles and Myer retailing firms pursued similar marketing strategies to encourage adoption of their Kmart and Target discount department store chains, educating consumers about the links between their operational efficiencies and lower prices. Both firms not only formulated national standardized marketing strategies but also differentiated their positioning to maximize their appeal to consumers. Originality/value This article expands understandings of the ways in which new national retail chains are developed and marketed. It explores the intersection between public relations material and media coverage and the ways in which existing brands can be leveraged to legitimize new formats and encourage adoption. More broadly, it contributes to a literature on the “Big Middle”, a space occupied by dominant, volume-oriented retailers. In doing so, it demonstrates that foreign adopters can draw on Big Middle retail formats to quickly gain access to large population segments in their home markets.

Do apparel store formats matter to Indian shoppers?

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (8) ◽  
pp. 698-716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rituparna Basu ◽  
Kalyan K. Guin ◽  
Kalyan Sengupta
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Market ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Choice Behaviour ◽  
Store Choice ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Store Attributes ◽  
Urban Indian ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Retail Formats

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore store choice behaviour of Indian apparel shoppers and analyses the factors influencing their choice of retail formats from an emerging market perspective. Design/methodology/approach – The research draws on a data set of 336 structured questionnaires with adult urban Indian respondents to understand their perceptions about organised and unorganised apparel store formats. The exploratory study uses a comprehensive list of demographics, shopping situations and format stimuli parameters along with two established psychographic scales to assess the extent of their effect on the store choice of apparel shoppers. Findings – Factor analysis revealed five well defined store attributes influencing the apparel shoppers’ decision. The growing market for organised retail with a preference for multi brand stores is highlighted. The study establishes that the shoppers’ perception of single-brand stores is still going through a formative phase. Further at the micro level of the decision process, significant differences are established by a number of variables. Research limitations/implications – The paper explores the store choice behaviour from a wider perspective that may be useful for future research on developing integrated store format choice models. However, the data used herein relates to a cross-section of shoppers in urban India due to the feasibility and convenience of studying relatively organised retail forms and structure of retail in an emerging market environment. Originality/value – The paper attempts to enumerate befitting analyses of factors that influence the store choice behaviour of apparel shoppers by using apt format classifications that are specific to the emerging retail market scenario in India.

Internet marketing research in hospitality and tourism: a review and journal preferences

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (7) ◽  
pp. 1556-1572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xi Yu Leung ◽  
Lan Xue ◽  
Billy Bai
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Correspondence Analysis ◽  
Marketing Research ◽  
Internet Marketing ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Topics ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Perspective ◽  
Hospitality And Tourism ◽  
Hospitality Managers

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to provide a progress review of published Internet marketing research within the top eight hospitality and tourism journals and to provide suggestions on future research directions. Design/methodology/approach – The study collected 331 Internet marketing-related articles published in the top eight hospitality and tourism journals during the period of 1996-2013. Using content analysis, the study analyzed and discussed research topics, research methods and industry sectors of selected articles. The study period was broken into three sub-periods and used correspondence analysis (CA) to examine the significant changes of topical areas over time. A follow-up CA was conducted to compare the topical and methodological preferences of the selected eight journals. Findings – In all, 5-category and 27-subcategory classifications of research topics were identified in the study. The two-dimensional perceptual map indicates that Internet marketing research in the hospitality and tourism fields experienced introduction, growth and maturity stages. The research focus changed from business perspective to customer perspective and then to both business and customer perspectives. The eight top hospitality and tourism journals were grouped into four journal sets that share similar article characteristics and preferences. Research limitations/implications – Due to the sample size, the classifications and trends generated in this study may not be generalized to all Internet marketing research in hospitality and tourism disciplines. The process of identifying topic and method categories might be biased, especially in identifying new topics. Future research may apply CA method in literature review studies on other research topics. Practical implications – The study analyzed published research in Internet marketing in the hospitality and tourism fields and provided topical and methodological recommendations to academia for future research. This study may also give hospitality managers new insights into Internet marketing applications in the industry. Originality/value – This study is one of the few attempts to provide a comprehensive review of Internet marketing research in the hospitality and tourism fields. This study uses CA in literature review study, opening up a new way to easily analyze and visually display the literature trends. This study also creatively compared the publication preferences among eight top-tier hospitality and tourism journals using correspondence analysis.

scholarly journals Islamic marketing as macromarketing

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Djavlonbek Kadirov
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Marketing Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Present Discussion ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Means And Ends ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Separate Discipline ◽  
Field Of Inquiry

Purpose – The purpose of the article is to propose and develop a distinct perspective in Islamic marketing research through fusing the Islamic paradigm and the macromarketing theory. Design/methodology/approach – This is a conceptual article that is based on intellectualising and reflecting on differences in understanding what marketing is and what role it plays in society. Findings – The article reveals some commonality of purpose between the macromarketing discipline and Islamic macromarketing, while the latter field of inquiry offers a unique outlook to a number of domain-specific issues. Research limitations/implications – The characterisation of Islamic macromarketing will open new avenues for future research and will make researchers more theoretically sensitive to ontological and epistemological assumptions that underlie marketing investigations. The limitation of the present discussion is that Islamic macromarketing may not have yet emerged as a separate discipline. Additionally, research on genuinely macromarketing issues in Islamic contexts is very sparse. Practical implications – Muslim practitioners and managers are to realise that the means and ends of marketing are better understood if viewed from a broader perspective of marketing's impact and consequences on society. By adopting the Islamic macromarketing perspective, public, societal institutions, business stakeholders, and managers will find a better platform to cooperate on maximising the realisation of hasanah (excellence) for all. Originality/value – This article contributes to the discipline by introducing and characterising a potentially new field of marketing inquiry.

Exploring the influence of store attributes on customer experience and customer engagement

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (11) ◽  
pp. 1138-1158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suhaily Mohd-Ramly ◽  
Nor Asiah Omar
Keyword(s):  
Structural Equation ◽  
Department Store ◽  
Customer Experience ◽  
Customer Engagement ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Retail Sector ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Store Attributes

Purpose The global retail landscape has changed drastically. The rising role of Asia as one of the fastest growing international retail penetration and expansion will continue to make the region to be the driving force in world economic growth. However, the ambitious expansion plans are making the retail sector to be more challenging. Emphasizing on the customer experience and enhancing the value proposition to customers are undeniably vital factors for the long-term survival of any retail business. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of store attributes on customer experience and customer engagement in the context of department store in Malaysia. Subsequently, the influence of customer experience on customer engagement is also analyzed. Design/methodology/approach Using drop and collect survey, 484 valid responses of department store cardholders of age 18 years and above in the area Klang Valley, Malaysia, were collected. PLS structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses of this study. Findings Results revealed that customer experience is influenced by merchandise, store atmosphere, and loyalty program, while customer engagement is influenced by merchandise, communication, interpersonal communication, and loyalty. In contrast, post-transaction services were found to have non-significant impact on both customer experience and customer engagement. Analysis also revealed a strong relationship between customer experience and customer engagement. Research limitations/implications This study is carried out on customers of department store in Malaysia. However, the researchers urge other researchers to replicate the study from different countries and category of department stores. Originality/value Retail researchers recognize little knowledge on the contribution of store attributes to customer experience and customer engagement. This paper represents original research that encourages foreign retailers to employ service-dominant logic as a new marketing thought in designing strong customer engagement and experience strategies to capture the Malaysia market.

Retrospective: “culture shocks” in inter-cultural service encounters?

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 377-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernd Stauss
Keyword(s):  
Marketing Research ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Scientific Development ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Service Encounters ◽  
Cultural Encounters ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Scientific Discussion ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Cultural Service

Purpose The article “Culture shocks” in inter-cultural service encounters was published in 1999. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the scientific discussion about this issue has developed and which open research questions are still awaiting solutions. Design/methodology/approach The main contributions of the original article are evaluated in the light of the current state of research. Simultaneously, the scientific development is commented on the basis of the original theoretical and empirical insights. Findings The original article belongs to those that initiated an extraordinary development of the research field. Aspects of inter-cultural encounters have found increasing attention in service marketing research. However, some fundamental problems of inter-cultural studies are still unresolved, and some of the theoretical and management oriented stimuli of the 1999 paper still seem worthy of consideration. Originality/value The retrospective analysis gives insight into the scientific development of the research on inter-cultural service encounters. It identifies relevant development lines, new perspectives and open questions for future research.

Employing proactive interaction for service failure prevention to improve customer service experiences

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 164-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyunju Shin ◽  
Alexander E. Ellinger ◽  
David L. Mothersbaugh ◽  
Kristy E. Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
Customer Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Service Failure ◽  
Marketing Research ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Failure Prevention ◽  
Patronage Behavior

Purpose Services marketing research continues to be largely focused on firms’ reactive interactions for recovering from service failure rather than on proactive customer interactions that may prevent service failure from occurring in the first place. Building on previous studies that assess the efficacy of implementing proactive interaction in service provision contexts, the purpose of this paper is to compare the influences of proactive interaction to prevent service failure and reactive interaction to correct service failure on customer emotion and patronage behavior. Since proactive interaction for service failure prevention is a relatively underexplored and resource-intensive approach, the authors also assess the moderating influences of customer and firm-related characteristics. Design/methodology/approach The study hypotheses are tested with survey data from two scenario-based experiments conducted in a retail setting. Findings The findings reveal that customers prefer service providers that take the initiative to get to them before they have to initiate contact for themselves. The findings also identify the moderating influences of relationship quality, situational involvement, and contact person status and motive. Originality/value The research contributes to the development of service provision theory and practice by expanding on previous studies which report that proactive efforts to prepare customers for the adverse effects of service failure are favorably received. The results also shed light on moderating factors that may further inform the exploitation of resource-intensive proactive interaction for service failure prevention. An agenda is proposed to stimulate future research on proactive customer interaction to prevent service failure in service provision contexts.

Understanding firm survival in a global crisis

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Uday Salunkhe ◽  
Bharath Rajan ◽  
V. Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Marketing Research ◽  
Firm Survival ◽  
Consumer Response ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Global Crisis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Churn ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

PurposeGlobal crises create an environment that is characterized by a fight for survival by countries, companies and citizens. While firms have adopted business initiatives to ensure survival in a global crisis, many measures are geared toward preventing customer churn, declining revenues and eroding market share. Such short-term focus raises an important question regarding long-term survival – how can firms survive a global crisis? The purpose of this study is to investigate how firms can survive a global crisis.Design/methodology/approachThis study considers pandemics as the study context and uses a triangulation methodology (past research, managerial insights and popular press articles) to advance the organizing framework. Using the process study approach, the proposed framework recognizes the onset characteristics of a global crisis with a focus on pandemics and the government actions that reflect the pandemic onset. The framework also identifies a logical order of three marketplace reactions to the pandemic – management response, consumer response and critical business transformations that ultimately lead to firm survival – and advances related research propositions of such reactions.FindingsBy deploying critical business transformations, firms can ensure firm survival in a pandemic by fostering engagement with customers, employees and resources. Additionally, the moderators that influence the relationships between (1) management response and critical business transformations, (2) consumer response and critical business transformations, and (3) critical business transformations and firm survival are identified. Finally, this study presents an agenda for future research.Research limitations/implicationsTo the authors' best knowledge, this is the first study to adopt an interdisciplinary approach to study firm survival in a global crisis such as a pandemic. This study answers the call for more research to the growing field of pandemic research in the areas of marketing research and marketing strategy.Practical implicationsThe learnings from this study can help firms on what to anticipate and how to respond in a crisis such as a pandemic.Social implicationsSocietal welfare is accounted for as firms plan to deal with a crisis.Originality/valueThis is the first study to propose a strategic framework to deal with a crisis that is largely unanticipated where the duration and the impact is not predictable.

Entrepreneurial selling in context

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-125
Author(s):  
Linden Dalecki
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Marketing Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Entrepreneurial Success ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Feedback ◽  
The Core ◽  
Four Quadrant ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this study is to provide a general review of the existing academic and practitioner literatures, pertaining to entrepreneurial selling with a view to articulate major entrepreneurial selling practices, patterns and principles that lead to entrepreneurial success and to propose two four-quadrant matrices. Design/methodology/approach The paper explores commonalities and distinctions in the entrepreneurial selling concepts articulated by Deutsch and Wortmann and Onyemah and Rivera-Pesquera – and relevant writings by Blank as well as Sarasvathy – are explored and analyzed. Findings It was found that the early stage entrepreneurial selling activities of founders – as a means of gleaning prospective customer feedback for product prototyping – form the core of contemporary entrepreneurial selling conceptualizations. Two provisional four-quadrant entrepreneurial selling matrices are proposed corresponding to the literature reviewed. Research limitations/implications It is hoped that the two four-quadrant matrices might serve as a springboard for future researchers interested in exploring entrepreneurial selling. The notion of preliminary selling as a valuable form of marketing research is also worthy of future research. Practical implications Given the extent to which the perspectives of entrepreneurship practitioners, clinical professors and consultants are cited and explored, manifold aspects of entrepreneurial selling are put forth. The various approaches to preliminary selling that are explored are of especially high value to practitioners. Originality/value This is the first paper to fully explore the commonalities and distinctions across the entrepreneurial selling conceptualizations developed by Deutsch and Wortmann, as well as by Onyemah and Rivera-Pesquera, and the first to propose a conceptual framework focused specifically on entrepreneurial selling.

Co-marketing alliances: definitions and approaches. Insights from a literature review

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (9) ◽  
pp. 971-989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecilia Grieco ◽  
Gennaro Iasevoli
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Multidimensional Scaling ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Marketing Research ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Competitive Position ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
Marketing Alliances

Purpose Co-marketing strategies play an important role in enabling firms to improve their competitive position. However, despite its increasing implementation, it remains a topic that is largely not researched. The purpose of this paper is to analyze existing contributions to the field of co-marketing research and the different perspectives scholars have adopted in analyzing the topic. Design/methodology/approach A literature review has been developed, as its lack seems to be a major hindrance to the development of related studies. A specific focus has been made on the adopted approaches. Five approaches have been identified, and multidimensional scaling (MDS) has been used to analyze the differences among them. Findings First, the analysis of the typologies of studies on co-marketing alliances is made. Also, the identified approaches are strategic-based, consumer-based, relational-based, specificity-based and evaluation-based. What emerges from the MDS is that there are two perspectives of analysis of the alliance that characterize them: the inside–outside and the wide–narrow points of view. Research limitations/implications Limitations are mostly referred to the methodologies and the level of subjectivity they imply. For example, they are not only the choices made concerning keywords to be used and, consequently, the articles included in the analysis, but also the MDS that offers broad autonomy to the researchers in interpreting the data. Originality/value The originality of this research is that it fills an emerged gap concerning a literature review on co-marketing alliances, supporting future research in this field of study. The identification of the approaches underlines what may be lacking, providing interesting insights on possible avenues for future research.

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