Consumer Perception of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Through Retail Brand Labels Disclosure

Retail brands were initially introduced as low quality brands with low prices. Currently, customers understand that these brands are valuable price/quality options and have a preference for them. The increased competition among distribution companies have forced retailers to increasingly introduce sustainable practices, including in own brands. This paper analyses the corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication through the packaging of retailers’ products. Following a content analysis of 377 packages of private labels from seven retail chains in Portugal, the authors concluded that there is CSR information in packages disclosing a variety of themes. A survey to 539 consumer indicate that consumer perceptions of CSR in packages correspond to the issues most valued. Health topics and national origin are better perceived and valued, even when they are not the most prevalent themes in packages. Environmental signals are lower perceived and valued, even when a similar or higher prevalence in packages.

Economic loss, amount of beef discarded, natural resources wastage, and environmental impact due to beef discoloration

Consumers associate a bright-cherry red color of beefwith freshness and wholesomeness. Any deviation from a bright red color leadsto a discounted price or beef is discarded. Limited data is currently availableon the economic losses due to retail beef discoloration. Therefore, theobjective of the study was to estimate economic losses, the amount of beefdiscarded, natural resource wastage, and environmental impact due to beefdiscoloration. One-year data of total beef sales, total beef discarded, and discountedsale values were collected from two national retail chains and one retailstore. The two retail chains were located throughout the US, and the one retailstore was located in Southern US. The US beef system life cycle parameters frompublished literature were used to calculate the impact of discarded meat on waterand energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. The data from three stores weremodeled to calculate annual loss due to discoloration from the US retail beefsales. The data indicated that total beef sales from two major retail chainsand one retail store was 1.1 billion pounds of steaks and ground beef for theone-year period. This amount of beef corresponds to approximately 6.5% of totalretail sales of steaks and ground beef in the US. The amount of beef discardedfrom two major retail chains and one retail store corresponds to 29.7 millionpounds. Based on modeled data, the amount of beef discarded annually due todiscoloration within the US retail beef industry corresponds to 429 millionpounds, with another 1.8 billion pounds sold at a discount. The results indicatethat the US beef industry losses $3.745 billion annually due to discoloration. Thetotal amount of beef discarded per year in the US corresponds to 429 millionpounds, which represents wasting 780,000 animals and the associated naturalresources used in their production. A 1% decrease in discolored beef in the UScould reduce natural resource waste and environmental impacts by 23.95 billionL in water, 96.88 billion mega Joules in energy consumed, and 0.40 million tonsof carbon dioxide equivalent emission along the beef upstream value chain.Therefore, novel technologies to improve meat color stability could improvebeef production’s sustainability and limit wastage of nutritious beef.  

Buy national campaigns promotionin the EU and EAEU countries

It is determined in the article that the promotion of the “Buy National” policy is of a protectionist nature and often may not comply with international trade rules, including within the framework of integration associations. It was determined that this approach of the states participating in integration associations (the EAEU is no exception) is a certain brake on the development of integration processes. As a result of the analysis of studies on this issue, it was revealed that consumers in certain countries support the policy “Buy national, but their purchasing habits are not fundamentally changed. The study analyzes individual ways of using the Buy National campaigns in the countries of the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union and shows that countries are actively using this policy, explaining these measures by supporting the national economy, but such actions threaten the development of integration. Based on the results obtained, possible recommendations for cooperation of the EAEU member states have been developed for an equal representation of goods from the five countries in retail facilities. In particular, it was proposed to develop and adopt a model code of good practices for retail chains as norms of "soft" law, enshrining in it the principle of non-discrimination towards goods from the EAEU member states.

Transformation of the Relationship Between Grocery Retail Chains and Their Suppliers in the New Economic Context

The present-day economic situation affected by the pandemic are causing certain changes in the relationships between grocery retailers and producers. The article studies transformation of these relationships, including agreements and conflicts, in the context of a new trading formats and the emergence of a new grocery market infrastructure. The authors state that the key problem of relationships between the two parties is unreasonable extra requirements that retail chains commonly expect suppliers to meet. The hypothesis based on the analysis of the up-to-date sources of information assumes that the conflicts are usually caused by pricing, logistics and marketing barriers set by retail chains in the process of signing deals. Basing on the results of a statistic and factor analysis and on the empirical quantity and quality data, the authors study the opportunity of applying a new strategy of interaction between grocery retailers and producers.

Comprehensive Approach to Customer Experience Quality Assessment in the Context of Sales Management Goals and Rising Retail Trade Competition Trends

In the current conditions of increased retail trade competition, which include the pandemic, further decrease in consumers’ purchasing power, tougher competition between federal and regional retail chains and digitalization, it is crucial to improve the customer experience quality, ensuring its compliance with new customers’ requirements and the opportunities presented by digital technologies. In this context, the need to solve the problem of improving the validity of the assessment of the customer experience quality, which is considered the most important object of sales management and a factor of competitiveness of trading companies, becomes particularly relevant. The study of various approaches to conducting this assessment made it possible to identify such problems as lack of consensus on the essence of the concept of ‘customer experience quality’, incomplete accounting of factors affecting the customer experience quality, lack of systematization of indicators of its assessment, insufficient development of approaches to assessing the customer experience quality compared to the competitors. The author clarified the definition of ‘customer experience’ from the standpoint of the interests of trade companies interested in assessing the customer experience quality as a tool that provides an increase in the level of sales management and competitiveness. Based on the proposed approach to the systematization of indicators for assessing the customer experience quality, an integrated approach to its assessment is presented, which allows not only calculating integral indicators for assessing the customer experience quality and comparing it with that of competitors, but also private indicators that allow identifying directions of its improvement.

CLASSIFICATION OF WEARABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICES

Background. Today smart watches, fitness bracelets, smart rings are must-have accessory for everyone who cares about their health. It is projected that the average annual growth of the wearable device market in 2021–2026 will be 18 %, which is respectively reflected in this segment of the Ukrainian market. Well-known electronics stores use different approaches to group the range of wearable devices, as there are no single standards to classify these products. The aim of this article is to develop a classification of wearable devices and to identify the classification featuresfor smart watches and fitness bracelets based on the analysis of the assortment presented in online stores. Materials and methods. Methods of logical analysis, generalization of scientific literature, statistical data of export and import of wearable devices were applied. Data on their assortment and grouping in well-known retail chains were used to create a classification. Results. Based on the analysis of the world market of electronic goods and the assortment of well-known retail chains, the authors propose a classification of goods related to wearable devices. In particular, there is a division of wearable devices into 7 groups (wrist devices, head devices, smart clothes, smart shoes, smart jewelry, wearable devices, medical devices), these groups include subgroups, categories and subcategories. Only a few types of wearable devices are sold on the Ukrainian market – smart watches, fitness bracelets, virtual reality glasses and smart rings. However, only two retail chains allocate these products separately in the product group "Wearable Products", the others form a large product group "Gadgets…", which according to the authors is not entirely correct, as the latter differ significantly in purpose and characteristics. Since the range of smart watches and fitness bracelets is quite wide and includes hundreds of types, it is proposed to use a number of classification features that clearly distinguish them by their functionality. Conclusion. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the wearable devices market seg­ment will continue to grow. Restrictions on mobility and an individual’s desire to monitor vital signs of their health during a pandemic will be the main factors that will influence the market for these devices. The classification of goods related to wearable devices has been developed. The classification features for smart watches and fitness bracelets, the range of which includes hundreds of types, are proposed. It is established that the main difference between smart watches and a fitness bracelets is a wider functionality of the first and a much longer battery life of the latter.

JUSTIFICATION OF THE FUNCTIONAL MARMALADE RECIPE

The article analyzes the mass fraction of sugar in the composition of the most common types of marmalade in retail chains. The hypothesis of the relationship between the statistics of childhood obesity in Russia and the increase in the consumption of "hidden" sugars is presented. The article substantiates the relevance of introducing healthy sweets into the diet of children. The results of a patent search and laboratory study of the sugar content in industrial marmalade by capillary electrophoresis are presented. A computer model of the marmalade recipe with a low sugar content and high nutritional value was obtained.

Relations and Influences in the Process of Conventionalization of Organic Markets in the Southern Region of Brazil: A Multilevel Perspective Analysis

The organic markets from all around the world are changing fast. An example is the proliferation of standards and the entrance of new actors in the organic market, as the processors. In this paper, organic farmers, agro industries, retailers, consumers, and rural extension agents were consulted through qualitative research methods to better understand these changes and to assess the conventionalization-bifurcation process of organic markets in the Southern Region of Brazil. The relations and influences that exist between these actors were identified and analyzed. The theoretical approach used in this study comes from the Multilevel Perspective. This approach sustains that a novelty, like organic farming, can produce radical or incremental changes in a socio-technical regime, as the dominant agro-food regime, while connections between both are built. We observed that these relations and influences are of three main types: outsourcing and elongation of supply chains; restrictions in the commercialization of the farmer’s production; and the consequences, adjustments and commercial conditions established through contracts with retail chains besides commercialization in alternative networks. Through these findings, we identified a bifurcation in the organic markets where some actors demonstrate practices similar to agrifood dominant regime. In this process, the regime is changing, but so are the alternative networks. It indicates that once again the alternative agriculture is capable of reaffirmation by some ways.

Asymptotically Optimal Lagrangian Policies for Multi-Warehouse, Multi-Store Systems with Lost Sales

Simple Algorithms for Complex Multiwarehouse, Multistore Inventory Control Problems Retailers (both brick-and-mortar and e-commerce) have always faced the problem of allocating inventories in their warehouses (or central distribution centers) to the stores (or smaller local warehouses) in order to minimize total costs. The problem is particularly challenging when the network structure is large and complex, the selling season is long, and the replenishment is frequent. For example, giant retail chains such as Macy’s typically have many warehouses and hundreds of stores across the United States, and online retailers such as Amazon have many distribution centers and over one hundred fulfillment centers. The authors develop algorithms to solve this multiwarehouse, multistore (MWMS) inventory control problem. Their algorithms are computationally efficient and asymptotically optimal as the problem becomes large and complex. This feature is very appealing to today’s fast-moving retail industry with rapidly expanding business scale.