Financial Sustainability of Innovative Technology in Retailing

The main purpose of this chapter is to address two important areas for successfully managing retail businesses—financial sustainability and innovative technology—in order to find out in which ways they affect each other. In order to clarify the financial sustainability of innovative technologies and the ways innovative technologies contribute in achieving financial sustainability in a retail company as a whole, it has been explored in grocery retailing in the Republic of Croatia. The results of a study among the top retail companies operating in the Croatian market suggest that innovative technology has the highest priority in their strategic and financial planning as one of the four fundamental pillars of financial sustainability. However, the results also indicated a long payback period after the implementation of new technological solutions.

Fashion Retail Innovation

Fashion retail is recognised for its strong capabilities in product innovation, while also having the potential to improve the governance of technology-based process innovation. This chapter proposes a model perspective in management of technology and innovation, including special requirements of fashion retailing. In particular, this chapter discusses the context of fashion retailing understood as product and brand-based characteristics. A case study-based methodology is then used to guide an analysis of antecedents and (expected) outcome of fashion retail innovation. IT-based innovation dominates, but innovation is suggested to include a broader scope of technologies. Contrary to innovation maturity models, this chapter proposes to consider innovation as a continuous refinement between dynamic capabilities and absorptive capacity where technologies must be adapted to the special characteristics of the fashion retail industry.

Differentiation through Service Excellence

Service excellence is one of the key differentiators for retailers in the digital environment. To ensure a high level of service quality at the point of sale, retailers contemplate the implementation of Self-Service Information Technologies (SSITs). This chapter 1) examines the mediation effect of service quality within the technology acceptance model and 2) identifies relevant segments based on the level of acceptance and the perception of the service quality provided by an SSIT. Building on data from a laboratory experiment using a fully functional application for Tablet PCs, the partial least squares approach and a combined hierarchical and non-hierarchical cluster analysis were used. The findings reveal that the perceived service quality partially mediates the effect of the attitude towards using on the intention to reuse. Moreover, two distinct segments are identified: the “occasional handymen” and the “enthusiastic experts,” who differ significantly in terms of SSIT acceptance.

Omni Channel Fashion Shopping

This chapter gives insight into consumers' online and offline fashion shopping behavior, consumers' omni-channel usage during the shopping process, and consumer fashion shopper segments. Based on a literature review, omni-channel shopping behavior during the shopping process was operationalized. Subsequently, an online survey was developed to collect information of 2124 consumers living in the catchment areas of five regional Dutch shopping centers in 2013. Results of the analyses confirm previous findings and contribute additional evidence that suggests relations between consumers' omni-channel shopping behavior during the shopping process and socio-demographics and psychographics. Furthermore, results show that channel usage in the previous phase of the shopping process has a major influence on the channel usage in the following phases of the shopping process. By using the TwoStep clustering technique, six fashion shopper segments are found and described, with one of them a clear omni-channel shopper segment. The results provide information for retailers to know the type of consumers they reach through various channels to offer the right information, on the right channel, during the various phases of the shopping process.

The Roles of Corporate Marketing Strategies and Brand Management in the Global Retail Industry

This chapter explores the roles of corporate marketing strategies and brand management in the global retail industry, thus describing the concepts of marketing strategy, international retail marketing strategy, retail marketing mix, and internationalization; the relationship between corporate marketing strategies and internationalization; the challenges of retail marketing mix in the fashion retail industry; the overview of brand management; and the significance of brand management in the global retail industry. The implementation of corporate marketing strategies and brand management is critical for modern organizations that seek to serve suppliers and customers, increase business performance, strengthen competitiveness, and achieve continuous success in global business. Therefore, it is necessary for modern organizations to examine their corporate marketing strategies and brand management applications, create a strategic plan to regularly check their practical advancements, and rapidly respond to the corporate marketing strategies and brand management needs of customers in the global retail industry.

Analyzing Online Reviews to Measure Augmented Reality Acceptance at the Point of Sale

Increasingly, brick and mortar retailers compete with their counterparts by enriching the point of sale through technological innovations that make use of customer-owned mobile devices. So, for example, IKEA, the world's largest furniture retailer, has introduced an interactive mobile app that provides the customer with additional insights in a personalized and convenient way: by scanning quick response codes in the printed catalogue, 3D objects, pictures, text, or videos are provided on the customer's smartphone or tablet. They inform about a furniture's interior or its potential usage, give planning aids, or visualize the furniture in alternative surroundings. In this chapter, the perceived usefulness, ease of use, and attitude towards such new technology-based innovations are discussed. Customers' perceptions are measured by applying a modified technology acceptance model. Traditional customer surveys as well as online customer reviews are analyzed. The results are encouraging: the mobile app is seen as an enrichment of the shopping experience but can be improved. Both data collection formats lead to similar results.

Adoption of Emerging In-Store Technology Interfaces for the Apparel Retail Employee

Technology use in apparel retail stores is on the rise and changing the way that employees work and customers shop. In spite of increased use, advanced technology deployed within apparel retail stores has yet to match the rapid pace of growth for technologies adopted by apparel consumers enabled by mobile devices and sophisticated digital applications. Apparel retail employees are the first line of contact for customers and are often engaged with them at several points in the service interaction, including assisting with the initial selection of apparel based on customers' desired product features, the try-on of clothing, and unique in-store services like personal shopping. In this chapter, the authors examine employee usage intent for technologies supportive of these various points of service interaction. The likelihood of employee usage of technology as well as employee characteristics that influenced the extent of technology adoption were also measured.

Determinants of Consumers' Mobile Coupon Adoption

Mobile technology is becoming a critical part of marketing practices and many retailers aim to engage consumers through mobile coupons. In this context, it is critical to understand what drives consumers to use mobile coupons. Technology adoption research offers insights for both researchers and practitioners into this matter. This chapter critically reviews guiding theories, Technology Acceptance Theory and Innovation Diffusion Theory, as well as important literature on technology adoption to discuss evolution and application of technology adoption research. Five perception variables (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment, subjective norm, compatibility) and three individual characteristics (personal innovativeness, perceived risk, gender) are selected as most relevant determinants of consumers' intention to adopt and use mobile coupons. Limitation of technology adoption research and possible future research avenues are discussed.

Measuring Cognitive and Emotional Processes in Retail

The purpose of this chapter is to share scientific methods for the quantitative measurement of emotion through the recording of physiologic and cerebral variables of consumers in relation to advertising stimuli and during the purchase in the store. For this reason, the authors describe the way to estimate the emotion along the visit of a shop by using the approach-withdrawal index. It demonstrates how it is possible to describe the variation of the appreciation of a shop visit by two groups of persons. The specific contribution to the scientific literature is the use of such approach-withdrawal index and the estimation of the emotion linked with the visit of a large point of sale (e.g. a supermarket). The proper use of these methodologies can provide information related to cognitive and emotional aspects of persons involved in the appreciation of products in retail points of sale.

Radical and Incremental Innovation Effectiveness in Relation to Market Orientation in the Retail Industry

The retail industry market environment is very competitive; thus, in order to maintain their competitive advantage retailers are required to continuously come up with innovative offerings and systems. This chapter aims to provide useful insights for the retailers regarding the correlation between market orientation and innovation. The chapter illustrates the differences in start-up and mature companies, and reveals new insights with regard to market orientation and its constituent elements, and its relationship with both incremental and radical innovations. Readers learn that strong competitor orientation, a key ingredient of market orientation, has a positive relationship to incremental innovation for start-up companies, but it is counterproductive for mature companies, where a strong customer orientation is associated with radical innovation. The focus is to understand the dynamics of the entrepreneur versus manager during the transition process as a company grows.