Citation
Fernie, J. (2007), "Editorial", International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 35 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijrdm.2007.08935baa.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Editorial
Welcome to Issue No. 2 of 2007. Our first two papers focus upon pricing issues in different retail markets. Peter Kenning and his colleagues at the University of Muenster investigate the price knowledge of consumers in the German apparel market. The authors correctly point out that much has been written about grocery pricing compared with the clothing sector. In their survey of 1,527 consumers of a major German department store, it was shown that 26 per cent of consumers have no price knowledge at all in addition to high price uncertainty at the product level. The next paper by Outi Uusitalo and Maija Rökman does explain the impact of a new retailer entering the Finnish market and its impact on the pricing behaviour of domestic retailers. As the foreign entrant was the German discounter Lidl, it was expected that its low prices would impact upon a hitherto stable competitive market. Price data were collected for 20 items in three cities over three years. As would be expected, the domestic chains did compete selectively on price with Lidl in relation to basic items and in cities where competition was more intense.
Our next two papers were written by authors based at the Institute of Retail Studies (IRS) at the University of Stirling. Andrew Paddison and Eric Calderwood explore the rural retailing sector and provide a typology based on location. This typology provides a greater understanding of the dynamics of the sector and the factors which can lead to successful operational strategies. The other paper from IRS by Ken Davies and Steve Burt discusses the internationalisation of consumer co-operatives. Although co-operatives were early to internationalise, the success of such initiatives has been limited. The authors discuss the reasons for this lack of success and make an important contribution to the current debate on retail divestment in international markets.
Our final paper by Orla Canavan, Maeve Henchion and Seamus O'Reilly discusses the role of the Internet as a marketing channel for Irish Specialty Food. Using a variety of research techniques, they show that there is limited potential for online sales apart from high value goods, often of a gift nature.
John Fernie