Editorial

Citation

Fernie, J. (2009), "Editorial", International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 37 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijrdm.2009.08937aaa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Volume 37, Issue 1

Welcome to the first issue of 2009! We have contributions from the USA and Spain with themes on retail location and grocery store retailing. Our first paper is by Charlette Padilla and Mary Ann Eastlick and discusses the urban revitalisation strategies of the CBDs of six western US cities. In the face of suburbanisation of retailing in the USA, CBDs need rejuvenation. The authors conducted interviews with the economic development managers challenged with reviving their downturn areas. Strategies were classified into three urban retailing and five economic development themes dependent on the status of the cities. Three cities had flourishing CBDs – Fort Worth, Oklahoma City and Portland whilst the other three were developing their CBDs (Albuquerque, El Paso and Fresno).

Our second paper, by Ruoh-Nan Yan and Molly Eckman, pursues a similar theme but focuses upon the new concept of lifestyle centres which offer a more upscale, outdoor and architecturally pleasant shopping centre environment than either the CBD or traditional enclosed shopping malls. Their research sought to explore how individual and retail characteristics impact upon consumers’ patronage behaviours in these three retail settings through a mail survey in the Colorado region of the USA. The research suggests that lifestyle centres are viewed differently in that they are perceived to be safer, cleaner, more convenient with better entertainment options than CBDs. In comparison with traditional malls, consumers rank lifestyle centres better for quality of merchandise, environment/atmosphere and entertainment/dining activities.

The next paper in this issue is by Miguel Hernández-Espallardo and Elena Delgado-Ballester. Their work investigates brand equity research in non-consumer relations – in this case the potential of the buying group’s brand to generate benefits to its members. A sample of 121 retailers, affiliated to a buying group for home appliances, was contacted to evaluate the degree of economic satisfaction with the brand equity of the group, its integration and competitiveness in the market place. The main findings from the research are that the buying group’s retail equity improves the retailers’ economic satisfaction when differentiation is a source of competitive advantage in a dynamic business environment.

The penultimate paper by Patricia Huddleston and colleagues from Michigan State University discusses consumers’ satisfaction with conventional grocery stores in the US compared with speciality stores. They point out that conventional supermarkets have lost considerable market share to new formats during the last two decades. A sample of 494 respondents from 10 US states with a presence of national speciality stores were asked to determine their degree of satisfaction with key store choice attributes. Although price, assortment, quality and customer service influence satisfaction regardless of type of format, the conventional supermarket shopper characteristics are more difficult to determine thereby explaining why customers are more prone to shifting patronage than more specialist grocery offerings.

The final paper by Carmen Berné-Manero, Hanns de la Fuente-Mella and Mercedes Marzo-Navarro also deals with grocery retailing but focuses upon convenience store formats in Spain. Convenience stores have less than 500 square metres of selling space in Spain, their growth has been around 5 per cent per year in the 1990s/2000s and much of this growth can be attributed to the development of petrol station formats. The researchers utilised a 2005 DBK report to generate economic indicators to measure the performance of the sector from 1998 to 2004. The results show growth in sales and number of establishments and increased productivity within the sector as concentration ratios increase. Indeed, two of the parent groups of the largest retailers in the sector are fuel sales companies.

John Fernie