Editorial

Citation

Towers, N. (2011), "Editorial", International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 39 No. 8. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijrdm.2011.08939haa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Volume 39, Issue 8

For this edition, there is a broader distribution management theme from two papers that address the effects of the foreign distribution concepts in emerging countries and the evolution of the local buyers’ shopping practices, an exploratory study of farmers’ markets and customers, perceptions of co-created sites of local food production, retail and consumption. The final two papers explore the mechanism of brand internalisation when a brand transcends national borders and investigates the impact of in-store events on customers’ attitudes toward the retail brand.

The first contribution by Abdelmajid Amine and Najoua Lazzaoui aims at exploring the effects of the massive arrival of foreign distribution concepts in emerging countries on the evolution of the local buyers’ shopping practices in Morocco. The confrontation from these two networks, with a long affinity to the traditional network gives rise to the emergence of new modes of shopping and purchasing for retail outlets. The content analysis of collected data shows that the differences in social classes give place to varied shopping strategies and generate singular symbolic representations of shopping experiences. The research reveals also a hybridization of shopping practices where the consumers transpose some values and shopping behaviours inherited from the traditional trade into the modern distribution stores. Differences were highlighted between global and local retail banners laying on their perceived images, store attendance and shopping practices which reflect their contrasted positioning strategies. The findings enable the retailers to adapt/shape their location strategy, assortment policy and positioning strategy to improve their store image and attractiveness and gain market power. These results have also implications on the public policy to manage the balance and the future of local traditional shops and modern retail stores.

The next paper Andrew J. Murphy reports results from an exploratory study of farmers’ markets, taking particular interest in the motives for participation of customers, and their perceptions of the functioning of markets as co-created sites of local food production, retail and consumption. Customer perceptions were also compared between farmers’ markets and supermarkets based in New Zealand. The paper finds that product quality is the key motivator for patronage, with price not a significant barrier to purchase or visits to farmers’ markets. The “retail environment” has only a modest influence on market customer choices, and markets are only partially co-created, with customers not highly valuing interaction with producers. Customers rated price, location and store environment constructs to be much more important at supermarkets than at markets. Farmers’ markets have experienced recent rapid growth and diffusion in many parts of the world, including Australia, becoming popular sites of small retail trade and local cultural exchange. This paper contributes to our understanding of what motivates customers to participate in them, and what distinguishes markets from other food-retailing sites such as supermarkets, at least in the New Zealand context.

The purpose of the third paper by Veronika Tarnovskaya and Leslie de Chernatony explores the mechanism of brand internalisation when a brand transcends national borders. It focuses on the ways international and local managers interpret the brand, develop brand understanding and enact it through communication with other colleagues. The processes of brand conceptualising, comprehending and activating are identified characterised by a weakening collective sense making amongst employees locally. Brand activating represents a discontinuity stage of brand internalisation when a shared brand understanding by employees becomes increasingly difficult to achieve. As such managers should broaden their brand contexts to include cultural elements and cues, involve local staff as well as adopt roles which facilitate collective sense-making processes. The study argues that international managers need greater awareness of theirs’ and local employees’ roles in brand internalisation. Managers need to create common frameworks for sense making and work towards partnership relationships with local stakeholders

The final paper by Alexander Leischnig, Marko Schwertfeger and Anja Geigenmueller investigates the impact of in-store events on customers’ attitudes toward the retail brand. The authors develop and empirically test a model of event image, event satisfaction, and retail brand attitudes using structural equation modelling. The paper draws its empirical information from a survey of customers of a cosmetics retailer. The results provide strong empirical evidence for the role of in-store events in retailing as they reveal significant support for three of the four hypothesised relationships. They show significant effects between an event’s image and customers’ satisfaction with the event. Retailers increasingly use in-store events to provide customers with a unique shopping experience and differentiate themselves from competitors. The paper shows a positive relationship between customers’ satisfaction with the event and their attitudes toward the retail brand.

Neil Towers