– The purpose of this paper is to explore the qualities of a small town centre and how such centres can enhance their attractiveness.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the qualities of a small town centre and how such centres can enhance their attractiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
A convenience sampling procedure was used to administer a web survey to visitors of a small Swedish town. Importance-performance analysis and statistical methods were used to analyse quality attributes and quality dimensions. Correlation analysis was run to measure the relationship between centre attractiveness and shopping loyalty.
Findings
The variety of retail outlets is what is most valued by visitors to a small town centre, followed by the provision of events and non-commercial activities and the design and maintenance of the physical environment in the centre. Surprisingly, the interpersonal behaviour has less impact on the perceived attractiveness than the aforementioned quality dimensions. Visitors’ shopping loyalty is significantly related to the perceived attractiveness.
Research limitations/implications
The study is a one-off study based upon a small Swedish town, but it is indicative of global shopping trends.
Practical implications
Implications for town centre management to enhance the attractiveness of the business district of a small town.
Social implications
Traditional town centres have been props for the surrounding societies, providing anscillary services beside retailing. When retail moves to out-of-town retail locations, this could lead to the erosion of interpersonal communications and central services for citizens.
Originality/value
Pioneering research on small Swedish town shopping.
Details
Keywords
David A. Schweidel, Martin Reisenbichler, Thomas Reutterer and Kunpeng Zhang
Advances in artificial intelligence have ushered in new opportunities for marketers in the domain of content generation. We discuss approaches that have emerged to generate text…
Abstract
Advances in artificial intelligence have ushered in new opportunities for marketers in the domain of content generation. We discuss approaches that have emerged to generate text and image content. Drawing on the customer equity framework, we then discuss the potential applications of automated content generation for customer acquisition, relationship development, and customer retention. We conclude by discussing important considerations that businesses must make prior to adopting automated content generation.
Details
Keywords
Thomas Reutterer and Christoph Teller
The purpose of the paper is to identify store format attributes that impact on store format choice when consumers conduct fill‐in or major trips to buy groceries. By doing so, we…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to identify store format attributes that impact on store format choice when consumers conduct fill‐in or major trips to buy groceries. By doing so, we take into consideration that consumers patronise multiple (store based) formats depending on the shopping situation operationalised by the type of shopping trip.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts the conceptual framework of random utility theory via application of a multinomial logit modelling framework. The analysis is based on a survey of 408 consumers representing households in a clearly defined central European retail area.
Findings
The results reveal a considerable moderating effect of the shopping situation on the relationship between perceived store format attributes and store format choice. Consumers' utilities are significantly higher for discount stores and hypermarkets when conducting major trips. To the contrary, supermarkets are preferred for fill‐in trips in the focussed retail market. Merchandise‐related attributes of store formats have a higher impact on the utility formation regarding major‐trips, whereas service‐ and convenience‐related attributes do so with regards to fill‐in trips.
Research limitations/implications
The findings can only be generalised to retail markets with similar characteristics to the one under study. It is highly concentrated, contains a considerable share of small size retail stores, it is urban and has clear cut boundaries due to its geographical location.
Originality/value
This paper considers the fact that consumers patronise multiple store formats and investigates the moderating effect of the shopping situation – operationalised by different types of shopping trips – on store format choice.
Details
Keywords
Julian R. K. Wichmann, Thomas P. Scholdra and Werner J. Reinartz
Inner city centers not only provide opportunities for shopping, dining, and entertainment, but with their lively atmosphere and other vital attributes, also create attractive…
Abstract
Inner city centers not only provide opportunities for shopping, dining, and entertainment, but with their lively atmosphere and other vital attributes, also create attractive destinations for residents and tourists alike. However, inner city retailing, potentially the most important reason to visit an inner city, is facing serious competition from e-commerce and out-of-town shopping malls. Dying inner city centers have become a severe issue in recent years, worldwide. To counteract this devastating trend and ensure the vitality and viability of inner city centers, stakeholders from the public and private sectors regularly join their forces in initiatives to strengthen urban structures. However, academic insights into the contribution of retailing on perceived city attractiveness remain sparse. Relying on an extensive data set that combines survey and observational data, the authors are able to quantify a variety of inner city characteristics, ranging from its store and service provider portfolio to its ambience and accessibility, and measure their association with its perceived attractiveness. They show that a city's portfolio of retail stores is not only related to people's perceptions of the city's overall attractiveness but also perceptions of its ambience. However, not all retail categories contribute the same way; while the presence of clothing stores or booksellers is strongly associated with cities' ambience as well as attractiveness, other retail categories such as optometrists or electronics stores are negatively associated with consumers' inner city perceptions. Importantly, these relationships also depend on the size of the focal city. Based on their results, the authors provide important managerial and societal implications on how to leverage the local retailing environment to improve inner city attractiveness. For example, the results may inform (local) governments on which sectors to subsidize in order to attract those store and service provider categories that benefit inner city attractiveness.
Details
Keywords
This chapter offers a specific point of view on the Town Centre retail, in order to develop a new way to enhance the customer retail experience in this place. The combination of…
Abstract
This chapter offers a specific point of view on the Town Centre retail, in order to develop a new way to enhance the customer retail experience in this place. The combination of shopping over the Internet and the interactive technologies represents for Town Centre retailers one of the possible solutions in the creation of a multisensory experience for people living in and visiting this urban area. By welcoming the challenge of creating multisensory experiences, “bricks and mortar” stores need to integrate digital solutions to create and handle experiences. Customers can interact with people and contents via digital technologies such as Quick Response, Electrochromic Glass, Touch Systems, Outdoor Totems, Holographic Technology, and Augmented Reality. From the analysis of the academic literature emerges an agreement that the use of the Internet and interactive technologies are not totally exploited as tools able to revitalize the Town Centre retail and create animated, lively streets that offer multisensory experiences. Based on the above considerations, this chapter provides a theoretical model in order to create an immersive retail experience within the physical store by combining the use of the Internet to conduct shopping and the interaction with several kinds of technologies.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating effect of brand preference and type of shopping trip on the relationship between replacing a delisted national brand (NB…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating effect of brand preference and type of shopping trip on the relationship between replacing a delisted national brand (NB) with a retailer’s private label (PL) brand (premium vs standard) and private label switching (PLS), that is switching from NB to PL.
Design/methodology/approach
Inside a major French retail chain store, an experiment with 1,392 NB buyers tested the impact of replacing NB with PL on PLS.
Findings
Results stress the positive contribution of PL replacements after NB delisting on buyers’ switching behaviour at different brand preference levels and shopping trip types. A main-choice NB for a major trip shopping benefits a PLS to premium PL. However, when a fill-in shopper looks for a secondary brand, competition between PL standard and NB may not be as weak as suggested in earlier studies.
Research limitations/implications
The limitation of this study is that respondents reported their purchases instead of actually buying.
Practical implications
This study highlights that the retailers that delist some NB brands in the category should adopt a strategy either to develop premium or standard PLs, depending on consumers’ brand preference and shopping trip type.
Social implications
Delisting is an opportunity to question the NB product competitiveness towards PL.
Originality/value
The study is based on actual delisting and replacement, combined with a large sample, unlike previous studies. Moreover, it bridges two important areas of research: conflict in marketing channels and PL introduction in retailers’ assortment decisions.
Details
Keywords
Cathy Parker, Nikos Ntounis, Steve Millington, Simon Quin and Fernando Rey Castillo-Villar
The purpose of this paper is to document the results and the impact of the ESRC-funded High Street UK 2020 (HSUK2020), a project designed to take the existing academic knowledge…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to document the results and the impact of the ESRC-funded High Street UK 2020 (HSUK2020), a project designed to take the existing academic knowledge relating to retail and high street change directly to UK High Streets, to improve local decision-making and, ultimately, their vitality and viability.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a systematic literature review, and by following the tenets of engaged scholarship, the authors identified 201 factors that influence the vitality and viability of town centres. Through the consensus-building Delphi technique, a panel of 20 retail experts identified the top 25 priorities for action.
Findings
Taking a place management approach led to the development of a more strategic framework for regeneration, which consisted of repositioning, reinventing, rebranding and restructuring strategies (4R’s of regeneration). Collaboration with the project towns resulted in identification of the strategy area that would add the most value, and the impact of the 4R’s and the top 25 priorities is demonstrated via numerous town examples.
Originality/value
Knowledge exchange projects, such as High Street UK2020, have an important contribution to make, not by developing even more theory that is unlikely to get utilised, instead their contribution is to bring existing theory into practical use.