Editorial
Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Volume 43, Issue 6.
There is a retail store-based focus to this issue with an emphasis on the environment and visual merchandising throughout the five submissions. The topics of the submissions include the recent evolution of store flyers, holistic atmospheric cues encountered in a retail environment, the strategic role of the flagship store geographic location, the role that visual measures of attention to product and information and price display signage, and user-generated visual merchandising directives.
The first contribution by Ziliani and Ieva evaluate the recent evolution of store flyers to illustrate how a tool of traditional marketing can be applied to generate insight on customer “couch-to-cart” behaviour thus supporting an innovating shopper marketing approach. The paper focuses on three themes of recent evolution of flyers, driven by incorporation of customer insight derived from loyalty data and by new features enabled by flyer digitalization; the evolution of the flyer planning and management process, related to opportunities and challenges in the retailer organizational structure; and third the rise of online flyer aggregators. Field interviews of different subjects involved in planning and delivering flyer-based promotions were used together with secondary data from a sample of 67 retail groups across 15 countries and four industries. The findings suggest that that there are changes taking place in flyer-based promotion caused by “fertilization” by loyalty data and digital that have not been captured by research so far. Retailers are experimenting with flyer aggregators. These infomediaries generate new insight on various aspects of the shopping cycle. Retailers can use these metrics to improve flyer strategy and negotiation with suppliers. We shed light on obstacles that prevent exploitation of shopper marketing benefits and value. Among the managerial challenges we found retailer organization and management and functional integration.
The second paper by Ballantine, Parsons and Comeskey examines how the holistic atmospheric cues encountered in a retail environment contribute to the creation of a retail experience. The interaction between these cues and how they impact on the various stages of the retail experience is also explored. A qualitative methodology was employed, using protocol analysis and in-depth semi-structured interviews that were conducted with 18 participants. Data were collected in the context of the women’s fashion sector. The findings highlight the importance of store owners ensuring atmospheric cues creating a store image congruent with their target market’s self-image. A model is also developed which highlights how atmospheric cues are able to affect successive stages of the retail experience. The paper provides a holistic understanding of how retail atmospheric cues are able to influence the overall retail experience from how a retail store is initially evaluated through to the intention to purchase.
The third contribution by Arrigo explores the strategic role of the flagship store geographic location in improving luxury brand positioning. Drawing on the literature review on flagship store format, retail geography and place marketing, the study adopted a qualitative research design based on case studies of six luxury fashion retailers. A new conceptual framework of flagship store location has been proposed, and the flagship store locations of case studies have been examined in six worldwide capitals. The results of the study highlight the presence and the geographical proximity of many flagship stores in the same particular urban area contribute to developing a “luxury sense of place” related to their brands. Thus, through a co-branding strategy inherent in the selection of the best site for their flagship stores, luxury firms improve their brands’ positioning by the generated “luxury sense of place”. This study addresses an under-researched area in the retail literature, investigating the relationship between flagship store location and luxury branding. It is the only research to explore the social dimension of the geographic location of luxury flagship stores and the first one to examine cities in terms of flagship store density.
The aim of the study by Huddleston, Behe, Minahan and Fernandez was to elucidate the role that visual measures of attention to product and information and price display signage have on purchase intention. They assessed the effect of visual attention to the product, information sign or price sign on purchase intention. The study used eye-tracking technology to collect data from Australian and US garden centre customers, who viewed 16 plant display images. They compared the role of visual attention to price and information sign on likelihood to buy, and the role of visual attention to the product when either sign was present on purchase intention. The findings showed that providing product information on a sign without price elicited higher likelihood to buy than providing a sign with price. They also identified a positive relationship between visual attention to price and likelihood to buy but there was an inverse relationship between visual attention to information and purchase intention. An understanding of the attention-capturing power of merchandise display elements, especially signs, has practical significance. The findings will assist retailers in creating more effective and efficient display signage content.
The final contribution by Wu, Kim and Koo aimed to discover user-generated visual merchandising (VM) directives that could guide VM in physical stores as well as shed light on future development of customizable virtual stores for online retailing. Applying a Facet Theory approach the research involved consumers (n=145) in co-designing visual merchandising directives in a 3D virtual store in collaboration with Target Corporation. In all,67 virtual shops in three product categories of women’s ready-to-wear, boy’s Cherokee and men’s swimwear were content analysed,along with written reports. The research focused on the three facets of VM: merchandising presentation, in-store environment and in-store promotion and revealed the elements that these facets contain and the relationships between the elements. The findings suggest that retailers should design an ecological instead of a merely utilitarian environment. This should include a clear section identity to help shoppers find a sense of ownership and boundaries and that stores should also present a lifestyle solution instead of a merchandise selection.
Neil Towers
