Editorial

This issue is a truly international one with contributions from authors based in South Korea, Denmark, the US and the Netherlands. Our first paper by Jayoung Choi and Jihye Park discusses channel choice behaviour of Korean consumers with respect to information search and product purchase. From a sample of nearly 3,000 questionnaires, they show that single as opposed to multi-channel purchases exhibit different shopping variations; for example, this group tended to perceive traditional media more useful than new technology in information search.

Our next paper from Klaus Grunert and colleagues from Aarhus School of Business investigates how three dimensions of retailer brand architecture affect consumer intention to shop at stores. Using a conjoint analysis of nearly 600 Danish consumers who rated their intention to shop at hypothetical new shops, it was shown that two distinct segments appear – one price conscious, the other more differentiated. Consumers’ perceptions of retailer brands still tend to be linked to discount concepts; manufacturer brands continue to lead in brand equity but high quality retail brands appeal to part of the consumer population.

The two papers which follow relate to the use of advanced technologies in retailing and consumers’ responses to these technologies. Philip Trocchin and Thomas Ainscough explore consumer concerns with regard to identification technologies, such as biometrics and RFID. Using a student sample, they identified eight categories of concern from the technology itself, the security of collected data to issues surrounding interaction with the technology. On a related theme, Hyan-Hua Lee, Anne Marie Fiore and Jihyun Kim use the technology acceptance model (TAM) to examiner factors influencing consumers’ attitudes to an online retailer. Results show the positive effect of web site image interactive technology (ITT) on attitude and behaviour intention toward the online retailers and how TAM explains the effects of ITT on consumer responses.

Our final paper by Eric Waarts and Yvonne van Everdingen comments upon the development of fashion retailers throughout Europe and assesses the role of cultural factors in this development. Building upon the work of Hall and Hofstede the authors identify three cultural clusters. Retailers tend to initially expand to a neighbouring country belonging to a related cultural cluster and this subsequent expansion follows a stepwise cluster by cluster pattern.

John Fernie