The war metaphor in retailing: do soldiers see going to war as like going shopping? Available to Purchase

The metaphor of warfare pervades popular and academic portrayals of retailing. After a review of the literature on metaphors in marketing and the war metaphor in particular, this paper illustrates the widespread use of the war metaphor in retail and distribution studies and explores in some depth the nature of that metaphor through published depictions of Wal*Mart’s takeover of Asda. It is concluded that use of the war metaphor is both literary and theoretical, but that overuse in the former case may undermine its potential in the latter. Thus it is contended that a reappraisal of the war metaphor in retailing is overdue.