Åsa Thelander

Retail Image As Seen Through Consumers' Eyes: Studying international retail image through consumer photographs of stores

Abstract The aim of this article is to explore how retail store image is perceived by consumers from different cultural backgrounds and with different degrees of awareness and experience of the retailer. The subject is IKEA, a retailer recognized as having a global approach to the markets in which it operates, resulting in a highly standardized approach to store branding. However, rather than employing traditional methodologies to elicit consumer perceptions of store image, we attempt to capture consumer perceptions through interpretations of the visual images generated by the participants themselves. The photo-elicitation method employed captured the different interpretations and meanings attached to commonly identified elements of store image and reinforced the central role played by the store itself in retail image formation.

A standardised approach to the world? IKEA in China

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the marketing strategy in China of the furnishing retailer IKEA in the context of standardisation and adaptation of marketing activities. IKEAs strategy in China is compared to its corporate strategy throughout the rest of the world.Design/methodology/approach – The four P classifications are used as a framework to compare the central marketing strategies of IKEA with marketing strategies used in China. The paper builds on both primary and secondary data. Interviews with senior managers at IKEA are conducted and studies on business and retailing in China are used.Findings – The marketing strategies used by IKEA in China are found to be different from the standardised strategies it uses throughout the rest of the world. Several of the changed strategies are central to the business concept of IKEA.Research limitations/implications – The present paper shows the challenges for a standardised marketing concept and its implications.Originality/value – The paper...

The challenge of internal stakeholder support for co-creational branding strategy

This article focuses on co-creation as a strategy and the challenge of applying theories of co-creation in practice. Place branding and a co-creative strategy based on art is used as an example of a special type of public relations concerned with building connections between stakeholders and a specific place. This is investigated through an analysis of how key internal stakeholders in a municipality understand the co-creative strategy for branding urban renewal, looking at their understanding, alignment and support for the strategy. An organizational ethnographic approach is used and the analysis is based on interviews with 16 administrative municipal managers from five different departments. Four different rationales are identified among managers. The study highlights how these profound rationales among internal stakeholders become a challenge in branding. In theories of co-creation, absolute consensus between stakeholders is assumed. In complex organizations, such as municipality, a more realistic goal is to establish compatible zones of meaning among internal stakeholders. It is concluded that public relations practitioners and researchers must cope with this reality when they approach public relations as co-creation.

The role of frames in a co-creation process

Purpose – This paper aims to analyze the conditions for co-creation in a non-commercial context. The particular aim is to show how a co-creative activity is framed for the participants and the consequences of the frames for the values that are co-created in the process. Design/methodology/approach – Goffman’s frame analysis is applied to investigate how co-creation is used as a marketing strategy where an art event is used as an engagement platform to involve citizens in creating visions for an urban renewal area. It is a qualitative study based on observations. Findings – The taken-for-granted ideas of the active and creative consumer along with the focus in marketing research on the positive values achieved in a co-creative process are problematic in a public context. An unreflexive use of a co-creative strategy in a non-commercial setting and using art as an engagement platform, in combination with insufficient communication about the new framings, result in no-creation of value or even co-destruction ...

Newspapers - image formation agents for retailers?

The aim of this study is to analyse the role of newspapers as an image formation agent for retailers. The role of the media has been emphasised in theories about image formation but there are few empirical studies of the role of newspapers. This is an explorative study of how IKEA is represented in British and Swedish newspapers. The study is based on a quantitative content analysis of 153 news articles. The analysis shows differences in reporting between Sweden and Britain and that the store, the unique feature of a retailer, does not feature in the strategic public relation work.