Jonathan Reynolds

eCommerce: a critical review

The nature and future of electronic commerce is considered. Four areas of the new economy and its affects on retailers are explained; first the extent to which the emergence of new electronic channels to market has led to distinctive means of businesses differentiation, secondly how business-to-business companies use electronic channels to improve their supply chain, thirdly how companies are dealing with organizational changes, and lastly the future of electronic-commerce is considered.

Assessing the Productivity of the UK Retail Sector

Several recent comparative studies have shown a labour productivity gap in respect of UK retailing when compared with other countries, notably France and the USA. This article seeks to identify, through an overview of existing data and related research, the extent to which retail productivity in the UK compares to global competitors and attempts to reach a consensus on the factors that determine retail productivity, while highlighting common performance measures for retailers and Government to use in measuring future productivity trends. Methods employed include a review of published studies; interviews with industry participants in the UK and a small number of leading retailers in the USA; and an analysis of a specially created database of the performance of over 200 US, UK and French retail companies. The authors find that it is unwise to draw definitive conclusions from aggregate international economic analyses of the sector; that a wide variety of efficiency indicators are employed by the sector in practice; and that there are significant differences in the structure, operating and regulatory environment for retailing in the UK which impose costs on retailers that are not necessarily incurred in other countries.

Location decision making in retail firms: evolution and challenge

Purpose – The paper has three objectives: first, to reflect on the contribution of this journal to the study of retail location assessment and decision-making; second, to use the results of a questionnaire survey of retailers to assess the employment of location assessment techniques a decade since a similar survey conducted by Hernandez and Bennison (2000); third, in the light of these results, to conclude what likely challenges the location planning profession will face over the next decade. Methodology - Employs an online questionnaire survey of retailers across a range of sizes and sub-sectors. Findings – We find that specialist location planning teams within retailers are small with established forecasting processes firmly established for new or relocated stores – indicative of less activity focused on the management of the existing portfolio or the identification of outlets within the network for rationalisation. The vast majority of site assessment techniques increased in use over the decade reflecting a greater reliance on data and analysis to inform decision-making alongside the traditional use of experience and intuition. Complementing highly technical evaluation techniques, the site visit is widely recognised as informing modelling and subsequent decision-making. Research limitations – The survey sample is smaller and contains a greater proportion of larger businesses than that undertaken by Hernandez and Bennison (2000). Originality & value – Underlines the changes in location planning sophistication a decade on from a landmark survey. Suggests the implications of the observed changes and identifies likely developments in the profession.

Perceptions and Practices of Innovation in Retailing: challenges of definition and measurement

– The purposes of this paper are to develop a more complete understanding both of the characteristics of innovation within retail firms and of the ways in which retailers perceive innovation and measure its effectiveness. Whilst there is a broad consensus that innovation is an application of new ideas that stimulate economic performance, the term attracts a wide range of interpretations that are largely contingent upon the context within which innovation occurs. , – These aims are achieved through analysis at the level of the firm by means of qualitative research in the form of a series of in-depth interviews with more than 50 senior retail executives and other industry experts internationally. , – The research results show that whilst retailers clearly recognise the important role of innovation for successful business performance, innovation in retailing nevertheless possesses a range of sector-specific meanings and measurement approaches that are distinct from more generic understandings of the phenomenon. , – Whilst the paper summarises relevant literatures and presents the results of the primary research it also sets out a number of novel conceptual frameworks, which seek better to categorise the perceived meanings of retail innovation and the measurement tools most frequently employed to determine innovation effectiveness in retail firms. The proposed frameworks facilitate future scholarly exploration but are also of use to practitioners as a means of better understanding the nature of innovation within their businesses.

Charting The Multichannel Future: Retail Choices And Constraints

Whilst the events of 2000 and 2001 would appear to have reduced significantly the attractiveness of e-commerce as a viable source of revenue growth for retailers, writing off electronic distribution channels may be premature. Growth in online transactions in, for example, the USA and the UK -whilst slower than commentators had predicted - is nevertheless encouraging. Retailing appears to be polarizing between those willing to embrace e-commerce for longer-term benefit and those for whom e-commerce is not seen as a desirable route to growth. The indirect, informational effect of the Internet on the consumer buying process and the perception of retail brands is a further consideration for those contemplating multi-channel futures. Finally, the article illustrates that the integrative challenges of multi-channel retailing are capable of being resolved in more than one way.

Retailing in computer‐mediated environments: electronic commerce across Europe

Argues that global networked environments, such as the Internet and those of online service providers such as AOL and CompuServe, provide not only challenging philosophical dilemmas - where nowhere is anywhere - but more practical economic and operational difficulties for retailers and marketers, used to conventional distribution networks in physical space; notes that retailers’ reach can potentially and very easily outweigh their grasp. Reports that a number of western European and North American retailers have been wrestling with the need to establish a presence on the various internetworking services, where the cultural rules of the game are very different, in the context of the threat to established channels. Based on research undertaken among European retailers within the Oxford Institute of Retail Management, develops some thinking on the implications of a virtual geography of demand and supply; in particular, reviews the attraction of new channels to market, seeks to understand current European practice and provides a series of frameworks for evaluating opportunities for electronic commerce.

A New Classification Of Shopping Centres In Great Britan using Multiple Branch Numbers.

Summary No comprehensive census of retailing activity at the local level in Britain has been undertaken since the 1971 Census of Distribution. In the absence of such survey data, this article describes a revision of the 1984 exercise of grading shopping centres by multiple branch score, undertaken by Hillier Parker and the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. The rationale and methodology behind the new 1989 analysis is outlined, the resultant classification of shopping centres is described and an historical comparison is made with the situation prevailing in 1984, 1971 and 1961. The article concludes with remarks on the need to build out‐of‐centre retail development into future analyses of this kind if we are to comprehend retail change at the local level.

Knowledge management, organisational learning and memory in UK retail network planning

The forecasting of sales from potential store development opportunities is typically supported by quantitative modelling techniques, which vary in their sophistication and practical application between retail firms. While previous research suggests analysts reach outcomes by blending modelled knowledge with intuition and experience, how this occurs in practice is only partially understood. By adopting a qualitative methodology, involving interviews with experts, this paper makes an incremental contribution to the literature by detailing how tacit knowledge is synthesised with modelled, codified knowledge to affect the decision making of senior management in UK-based retail firms. Analysis can also extend to post-opening reviews that offer the opportunity to improve local marketing and product ranging, and from which key lessons can be drawn for subsequent forecasting. Efforts are made by many large retailers to retain expertise and develop institutional ‘memory’ by codifying tacit knowledge, though these processes often rely upon the expertise embedded within broader intra- and extra- firm social networks. Success, therefore, appears to comprise structured, but flexible forecasting routines alongside a focus on learning, continuity and communication within analyst teams.

Generic Models of European Shopping Centre Development

The broad characteristics of integrated shopping center development across Europe are examined. A wide variation in the distribution, composition, and locations of these forms of retail development can be discerned. Two peculiarly European developments are notable. The first is the growth of the French centres intercommunaux. Anchored by a hypermarket and possessing a range of specialist units, such developments have appeared in Spain, Portugal, and Italy as French hypermarket operators have extended their sphere of influence into these nations. The 2nd peculiarly European development has been the growth of the retail warehouse park, which accounted for much of the out-of-town growth in the UK during the late 1980s. There are estimated to be over 2,000 retail warehouses in the UK. The number of retail parks, planned clusterings of stores, increased from one in 1982 to 90 six years later. The bulk of the largest UK center development has occurred in town center locations.

The Intrafirm Context of Retail Expansion Planning

The benefits that rigorous analysis can have for retail-store portfolio management in guiding and informing investment decisions (store expansion, closure, extension, refascia, and acquisition) is well established within the economic geography research literature. However, studies of retailers addressing location planning in practice have identified wide variation in the sophistication of techniques and resources employed as well as in terms of the credibility that such research and analysis receives from senior management within the firm. By drawing on a qualitative research project involving some forty location planning analysts, consultants, and managers at UK-based retailers, we differentiate between three approaches to store portfolio decision-making that differ in terms of resource allocation, sophistication, and legitimacy. We seek to explain those differences that are embedded within the context of intrafirm relations and social communities by drawing on theories from strategic management concerning core rigidities, lock-in, and legitimisation, and review the challenges that location planners face in gaining legitimacy within the organisation, along with strategies appropriate for increasing their acceptance and influence across the firm.