Steve Wood

Convenience store location planning and forecasting – a practical research agenda

Purpose – This paper aims to compare the accepted techniques of location analysis in the food sector with the realities of “real world” forecasting in convenience store (c‐store) retailing. To offer a conceptual framework for c‐store operators intending to become more strategic in their small store location planning but currently lacking established expertise or extensive research budgets.Design/methodology/approach – Outlines potential best practice based on industry experience, and contact and discussion with location analysts and retail consultants, as well as a wide ranging examination of the academic literature in this area.Findings – Finds that the traditional techniques of market analysis for large‐scale food stores will become largely redundant; that neighbourhood retailers are likely to manage their location decision‐making by incremental steps; that the requirements of convenience store forecasting inevitably read to a “back to basics” approach to market analysis; that the use of site visits in ...

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.

Life after PPG6—recent UK food retailer responses to planning regulation tightening

Abstract Despite ever-tightening retail planning regulation in the UK, the leading food retailers have continued to add floor space in a remarkably consistent manner, progressively increasing their domination of the market. This paper examines the innovative responses of those firms to planning legislation—responses which have included: working within the constraints of that regulation; exposing and exploiting flaws in the legislation, and circumventing its impacts by expansion into more fragmented markets. Such responses, have in turn led to the further adaptation of planning regulation in order to close a series of loopholes that the leading food retailers have been quick to exploit to aid their expansion plans. The paper concludes by examining more broadly what these developments imply for organizational adaptation and corporate restructuring.

The emerging food retail structure of Vietnam: Phases of expansion in a post‐socialist environment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to trace the modernisation of the retail structure of Vietnam from a closed market to one that is increasingly open to retail transnational corporation (TNC) entry and associated Western retail formats.Design/methodology/approach – The authors undertake this study of retail change through the analysis of a wide range of governmental and industry secondary data – much of which has not entered western academic debate given the challenges of access and translation. In doing so, this period of adaptation is related to well‐known studies concerning the diffusion of western forms of retailing discussed across the social sciences.Findings – As a country encountering the third wave of supermarket proliferation within emerging markets, Vietnams experience is found to broadly fit the models of retail foreign direct investment (FDI) entry and retail “modernisation” suggested by Natawidjaja et al. and Dries et al. The retail change process was affected by a slow, progressive cr...

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.

Conceptualising innovative customer-facing responses to planning regulation: the UK food retailers

While receiving extensive coverage across a wide range of industries, brand adaptation in the face of regulatory change has been largely under-researched in the field of retail marketing management. This paper seeks to fill this void by reviewing the strategic customer-facing responses of the leading UK food retailers to the tightening of retail land-use planning regulations; in doing so, this paper exposes a highly variable range of strategies that include store format adaptation, new format development, entry into new markets and more controversially the outright challenging of government regulation. The findings underline that although regulatory intervention can serve to restrict continued expansion, it can also encourage customer-focused innovation where well-established retail brands retain market focus but modify the shape of their ongoing growth.

Location planning in charity retailing

Purpose – This paper seeks to evaluate the particular conditions informing locational decision making and related network planning in the charity retail sector. Its purpose is to identify both differences and commonalities with related debates that have been focussed very largely on the grocery sector and the superstore format. Its wider purpose is to contribute to the growing literature on charity retailing which has not considered this aspect of retail management in detail.Design/methodology/approach – Details the particularities of charity retailing locational decision making and network planning through a detailed case‐study consideration of a hospice charitys emerging retail store network.Findings – Finds that existing conceptual and practical considerations pertaining to locational decision making in retailing require a nuanced re‐revaluation in relation to the locational and network planning of charity retailers. Identifies the importance of supply chain (stock donators) and workforce factors toge...

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.

Regulatory Constrained Portfolio Restructuring: The US Department Store Industry in the 1990s

The US department store industry has undergone a recent round of strategic acquisition-based portfolio restructuring. The author analyses one such acquisition, studying how its geography was restructured in the premerger stage to conform to the Federal Trade Commissions (FTCs) ‘fix-it-first’ policy and to improve the strategic fit of the transaction. He then investigates evidence, and analyses the effects, of a new era of stricter FTC enforcement, where divestiture may no longer be sufficient in cases of horizontal market overlap. Fundamentally, the author considers the nature of ‘real regulation’ in action, as rules partially dictate investment decisions.

Multi-Scalar Localization and Capability Transference: Exploring Embeddedness in the Asian Retail Expansion of Tesco

Wood S., Coe N. M. and Wrigley N. Multi-scalar localization and capability transference: exploring embeddedness in the Asian retail expansion of Tesco, Regional Studies. This paper revisits the ‘firm in the region’ and the ‘region in the firm’ dichotomy through the case of Tescos retail expansion in Asia. It focuses on the tension between the transference of proven key capabilities to the host economies Tesco has entered, and strategic localization, primarily for customer-facing, corporate culture, regulatory and institutional reasons. It is demonstrated how the retailer has pursued a multi-scalar adaptive approach that goes beyond any standardized/localized dichotomy to respond to differences between and within national markets. In the process, this paper provides evidence of genuine two-way knowledge flow between the home market and subsidiaries, between subsidiaries themselves, and of subsidiaries granted autonomy and the ability to flex their strategies.