Introduction to Retail Marketing

1Chapter 1 – Introduction to Retail Marketing
Retailing is an activity of enormous economic significance to most
developed nations. In Britain, 2.5 million people are employed in
retailing, comprising 10.5 per cent of all employees (National Statistics,
2001a). In the European Union as a whole, over 14 million people are
employed in retail, around 20 million in the USA (Euromonitor, 2000).
Retail sales in Britain exceed £200 million, representing 36 per cent of
total expenditure by consumers (Nielsen, 2001). Retailing is also a very
visible form of economic activity, which exerts a major influence upon
the lives of consumers.
In spite of its scale and importance, the retailing industry was not
initially at the forefront in embracing the marketing concept.
Manufacturers of fast-moving consumer goods (fmcg) were in the
vanguard of marketing development, companies such as Procter &
Gamble and Unilever often being regarded as ‘universities of marketing’
(Corstjens and Corstjens, 1995). As retailing became more concentrated,
the major retailers started to wield their new-found power through
aggressive buying, high-budget advertising and elaborate store designs.
The use of marketing weapons, however, did not always indicate that the
marketing concept was being applied. It is only within the last two
decades that many retailers have taken an enlightened and integrative
view of their marketing activities.
The marketing concept may be expressed simply, as the identification
and satisfaction of customer needs and wants, at a profit.The application
of this concept is not a simple matter, nor is it a problem that can be
solved just by appointing a marketing department. It involves the
development of a philosophy that must pervade all sections of the
organization, from chief executive to the most junior member of the
store staff. Systems must be established for monitoring consumers’
perceptions and motivations, and for assessing changes in the marketing
environment. Internally, an integrative structure must be developed
One
Introduction
to Retail
Marketing
CHAPTER
One
Introduction
to Retail
Marketing

which delivers a co-ordinated response to these opportunities and
challenges, at a suitable rate of return. This is the scope of retail
marketing and the subject matter of this text.
This section examines the development and characteristics of the retail
marketing function. Retailers are no longer subordinate components of
manufacturers’ marketing channels: major retailers now dominate
marketing channels, having increased their power vis-à-vis that of
wholesalers and manufacturers. Progressively, they have taken greater or
complete control over each element of the marketing mix. Accordingly,
the marketing function has progressively acquired a pivotal role within
most major retail organizations.
Traditionally, marketing texts have depicted retailing as a relatively
passive link within the channel of distribution from manufacturers to
retailers. Over the years, a vast volume of literature contributed to this
view of ‘downstream resellers’ (Spriggs, 1994) within manufacturers’
channels. However, this manufacturer-centred view of channels has
seriously understated the power, scope and importance of retail
marketing. Now it is equally, if not more, realistic to talk of ‘channels of
supply’ within a retailer-centred view of the marketing process.
The dangers of regarding distribution channels as passive and orderly
adjuncts to the manufacturer’s marketing activities were recognized at an
early stage by McVey (1960):
The middleman is not a hired link in a chain forged by a manufacturer
but rather an independent market, the focus of a large group of customers
for whom he buys.
As he grows and builds a following, he may find that his prestige in his
market is greater than that of the suppliers whose goods he sells.
These early insights proved to be highly accurate: ironically, the USA
was not the first country to experience the full effects of retailer power.
Pommerening (1979) depicted a major shift in channel power by the
1970s in several European countries:
◗ 1950s: ‘Manufacturer is king—post-war shortages and a fragmented
distribution system place the primary emphasis upon manufacturing
and supply.
◗ 1960s: ‘Consumer is king’—increasing competition brought more
emphasis upon marketing and the development of manufacturer
brands.
◗ 1970s: ‘Trade is king’—the more concentrated and powerful retailing
industry increasingly took over the functions of marketing.
This movement certainly did not slow down after the 1970s, as major
multiples continued to consolidate their positions.Their share of the UK
grocery market, for example, was 61 per cent in 1980 but over 85 per
2 Retail Marketing
1.1 Evolution of
Retail Marketing
1.1.1 The
Development of
Retailer Power

cent by 2000 (Nielsen, 2001). A number of factors have been linked to
this shift in power, including:
1 The abolition of resale price maintenance (RPM), from 1964 in the
UK in most product sectors, left the retailer free of manufacturer
stipulation of shelf prices. Now able to deploy fully the powerful
weapon of price, the strong soon started to become stronger.
2 The development of retailer brands, both in terms of retailer branded
products and the retailers’ names as brands (Chapter 9), eventually
started to overshadow manufacturer brands (KPMG, 2000b).
3 Concentration of retail trade, a trend not confined to Western Europe
and North America. In Australia, the top five retailers command 43
per cent of retail trade, the top five in New Zealand 45 per cent
(Euromonitor, 2000).
4 Terms of trade: horizontal market power, relative to other retailers,
interacts with vertical market power, relative to suppliers (Clarke,
2000). If a large multiple can obtain major branded items for nearly
9 per cent less than a small multiple, this fuels further growth,
concentration and buying power (Competition Commission, 2000).
5 Information: retailers no longer depend upon better informed
manufacturers, they have their own scanner data (Farris and Ailawadi,
1992). This has also increased the control of retailers over supply
chains, as their information drives the logistical and manufacturing
functions (Dawson, 2000).
Table 1.1 illustrates the level of dependence of large suppliers now upon
their top five retail customers. On average, these five customers handle
86.2 per cent of the UK sales of these suppliers, the top customer alone
accounting for 38.4 per cent. This illustrates the relative weakness of the
manufacturers in negotiations with these customers, who have the power
to curtail a major proportion of their brands’ distribution.
Table 1.1 Dependence
of suppliers on major
retailers
Source: Competition
Commission (2000).
The impact of this shift in power was not restricted to manufacturers:
wholesalers found that they had been largely sidestepped by the major
multiple retailers (Foord et al., 1996). The decline of traditional
wholesaling occurred in part because ‘they neither have the “store equity”
nor the “brand equity” to differentiate themselves’ (Ailawadi et al., 1995).
Figure 1.1 illustrates how the role of the wholesaler within a ‘conventional
channel’ has been largely bypassed within modern ‘vertical marketing
Major grocery Average % of % of UK
retailers suppliers’ sales retail sales
Top 1 38.4 32.2
Top 2 56.9 46.8
Top 3 69.7 56.4
Top 4 79.1 63.3
Top 5 86.2 68.5

systems’ (Dawson, 1995). To achieve co-ordinated marketing flows from
points of production to points of ultimate use, some manufacturers have
bought their way into retailing. Others, such as Benetton, have achieved
similar results through franchising (Key Note, 1998).
On the other side of the coin, major retailers have increasingly
subsumed the wholesaling role and many have also taken over the tasks
of physical distribution. Alternatively, transportation and warehousing
may be subcontracted to specialist companies, such as Exel Logistics
(McKinnon, 1996). The manufacturer’s exclusive hold over the design
and production functions has also been eroded. Although few retailers
have chosen to acquire manufacturing facilities directly, they can be
closely involved in product design, raw material acquisition, performance
specification and quality control. Marks & Spencer was the first retailer
to be dubbed ‘manufacturer without factories’: others have now followed
its lead.
In response to these pressures, there has been much regrouping and
rationalization within the wholesaling sector. Following the decline of
traditional wholesaling, some of the more aggressive cash and carry
operators, such as Booker and Landmark, have filled the void (Nielsen,
2001), deploying buying, pricing and promotional techniques more akin
to those of large-scale retailing. Another response has been the
development of wholesaler-led voluntary groups (see Sec. 2.2).
4 Retail Marketing
Figure 1.1 Changes in
the marketing channel
Source: Competition
Commission (2000).
Vertical marketing systems
Members Functions
G Design
G Make
G Brand
G Price
G Promote
G Buy
G Stock
G Display
G Sell
G Deliver
G Credit
M
a
n
u
f
a
c
t
u
r
e
r
W
h
o
l
e
s
a
l
e
r
R
e
t
a
i
l
e
r
Conventional channels
Members Functions
G Design
G Make
G Brand
G Price
G Promote
G Sell
G Buy
G Stock
G Promote
G Display
G Sell
G Deliver
G Credit
G Buy
G Stock
G Promote
G Display
G Sell
G Deliver
G Credit
Manufacturer
Wholesaler
Retailer

Just as the manufacturers and many wholesalers lost power, so too did
the majority of smaller retailers (Ailawadi et al., 1995). Consequently,
there have been pressures within many countries to restrict the power of
major retailers through legislation, akin to the Robinson-Patman Act in
the USA. This sought to limit the power of large retailers to demand
superior terms, regardless of whether these terms could be justified by
scale economies (Ingene and Parry, 2000). In practice, through the
development of retailer brands and other measures, large US retailers
have been able to obtain superior terms.
In the UK, the issues arising from retailer power were referred to the
(then) Monopolies and Mergers Commission (1981), then to the Office
of Fair Trading (1985). In both cases, the status quo was broadly
endorsed, largely on the ground that government interference could be
against the interests of the consumer. It was held that regulation could
raise prices, reduce service, restrict the development of efficient retailing
and maybe lead to more importing, if discounts could not be obtained
from home suppliers. These two reports provided regulatory conditions
supportive of the emergence of a ‘golden age’ in UK food retailing
(Wrigley, 1994).
Since then, concerns about major retailers’ horizontal and vertical
power has prompted various restrictions and remedies in Europe, (see
Table 8.12), and investigations by the European Commission (McCarthy,
1999). The UK Competition Commission (2000) proposed a binding
Code of Practice to place relations between supermarkets and their
suppliers on a clearer and more predictable basis. It also drew attention to
issues of local competition, where local markets were dominated by one
or two major players. Overall, however, the Competition Commission
(2000) recognized the benefits to consumers of most aspects of the status
quo: as the Trade and Industry Secretary commented:
A competitive market is the best way of securing a good deal for the
customer. The enquiry has found that the industry is currently broadly
competitive and, as a result, I have accepted the Competition
Commission’s recommendations (DTI, 2000).
The concept of the retail mix developed alongside that of the marketing
mix, although the degree of control that retailers could exert has been a
function of the manufacturer–retailer power balance. In one of the first
treatments of the topic, Lazer and Kelley (1961) defined the retail mix as:
– the total package of goods and services that a store offers for sale to
the public.
– the composite of all effort which was programmed by management and
which embodies the adjustment of the retail store to its market
environment.
This early definition rightly emphasized that retailing is not just about
offering products for sale, but a complex product/service proposition. It
1.1.2 Control of the
Retail Marketing Mix

also stressed the importance of co-ordinating the mix with a
programmed effort, focused upon the needs and opportunities within
the market.
While manufacturers could exert extensive control over pricing and
other elements of the mix, the scope for producing a co-ordinated and
carefully attuned retail mix was rather limited. The shift of power,
however, has given retailers far more scope to utilize the full range of
marketing elements in pursuit of their strategic objectives. This has not
only had a profound influence upon the effectiveness of retail marketing,
it has also changed the very nature of consumer goods marketing.
Figure 1.2 illustrates the extent to which the control of key elements
of marketing have shifted from manufacturers to retailers. This shift was
observed in many European countries by Pommerening (1979) and has
continued since then. While the extent and pace of shift has varied
between retail sectors and countries, the overall trends are clear.
1 Product design: where retailers previously selected from among goods
designed by manufacturers, retailers now specify, sometimes to the
point of designing, their product requirements far more closely. In
developing retailer brand ranges, clothing retailers employ fashion
designers, while the supermarket retailers employ food scientists
(Temperley and Kirkup, 2000).
2 Shelf price: following the abolition of resale price maintenance in most
sectors and countries, this element experienced a drastic shift of
control. After intensive lobbying by some retailers (Harrison, 2000),
the last of RPM, on over-the-counter medicines, was removed in the
UK (Retail Review, 2001a). Paradoxically, the adoption of category
management (see Chapter 8) has recently increased the influence, if
not control, of major manufacturers’ over-shelf prices within some
categories (Competition Commission, 2000).
6 Retail Marketing
Figure 1.2 Control of
marketing elements
Product design
Shelf price
Brand images
Advertising
Product range
Shelf space
Logistics
Information
Customer relationships
Element of marketing Past Present
Retailer controlManufacturer control

3 Brand images: the brand equity of major retailers now exceeds that of
even leading suppliers. Brands such as Coca-Cola and Persil are
powerful but restricted to narrow categories. The Tesco brand, on the
other hand, is reinforced by their stores, staff, loyalty programme and
Tesco branded products, including many financial services. Retailers
have progressed from being just merchants to retail brand managers
(Kumar, 1997).
4 Advertising: major retailers are now outspending most manufacturers,
assisted by advertising allowances from manufacturers (Nielsen,
2001). They have also become more sophisticated in their multi-
channel communication strategies, including broadcast media,
published media, direct mail and Internet (Hamil and Kitchen, 1999).
5 Product range: retailers have become adept at assembling a product
mix oriented towards their target markets, using diverse, sources both
national and international (Liu and McGoldrick 1996). They are less
concerned about stocking a manufacturer’s full range, unless the
incentives to do so are large (Smith et al., 1995).
6 Shelf space: although store sizes have increased, the demands upon
selling space have increased even faster. Retailers now use
sophisticated models to maximize the effectiveness of space
allocations. However, where category management is deployed, the
manufacturer(s) involved have regained some influence over category
space management (Management Horizons, 1999).
7 Logistics: retailers have taken a firm grip on inventory management
and the supply chain, using their own vehicles and distribution
centres, or those of a third party contactor. The adoption of efficient
customer response (ECR: Chapter 8) has extended the retailer’s
influence even further back up the supply chain (Accenture, 2000).
8 Information: prior to the advent of point-of-sale scanning, the balance
of information-power was firmly in favour of manufacturers. With
their vast funds of data on product movements, promotional
elasticities, customer spending, etc., retailer are now in a position to
sell this information, or to share it on a selective basis (Competition
Commission, 2000).
9 Customer relationships: in the early days of chain store retailing, stores
were often impersonal: customer relationships suffered, as large
manufacturers spoke more directly with consumers. Retailers are now
focusing far more on customer relationship management, through
loyalty schemes and other means, shifting the balance of loyalty from
brands to stores (Messinger and Narasimhan, 1995).
The renascence of relationship marketing has prompted many to
question the ‘law-like generalizations’ of marketing (e.g. Chenet and
Johansen, 1999; Sheth and Sisodia, 1999). Indeed, the concept of ‘the
mix’ has come under scrutiny, not least as it can create a fixation upon
functions rather than focus. McGoldrick and Andre (1997) observed
distinct waves of emphasis over three decades, as retailers collectively

became obsessed with a particular element of the mix. As Fig. 1.3
illustrates, retailers’ expenditures on advertising soared in the 1970s,
design dominated the 1980s and loyalty schemes filled the pages of trade
magazines in the 1990s.
Clearly, if many retailers focus upon one element of the mix,
differentiation becomes less and other elements of performance are likely
to suffer. However, it is difficult for retail strategists to ignore the hype
that typically surrounds the arrival, or more often revival, of a marketing
solution. From a study of low and high performance retailers, Berry
concludes that there are no ‘silver bullets’ to solve retailing woes:
Today’s shoppers want the total customer experience: superior solutions to
their needs, respect, an emotional connection, fair prices and convenience.
Offering four out of the five pillars isn’t enough; a retailer must offer
them all (Berry, 2001).
Having gained power and control over the retail marketing mix, this was
not invariably translated into a truly co-ordinated marketing function.
Many retailers have used the weapons of marketing without necessarily
adopting an integrative and strategic approach to their marketing
activities. To a large extent, this arose through the lack of a strong
marketing function within the organization. While J. Sainsbury, for
example, has had a large and wide-ranging marketing function for many
years (MacNeary, 1981), the majority of marketing departments in retail
companies were established in the 1980s (Piercy, 1987; Piercy and
Alexander 1988). A comparative study by Greenley and Shipley (1992)
found more established marketing functions in supermarket chains,
whereas department stores still tended to be more sales oriented.
As the retail marketing function has grown and evolved, the external
environment has become ever more challenging (Keh and Park, 1997).
Over the last decade, retailers have had to cope with the threats and
opportunities presented by tighter restrictions on stores formats,
intensified competition, internationalization, new supply chain systems,
e-commerce and much more. Managerial skills and competences are
therefore critical determinants of a retailer’s ability to operate
8 Retail Marketing
1.1.3 The Retail
Marketing Function
Figure 1.3 Waves of
retail marketing
emphasis
Source: McGoldrick and
Andre (1997).
Loyalty schemes
Service(s)
Design
Branding
Advertising
Location
Price
1970s 1980s 1990s

successfully in a highly turbulent environment (Dawson, 1995). This has
created the need for a new breed of retailing professionals:
The retail sector has some of the most innovative and successful
companies in the world, yet it is only recently that retailing has become
recognised as a true profession (Jennison, 1997).
The impact of effective leadership in retailing has also become very
apparent:
Good leaders are missionary they take their people a few steps further
than they would go on their own accord. It would be out of character if
they did not have a mission to become the biggest, the best, or the most
profitable. But they are wise enough to achieve their mission in stages
(Collins, 1992).
Noticeably, the top three supermarket chains in the UK have appointed
previous marketing directors to their posts of chief executive over the last
10 years.This is indicative of the focal position now given to the marketing
function within highly successful retailing organizations. While there is
still a culture of short-termism in some retail companies (Hogarth-Scott
and Parkinson, 1993), others take a longer-term perspective and look to
the marketing function to help pull together the many strands of retail
strategy and operations (McDonald and Tideman, 1993).
Achieving an integrated marketing function does not necessarily
involve drawing more and more responsibilities into the marketing
department (Davies and Liu, 1995). Indeed, as the scope of marketing
extends from the core of retail strategy to the extremities of operations,
it is clear that the marketing function must both influence and interact
with many specialist areas. Figure 1.4 depicts several core activities of the
marketing function, and some of the other areas and activities that it
must seek to integrate. Each of these is addressed in more detail in
subsequent chapters.
Given the necessary ubiquity of marketing in all parts of a retail
business, some have suggested that, within retailing and other service
companies, everyone is in effect a marketer (Berry et al., 1990).
However, it is equally clear that a company must pursue a coherent
mission, while encouraging some empowerment and initiative in
achieving it. One solution to this apparent dilemma is the concept of the
balanced scorecard, which translates strategic visions into specific,
measurable goals (Kaplan and Norton, 1996).These goals typically relate
to financial objectives, customer satisfaction, business processes and
the capacity of the organization for innovation, learning and growth.
As the goals can be communicated to, and applied at, every level
in the organization, the balanced scorecard has provided a valuable
tool for linking and co-ordinating within retail companies.
The scorecard is considered in more detail in Chapter 4, in the context
of retail strategy and planning.

10 Retail Marketing
Figure 1.4 Integrated marketing function
Motives
Attitudes
Lifestyles
Profit analysis
Cost control
Financial models
Advertising
Direct mail
PR
Product mix
Pricing
Promotions
Mission
statement
Customer analysis
Environment analysis
Competitor analysis
Segmentation
targeting
Positioning
branding
Marketing planning
Decision on mix
Responsibilities
Implementation
Evaluation
Images, loyalty,
margins, ROI
Marketing
function
Site assessment
Store development
Design & fittings
Logistics
Information systems
Space management
Recruitment
Training
Store management
Call centre
Problem-solving
Returns
CEO
Buying
Board
Location
management
Operations
management
Human resource
management
Customer
services
Agencies
Financial
control
Customer
insight

Few would dispute that decision-making in retail marketing, or indeed
in any other form of business, can only be as good as the information
upon which the decisions are based. The rapid progress in the
development and applications of information technology (IT) is
therefore highly pertinent to the evolution of retail marketing.
Compared with some areas of manufacturing, the retail industry was
initially cautious in its adoption of IT into management processes
(Dawson, 1994). This was, in part, related to disillusionment with the
failure of some early systems to deliver on promises (Hogarth-Scott and
Parkinson, 1994).
By the end of the last millennium, however, the influence of IT had
spread across the whole of the retail value chain (Al-Sudairy and Tang,
2000). No longer was IT the preserve of logistics and operations
management, it was enabling and informing new strategies, increasingly
influencing the very structure of the industry. Figure 1.5 illustrates how
two areas of innovation, electronic point of sale (EpoS) and the Internet,
have impacted upon operations, strategy and retail structure.
The Internet pervades every area of strategy, as well as enabling new
forms of business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C)
e-commerce. Electronic point of sale, which started life as primarily an
operational tool, now supplies the ‘data warehouses’ that underpin
customer loyalty programmes, the basis of many relationship marketing
strategies. The capabilities of EPoS to monitor demand and optimize
stock have also enabled the development of scaled-down superstores and
a new generation of convenience stores, offering wider, locally tailored
assortments within relatively small outlets.
1.2 IT and Retail
Marketing
Figure 1.5 Examples of
Multi-level impacts
Level Technology Enables Consequences
Structure EPoS Wider assortments Increased competition in city
in smaller outlets centres, market towns, etc.
Internet B2C e-commerce Increased competition,
especially for music, books,
software, etc.
Strategy EPoS Loyalty programmes Relationship marketing activities
Internet Retailers’ websites Price transparency
Product information
‘Clicks and mortar’
Operations EPoS Scanning and Faster service
self-scanning Better stock control
Lower costs
Internet B2B e-commerce Efficient consumer response
Internet auctions
Lower supply prices

This has intensified competition in areas not previously regarded as
viable by the major retailers. Although falling costs make IT more
accessible to small retailers (Cameron-Waller, 1995), it is the larger
companies that have gained the most. Paradoxically, a major benefit of
IT to larger retailers is the ability to overcome the problems of their size,
enabling local responsiveness while harnessing the full power of a
national or international organization.
This section takes a brief overview of three areas of technological
development, each of which is examined in more detail in later chapters.
First, supply-side IT is considered, from electronic data interchanges
(EDI) to Internet-based links with suppliers. These technologies are
increasingly interlinked, through sales-based ordering, with the ‘front-
end’ EPoS systems; there are also many more technological
developments at store level. Finally, home-based technologies are
considered, as the opportunities and threats of e-tailing become
increasingly salient.
Before the arrival of electronic data interchange between retailers and
major suppliers, the ordering process was characterized by voluminous
paperwork, needless delays, incompatible systems and many errors. The
adoption of EDI from the 1980s necessarily ran alongside the
development of common codes and standards for the exchange of
electronic data. EDI is defined as:
The digital exchange of information between the computer systems of
different companies. In this context, it can be viewed as the replacement
of paper-based transactions (orders, schedules, invoices and advice notes)
with a computer-readable format, communicated via electronic media
(Hendry, 1995).
Electronic data interchange facilitates information flows not only
between retailers and their suppliers, it also links their distribution
centres, regional offices, stores, transport companies (if used) and, if
appropriate, customs and other external agencies. As the transmission of
orders and invoices has become almost instantaneous, so too have the
links with banks moved from paper to electronic systems. Figure 1.6
illustrates some of the many information and product flows within the
supply chain cycle.
Within the supply chain, the communication function has been
described as the glue that holds together a channel of distribution (Mollenkopf
et al., 2001). While there is some evidence of smaller suppliers and even
some retailers being coerced by trading partners into adopting EDI,
overall it has been found to improve relationships within the channel
(Vijayasarathy and Tyler, 1997). The timely flow information and the
reduction of errors have assisted scheduling by suppliers and effective
inventory management by retailers. Electronic data interchange systems
have had a doubly beneficial impact upon retailers margins, both
through cost reductions and sales enhancement, as Table 1.2 illustrates.
12 Retail Marketing
1.2.1 Supply-Side IT

While EDI systems transformed retailer–supplier communications over
the last 20 years, the Internet is now playing a leading role in B2B e-
commerce. Some question whether there is a continued role now for ‘old
style’ EDI (e.g. Sawabini, 2001), in that the costs of entry to such private
networks is higher than the Internet. However, in that major retailers
and suppliers have invested heavily in their EDI links, the Boston
Consulting Group forecasts coexistence of the two systems (Cross,
2000). The Internet’s role is however expanding very rapidly:
The ‘one-to-one’ nature of EDI has been amplified by the ‘one-to-many’
capabilities of the Internet—the Internet allows many trading partners,
or potential trading partners, to exchange knowledge simultaneously
(Cross, 2000).
Figure 1.6 The supply
chain cycle
Table 1.2 EDI and retail
margins
Head office
• Marketing
• Buying/merchandising
• Financial
• Personnel
• Management/planning
• Property management
INSTRUCTIONS
CONTROLS
ORDERS
PAYMENTS
ORDERS
PRODUCT
INFO
PRODUCTS
ADMINISTRATION
ORDERS ETC.
DELIVERY
INFORMATION
SALES
INFORMATION
ADMINISTRATION
INFORMATION
ORDERS
AUTHORIZATIONS
TRANSACTIONS ORDERS
INVOICES
ORDERS
PRODUCTS
DELIVERY
NOTES
PRODUCTS
DELIVERY
NOTES
PRODUCTS AND
DELIVERY NOTES
ADMINISTRATION
PRICES
INSTRUCTIONS
Regional office
• Retail business/
operations management
• Data capture
• Retail business/
operations management
• Data capture
• Customer service
Retail outlets
Banks
• EPTS
Suppliers
• EDI
Warehouse/
distribution centre
• Warehouse distribution
• Operations
• Administration
• Transportation
Home
• Teleshopping
INFORMATION
STATISTICS
ETC.
Cost reduction Æ Improved margins ¨ Sales enhancement
Less administration Increased assortment
Lower stockholding Reduced out-of-stock
Fewer buying errors Improved customer service
Fewer markdowns Swift seasonal adjustments
Better stockturn Quick response to trends

Some of the capabilities of the Internet in the B2B context have already
been demonstrated through the development of international exchanges.
Sears Roebuck and Kroger in the USA, Coles Myer in Australia,
Carrefour in France, Metro in Germany and J. Sainsbury in the the UK
participate in the GlobalNetExchange:
Retailers input details of their needs and the system automatically
aggregates the orders and invites tenders from suppliers. It also forecasts
likely demand and could eventually also be involved in planning and
distribution (Retail Intelligence, 2000).
The WorldWide Retail Exchange (WWRE) boasts a strong
membership of over 55 retailers, including Tesco, Kingfisher, Boots,
Dixons and John Lewis (IGD, 2001). This exchange too expands the
opportunities for global sourcing and ‘reverse auctions’, whereby
potential suppliers bid for a large order notified through the Internet
exchange (Retail Review, 2000). One member of the WWRE, Ahold of
The Netherlands, believes that it may be drawing 30–50 per cent of its
requirements through the exchange by 2010 (Retail Review, 2001b).The
impacts upon retail buying of the electronic cash register (ECR), the
Internet and other technological developments are considered further in
Chapter 8.
A conspicuous manifestation of IT in many stores is the scanning of
bar codes by EPoS systems. A prerequisite of these systems was the
development of internationally agreed standards for bar codes, and
their widespread inclusion by manufacturers on the labels of fast-
moving consumer goods (Bol and Speh, 1986). The system in
widespread use throughout Europe and elsewhere includes 13 digits,
two for the country of origin, five for the supplier, five for the product
and one check digit to minimize scanner errors.
By the mid-1990s, three-quarters of volume in food stores were
scanned by EPoS systems in Belgium, Denmark, the UK and France
(Leeflang and van Raaij, 1995). By the start of the current decade, this
proportion had grown to 91.4 per cent of grocery volumes in the UK
(Nielsen, 2001). Among most of the major multiples, including some
convenience store multiples, non-scanning stores had become a thing
of the past. The falling costs of EPoS make the technology accessible
to independent stores too, although only 9 per cent of independent
grocery stores are EPoS equipped (Nielsen, 2001).
Table 1.3 summarizes the many potential benefits of EPoS systems,
in terms of logistics, productivity, buying, customer service and
marketing strategies. Over the years of EPoS development and
adoption, the emphasis had shifted from logistical/productivity gains
to the benefits to customer service and marketing. In part, this
reflected the early problems encountered by retailers in dealing with a
14 Retail Marketing
1.2.2 Store-Based IT

vast glut of EPoS data (Little, 1987). To illustrate the problem for a
supermarket chain:
600 stores
25000 coded items
10 measures per item
5 bytes/measure
= 750 million bytes/week
Table 1.3 Benefits of
EPoS systems
Logistical
◗ Immediate recording of sales and rapid flow of information
◗ Stockholding can be reduced as less need for ‘safety stock’
◗ Orders to suppliers can be automatically suggested or triggered (sales-
based ordering: SBO)
◗ Deliveries can be better scheduled to reduce loading area congestion
Costs/productivity
◗ Faster checkouts, therefore lower labour costs
◗ Knowledge of transaction flows facilities tighter labour scheduling
◗ Staff performance, at least in quantitative terms, is monitored
◗ Cost management is facilitated
◗ No item price-marking required (in most countries/states)
◗ Better stock control leads to more productive use of space for selling.
Buying
◗ Buyers’ records constantly updated, showing trends by product and by store
◗ Less reliance on external data sources
◗ Data can be sold to or shared with manufacturers or other parties
◗ Forecasts can be based on detailed knowledge of seasonal and local trends
Customer service
◗ Bigger assortment, due to better stockturn, and less out-of-stocks
◗ Reduced queues at checkouts
◗ Itemized receipts
◗ Fewer checkout errors (usually)
◗ Additional time-saving if used with EFTPoS payment systems or on-line
authorization of credit
Marketing strategy
◗ Immediate feedback after adjustments in prices, product mix, displays,
advertising or promotions
◗ Experiments and product trials can be conducted and monitored quickly
◗ Purchase patterns can be analysed to improve store layouts and inform
category management decisions
◗ Analyses by time of day can advise decisions on opening hours and
service levels
◗ Loyalty cards extend the scope of recording and analysis, providing further
scope for relationship marketing

While some of the analytical problems could be outsourced to agencies
(Penford, 1994), the fuller realization of marketing benefits has
required the development of sophisticated, analytical skills within major
retail organizations. These have given retailers deeper insights into
the effects of price or display changes, using advanced forms
of regression analysis (Rossi et al., 2000) and neural networks
(Ainscough and Aronson, 1999).
Adding to their data warehouses, many major retailers operate loyalty
programmes, enabling transactions to be linked to a specific customer.
As discussed in Chapter 3, these function at varying levels of
sophistication but the more advanced ones provide unparalleled insights
into the buying behaviour of regular customers. Of course, customers
must be incentivized to produce their ‘loyalty card’ at the checkout, with
discounts of 1 per cent at least, over 5 per cent in a few cases (Mintel,
1999). While non-cash incentives can sometimes be subsidized or
provided by a third party, the overall costs of loyalty programmes can
consume around half of the marketing expenditure of major retailers
(Deloitte & Touche, 1999). However, some consider this to be money
well spent, given the extra scope for relationship marketing activities
(Chenet and Johansen, 1999).
Alongside the development of EPoS has been the widespread
adoption of electronic funds transfer at the point of sale (EFTPoS).
Having become well accustomed to using credit cards in retail outlets,
many consumers readily accepted the option of using debit cards
(Antonides et al., 1999: see also Chapter 13). Although this means
that the money transfers from consumer to retailer fairly rapidly, many
shoppers appreciate the convenience of obtaining cash-back at
the checkout. An EFTPoS system with on-line authorization also
completes the transaction in about a third of the time taken to write and
accept a cheque.
Information technology developments have not been confined to the
checkout, with several retailers trialling mobile self-scanning systems,
including Safeway, Tesco and Waitrose (Retail Review, 1996a;
SuperMarketing, 1997). With these systems, registered customers take a
hand-held scanner around the store, scanning items as they are put in the
trolley. Although some must be re-scanned for security reasons, in theory
this eliminates the need to unload then reload goods at the checkout.
Mobile scanners have also been deployed in the hands of store staff,
offering scan and pay service anywhere in the store or, for bulky goods,
even in the car park (Retail Automation, 1996).
Electronic point of sale systems are not, however, error-free, usually
because of staff failures to update shelf-edge price records in line with
the price data on the in-store computers. Discrepancies in two to 10 per
cent of scans have been noted in studies in the USA (Clodfelter, 1998)
and in New Zealand (Garland, 1992), although sometimes the
undercharging more than compensates for the overcharging. The latter
16 Retail Marketing

are most likely to occur when the data file has not been adjusted for
promotional offers (Goodstein, 1994). A solution may be found in
another piece of technology, the electronic shelf-edge label (ESEL).
These have been trialled in Connecticut by Shaws, a J. Sainsbury
subsidiary, with 100 per cent at-the-shelf pricing accuracy (Retail
Review, 2000). At $5–$10 per ESEL, they are still expensive but, with
falling costs, are becoming viable in terms of labour savings and
customer satisfaction (Retail Review, 2000).
While bar codes provide scannable product identification, other forms
of tagging also provide security against theft. These are commonly used
by clothing retailers but new technologies are being explored to make
tagging feasible with lower prices. These include tiny tags that can be
built into packs or bottles, so that items can be detected and recorded,
without being placed on the checkout belt. For food products, there are
envisaged: ‘Minute, edible carbon-based ‘tags’, allowing any food item at
all to be coded—at least until the customer eats the evidence’
(Mandeville, 1996). These technologies have the potential both to help
customers, and to stop them from helping themselves. Theft of trolleys
can also be deterred by the use of chip-equipped trolleys, detectable if
leaving the car park area (Retail Review, 1996b). Another application for
trolley tagging is the tracking of customers’ progress through the store.
This information can inform layout and display systems (Chapter 12), as
well as providing faster service by predicting demands upon the
checkouts at any point in time (Chapter 13).
In-store technology is also manifest in the use of kiosks, many of
which now use touchscreen technology, offering a variety of functions
(Keeling et al., 2001). Shoppers can acquire information about product
locations and promotions: used in conjunction with loyalty cards, they
can also print ‘tailor-made’ coupons for the shopper. Possibly the most
extreme form of in-store technology is that which eliminates the need
for staff, other than to replenish stocks. Robot shops, more common in
Japan, are now appearing in Europe, including the Shop24 stores in
Paris, carrying a small assortment of 200 food and drink convenience
needs (Aubrée, 2001).
While the humble telephone has provided an electronic link for home
shopping for many decades, it was the Internet that made home-based
technologies a major focus of retail strategies. By 2000, 31 per cent of
adults in the UK had a personal computer (PC) at home and many
others used PCs at work, college or another person’s home to access the
Internet (Advertising Association, 2001). In addition, interactive
television (iTV) services have developed which provide, arguably, more
user-friendly access to home shopping, as well as banking and many
other services. As Internet services improve their speed and quality, and
as iTV expands its scope, the distinctions between them become
increasingly blurred (PriceWaterhouseCoopers, 2000).
1.2.3 Home-Based IT

Table 1.4 illustrates that 14.3 per cent of households had used the
Internet to make a purchase by 2000, with a somewhat smaller
percentage using one of the interactive television services for this
purpose. However, with over 50 per cent of UK households passed by
broadband cables, 27 per cent of which are connected, there is clearly
much scope for growth in these cable, satellite and other iTV services
(Advertising Association, 2001). Overall, some 17.3 per cent of UK
households had bought on line, compared with 10.4 per cent in Europe
as a whole, 33.5 per cent in the USA (IGD, 2001).
18 Retail Marketing
Not surprisingly, on-line purchasing is strongly concentrated among the
more wealthy, younger households, in line with Internet access and
usage. Sixty-six per cent of ABs have used the Internet in the last 12
months, compared with only 20 per cent of DEs. The age bias is equally
pronounced, 68 per cent of 18–24-year-olds having been on-line,
compared with 25 per cent in the 55–64 age group (Advertising
Association, 2001). The earlier Internet adopters have been profiled as
innovators, impulsive, variety seekers and less risk aversive,
characteristics that are common to early adopters of most technologies
(Donthu and Garcia, 1999). As the Internet and iTV cease to be
regarded as ‘new technology’ and enter the mainstream of household
communications, annual growth rates of 21 per cent are forecast in
Western Europe (Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, 2001).
Home shopping has not been the primary reason for most
connections to, and use of, the Internet. The main reasons tend to be e-
mail (34 per cent) and information on goods or services (22 per cent)
(National Statistics, 2001b). However, this is indicative of the
complementary role of the Internet as consumers search for information
on goods, compare prices, etc. Those who do use it for shopping are
motivated mainly by convenience and time-saving (Morganosky and
Cude, 2000). Not everyone however agrees that the Internet shopping
services currently available are quicker or easier than going to the shop
(Advertising Association, 2001). Others are deterred by fears about
security and/or the inconvenience of delivery timings (Dunnhumby
Associates, 2000).
Table 1.4 Purchasing via
Internet or iTV
Sources: Advertising
Association (2001) based
on A C Nielsen Homescan
data.
Ever purchased anything via Internet Internet iTV
or interactive television % %
All households 14.3 3.2
Social grade: ABC 1 22.9 2.4
C2DE 6.5 3.9
Life stage: pre-family 31.2 1.9
new family 15.8 5.5
maturing family 17.1 5.5
older couples 7.2 2.1

Chapter 15 examines the extremely variable forecasts for e-tailing’s
market share: one source predicts that over 17 per cent of books but
barely 3 per cent of clothing will be sold this way in 2004 (Verdict,
2000a). Another suggests that 10 per cent of all European groceries will
be bought on line (in value terms) by 2010 (The Grocer, 2001).
However, these figures underestimate the overall impact of the Internet
on retail marketing. Increasingly, retailers will adopt multi-channel
strategies, as stores and Internet develop complementary roles within
consumers’ buying behaviour (KPMG, 2000a).
As a further perspective upon the development of retail marketing, this
section examines briefly some of the theories that have attempted to
explain changes over time in retail institutions, companies and stores.
A detailed review of these was provided by Brown (1987), who observed:
‘theory is a rather generous term for what have been described as little
more than inductively derived generalizations’. There is merit, however,
in trying to derive lessons from history, an area in which the retailing
discipline has not been especially active (Alexander, 1997). Alexander
and Akehurst (1999) call for a ‘greater volume of traffic’ between the
disciplines of retailing and history. As in retail management itself, there
has been a tendency in retail research to concentrate upon what is new,
or just around the next corner, ignoring the insights to be derived from
historical analysis. As Hollander (1986) commented:
longer-range, deeper and more macroscopic analysis can illuminate
many important retailing issues. The past is prologue, not prototype, so
while history may not repeat itself, it will suggest both questions and
useful answers.
In spite of their well-documented limitations, cyclical theories have
attracted a large volume of literature, providing some insights into
change in retail institutions. The most widely quoted are the ‘wheel of
retailing’ and the ‘retail life cycle’. A further generalization, the ‘retail
accordion’ is discussed in Chapter 4, being especially germane to
retailers’ choices between strategies of diversification and generalization
(Hart, 1999). In essence, the accordion theory holds that retailing,
over time, tends to alternate between wider, general assortments and
narrower, more specialized ranges.
The regularities suggested by these theories may not appear to sit well
with the ‘postmodern condition’, which subscribes to the view that history
is discontinuous, fragmented, contingent, context and locality dependent,
uncertain, unpredictable and, above all, shapeless (Brown, 1995). However,
if regarded as common strategic ailments, rather than as universal laws,
then the early detection of cyclical symptoms can assist in effecting a
timely cure. Indeed, in spite of an abiding suspicion of ‘academic theory’
among many practising managers, cyclical theories often resonate with
their own insights and experiences in retail organizations. The two most
1.3 Theories of
Retail Change

widely quoted cyclical theories are therefore now examined, namely, the
‘wheel of retailing’ and the ‘retail life cycle’. Other, non-cyclical
frameworks are then considered, focusing upon the ways in which retail
organizations and formats have adapted to changes in their economic,
political, legal, technological and competitive environments.
This concept was suggested by McNair (1958) and subsequently
analysed by Hollander (1960):
This hypothesis holds that new types of retailers usually enter the market
as low-status, low-margin, low-price operators. Gradually they acquire
more elaborate establishments and facilities, with both increased
investments and higher operating costs. Finally, they mature as higher-
cost, high-price merchants, vulnerable to newer types who, in turn, go
through the same pattern.
Figure 1.7 illustrates the phases of the ‘wheel’, with the marketing mix and
characteristics that could be associated with each of these phases. History
reveals a number of conforming examples. Department stores, which
started mainly as low-cost competitors to the smaller retailers, elaborated
their style, eventually being severely undercut by supermarkets and
discount warehouses (McNair, 1958). In due course, the supermarkets
themselves started to trade up, unable to compete with each other on price
alone (Bucklin, 1972). Similar tendencies have been observed among
clothing stores, leisure outlets and other specialist stores, with the trading-
up process tending to quicken (McNair and May, 1978). More recently,
the concept has been applied, in adapted form, to the evolution of the
retail warehouse (Brown, 1990) and to signs of trading-up by warehouse
membership clubs in the USA (Sampson and Tigert, 1994).
20 Retail Marketing
1.3.1 The Wheel of
Retailing
Figure 1.7 The wheel
of retailing
Source: Brown (1988). Ent
ryphase
Trading-up phase
Vulnerabilit
y
phase
Mature retailer
Top heaviness
Conservation
Declining ROI
Innovative
retailer
Low status
Low price
Minimal service
Poor facilities
Limited product
offerings
Traditional retailer
Elaborate facilities
Expected, essential,
and exotic services
Higher-rent locations
Fashion orientations
Higher prices
Extended product
offerings
Becomes Becomes

Several possible causes of the wheel pattern have been hypothesized: the
following list is adapted from Hollander (1960) and Brown (1991).
1 Management personality: becomes less cost-conscious and aggressive
as the original entrepreneurs either grow older or hand over control to
less dynamic successors.
2 Personal preferences: decision-makers are sometime prone to create
environments and add services that they would expect themselves, in
spite of most of their customers being considerably less affluent than
they are.
3 Misguidance: examples are cited elsewhere in this book of retailers
being urged by suppliers to invest in expensive design refits,
advertising campaigns, extra services, etc.
4 Imperfect competition: fearful of retaliation, retailers avoid direct price
competition, preferring to compete on services. This creates a ratchet-
like process of cost and margin increases.
5 Excess capacity: as a format expands, the available business is spread
more thinly. Price-cutting therefore becomes suicidal, so retailers opt
for non-price competition.
6 Rising expectations: increasing overall living standards, especially in
times of economic boom, persuade retailers to upgrade their offerings
in line with consumers’ rising expectations.
7 Illusion: the addition of higher margin lines may give a spurious
impression of trading up, even though margins on the original
product range may be unaltered.
Many writers have warned of the dangers of generalizing the ‘wheel’
hypothesis too widely. Kaynak (1979) observed that ‘imported’ retail
formats are often copied from those already developed elsewhere: they
may therefore start with an upmarket trading position, then
subsequently trade down. Following a longitudinal study of electrical
goods discounter Comet, Savitt (1984) complained that: ‘the “wheel of
retailing” pervades the marketing literature as if it were a law rather than
an untested hypothesis’.
It is also unrealistic to assume that a company cannot turn back ‘the
wheel’, although some would argue that this is simply a company
reinventing itself at the start of the cycle. In a world where images are
constantly tracked and positioning decisions are far more explicit, a
company is now more likely to detect ‘wheel-like’ symptoms. In its
celebrated ‘operation checkout’, Tesco regained the focus on price that
had become blurred in the 1970s. More recently, Asda used the
‘Rollback’ promotion as a way to announce a return to an earlier price
position (Verdict, 2000b).
The retail life cycle, expounded by Davidson et al. (1976), attempted to
overcome two of the most distinct limitations of the ‘wheel’. First, the
emphasis upon changing costs and margins does little to explain the
evolution of retail forms that enter the market at a high margin position.
1.3.2 The Retail Life
Cycle

Second, the rate, diversity and direction of retail innovation was
becoming increasingly difficult to explain within the ‘wheel’ framework.
The product life cycle, from which the retail life cycle was derived, is
a concept very familiar to marketing practitioners and scholars (e.g.
Levitt, 1965). The idea that the retail institutions themselves, like the
products they sell, have a life cycle was formalized somewhat later. The
life cycle may be divided broadly into four phases: introduction, growth,
maturity and decline.
Organizations at the introduction (innovation) stage are characterized
as having few competitors, rapid sales growth and low to moderate
profitability. As growth accelerates, profitability is usually rising, so
competition starts to increase. At the maturity stage, there will be many
direct and some indirect competitors, so profitability would typically
start to moderate. As more, innovatory, indirect competitors develop,
sales and profits will fall, placing the institution or format clearly in the
decline phase.
Figure 1.8 illustrates these four phases, with examples of formats
generally regarded as being at each stage. This also demonstrates the
hazards of such generalizations, as there are many exceptions and
international differences. Eurostat (1993), for example, illustrated that
large grocery stores are at the introduction/early growth stages in
southern Europe but well into the maturity stage in the UK and France.
Neither can it be assumed that city centre department stores are all in
decline, as the proprietor of Harrods would no doubt agree!
In so far as life cycles can be observed, these are becoming much
shorter. Davidson et al. (1976) estimated that the city centre department
store took 80 years to reach its peak share, in 1940 in the USA. It then
took 45 years for the variety store to peak in 1955, and 20 years for the
discount department store to peak in 1970. More recent evidence points
22 Retail Marketing
Figure 1.8 The retail
life cycle
Warehouse clubsGrocery superstores
Clothing superstores
DIY warehouses
Furniture hypermarkets
Salesmarketshare
TimeIntroduction Growth Maturity Decline
Meal
solution
centres
Internet
grocery
DIY superstores
Variety stores
City centre
department
stores

to ever shortening life cycles, for example, among warehouse clubs
(Retail Review, 1996c). Burns et al. (1997) estimated that concepts born
in the 1970s averaged 16 years until earnings began to stagnate, but the
fall-off was coming after just eight years for some more recently
introduced concepts. Shortening life cycles have a number of
implications for retail strategists.
1 Long-term investments in expensive property assets must be viewed
with caution.
2 A satisfactory return on investment needs to be achieved in a shorter
timescale.
3 A retailer may utilize portfolio analysis (see Chapter 4) to assess the
position of its various assets vis-à-vis the life-cycle stage of each, to
protect itself from overall decline (Davidson and Johnson, 1981).
4 Sometimes a format should be superseded before it enters sharp
decline, especially if this facilitates the sale of existing stores or sites.
For example, B & Q replaced many of its superstores with ‘category
killer’ do-it-yourself (DIY) warehouses.
5 It can take many years, if ever, to recover from an earnings collapse:
renewal should precede this, even if it involves difficult changes
within the organization (Burns et al., 1997).
All the cyclical theories suffer from the weaknesses of being
deterministic and inflexible, focusing upon patterns rather than
processes. In their simplest form, they ignore the influences of the
economic environment and management tends to be portrayed as
powerless to resist the cycle (Brown, 1991). Environmental and conflict
theories, on the other hand, are more flexible, emphasizing the ways that
organizations/institutions adapt to changes in, the environment and in
the competitive arena respectively.
The environmental approach holds that new or evolved forms of
retailing are manifestations of changes in the economic, social,
demographic, political, legal and/or technological environments
(Meloche et al., 1988). Given the popularity of political, environmental,
social and technological (PEST), strengths, weaknesses, opportunities
and threats (SWOT) and other frameworks for auditing the business
environment, it is entirely plausible the strategies should be formed that
react to major changes. As these strategic audit tools are considered in
more detail in Chapter 4, here it is appropriate to provide just a few
examples.
1 Earlier in this chapter, the political changes outlawing resale price
maintenance were seen to have a profound effect, not just upon
suppliers but upon weaker retailers, previously protected by the
maintained prices.
2 Similarly, the decision to legalize Sunday trading was opposed
by many small retailers, who would lose some of their
convenience advantage.
1.3.3 Non-Cyclical
Frameworks

3 Economic downturns tend to provide fertile breeding grounds for
discount formats, while exposing the weaknesses of less efficient,
middle-ground retailers.
4 Technology, as discussed in Sec. 1.2, has influenced retailing in many
ways. Over the years, the widespread adoption of the motor car,
refrigerator and freezers have profoundly influenced how often, and
where, we shop for food.
5 The fragmentation of consumer tastes and needs have left vulnerable
the retailers that retain a mass market orientation.
6 Retailers that cannot refocus and refresh their appeal to new and
expanding need segments are likely to perish with their dwindling
customer base.
Some proponents of the environmental perspective suggest that a form
of economic ecology or ‘natural selection’ occurs, with only the fittest
retailing species likely to survive in the long term (Etgar, 1984). While
Davies (1998) warns against the dangers of overplaying the ecological
analogies, he adds:
It is common to see references to the ‘survival of the fittest’,
‘natural dominance’, ‘natural selection’, ‘triumph of the best’, etc., and to
read about the march of retail progress supplanting more ‘primitive’
retail forms.
The main strengths of the environmental frameworks are their
flexibility, focus upon the ‘uncontrollables’ and their applicability in a
wide variety of contexts. The historical analysis of Gowings of Sydney,
by Miller and Merilees (2000), illustrates how this 134-year-old retailer
adapted through wars, depression and many societal changes to achieve
its great longevity. Quoting from Clark (1992), the authors observe:
‘The story of the past should have the same effect as all great stories—
It should turn the mind of the reader to the things that matter.’
Conflict theories, for their part, tend to ignore the wider environmental
context, explaining retail change in terms of the rivalry between new and
established retail institutions Within Gist’s (1968) dialectical theory,
retail evolution follows a pattern of thesis, antithesis and resulting
synthesis (Pioch and Schmidt, 2000). In other words, when an existing
institution is challenged by a new one with a differential advantage, it
will adopt strategies and tactics in the direction of that advantage,
thereby negating some of the newcomer’s advantage.The newcomer may
then adapt its strategy to maintain its competitive advantage. These
mutual adaptations gradually move the retailers together in terms of
merchandise offerings, service and price.
Retailers offering discounted prices and/or larger assortments have
often provided a challenge to existing formats. In their early days
of trading, Asda and Morrison used many old mill locations to provide
24 Retail Marketing

spacious, certainly not luxurious, low-cost retailing environments. This
challenged the current orthodoxy that discounting was associated with
narrow assortments. The high street supermarkets, such as Tesco and
Sainsbury, moved into larger, superstore locations to compete more
effectively. Asda and Morrisons also developed modern superstores,
causing convergence of formats.
At a later stage, the superstores responded to the perceived challenge
of the warehouse clubs by introducing ranges of bulk packs, particularly
in the larger outlets. The warehouse clubs have responded to diminished
competitive advantage by adopting some of the trappings of superstores,
such as additional services and improved shopping environments
(Sampson and Tigert, 1994).
The crisis-response model provides an elaboration upon how retailers
typically respond to the conflict situation. It suggests four stages in their
response: shock, defensive retreat, acknowledgement and assessment,
and adaptation (Dawson, 1979). The shock stages are often well
documented within the pages of trade journals, with innumerable
column metres devoted to the ‘warehouse club threat’ in the early 1990s,
the ‘Wal-Mart threat’ in the late 1990s. If a threat proves to be too great
to be countered by normal defensive measures, retailers are then forced
to reassess their fundamental business models, including margin
expectations, payback periods on stores, etc.
In common with all theories of retailing change, conflict theories have
attracted criticism. Pioch and Schmidt (2000) observe that, along with
the cyclical theories, they largely ignore the sociocultural and economic
context. The limitations of retailing change theories have prompted two
types of response:
1 The creation of combination models, incorporating elements of
cyclical, environmental and conflict theories (e.g. Agergaard et al.,
1970; Brown, 1991; Sampson and Tigert, 1994).
2 The suggestion that researchers should focus more upon the evolution
of individual retailing institutions, increasing understanding of both
the internal and external causes of retail change (Brown, 1991).
Indeed, these two approaches are not entirely incompatible. It is
important to recognize that strategic planning in retailing has moved on
somewhat since these theories were initially conceived. Major retailers
are now more proactive in their environmental monitoring and strategic
positioning, giving them more power to forge their own destinies.
However, while incomplete and imperfect in many ways, the
generalizations and theories of retail change still contain some powerful
warnings from history. These may at least help strategists to identify
forces and tendencies that contribute to the decline of institutions,
formats and individual organizations.

In spite of its enormous scale and economic significance, the retailing
industry in general did not adopt the marketing concept at an early stage.
For many years there was a tendency to regard retailers as subordinate,
even passive, elements of manufacturer-led marketing channels. The
rapid shift of power from manufacturers to retailers has forced a change
in this view. From being a highly fragmented industry, retailing is now
highly concentrated in many sectors, with some major retailers having
grown larger than their largest suppliers. The use of legislation to limit
the buying power of large retailers has been explored in several countries.
The more powerful retailers have taken an increasing degree of control
over the elements of the retail marketing mix. With the abolition of resale
price maintenance, the shift of control was most rapid in the case of retail
pricing, but every other element of the mix has also become increasingly
retailer led. Initially there was a tendency for retailers to wield their
marketing power at the tactical, rather than the strategic, level. The last
20 years have seen the development of more co-ordinated marketing
functions within many retail companies, although in others the role of
marketing is still mainly at the operational level.
Well-informed and appropriate retail marketing decisions require the
availability of comprehensive, timely and accurate information. The
influence of information technology now pervades retailing at the
operational, strategic and structural levels. Electronic point of sale (EPoS)
systems, for example, provide many operational benefits in terms of stock
control, automatic reordering, lower checkout cost and better customer
service. Linked now with information from loyalty or other store cards, they
provide the data to underpin retailers’ increased emphasis upon relationship
marketing strategies.
The Internet is proving even more pervasive, providing an alternative
to existing electronic data interchange (EDI) systems between retailers
and suppliers. This has opened up more flexibility in product sourcing,
though on-line reverse auctions. For consumers, the Internet provides an
additional channel through which to gain information about retailers,
their products and their prices. With the parallel developments in cable
and other forms of ‘interactive’ television, consumers’ choices of home
shopping options are also increasing.
Retailing is clearly a dynamic industry, subject to constant change
brought about by economic, demographic, legislative, technological and
competitive forces. Some writers have observed cyclical tendencies in the
lives and trading styles of retail companies and institutions. The ‘wheel of
retailing’ hypothesis suggests that retail innovators tend to trade up,
leaving themselves eventually vulnerable to new innovators. The concept
of the life cycle has also been applied to retail institutions, and retail life-
cycles are getting much shorter. The ‘retail accordion’ holds that retail
assortments tend, over time, to alternate between narrow/specialized
and wide/generalized.
The rigidity of these cyclical theories have led some to prefer
environmental frameworks, which see retailing forms as manifestations of
changesintheeconomic,social, demographic, political, legal and technological
environments. Some draw upon ecological analogies, holding that only the
fittest retailing species survive the changes. Conflict theories, on the other
hand, focus upon reactions to the arrival of a new competitive threat.
26 Retail Marketing
SUMMARY

1 ‘The middleman is not a hired link in a chain forged by a manufacturer.’
Discuss
2 How do you explain the shift of power from manufacturers to retailers in
many countries?
3 Do you believe that the power of retailers will continue to grow? Justify
your answer.
4 Focusing upon a retail sector of your choice, illustrate how the control of
the marketing mix elements has shifted from manufacturers to retailers.
5 To pull together the many strands of retail strategy and operations, the
retail marketing function must influence and interact with many specialist
areas, both in and around the organization. Taking a retail company of your
choice, illustrate the nature and diversity of these interactions.
6 Show how the information provided by electronic point of sale (EPoS)
systems can assist in the development and refinement of retail marketing
strategy.
7 The provision of mobile scanners for use by customers requires
considerable investment in electronic hardware. Your director has asked
you to draft a cost-benefit analysis of the introduction of self-scanning,
including ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ costs/benefits. What factors would you include
in the analysis?
8 Illustrate the ways in which the Internet now influences retail operations,
strategy and structure.
9 Explain McNair’s ‘wheel of retailing’ hypothesis, giving examples of retail
companies or institutions that have (a) complied, and (b) not complied with
this hypothesis.
10 Why are retail life cycles becoming shorter? Discuss the implications of this
for retail marketing strategy.
11 Consider any situation in which an established retail format is facing new
competition from an innovative retail format. How would conflict theory
suggest that these rivals may react over the years to come?
12 ‘History is discontinuous, fragmented, contingent, context and locality
dependent, uncertain and, above all, shapeless’. Discuss this viewpoint and
its implications for theories of retail change.
REVIEW
QUESTIONS
While all these generalizations have been subject of criticisms, they do
summarize important lessons from history, underlining the need for positive,
long-term marketing planning.

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28 Retail Marketing
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30 Retail Marketing

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