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Although online retailing has expanded dramatically over the past decade, research on the topic by economic geographers remains sparse. One recent hitherto unstudied trend has seen online retailers establishing physical grocery store networks in the Chinese market. This paper utilizes a case study of Alibaba’s Hema grocery store chain to identify and analyze the distinctive and innovative methods that online retailers are adopting in the Chinese food retail market in the context of developing physical stores. Four aspects of innovation are examined, namely: format innovation involving the store as a local fulfillment centre providing efficient last-mile delivery; developing a more consumer-centric retail model; transforming domestic supply networks; and sourcing live seafood globally. These developments are all achieved and facilitated by the strong data-driven capabilities of Hema in the context of the wider Alibaba platform ecosystem. Overall, the paper demonstrates how the digital data capabilities of online retailers embedded in wider platform business groups are rapidly altering the competitive landscape of the food retail sector in China.

Retailers can play an important role in facilitating a transition to sustainable diets in the UK. They have been implementing strategies aimed at helping customers make healthier choices and are now considering how to broaden this to include sustainability, which is a live discussion in the UK retail sector. Focusing on ‘less and better’ meat and dairy as a core component of sustainable diets, this study investigates retailer perceptions of sustainable diets and their strategies and challenges to provide and promote customer purchasing of ‘less and better’ meat and dairy. Results from a series of semi-structured interviews with senior health and sustainability professionals within the UK retail sector indicate that retailers have a diverse understanding of sustainable diets that seldom includes ‘less and better’ meat and dairy. Retailers are adopting a range of different strategies linked to ‘less and better’ meat and dairy – from improving the sustainability of their meat and dairy supply chains to influencing customer purchasing through ‘nudge’ interventions. While strategies related to ‘better’ meat and dairy are being adopted, no retailer is implementing interventions focused on reducing purchasing of meat products. The promotion of sustainable diets is seen by some retailers as a way of positively engaging with customers and improving brand loyalty, but there are external barriers to reducing purchasing of meat and dairy products that are beyond the direct control of the retailer.

The retailing sector is evolving, not only as a result of technological advances, but also because of concerns about climate change and new demands from governments and customers for ethical and sustainable products. Customers’ purchase intentions are crucial for the successful implementation of circular business models. However, few studies focus on the role of customers in enabling circular business models. This study fills this research gap by identifying the critical factors that impact customers’ ethical purchase intentions for circular business models in the retail sector. Based on macro-theories of human behaviour, this study proposes a theoretical model that can holistically consider the critical factors and variables that determine customers’ ethical purchase intentions towards the circular business model. The paper contributes to the body of literature on circular business models in the retail sector by exploring the issue from the customers’ perspective.

What is the relationship between the rate at which firms accumulate their stock of demand over time and the prices that they set for their products? This paper analyzes the implications of customer capital accumulation for pricing behavior and firm dynamics. We build a tractable directed search model of the product market in which firms are ex-post heterogeneous in their customer base and commit to the prices they post. The model features dynamic contracts with endogenous customer reallocation, endogenous entry and exit of firms, and allows for a tractable characterization of the firm distribution. In equilibrium, there is price rigidity at the firm level, and price dispersion in the cross-section because firms of different sizes use different pricing strategies to strike a balance between attracting new customers and retaining incumbent ones. We show that our mechanism can generate realistic firm dynamics, a right-skewed firm size distribution, and various predictions on the cross-sectional distribution of prices, markups, and the rate and frequency of price changes.

Inventory management has become a key factor in today's world of uncertainty, particularly in the retail sector. Accordingly, there is a high requirement of managing and controlling the inventory with appropriate policies to elevate the organization's performance. In fact, a proper system has to be implemented for monitoring customer demand. This system will, in turn, assist in maintaining the right level of inventory. In this direction, the present research focuses on a retail store and explores a solution for an inventory-related problem experienced by the firm. A simulation model is developed and run for particular merchandise using Arena simulation software. Rigorous experimentation is conducted with the model by altering the inputs/model characteristics, and a more effective system is proposed. Compared with the existing traditional inventory management system, the proposed system will reduce the inventory level by 40% and lost sales by 87%. Furthermore, the proposed system is optimized using the OptQuest module in Arena simulation software. As a result, the inventory level is further reduced by 73% compared to the existing system. Store managers in various organizations may utilize the proposed methodology for improving their inventory management system.

SB was supported by the Department of Science and Technology - Centre of Excellence in Food Security. MB was supported by the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities – University of Georgia. This work is based on the research supported in part by the National Research Foundation of South Africa (Grant Number 115300 ). This study forms part of the Sustainable and Healthy Food Systems (SHEFS) program supported by the Wellcome Trust’s Our Planet, Our Health program [grant number: 205200/Z/16/Z ].

Contemporary shopping habits are undergoing rapid change, with more and more consumers purchasing goods online. The rapid growth of the online retail sector provides great opportunities for both wholesalers and transporters in servicing this newly emergent type of customer. With both consumers and corporations acutely aware of the environmental impact of business activities, one of the most relevant research questions is how to organize the operations of a e-commerce delivery business while simultaneously minimizing its environmental impact. The present paper addresses the e-commerce delivery problem, a mathematical formulation and fast heuristics which enable the simulation of various e-commerce delivery scenarios. The effects of the scenarios regarding more environmentally friendly e-commerce concerns are tested upon real-world data. In particular, the impact of new green(er) technology (such as electric bicycles and cars), aggregated collection points, carrier bundling, and changing delivery times is investigated. The obtained results are suitable for implementation at an organizational or operational level within both e-commerce delivery companies and transporters.

Growing competition and increasing availability of data is generating tremendous interest in data-driven analytics across industries. In the retail sector, stores need targeted guidance to improve both the efficiency and effectiveness of individual stores based on their specific locations, demographics, and environment. We propose an effective data-driven framework for internal benchmarking that can lead to targeted guidance for individual automotive dealerships. In particular, we propose an objective method for segmenting automotive dealerships using a model-based clustering technique that accounts for similarity in store performance dynamics. The proposed method relies on an effective Finite Mixture of Regressions technique based on competitive learning for carrying out the model-based clustering with ‘must-link’ constraints and modeling store performance. We also propose an optimization framework to derive tailored recommendations for individual dealerships within store clusters that jointly improves profitability for the store while also improving sales to satisfy manufacturer requirements. We validate the methods using synthetic experiments as well as a real-world automotive dealership network study for a leading global automotive manufacturer.

We analyze the implementation of Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2016-02, requiring operating lease assets and liabilities to be recognized in the balance sheet. We find that the standard resulted in large increases in balance sheet derived leverage for some companies, particularly in the Retail sector. It also had an impact on the valuation of operating lease liabilities relative to values derived from pre-ASU 16-02 methods, which on average produced values which were 11% higher. However, we find that the impact on new information has been marginal, even in firms where operating lease liabilities account for a large proportion of total liabilities. The reason for this is that the contribution of operating leases to leverage after implementation of ASU 16-02 can largely be predicted employing the data available prior to the standard.

The COVID-19 pandemic has largely disrupted the way of retailing. Retailers with only brick-mortar are forced to adopt online mode to sustain their business, while online retailers started equipping them with sophisticated smart technologies like AI (Artificial Intelligence), ML (Machine Learning), etc. to attract, engage and transact with their customers. This paper enumerates few use cases of technologies in the retailing sector during the COVID-19 crisis. Online impulse buying is generating a good chunk of revenue, and all the retailers are making effort to lure customers for impulse buying. Due to lockdown and physical distancing people, started buying more on e-commerce portals and so the importance of impulse buying also heightened for the retailers. This paper also focuses on market trends that may intensify the role of technologies in retailing post-COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The fear of potential new strains of the virus is posing uncertainty about the rebounding of the economy and changes in the preferences of the individual. To combat these challenges technology is expected to play a vital role. The various advantages and challenges/barriers of probable technology adoption in the retail sector are also discussed. This paper will add to the literature of online retailing and give practical insights to the retailers in adopting adequate technology.

The purpose of this paper is to propose an updated view of consumer choice based on AI and inherent convenience addiction to smart speakers. Following the MacInnis framework for developing conceptual contributions of summarization, integration, and delineation, we review the current consumer decision-making literature and theory to demonstrate consumers' increasing tendency to outsource decisions to AI. Today's customers value convenience: the less time and effort they spend on a purchase, the better they perceive the transaction. AI is taking convenience to higher levels for consumers as they outsource their decisions to bots and inherent algorithms. This is particularly accurate for low-involvement everyday purchases. Our study's contribution is fourfold. First, we introduce a new model of AI-influenced decision-making (AIDM) processes. Second, our conceptual model suggests that managers need to change their interpretation of their customers' decision-making-processes in the new, AI-influenced marketplace. The shift in consumers' behavior toward reliance on home voice bots for purchase has significant implications for the retail sector. Third, our model differentiates between high and low involvement AI-influenced decision-making processes. Fourth, our study highlights how branding as we know it is challenged in an AI-dominated environment.

State and federal minimum wage hikes are likely to impact the retail industry employing a great number of less well-compensated part-time workers. Despite the relevance of this issue, it is not clear how minimum wage increases affect full-time and part-time retail employees differentially. In this study, using state-level monthly data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), we find that minimum wage hikes lead to rising part-time wages, but not to declining part-time employment. Instead, retailers reduce their full-time employment and hours of full-time workers in order to stay within a labor budget and keep serving their customers.

This study attempts to analyse the impact of novel coronavirus in the areas of awareness level of buyers, online services and huge price rise of products on consumer purchase behaviour in retail sector. The study has been conducted on 152 respondents from the different areas of Kolkata city through online mode by using an online questionnaire using convenience sampling technique. After data collection through online survey, it is analyzed using multiple regression analysis to find out the significance of individual predictor as stated above. The findings provide that the independent variable (huge price rise of products and delayed online services) highly influences the purchase behaviour of consumers. The data reflects after evaluation that the male respondents having monthly income ranged from 0 to 30,000 with an age group ranged from 25 to 35 highly influences the consumer purchase behaviour. Therefore, higher income of male respondents and huge price rise of products are highly correlated with each other towards consumer purchase behaviour. The overall findings provide implications to marketers, retailers and advertisers to implement future strategies according to the current pandemic situation towards consumer purchase behaviour in retail sector.

We examine the broader economic effects of the Federal government's Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) by focusing on the performance of securitized commercial mortgages following the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. We provide novel evidence along the extensive and intensive margins for spillover effects from government interventions in the face of economic crises. We find that the PPP reduced mortgage delinquencies, especially in the retail sector. The strongest effects occur when PPP funds targeted businesses in areas most affected by COVID-19 and where banks overperformed in providing PPP loans. Thus, PPP relief to small businesses eased economic distress beyond the labor market.

Purpose: The purpose of the current study is to explore the impact service quality on the relationship between technology variables and brand behaviour in Indian retail by using the SO-R model as the theoretical framework. Research Methodology: The research Data was collected by using questionnaire survey from 382 professional courses students studying in reputed institutes in North India. Hierarchical regression has been used to examine the mediating role of service quality between technology and brand preference. Results: The major finding of this study is that service quality partially mediates the relationship between technology and brand preference. This study makes theoretical contribution to the literature of service quality between technology and brand preference. Implications: The study suggests useful managerial implications for the academicians/researchers and managers. Limitations of the present study and the future research directions are also discussed. Originality: The study would contribute to the sparse literature on technological innovativeness and optimism, brand behaviour further adding to the existing S-O-R model.

The modern monetary system is controlled by the state and yet linked to private deposit banking. Monetary value held in deposits with commercial banks is known as ‘commercial bank money’ (CoBM). Monetary value held in deposits with the central bank – as well as banknotes issued by the central bank – is called ‘central bank money’ (CeBM). Under this scheme, central banks thus issue two forms of central bank money: cash for the retail sector and balances in traditional reserve accounts for wholesale purposes (reserves). However, for several years now, and most recently in particular against the background of private actors commencing to issue private digital currencies, a growing number of central banks have also been investigating the possibility and implications of issuing a digital form CeBM for the general public: central bank digital currency (CBDC), also known as retail CBDC (rCBDC).

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on retail businesses raises the pertinent question of whether commercial leases can be deemed to be frustrated, so that tenants may be released from their rental obligations. Focusing on the plight of restauranteurs, but relevant to the retail sector in general, this paper discusses the doctrine of frustration with respect to restaurant leases affected by the COVID-19 crisis. It puts forward the view that the doctrine does, and should, apply to these leases in these COVID-19 circumstances, not least because in spite of Government relief measures, frustration may be the only way out for restauranteurs.

Arabic Abstract: هدفت الدراسة إلى اختبار أثر تطبيق التجارة الإلكترونية على جودة الأرباح للشركات المساهمة في قطاع تجزئة السلع الكمالية في المملكة العربية السعودية، المجتمع المستهدف في قطاع تجزئة السلع الكمالية في المملكة العربية السعودية للفترة المالية (2008- 2018) والتي يبلغ عددها (6) شركات، وتم اختيار عينة قصدية ضمن شرط يتمثل بالشركات المطبقة للتجارة الإلكترونية تمثلت في (3) من شركات قطاع تجزئة السلع الكمالية في المملكة العربية السعودية. اعتمدت الدراسة على منهج التحليل الكمي الإحصائي، ولتحقيق أهداف الدراسة وتحليل البيانات تم استخدام اختبار التوزيع الطبيعي شابيرو ويلك، وتم إخضاع فرضيات قياس جودة الأرباح قبل تطبيق التجارة الإلكترونية وبعد تطبيقها لاختبار (t)، كما تم استخدام اختبار (كروسكال والس) للتأكد من صحة الفرض القائل بوجود اختلاف معنوي في مستوى جودة الأرباح باختلاف المؤشر المستخدم في قياسها. توصلت الدراسة إلى مجموعة من النتائج أهمها عدم وجود اختلافات معنوية في مستوى جودة الأرباح قبل تطبيق التجارة الإلكترونية وبعد تطبيقها، ووجود اختلاف معنوي في مستوى جودة الأرباح باختلاف المؤشر المستخدم في قياسها، وعلى المنظمات المهنية وضع لائحة تلزم الشركات المساهمة بالإفصاح عن نسبة إسهام التجارة الإلكترونية في تكاليف وإيرادات الشركة المطبقة لها؛ حتى تكون القوائم المالية ذات دقة ومصداقية عالية تخدم مستخدميها. English Abstract:This study aimed to examine the impact of the application of e-commerce on the listed companies' quality of earnings in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the targeted community in the luxury goods retail sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the financial period (2008 - 2018), which number (6) companies, and an intentional sample was chosen within a condition represented by the companies applying for e-commerce represented in (3) companies from the luxury goods retail sector in the Kingdom Saudi Arabia. The study was based on statistical quantitative analysis methodology. The researchers used the natural distribution Shapiro-Wilk test to achieve the objective of this study and analyze the data. The (t) test was used to confirm hypotheses of measuring the quality of earnings before and after the application of e-commerce. Another test (Kruscal-Wallis) was used to confirm the hypothesis that there is a significant difference in the level of earnings quality depending on the indicator used to measure them. The study reached a set of results, the most important of which is the absence of significant differences in the level of profits quality before the application of e-commerce and after its application, and the existence of a moral difference in the level of quality of profits according to the different indicator used to measure them.

The creation of a single European currency, financial crises, changing consumer tastes and the entry of a significant number of new competitors has created an extremely competitive retail environment in Ireland and the United Kingdom. To defend market share, some retail companies have resorted to a variety of questionable, unethical and illicit techniques. This paper examines the reaction of investors to such incidents involving publicly traded companies. An ARMAX-GARCH(1,1) model is utilised to present evidence that increased market volatility is associated with detrimental internal behaviour and financial malpractice which may reassure regulators that these actions are not considered by investors as an acceptable manner in which to operate a company. Further, investors often do not consider a single company to be at fault, but rather punish the entire retail sector for diminished responsibility due to substandard quality assurance.

This conceptual article discusses the roles of playfulness and well-being at work in the retail sector with a specific emphasis on service encounters. The aim is to create a new conceptual framework to enhance research on how the element of playfulness can be part of an employee's working environment in the retail sector, and to discuss how playfulness could enhance employee's well-being at work. The framework identifies various interactive relationships characteristic to the retail environment. Furthermore, the application of playfulness in these relationships is discussed from the viewpoint of well-being at work. The framework provides a solid basis for further research to produce results with practical implications.

Shoplifting is the largest contributor to inventory depletion in the US retail sector. To effectively mitigate and prevent such criminal activity, one needs to understand the shoplifter's perspectives on the suitability of the retail products targeted for shoplifting. Extending Routine Activity Theory (RAT) from criminology literature to include usefulness of online information, we analyze shoplifters' perceptions regarding future target suitability by considering a retail item's value, inertia, visibility, and accessibility (VIVA). We also examine how online information about a target's disposal and guardianship can influence shoplifters' decisions. In this paper, the Partial Least Squares (PLS) method was used to analyze data collected in the Western New York area over a one-year period. The results show positive effects of value and reverse inertia on target suitability. Interestingly, the relationship between target suitability and the usefulness of online information about post-shoplifting disposal activity was negative. Implications for future research and practical applications for shoplifting prevention are discussed.

To gain the competitive advantage needed to survive and compete in an environment led by large distribution chains, small-scale retailers need to develop distinctive competencies. This is particularly relevant in the case of retail pharmacies, which are already affected by continuously eroding profit margins, increasing liberalization of the sector and growing competition from new non-pharmaceutical outlets. Against this background, this paper contributes to identifying distinctive competencies with the potential to enhance business performance in retail pharmacies. Using structural equation modelling on a sample of Spanish pharmacies, it also establishes relationships between possession of certain distinctive competencies and success in building a sustainable competitive advantage.

This paper offers new insight into the question of why we have not seen microfinance programs lift beneficiary regions out of poverty. We suggest that the explanation may lie in the industry choice of microfinance participants: if borrowers tend to enter imperfectly competitive sectors, such as retail, there may be a “business-stealing” effect that reduces incomes of existing businesses. Our model shows that microfinance may lower total incomes at the village level. The result is related to the classic Mankiw and Whinston (1986) result on excess entry. The results imply that microfinance organizations may want to steer recipients away from the petty retail sector in some markets.

This paper presents a case study that explores the impact of a software development project on a Small to Medium Enterprise in the United Kingdom as a means of delivering improved understanding of data in the retail sector. In this paper, the link between the actions undertaken by management in retail and the relationship with the environment provided by IT systems is considered. Many retailers in the United Kingdom make use of sensor devices to understand the behaviour of their customers. As retail outlets grow over a period of time, the diversity of sensor devices may change as new devices are installed. Equally, outlets that are operated within retail groups will collect and store data locally. As a consequence, management within the retail sector face a number of challenges to understand the operation of individual outlets and the holistic performance of retail chains. As a result, both the IT systems and also the working practices employed to complete the day to day tasks essential to meet the needs of a retailer’s customers rapidly become unfit for purpose. The case study considered in this paper reviews the requisite practices adopted by a service provider in the business intelligence sector, and the positive impact that the company realised through the re-engineering of both IT systems and business workflows. This paper demonstrates the efficacy of applying current software engineering methods to the redesign of IT-based business practices as opposed to more traditional approaches.

International audience; This paper takes a first step towards verifying a loyalty building model in the Indian retail sector. The results show that the intensity of some core loyalty model paths in developed countries, are confirmed within the Indian retail sector. One such path refers to the relationship between store loyalty and its main driver, customer satisfaction. Satisfaction comes mainly from the store environment and the perceived value according to customers, which is influenced by the retailers’ product assortment decisions. Surprisingly, promotions don’t have an impact on the perceived value, while the perceived value has only a small and negative impact on store loyalty.

Using unique data from a systematic roll-out of broadband infrastructure in rural areas, we provide evidence on the impact of high-speed internet via broadband on three main sectors of economy: retail, agriculture, and manufacturing. Our instrumental variable model, which relies upon the timing of the roll-out at the first stage, shows that in general broadband access does not foster economic growth, but positively affects the retail sector, with no effect on the manufacturing and agricultural sectors. We also find that the biggest effects are found for speeds below 10 Mbps. We supplement our findings by exploring potential mechanisms that could drive the results.

We study a merger between two Dutch supermarket chains to assess its effect on the depth as well as composition of assortment. We adopt a difference-in-differences strategy that exploits local variation in pre-merger competitive conditions and thus in the merger outcomes. To define our control group, we account for selection on observables through a matching procedure. We observe that, after the merger, the assortment of the merging parties converges in markets where they are not directly competing one with the other. Instead, the merging parties reposition their assortment to avoid cannibalization in the areas where they directly competed before the merger. While the target’s stores reduce the depth of their assortment when in direct competition with the acquirer’s, the latter increase their assortment. This suggests that variety is a strategic variable in retail chains’ response to changes in local competition.

This paper defines and explores a dual-serving problem from the lens of inventory management. The problem arises when a supplier faces two different types of demand, i.e., one that is very frequent and regular, but in small quantities, while the other is sporadic and irregular, but in very large quantities. The former is easier to manage because of its greater predictability, while the latter can be of higher importance as it constitutes the majority of the annual sales. Such dual serving is becoming a significant problem in the online retail sector due to the increasing prevalence of daily deals platforms. We first investigate whether and in what circumstances the supplier is better off serving both types of demand. Then, we compare the performance of a conventional demand aggregation approach in the continuous review model with a particular inventory rationing strategy called protection, both at their optimal settings.

The food and grocery retail sector is undergoing a deep transformation fuelled by customers’ changing habits and new digital technologies. The logistics in this area is often challenging, especially considering the food characteristics and regulations. However, despite the relevance of the topic, the extant body of the scientific literature regarding the role of logistics in the food and grocery sector appears quite fragmented. This paper presents a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) aiming at consolidating the knowledge, analyse the development, clarify the trends and main topics, and highlight the gaps in the scientific literature concerning the role of supply chain and logistics in the food and grocery retail sector. Through the analysis of a corpus of 56 articles, the most critical research contributions on food and grocery retail logistics are discussed, highlighting the main trends over the years, as well as the applied research methods. Finally, starting from literature gaps, future research directions are identified.

The grocery retail sector produces substantial amounts of food waste. Despite the growing public recognition of its negative socio-economic and environmental implications, the issue of food waste in supermarkets has been under-researched. In addition to a small number of studies, the focus has been on the quantification and characterisation of food waste streams in grocery retail. Little attention has been drawn to managerial attitudes and approaches to food waste mitigation. Managerial research is critical to aid in understanding how the issue of food waste is tackled on the ground. This paper plugs this knowledge gap by investigating how managers of major UK grocery retailers address the problem of food waste in their day-to-day operations. It adopts content analysis of corporate materials and a qualitative method of primary data collection and analysis to explore managerial attitudes and approaches to food waste mitigation in supermarkets of the South East Dorset conurbation (UK). The study demonstrates that, although the problem of food waste is recognised by UK grocery retailers, it is not seen as being of critical importance. In mitigation terms, while food waste recycling and price reductions are mainstream, food donations are ad-hoc and largely occur at managerial discretion. Poor consumer awareness, imperfect regulation, inflexible corporate polices and limited control over suppliers hamper more active involvement in food waste mitigation. Based on findings, policy-making and managerial recommendations on how to optimise food waste management practices in the UK grocery retail sector are revealed.

Despite retailers investing considerable budgets in building and maintaining their corporate brands, very little research on the effect of brand orientation on their performance has been conducted. The main findings of this study among 196 respondents from the South African retail sector support the idea that values, norms, symbols and behavior are important elements of retailers’ brand orientation. Building on insights from partial least squares path modeling, the findings emphasize the importance to a retail store's performance of agreed values and implemented norms being part of the everyday culture of all staff. Furthermore, the study shows that symbols of brand orientation and staff's brand-oriented behavior contribute significantly to a retailer's market performance.

Background The prolonged standing posture during work affects the risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders of the lower limbs, especially in lack of alternative sitting. While different ergonomic tools are available to assess and manage the postural risk of the back and the upper limbs, there is a dearth of methods relative to the lower limbs. Objectives The aim of this study is to assess the postural risk of sales assistants working in a prolonged standing posture, focusing on critical issues for the lower limbs. Methods and criteria : 70 sales assistants employed among 9 apparel stores in northern Italy participated in the study. An observational approach was adopted, together with the application of standard ergonomic tools (Rula, Reba, Strain Index, Ocra) to assess the postural risk. Estimates of energy expenditure and movement's patterns were obtained through continuous monitoring with the Sense Wear Armband. Discomfort of the lower limbs was subjectively rated on the Borg's Cr-10 scale at the end of the work shift. The leg circumference was measured on each worker at intervals along the work shift. Results The work of sales assistants in the apparel retail sector is characterized by the prolonged standing posture which accounts for more than 80% of the work shift duration; alternation with walking phases occurs according to assigned tasks and work organization. Activities of the upper limbs and occasional adopted awkward postures are observed, with the postural indexes varying between medium-high level of risk. The average distance walked during the work shift is 3,4 km. The musculoskeletal discomfort of the lower limbs reaches a medium-high intensity (CR 4–5) in 75% of the workers at the end of the work shift. Small but significant variations in the leg circumference were detected between beginning-end of the work shift (increase) and between beginning-end of the break interval (decrease). Conclusion Our data suggest that an indefinite level of risk of developing discomfort and musculoskeletal disorders of the lower limbs is real in sales assistants who work in a prolonged standing posture. The lack of specific assessment tool and of preventive measures could aggravate the exposure level.

Laws regulating the retail sale of alcoholic beverages vary greatly by state. Whereas some states allow the sale of beer, wine and hard liquor at grocery stores and other retail establishments, others restrict the sale of one or more of the beverage categories to liquor stores. In recent years, several states across the country have considered loosening existing restrictions. This paper examines the impact of retail restrictions on retail sector structure and employment using panel data from the fifty US states and the District of Columbia from 2001 to 2013. Our results suggest that restricting hard liquor and wine sales to liquor stores has no impact on employment, number of establishments or total wages in the liquor store sector. However, restricting the sale of hard liquor, wine and beer to liquor stores has a positive effect on employment, wages, and number of establishments in the liquor store sector. Results in the grocery store sector are sensitive to specification, however, there is no strong evidence that retail restrictions have a corresponding negative effect on the grocery and convenience store sectors. These results contribute to the ongoing policy debates regarding the liberalization of state alcohol retail laws by empirically testing a number of the hypotheses put forth by proponents and opponents of the liberalization debate.

We characterize the optimal access price and retail price for a vertically-integrated incumbent supplier (V) that faces limited competition from a new entrant in the retail sector. The optimal prices provide V with a relatively high wholesale profit margin and a relatively low retail profit margin. Consequently, V has no incentive to raise the costs of its retail rival.

Government of India, to help the small scale retailers especially to promote the growth of unorganized retail sector introduced a software called eGalla. This is a Retail Management System (RMS), with low installation charges and is aimed to help the local retail shops to face the challenges possessed by big players in the market. However, two years since its launch the product gained limited attraction and shopkeepers hardly use it. This study aims to understand the marketing strategies employed by other products in the same domain and also identifies the gaps in the existing software. Shopkeepers using different RMS were interviewed using a questionnaire. The study captured satisfaction level achieved for various attributes of the product and also for the promised benefits. The study also discuss the initial set up cost, training time, changes that the software brought in and the increment in sales that happened after the software installation. The study identified a few missing modules which were of high demand among the existing users of similar software and recommends solutions to overcome these challenges based on the users experience with other software.

I identify biases in the definition of e-commerce employed by the Census Bureau. They arise from using a concept based on the role of ICT in a transaction that is measured empirically on the basis of sales/revenues. I quantify this bias as a measure of output growth in the retail sector for the most important e-commerce retail sector at the NAICS 4-digit level (4541). In addition, a range of estimates for the bias as a measure of the growth of actual online sales in this sector is derived. Potential solutions are provided in a concluding section.

This is a review paper, based on secondary sources, it is found that training and development contributes significantly towards performance enhancement on whole in all aspects of retail companies including customer survey, customer relationship management etc. A large number of research studies have tried to identify relation between training and developmentand sales opportunities.

This paper examines the effect of capital subsidies after great disasters on the recovery of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) using propensity score matching estimations. The estimates show that capital subsidies were effective for the recovery of the performance of SMEs in the retail sector. However, in manufacturing and other service sectors, it finds no significant difference between the recovery of SMEs with and without the subsidy. Utilizing firm-level supply chain data, it further explores the mechanism behind the heterogeneity across sectors. The results suggest that the heterogeneity comes from variations in the degree of private support across sectors rather than variations in supply chain disruption.

Japan has a long history with Bitcoin from it supposed creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, to the rise and fall of the Japanese Bitcoin Exchange, Mt Gox, to its wide acceptance by the Japanese retail sector, yet an analysis of the yen/bitcoin market, which is now the dominant trading pair, indicates that this is still very much a domestic market, developed under the auspices of Japan’s Financial Services Agency who saw the potential in bitcoin and its blockchain technology. Yet, the yen/bitcoin market has not developed into a global trading alternative, but rather remains a well sponsored domestic market with trading responding to the economic situation in Japan. There are two surprising outcomes: one, trading in yen/bitcoin across exchanges is highly correlated unlike the US dollar/bitcoin market where prices vary across exchanges; and two, around 60% of trades are at a price below the recognised global bitcoin price indicator, Coindesk’s Bitcoin Price Index.

In the retail sector, it has become necessary for retailers to differentiate themselves using new strategies, such as managing shopping experiences. The retailer can benefit from applying these experiences in order to gain loyal customers. The purpose of this research is to advance in the analysis of the different dimensions of the e-shopping experience, identified from a literature review, and attitudinal and behavioral loyalty. In addition, this study highlights the importance of emotional experience, analyzing the mediating effect of emotional experience on the relationship between online experiences and consumers’ loyalty. The empirical research is based on a sample of 496 consumers. The results reveal that using different experiences could influence loyalty in two different ways: directly affecting attitudinal loyalty (especially when website trustworthiness is low and consumers experience more uncertainty) and indirectly affecting behavioral loyalty through emotional experience.

The official procedure adopted in Andalusia (Southern Spain) for implementing the hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) flexibility criteria for the control of the cold chain in the retail self-service sector set out in Regulation (CE) 852/2004 is based on a daily determination of the display temperature of the equipment. The main objective of our study was to test whether this approach was effective for the safety of the storage products, considering the influence of the position occupied by the foodstuffs inside the cooling equipment, and also possible seasonal fluctuations. The study was conducted in all self-service refrigerating equipments from every food retail store (11 supermarkets representing different national chain-store groups) located in various municipalities from Southern Spain. Statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05) breaches in the cold chain were recorded in the case of products located at the top shelf (TST) for all kinds of foodstuffs during the summer period, and also during winter time in the cases of TST of dairy products and refrigerated vegetables. Furthermore, using predictive microbiology as a tool, we calculated the potential reduction caused by those failures on the shelf life recorded in the food labelling of smoked salmon, cooked chicken breast and fresh cheese, which counted up to 40%, 57% and 25%, respectively. These findings show that the official procedure adopted does not ensure compliance with safety specifications of perishable food in the retail self-service sector. A revision of such procedure would be necessary, especially in those regions such as Andalusia where important temperature fluctuations throughout the year are recorded.

Brick and mortar stores are suffering the dramatic revolution of the retail sector. Customer facing in-store technologies (CFIST) are a key component of the inevitable transformation of retail stores; yet the reasons to adopt such technologies by business owners may be little known. Based on a TOE and TAM inspired framework, this study analyses the drivers of such decision by small and medium size enterprises using a survey methodology. The results show that the attitude towards technology is the strongest predictor of the intention to adopt CFIST, highlighting the role of the top management in technology decisions. This conclusion has important implications for practitioners. This research is the first to address the adoption of CFIST by SMEs and therefore set the path for further studies about the impact and adoption of in-store technology in SMEs.

Retailers across a variety of sectors offer hardship programs to assist consumers who are experiencing vulnerability. Hardship programs are typically designed as a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, viewing consumer recipients as one homogenous group. To investigate the resources associated with consumer vulnerability, we thematically analyzed reports from 20 government-funded projects in Australia which directly assisted 32,498 low-income households in the energy retail sector. Our findings reveal three resource ‘bundles’: connections-resource-bundle, convenience-resource-bundle and security-resource-bundle. We then provide recommendations for retailers and service providers on what they can do to alleviate hardship for consumers within each resource-bundle.

The annual number of Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) graduates is projected to exceed the number of annual pharmacist job openings over the next 10 years. Loss of retail sector jobs will be partially offset by projected gains in several other sectors; however, oversupply will persist until the number of graduates is more reflective of job market capacity. Large-scale practice transformation will not happen overnight; consequently, schools and colleges of pharmacy must immediately change their perspective from producing graduates to fill pharmacist roles, to producing graduates who are prepared with expertise and professional skills to excel in many types of well-paying positions. Students need career advice including to convince potential employers how a PharmD education has prepared them with transferable high-level skills that are applicable beyond traditional pharmacist roles. Better communicating the value of pharmacy skills to students and employers may also have a positive impact on admission numbers as prospective applicants become more aware of the breadth of pharmacy career opportunities.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore the relationship between frontline employees' service orientation, negative emotions and handling strategies during situations of customer incivility involving phubbing. In such situations, the logic and the practical implications of service orientation are challenged. Drawing on a survey of 2,940 employees in the Swedish retail sector, the paper shows that service orientation impacts upon how situations involving difficult customers are handled, and that this impact is mediated by employees’ negative emotional reactions. The paper contributes to retail management by pointing to the limitations of solely relying on service orientation and similar ideals in situations of customer incivility.

The exponential growth in online fashion retailing in India has brought several structural changes. Changing consumer needs and value propositions have made it imperative for online retailers to identify factors that are critical for its growth. The current study attempts to identify factors that influence consumers’ preference for online fashion retailers (OFR). The factors were identified and their weights were evaluated using the AHP methodology. Furthermore, the potential alternatives were ranked using VIKOR technique in R. Initially, 40 factors were identified, spread across 7 categories and in line with earlier research on online retail and views of retail experts from Indian online fashion retail sector. The analysis revealed that the category ‘webstore-image’ is most preferred and that the factors ‘online shop recognition’, ‘price’ and ‘reputation of stores’ were of importance. The study identified new factors that are important for the success and growth of online fashion retailing that are specific to India.

This paper analyses how the contract structure between gas stations and the wholesale operator affects price strategies. Using daily data on prices of different gas stations the paper finds that independent dealers charge lower margins than other dealers with different contracts. One potential hypothesis is that this is the case because independent stations react more to the number of competitors. We use the introduction of a discretional regional excise duty (IVMDH) on gas stations to check the reaction of markups to changes in marginal costs of the actual number of competitors. Results are consistent with the idea that regardless the type of contract all dealers react notably to the increases in relative marginal costs by decreasing average markups. We use those results to interpret the inexistent reduction in markups that followed a change in the Spanish regulation that took place in 2013 fostering competition in the retail sector. One potential interpretation is that the big increase in independent stations following the reform was not considered an increase in actual competition for most of the incumbent stations.

Excess inventory announcement is an important issue as it has a huge negative impact on stock returns of the announcing firm. Many firms claim that they announce the buildup of excess inventory because of external factors such as sluggish sales. In contrast, theoretical literature in operations management implies that internal factors such as inventory productivity should drive excess inventory announcement. In this paper, we empirically analyze the determinants of excess inventory announcement in the U.S. retail sector. We examine if the firm’s internal operational efficiency, as measured by a) traditional inventory productivity metrics such as inventory turnover (IT) and b) overall productivity metrics such as total factor productivity (TFP), can explain the retailer’s excess inventory announcement. We use a combined dataset on excess inventory announcements and annual financial statements of publicly traded retailers in the U.S. between 1990 and 2011. As excess inventory announcement is a rare event, we employ the rare event logit regression to correct the bias caused by rare events. We find that productive retailers have a lower probability of announcing excess inventory in the following year. We also find that the overall operational productivity measure, i.e., TFP, is a better predictor of the buildup of excess inventory than are traditional inventory-specific efficiency measures such as IT and abnormal inventory turnover (AIT). Our results highlight the importance of tracking overall operational efficiency, rather than inventory-specific measures alone, because excess inventory announcement is driven by factors in multiple aspects.

This study investigates the impact of a deregulation of shop opening laws on employment in the German retail sector. Exploiting the gradual change in the opening times of shops across states and using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, difference-in-differences estimates indicate an average increase in the employment probability, driven by a rise in the likelihood of working marginal part-time hours. Workers in small firms are likely to experience a reduction of their propensity to work. For individuals facing high family-related, supply-side constraints, the change in shop opening hours has opposing effects on employment — positive on lower and negative on upper parts of the hours distribution. Overall, the deregulation is estimated to have raised the likelihood of working fewer hours than desired by the workers.

Electronic commerce (EC) has substantial potential to foster the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developed and developing countries alike. However, EC adoption by SMEs in developing countries has faced many challenges that have not been adequately addressed due to the complex nature of EC adoption in such countries. The aim of this study is to systematically examine the influence of organizational, industry, and national readiness and environmental pressure on the adoption of diverse EC technologies by SMEs in developing countries. A quantitative survey was conducted with retail SMEs within the Malaysian grocery sector to validate the proposed multi-level model. Findings indicate significant influence of environmental pressure on the adoption of various EC technologies. Organizational and national readiness have different influences across diverse EC technologies, while the influence of industry readiness is shown to be insignificant. This study extends the current understanding of the influence of micro-, meso- and macro-level factors and has important implications for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers.