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Retailer equity is becoming a very important factor in determining discriminatory competitive advantage under rapidly changing conditions of distribution. This study conceptualizes various retailer equity aspects considered in the retail industry and proposes a measurement scale for retailer equity based on empirical research. Our study aims to reveal how retailer equity sub-dimensions influence customer perception and evaluation of retailers. The primary objective of this research was to develop a measurement scale to facilitate assessments of consumer-based retailer equity. Resulting theoretical and managerial implications of this study are also discussed in detail.

Organizing Framework of Strategies and Actions for Increasing Retailer Profitability at Four Levels. [Display omitted] •Store and customer level strategies evolve faster than market and firm-level strategies.•New retailers can be profitable through the adoption of innovative business models.•Retailers who introduce store brands in premium product lines to improve brand positioning can perform better.•Retailers who optimize product assortments across different channels can perform better.•Outcomes of customer-level strategies that are focused at each touch point provide valuable insights for actions. Retailers are dynamic in nature, and their strategies keep evolving with changing scenarios and availability of new technologies. In the current scenario, there is a need for a comprehensive and organizing framework for retailers to develop and implement a complex set of strategies. In this article, we broadly categorize retailers’ implementation of strategies at four levels—market, firm, store and customer. The four-level categorization has been done using a triangulation approach consisting of inferences from previous literature, interviews with practitioners, and reviewing popular press. In the future, retailers will expand to even more countries, and there will be plenty of scope for using advanced technologies and big data. This organizing framework accommodates for any such changes as well as guides retailers about ways of increasing profitability in the future. In this article, we also provide generalized expectations of strategies under each level which not only can be used by researchers as a direction of future research but also by practitioners to understand and implement their strategies in an effective and efficient way.

We study the problem of information sharing in a supply chain with two competing manufacturers selling substitutable products through a common retailer. Our analysis shows that the retailer's incentive to share information strongly depends on nonlinear production cost, competition intensity, and whether the retailer can offer a contract to charge a payment for the information. Without information contracting, the retailer has an incentive to share information for free when production economy is large but has no incentive to do so when there is production diseconomy. With information contracting, the retailer has an incentive to share information when either production diseconomy/economy is large or competition is intense. We characterize the conditions under which the retailer shares information with none, one, or both of the manufacturers. We also show that the retailer prefers to sell information sequentially rather than concurrently to the manufacturers, whereas the manufacturers' preferences are reversed.

PurposeThis paper studies the effects of retailer app use on perceived shopping value and loyalty toward the retailer. It also investigates whether deal proneness moderates the relationship between app use and perceived shopping value.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 427 French consumers took part in an online survey inquiring about a recent shopping experience. The authors compared customers who used a retailer app during their shopping experience with those who did not. Mediation and moderated mediation using PROCESS were performed to identify whether retailer app use improves loyalty intentions through perceived shopping value, with deal proneness used as a moderator.FindingsThe results show a positive and direct effect of retailer app use on loyalty. The effect is also mediated by utilitarian and hedonic shopping values. The authors also highlight the fact that deal proneness moderates the mediation effect of both utilitarian and hedonic shopping values between retailer app use and loyalty. More specifically, retail app use significantly increases shopping value for deal-prone customers.Originality/valueIn the age of omnichannel retailing, this study offers potential contributions to improve the theoretical knowledge of the impact of retailer apps on retailer–customer relations, helping businesses to develop and implement appropriate app-related strategies.

[Display omitted] •We study retailers’ store management actions and subsequent profitability.•Net store closings (NSC) are a sufficient measure of store management actions.•Ten contingent factors help explain the complex relationship between NSC and profit.•Eight factors reflecting retailer competencies and resources are internal moderators.•Two factors reflecting the retail environment are external moderators. Retailers constantly face the decision of whether to close existing stores and/or to open new ones. Closing a store may reduce a retailer’s costs, while opening a new store may increase revenue. Thus, it is far from obvious which action yields the maximum profit. Furthermore, retailers need to align these store-by-store tactical decisions with their overall distribution strategies to achieve a superior performance. Using a sample of 157 public retailers from 1999 to 2015, this study examines how store closings and openings are associated with retailer profitability. To complement extant research, we construct a parsimonious measure that captures a retailer’s store management decision, namely, net store closings (NSC). Drawing on the contingency theory of organizations, we develop a comprehensive framework that studies the moderating roles of retailer competencies, retailer resources, and retail environment. Through panel fixed effects estimation, we identify ten contingent factors that significantly moderate the relationship between NSC and profit. Specifically, e-tail experience, total experience, receivables intensity, retailer innovativeness, industry e-tail prevalence, and industry concentration positively moderate the association between NSC and subsequent profitability, while inventory turnover, sales force intensity, capital intensity, and firm size negatively moderate this association. In addition, we explore how individual measures (i.e., store closings and store openings) are associated with retailer profitability and find consistent results. Anecdotal and statistical evidence indicates that NSC is a sufficient measure of store management actions. The study has important implications for how retailers should manage their channel distribution strategies and resource allocation decisions.

This study investigates the optimal pricing and the remanufactured product’s greening decisions in a supply chain consisting of one manufacturer and one retailer. Under manufacturer-led Stackelberg games, three remanufacturing systems, namely, centralized, decentralized manufacturer, and decentralized retailer-remanufacturing, are considered. Consumers in the market are divided into normal and green consumers according to whether they consider environmental issues. We first demonstrate the conditions under which the manufacturer or retailer should engage in remanufacturing. Second, despite cannibalization, a centralized remanufacturing system exhibits higher efficiency linked with higher market coverage and leads to a higher profit compared to manufacturer/retailer decentralized alternatives. Finally, numerical studies and sensitivity analyses are used to examine the sensitivity of optimal pricing and greening decisions.

This paper explores how consumers perceive retailer ethics. Based on a review of the marketing and consumer research literature, we conceptualize consumer perceptions of the ethics of retailers (CPER) as a multidimensional construct and propose that its effects on consumer purchase behavior and word-of-mouth communication are more salient when consumers have strong rather than weak ethical beliefs. The model was validated using a random sample of 399 respondents in a collectivist society. The results of structural equation modeling confirmed that CPER is a second-order construct comprising product fairness, price fairness, non-deception, fair trade, and green products. CPER positively predicted consumer purchase behavior and word-of-mouth communication. Moreover, ethical beliefs moderated the positive relationship between CPER and the word-of-mouth communication of consumers with strong ethical beliefs but did not moderate the relationship between CPER and purchase behavior. The implications of the findings are discussed.

In this research, the authors propose a contagion effect of social media use across business suppliers, retailers, and consumers. After developing and validating social media usage measures at three levels—supplier, retailer, and customer—the authors test social media contagion effects and their ultimate impact on multiple performance measures. The conceptual framework and empirical results offer new insights into the contagion effects of social media usage across the channel of distribution as well as important social influence mechanisms that enhance these effects. Consistent with the predictions, social media use positively contributes to brand performance, retailer performance, and consumer–retailer loyalty. Also, the effect of supplier social media usage on retailer social media usage and in turn on customer social media usage is moderated by brand reputation and service ambidexterity. With the ever-increasing growth and adoption of social media applications and similar technologies, this research provides a framework to promote usage by supply channel partners which ultimately influences performance-related outcomes.

Purpose – Digitalization denotes an on-going transformation of great importance for the retail sector. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the phenomenon of the digitalization of retailing by developing a conceptual framework that can be used to further delineate current transformations of the retailer-consumer interface. Design/methodology/approach – This paper develops a framework for digitalization in the retail-consumer interface that consists of four elements: exchanges, actors, offerings, and settings. Drawing on the previous literature, it describes and exemplifies how digitalization transforms each of these elements and identifies implications and proposals for future research. Findings – Digitalization transforms the following: retailing exchanges (in a number of ways and in various facets of exchange, including communications, transactions, and distribution); the nature of retail offerings (blurred distinctions between products and services, what constitutes the actual offering and how it is priced); retail settings (i.e. where and when retailing takes place); and the actors who participate in retailing (i.e. retailers and consumers, among other parties). Research limitations/implications – The framework developed can be used to further delineate current transformations of retailing due to digitalization. The current transformation has created challenges for research, as it demands sensitivity to development over time and insists that categories that have been taken for granted are becoming increasingly blurred due to greater hybridity. Originality/value – This paper addresses a significant and on-going transformation in retailing and develops a framework that can both guide future research and aid retail practitioners in analysing retailing’s current transformation due to digitalization.