Editorial

Citation

Towers, N. (2013), "Editorial", International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 41 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJRDM.08941baa.001

Editorial

Article Type:

Editorial

From:

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Volume 41, Issue 2

Issue 2 includes submissions with the contexts of from stores, mail order and online of competition between anchor and non-anchor stores in the shopping mall, return behaviour of consumers with reference to the mail order industry, the factors that accelerate or delay the opening of the first franchisee outlet for the largest franchise chains and how hedonic shopping experiences for online music impact emotion regulation processes.

The first contribution by Shanmugam develops and empirically tests a theoretical model of competition between anchor and non-anchor stores in a shopping mall. In doing so, the goals are to extend the literature on retail co-location to account for effects of anchor stores’ quality levels, and to explain an observed pattern of choices of anchor-store quality levels made by mall developers. This study uses a game-theoretic approach to model the actions of mall developers, stores, and consumers in a competitive framework, then verifies the equilibrium predictions of this model using an empirical approach and a data set including all major malls in the US and Canada. The key finding of both the analytical and empirical models is that there exists a positive and concave (i.e. reverse U-shaped) relationship between anchor quality and mall size, i.e. that the highest-quality malls are typically found in the middle range of mall sizes. This study provides mall developers with a basis for understanding the impact of anchor quality on competition between stores in a mall.

The second paper by Foscht, Ernstreiter, Maloles III, Sinha and Swoboda examines the nature and influence of such factors as “buying experience”, “perceived risk”, and “return frequency”. Four groups of returners were analysed (“heavy returners”, “medium returners”, “light returners”, and “occasional returners”). Relatively scant attention thus far has been accorded in the marketing literature to the examination and explanation of return behaviour of consumers, especially within the mail order industry. This paper details an empirical study of return behaviour based on a field survey that was conducted specifically focusing on the apparel category. Exploratory factor analyses and analyses of variance (ANOVA) have been employed to test the proposed hypotheses. The results show that there exist different reasons for returns among the four groups of returners. In particular, they differ in their initial shopping motivation for mail order purchases, their group-specific reasons for product returns, and also in their spending patterns. A number of meaningful implications for mail-order firms are developed from the empirical findings. While product returners have been thought to be an amorphous category (akin to a “black box”) in the past, this paper highlights the disparate motives for making returns. Specific prescriptions are provided regarding the management of product description, consumer return policy, and the handling of consumer perceived risk.

The third paper by Tsang and Finnegan investigates a central question in franchising: Which factors influence the timing of adopting the first franchised outlet? Using a novel methodology, the study examines the factors that accelerated or delayed the opening of the first franchisee outlet for the largest franchise chains in the US. The sample addresses a methodological shortcoming in traditional franchising literature. Using duration analysis, the timing was captured of the first franchise outlet for a retail concept. This allows us to capture the antecedents that explain the differences in timing between franchise systems. The findings suggest that by setting initial investment costs lower, the average time to attract the first franchisee is shorter. However, as franchisee net worth requirements rise, the time to attract the first franchisee is longer. Finally, franchisors tend to defer expansion via franchising in favour of managing their own outlets in resource rich industries. This study provides the first examination of the firm and industry drivers affecting when a firm initiates franchising.

The final contribution by Bui and Kemp examines how hedonic shopping experiences for online music impact emotion regulation processes and how feelings regarding previous online music purchases influence repeat purchase behaviour. The paper aims to introduce a model that explains and examines the meditating role of consumers’ attitudes, emotion regulation and subjective norms in the shopping experience for online music. It models consumer emotion regulation beyond the traditional retailing environment and examines it in a virtual retailing environment. Using structural equation analysis based on AMOS 17.0 techniques and the maximum likelihood estimation method confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to determine construct and discriminant validity before testing hypotheses of the structural model. The results indicate that shopping for music online involves an emotional and hedonic component. Specifically, consumer attitudes, emotion regulation as well as subjective norms influence repeat purchase intentions. Based on the findings of this research, online music retailers should consider developing applicable customer-valued alternatives to positively influence the overall online shopping experience.

Neil Towers