Digital transformation: an analysis of opportunities for retailers

In this study, the opportunities and challenges for retailers in the course of the digital transformation were examined from three perspectives: the retailer perspective, the customer perspective, and the platform perspective. The first chapter provides a historical overview of the development of retail, followed by a definition of key terms and a characterisation of the study's subject. Furthermore, the first chapter also derives the guiding research questions for the subsequent chapters. Chapter two presents a survey of 243 LOORO owners from 26 cities in Germany, aimed at understanding why the LOOROs are hesitant about their digital transformation. For the analysis, the study applied a structural equation modelling approach and used the Stimulus-Organism-Response model as a theoretical framework. In the third chapter, the perspective shifts from the retailer to the customer. For this purpose, 1,139 customers were surveyed in four studies on various technologies (e.g. mobile payment, live stream shopping) and their willingness to use or continue using them. The two studies on mobile payment, in particular, expand the existing research to include comparative analyses with existing payment alternatives. From a theoretical perspective, the Technology Threat Avoidance Theory is also used to shift the theoretical perspective from almost exclusively negative feedback loops to positive ones. The third study in Chapter 3, Self-Service Technology, is the first to examine trust in self-service technologies and the different perceptions based on the level of experience. The fourth study in Chapter 3 on live-stream shopping is the first study in Europe on this new service and provides the first theoretical and practical implications for existing research from a European or German perspective. All studies in Chapter 3 were analysed using a structural equation model and other statistical methods for group comparisons (e.g. age, gender, experience). In the fourth chapter, there is another change of perspective. In this case, platforms are analysed as intermediaries or service hubs between the connected retailers and customers. The focus here is particularly on so-called local shopping platforms. These were examined by means of content analysis and telephone interviews. Regarding the content analysis, 149 websites were analysed. In addition, 26 local shopping platform operators were interviewed during the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic to understand the impact of this pandemic on the platforms. The final study in the fourth chapter compares the results of German LSPs with Chinese LSPs. The results were analysed using Hofstede's cultural dimensions. This study also extends the existing findings in the area of the platform economy with regard to the influence of culture on the service offering. The empirical results were used to derive strategic recommendations for retailers in Chapter 5

An analysis of physical distribution service quality in the online retail market

Abstract unavailable please refer to PD

British high streets: from crisis to recovery? A comprehensive review of the evidence

In one of the most exhaustive evidence reviews into high streets, town centres and consumer habits ever conducted in Britain, researchers at the University of Southampton have highlighted that seismic shifts in consumer behaviour, combined with significant technological innovations, are having a deep and profound impact on the evolution of UK high streets.Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and commissioned by the Government’s advisory group The Future High Streets Forum, this report comes at a time when radical shifts in consumer culture and practices are becoming increasingly apparent and widely discussed in public debate on what is changing UK town centres and high streets.This review offers an important resource for many groups with stakes in British town centres and high streets. It reflects the fact that reversing the decline of Britain’s high streets can only be achieved through research and informed discussion and by harnessing the goodwill and common purpose which has recently been displayed by the many stakeholders in the retail, hospitality, property and leisure sectors in working together to understand and address those challenges

Complementarity bundles of products and services on the internet: value perceptions and behavioural intentions

This study examines the relationship of complementary products and services offered by B2C e-business operators to customers’ perceived value and evaluates the influence of this perceived value on future customer behaviour. This study employed a 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 between-subjects factorial design. Four independent variables—(1) Product Component, (2) Product Range, (3) Online Service, and (4) Offline Service—were used in order to test the hypotheses derived from the existing literature. A website-based experiment was developed and built to test the relationships. Sixteen travel websites were created to closely mimic the design of real travel websites. The experiment was conducted using a website developed to enable a travel scenario to Phuket, Thailand. Two hundred and seventy-two subjects participated in the experimental use of a travel-focused website to test the role of complementary goods and services. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, univariate analysis of variance and regression analysis. The results of the experiment using online travel products and services offerings showed two main effects for product range and online service on customer perceived value. Subjects who were exposed to those websites that offered wide product ranges exhibited higher value perceptions than subjects who were exposed to the websites with narrow product ranges. Also, subjects who were exposed to the websites with a greater number of online services exhibited greater perceived value than subjects who were exposed to the websites with limited online services. Moreover, the study indicated a three-factor interaction effect among product component, online services and offline services on customers’ perceived value. The study found that the relationship between the product range and online service on the overall customers’ value was stronger when a greater level of offline service was presented. Additionally, a positive relationship between customers’ perceived value and their future behaviours was found. Subjects who placed a high value on complementary products and services offered by e-business operators had an increased likelihood of displaying favourable behaviours and intentions toward the e-business operators in future. The data suggest that offline service complementarities can be used to help enhance customers’ perceived value of product range and online service offerings. B2C e-business operators should recognise the importance of offering a bundle of these complementary products and services when conducting their business. The interaction provides more significant insights into the true relationship among these factors on customers’ perceived value rather than considering one factor at a time. Furthermore, customers’ perceived value can be used to explain future behavioural intentions toward e-business operators. The interviews also revealed the importance of complementary products and services when shopping for travel products online as well as other factors, such as company brand name, price, and ease-of-use. This study adds valuable empirical findings to the literature by highlighting the role of complementary products and services in business-to-consumer e-business value creation and provides theoretical support for the relationship between customers’ perceived value and behavioural intentions

Social media adoption by microbusinesses

The social media implementation process (initiation, adoption, adaptation, acceptance, use and incorporation) is examined in correlation with the five factors (individual, organisational, technological, environmental and performance). Numerous existing theories from the innovation, technology adoption and performance measurement literature are used to derive probable relation between the implementation process and the five factors. Such expansive scope and comprehensive theory development has been articulated but never attempted. To manage the large scope, microbusinesses are selected purposefully due to their limited business processes. The research design reflects the need for relevance by using Lewin’s action research (traditional social change model) as the primary method augmented by participant observation (physical and online). Data collection uses a mix of unstructured, semi-structured and structured interviews assisted by structured observation. Data analysis uses a set of routines, such as tabulation, categorisation, abstraction and verification, involving prediction and testing. The research finds that a collaborative process to address concerns, along with quick start and self-training, helped to adopt social media. Participants needed to focus on concrete experience, work-place learning and personal knowledge for learning to use social media. Usefulness arising from improved communication, fitness and medium richness was the dominant indicator for acceptance and use. Continued use relied on satisfaction and habit of the user. Individual characteristics and personality factors both seemed to be a poor indicator of adoption with weak links towards extroversion. Microbusinesses suffered primarily from context and mental mode related challenges for social media use. Type of business, such as service shops, had a greater probability of success. Social media positively affected relationship marketing in terms of service quality. Business activity associated with specialisation seemed to perform poorly with social media. Finally, performance measurement techniques included finding the capability of social media to meet survival objectives, improve capacity utilisation and business resale value

Reducing Embodied Carbon in the Built Environment: The Role of Environmental Product Declarations

The embodied carbon of construction, caused by the production, transport, installation, maintenance and disposal of construction products, accounts for 12% of global CO2 emissions. However concerns about the availability and variation of embodied carbon data have been cited as barriers to the widespread adoption of embodied carbon assessment and regulation. This thesis examines these concerns through an analysis of embodied carbon data, including Environmental Product Declarations (EPD), for construction products. It describes the use and value of embodied carbon data and EPD by experienced UK embodied carbon practitioners. It addresses the availability of EPD globally, finding exponential growth in the number of EPD and considering the causes driving this growth. It provides an overview of EPD and embodied carbon data for the UK and finds similar availability as other countries when embodied carbon regulation was introduced. The increasing number of EPD has itself the potential to offer further insights. Using a quantitative meta-analysis of impacts from cement and concrete, steel, brick, and timber EPD, aleatory variability is found to explain the wide variation, and a typology of causes is proposed. The concept of EPD Landscapes is developed to visualise this variability within materials, providing a new approach to EPD analysis and an essential resource for stakeholders. The role of renewable energy in EPD is also explored, developing EPD Energy Arrays to identify products which have reduced both fossil and total primary energy demand, but raising concern of correlation between increasing the proportion of renewable energy and increased primary energy. As the construction industry starts on its journey towards net zero, this thesis combines the previously poorly connected knowledge of EPD in industry and academia, with a major and innovative analysis, providing new knowledge of direct relevance for multiple stakeholders looking to reduce the embodied carbon of the built environment.</br