The Fall of Sears from within: How Customer Sentiments Refuted Retail Capital and Authority

This research aims to understand the relationship between Sears Holdings Corporation and its customers, while exploiting feedback from customers to identify reasons for Sears’ decline. The problem statement is dependent on identifying aspects that affect consumer behavior most and linking a connection to the increased number of dissatisfied Sears’ customers. In order to analyze this phenomenon, customer attitudes were compiled over the key four years of Sears history using a customer sentiment analysis. This empirical method of research was chosen because of the large impact that consumer sentiments have on spending, allowing the development of both internal and external views of Sears to fully access the company’s well-being. Store image, store layout, customer disloyalty, and employee mindset were all examined in the production of this study. The research concludes that many of Sears’ customer issues arose from failure to act internally, resulting in further decline of the company, along with miscommunication and the inability to be competitive. Primary issues found in each of the four years studied were identified, with problems in the service and delivery department seen most frequently. Issues involving employee attitudes towards customers were also noted, along with Sears’ failure to work with customers through issues involving products purchased at Sears. This study reiterates the prominence of a robust relationship between a company and its customers. The plunge in Sears’ profits over the past decade have been driven in part by customer disloyalty, exposing the power that a customer holds to Sears Holdings Corporation. Many of the emerging problems from a consumer standpoint arose from the difference between the service expected by the customer and the service that was provided, often with gaps and shortcomings. The analysis of sentiments also reveal issues about reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles that were the five dimensions of SERVQUAL measurement. Further research on sentiment contents was suggested

How Generational Preferences, Cultural Trends, Workplace Expectations, and Other Factors Have Changed the Definition of Professionalism in Terms of Attire and How Employers and Managers Can Respond

Business attire is an essential part of personal branding as well as corporate branding activities. Fashion, cultural trends, workplace expectations play a role, among others form and change what an acceptable work attire is. Corporations even use their definitions of work attire in their advertising activities as a part of identity development. Such recent examples are State Farm Insurance, Progressive, and Enterprise Rent a Car. Observations during career development activities at multiple universities also revealed that Millennials might have different professional attire interpretations. The literature review indicated a gap regarding how perceptions change from generation to generation in this topic. In the paper, factors that may influence the definition of professional attire have been investigated for three groups of respondents, including early career, mid-career, and retired professionals. Grounded Theory methodology has been used. Multiple themes have been identified for the three generational groups. Further research implications have been discussed

Consumer Decision-Making on Golf Equipment: Impact of Emerging Strategic Organizational Goals and Supply Chain Intricacies

The game of golf is incredibly historic and enjoyed by many people from numerous different age groups across many parts of the world. The research involving the game of golf is often limited to the topics of golf club engineering and injury prevention within the game. The consumer decision-making process for golf equipment has been primarily under-researched. This study explores the consumer decision-making process involving golf equipment and provides propositions to achieve strategic organizational goals. Propositions are made concerning supply chain intricacies containing the inclusion of personalization and customization and including women\u27s equipment displayed in marketing activities. There is room for further research regarding the consumer decision-making process for golf equipment, such as golf clubs and clothing, and encouraged empirical studies comparing multiple consumer demographics such as age, gender, and location. The marketing aspect of the game of golf is a promising endeavor for the growth and advancement of golf equipment manufacturers, specifically as the consumer decision-making process for this industry is further discovered

Gift Cards and Gift Giving

Gift cards are frequently located at premium points inside the retail space where stores sell not only their own cards but also other retailers’ cards for almost every occasion. Media encouraged practitioners to promote these cards. However, this emerging phenomenon of consumers’ preference of gift cards has not been explored thoroughly yet. The objective of the current study is to understand consumer reactions to gift cards in terms of their impact in gift giving and gift receiving relationships. Specifically, this qualitative research seeks to investigate the following research objectives: (1) How gift givers and receivers perceive gift cards; (2) What values gift cards communicate for receivers and givers, and (3) What roles of gift cards play in relationships between givers and receivers. A framework of relationship duration and level of intimacy were used to cross-tabulate all gift giving situations mentioned by respondents. Evidences about five types of values mentioned in the literature were found. Also three new types of values, value of convenience, time and experience were identified. Implications for managers were discussed

Trends in Global Bridal Industry: Emergence of Online Bridal Stores and Survival of Brick-And-Mortar Stores

The growing global bridal industry and the different trends, traditions, and aspects of specific countries’ bridal industries are explored in this paper. It outlines western and eastern practices and how globalization contributes to their spread. A deeper focus is dedicated to the United States’ bridal industry and the issues brick-and-mortar bridal boutiques face as more brides have started shopping at online bridal stores. The relationship between brick-and-mortar and online bridal stores is explored based on various propositions about the bridal industry’s emerging challenges. Each proposition is evaluated according to each retail format’s reaction. Trust issues in the retail environment, convenience, selection of bridal gowns in different retail formats, incorporating a social experience into both brick-and-mortar and online bridal stores, and the spread of cultural traditions were some of the critical concepts for both brick and mortar and online stores. The pandemic impacted the bridal choice of retail format, among other changes it caused in consumer behavior. Online shopping spread fast for bridal gowns, influencing the globalization of western bridal trends in developing countries (Wei, 2021). Even though traditional stores are still prevalent in countries such as China, Brazil, or Mexico due to the trust in brick-and-mortar establishments, the spread of information and designs made online bridal shops popular (Fonseca and Mezabarba, 2019). The day a bride shops for her dress is very emotional for her and her entourage. It is usually a right-of-the passage providing a unique social experience (Roozen and Ktidis, 2019). Brick-and-mortar and online stores have different roles in this complex social and traditional interaction. There are multiple ways to purchase a dress that will serve the brides’ increasing desires for variety in expressing themselves. Online stores may have the advantage of helping brides incorporate new trends and other cultures’ traditions. Brick-and-mortar stores may design the shopping day to enhance the social experience. Furthermore, as women in the US choose to marry later in life or have multiple marriages, the type of retail experience they desire has been changing and favoring online shopping for convenience (Fry 2012). This trend also has an impact on simpler bridal gown designs, indicating that the bridal market is very fragmented and open to changes. This conceptual paper addresses the gaps in bridal research, provides managerial implications, and addresses the challenges faced by brick-and-mortar and online retailers specific to the bridal context

An Exploratory Analysis to Understand Organic Food Market in the United States in Comparison to Europe

To meet the increasing continuous demand of food, many techniques are used for mass production food but these techniques in turn have diminished the quality of many products. The negative effects associated with such production methods make them controversial in nature and thus requires discussion. One such method is the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO), which involves genetically modifying the Deoxyribose Nucleic Acids (DNA) of plants or animals of interest to introduce certain traits such as resistance to pests or diseases. Food allergies are on a rise and researchers estimate that up to 15 million Americans suffer from vast number food allergies (FARE, 2014; Iyer, 2014). It is suspected that Genetically Modified Foods have been one of the contributing factors that have caused an increase in various allergies. Consumers not only have to think about the foreign entity present but also about the fact that there is no proper label instructions or requirements to differentiate GMOs from non-GMOs. Additionally, companies that make genetically modified seeds pay billions of dollars to stop policies that would potentially restrict their business activities (Brown University, 2000; Entine, 2014; Non-GMO Project, 2014)

An Exploratory Research on the Use of Social Media

Peering years into the future may seem bit hubris, but in today’s uncertain society there seems to always be room for change. Ignoring short and long-term trends of social media could be damaging to a company whose main source of reaching their target market is through social media. Consumers are using social media as part of their daily routine, so why shouldn’t companies try and reach their customers through this platform? Can companies actually keep up with the changing trends demanded by the consumers? How do consumers feel about their social media being used as an advertising strategy for companies? This study seeks to provide an understanding to how consumers are using the social media and their expectations of companies that are present in social media platforms utilizing grounded theory approach