"Switched": store switching behaviours

Purpose: To investigate the levels of store-switching for main food shopping consequent on a change in operator for a major superstore. To account for differences amongst switchers and non-switchers and to confirm/reject previous research findings. Design/methodology/approach: A two-phase random household postal survey on main food shopping behaviour was conducted in a central Scottish city. The two phases, separated by one year, bracketed the change of a main food store from Safeway to Morrisons. A proportion of respondent households in the two phases (45%) was common and represents matched subjects, allowing investigation of switching behaviour. Findings: The aggregate switching rate is higher (27.4%) than found in previous UK research, despite the locational/accessibility component being held constant. No aggregate differences between switchers/non-switchers on socio-economic or demographic grounds were found, confirming previous US research. The high level of switching is ascribed to a re-evaluation of store choices/attributes consequent on the store changeover, confirming the notion of a ‘trigger’ mechanism. Practical implications: The research has implications for competition authorities, other policy makers and retailers. It reveals the transient nature of a component of store loyalty and the store specific nature of store switching behaviour. Policy makers need to understand the baseline or natural switching rate amongst retailers generally and specifically in their area. Retailers can exploit further the store specific element of switching. Originality/value: Research on store-switching behaviour over time is rare both generally and specifically in the UK. This research provides evidence of switching rates which can be subject to confirmation/disconfirmation in other circumstances

Weaving New Retail and Consumer Landscapes in the Scottish Borders

New retail locations and formats and changing consumer capabilities and behaviours (including ‘switching’) have encouraged “outshopping” from rural to urban areas. Rural areas have been suffering from a decline in the provision of services, including retailing. One ‘solution’ has been the strengthening of market towns in rural areas by the development of new major retail stores. The effects of this are perhaps not fully understood, particularly where the rural area comprises a network of towns rather than a single centre. Three comparable consumer surveys (1988, 1998, 2004) of shopping behaviour in the Scottish Borders are analysed. Consumer place and store switching data are used to examine the impact of new retail opportunities on shopping patterns. Two different switching strands are identified: clawback and redistribution. Redistribution within the rural network is a new finding

Literature Review: policies adopted to support a healthy retail sector and retail led regeneration and the impact of retail on the regeneration of town centres and local high streets

Communities Analytical Services, on behalf of the Regeneration Division of the Scottish Government, commissioned the Institute for Retail Studies at the University of Stirling to provide a literature review of the policies adopted to support a healthy retail sector and retail led regeneration and the impact of retail on the regeneration of town centres and local high streets. This literature review (which was to focus on literature relating to the UK) was requested to meet three objectives: - Identify what a healthy/vibrant town centre/local high street looks like; - Identify, in the UK, what policies/approaches have been implemented to: (a) Support a healthy retail sector in local high streets and town centres, and (b) Undertake retail led regeneration; - Explore what impact retail has had on the regeneration (in its widest sense - social, economic and physical) of town centres and local high streets, and how this has impacted on the wider community

Is the Devil in the Detail? Retail Land Use Planning and the Planning White Paper

First paragraph: Planning is not a technical and value free activity (Tewdwr-Jones, 2002). There will always be conflicts of interest which must be resolved and some positions will be privileged over others. Retail planning in the last 40 years or so has oscillated between tighter controls on where development may take place to more pro-development positions (Guy, 2007a). This reflects ongoing tensions between balancing commercial responsiveness and social responsibility, between fulfilling the ambitions of the retail industry and the aspirations of all consumers and between national consistency and local flexibility in decision taking

In Brief: the National Retail Planning Forum Briefing Paper Series

The National Retail Planning Forum (NRPF) was established in 1995. The NRPF combines a focus for improving understanding between private and public sectors on planning and its impact on retailing, together with a strong research programme. A membership based organisation, the NRPF is specifically not a lobbying organisation. Drawing as it does on local and central government, the private sector and the academic arena, it aims to act as a bridge between the different interests involved in retail planning. From the outset, the goal of the NRPF has been to identify, understand and improve the knowledge about retail planning. Key components of this approach have been undertaken by the Institute for Retail Studies (IRS) at the University of Stirling on behalf of the NRPF. There is an established bibliography, updated annually, and now incorporated into the Retail Planning Knowledge Base. Associated with this is the regularly updated Planner’s Bookshelf. In 2006 it was decided by IRS and the NRPF that a Briefing Papers Series could enhance the mission of the NRPF and focus attention on the evidence base in a changing retail scene. This short paper introduces this Retail Briefing Paper series. The series is intended to be a highly accessible web based source, informing users of current issues and drawing on the accumulated research expertise and evidence base. Together the series helps deliver the belief of the National Retail Planning Forum that policy should be firmly based on evidence and expertise. This paper first considers the recent developments in the UK retail planning debate. The changing environment acts as a context for the Retail Briefing Paper series and to some extent drives the selection of topics. Secondly the Retail Briefing Papers available are reviewed and details of access etc. are provided. Finally some thoughts for the future are presented

The UK Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2008) and retail research output

The 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) in the United Kingdom provides a further opportunity to consider changing trends and patters in retail research, following on a previous commentary (Dawson et al. 2004). This comparison with shows that pressures continue to mount and are impacting retail knowledge creation and dissemination practices, not least in terms of those engaged in retail research, the topics and approaches utilised, the publication tactics and strategies and thus the standing of retail research in the UK and its reputation internationall

Putting Towns on the Policy Map: Understanding Scottish Places (USP)

Studies of places have been dichotomised as rural or urban. Towns, however, are neither rural nor urban. Towns have been neglected in research and policy agendas. In England the recent focus has been on high streets whereas in Scotland it has been on places and towns. Understanding Scottish Places (USP) is a web based platform that has become a key tool for evidence gathering, town comparison, knowledge exchange, regeneration planning and informed decision making for Scottish towns. USP is novel and contemporary and is engaging new ways of looking at, and planning in, and for, towns. This paper places USP in the research context and considers its development and use

Reducing inequalities in health and diet: findings from a study on the impact of a food retail development

The health and diet impacts of a large-scale food retail development within a deprived area of Glasgow (Springburn) are reported. The study used a prospective quasi-experimental design which compared changes in diet and psychological health in an area where a new hypermarket was built (the intervention area), with a similarly-deprived comparison area in Glasgow (Shettleston). A postal survey was undertaken both before and one year after the hypermarket was built, to assess changes in diet, self-reported health, and perceptions of neighbourhood. Changes in the retail structure of both areas were assessed through a before and (repeated) after intervention shop count survey. Qualitative data on diet, the neighbourhood and the impact of the store were collected through focus groups. The quantitative study found limited improvements in diet and health. There was weak evidence for the impact of the hypermarket on population diet. There was weak evidence that poor psychological health in the intervention area reduced. Amongst those who ‘switched’ to the new hypermarket there was weak evidence of a small improvement in mean fruit and vegetable consumption but good evidence of psychological health improvement. Qualitative and retail survey results reinforce this, identifying perceptions of areal improvement through redevelopment and a small positive impact of the new store on the intervention area’s retail structure

High-Frequency Oscillations in Distributed Neural Networks Reveal the Dynamics of Human Decision Making

We examine the relative timing of numerous brain regions involved in human decisions that are based on external criteria, learned information, personal preferences, or unconstrained internal considerations. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG) and advanced signal analysis techniques, we were able to non-invasively reconstruct oscillations of distributed neural networks in the high-gamma frequency band (60–150 Hz). The time course of the observed neural activity suggested that two-alternative forced choice tasks are processed in four overlapping stages: processing of sensory input, option evaluation, intention formation, and action execution. Visual areas are activated first, and show recurring activations throughout the entire decision process. The temporo-occipital junction and the intraparietal sulcus are active during evaluation of external values of the options, 250–500 ms after stimulus presentation. Simultaneously, personal preference is mediated by cortical midline structures. Subsequently, the posterior parietal and superior occipital cortices appear to encode intention, with different subregions being responsible for different types of choice. The cerebellum and inferior parietal cortex are recruited for internal generation of decisions and actions, when all options have the same value. Action execution was accompanied by activation peaks in the contralateral motor cortex. These results suggest that high-gamma oscillations as recorded by MEG allow a reliable reconstruction of decision processes with excellent spatiotemporal resolution