Consumer Co-operatives and Retail Internationalisation: problems and prospects

Purpose – Explores the retail internationalisation activities of consumer co-operatives. Findings – A survey of the available information on these internationalisation activities shows that they have been restricted to a relatively small number of co-operatives and that the ‘failure’ rate has been very high. Some suggestions are made as to why the co-operatives have been unable to convert their early-mover advantages into sustainable retail networks. Research limitations – The restricted nature of the sample means that these exploratory findings are primarily descriptive. Further, in-depth work with a sample of these co-operatives would help us to better understand the reasons for the moves into and out of various international activities. Practical Implications – Expands the literature on retail failure in general and also provides some more depth to the literature on the internationalisation of co-operatives. Originality/ Value – Whilst there have been significant volumes of research into the internationalisation of investor-owned retailers and of producer co-operatives, particularly the ‘new generation’ co-operatives, there has been very little prior work undertaken in this area

The Impact of Community Co-operatives on Shopping Behaviour in Rural Communities in Scotland

This paper looks at the current position of the community retail co-operative sector in rural Scotland. It is an interesting and currently topical area of research as the Scottish Executive recently established a new agency, that will further promote co-operatives as a mechanism for increasing economic opportunities for all on a socially and environmentally sustainable basis

Marketplace spirituality: challenges for the New Age retailer

The consumers of New Age spirituality products have been said to be involved in a form of ‘pick and mix’ religion or to be browsing in a ‘spiritual supermarket’ which emphasises borrowing from a wide variety of cultures. The paper details the different physical and virtual channels through which consumers may access goods and services. Retailers who serve this market are typically independent traders and face many of the challenges that are characteristic of the small business sector. The term 'New Age' is identified as applying to a broad range of retailers who attempt to occupy different market positions. The research however identifies considerable product overlap between these retailers and suggests that the market displays limited differentiation. As this paper is an exploratory study it finally sets out a series of research themes for future work

The trading profiles of community retail enterprises

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the key features of the community retail enterprises sector in the UK.Design/ methodology/ approach - This paper reports on the results of a postal questionnaire survey of 197 community retail enterprises. The information gathered from this survey was supplemented by visits to 21 of the shops run by these enterprises and short interviews with some ofthe shop staff.Findings - The community retail enterprise sector is growing very quickly, with a significant number of new shops opening every year in the UK. It is a very diverse sector that provides a wide range of goods and services, reflecting the desire to meet the needs of members and local residents. It is heavily dependent on the involvement of the local community, particularly as volunteers, but this can lead to other tensions around the role of the shop and the enterprise in general.Originality/ value - This paper provides an overview of an area of retailing that is growing in size and will be of interest to those involved in policy-making in rural areas

Localism and the community shop

There has been considerable interest in recent years in the establishment of community retail enterprises; local shops owned and run by the local community often as an alternative to the closure of the last privately-owned shop in the area. Government efforts to give local communities more rights and powers, including a community right to bid for ‘assets of community value,' would seem to offer new opportunities for such enterprises. However, there are more barriers to the establishment and continued running of these enterprises than might appear at first sight. Community retail enterprises often need specific support from local and national organisations tailored to the different stages in their development if they are to fulfil their potential

From the Retail Brand to the Retail-er as a Brand: themes and issues in retail branding research

When we discuss research into retail branding, the natural starting point is the retail product brand – invariably referred to as the “private brand”, the “store brand” or the “retail brand”. Private brands have generated a vast body of research on both sides of the Atlantic over the past forty years. In a recent review article, Hyman et al (2010) generated 73 articles published since 1990, simply through a key word search in the Business Source Premier database. Whilst such an approach is likely to underestimate the total volume of material, this figure is nonetheless impressive. The authors also comment on the variety within this body of work in terms of the origin of the article (ie USA or not), the product categories investigated, the research methods used (eg sample frames, sample sizes and types of panel data), and the analytical tools employed

A tactical retreat? Conceptualising the dynamics of European grocery retail divestment from East Asia

The internationalisation of the firm is a highly dynamic process, in which periods of investment and expansion intermingle with periods of divestment and retrenchment. Academic research to date has focused on identifying the reasons for and the processes of divestment. Empirical studies either evidence generic pressures or provide case studies of specific incidents. There few longitudinal studies of international divestment, consequently the dynamic interactions between host market, home market and firm level factors, and how the institutional context changes over time is underplayed. This paper seeks to rectify this gap in our understanding. We explore the rationale and evolving dynamics of European grocery retail divestment in East Asia over a thirty year period. Taking an inductive approach and drawing on analysis of contemporary narratives drawn from company documentation, trade journals, newsfeeds and market reports, three phases can be identified characterised by specific factors and combinations of factors which intersect to provide the key pressures and stimuli for divestment. We conclude that at different time periods, different internal and external contextual influences manifest themselves through different priorities within the firm’s strategy - marked by a switch from local (host) market, to regional, to global firm-centric considerations. Longitudinal analyses allow a greater recognition of this dynamic interplay of factors, and the changes in these relationships, and provides a more nuanced understanding of the international divestment process

Extending the Theory of Planned Behavior to examine the role of anticipated negative emotions on channel intention: The case of an embarrassing product

The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is successful in predicting consumer intentions for a wide variety of products and behaviors. However, little is known about how effective the TPB is when the behavior under study is embarrassing. To this end, this paper extends the TPB to create a conceptual model to examine the role of anticipated negative emotions on channel intention. An empirical study was conducted whereby the model was tested using survey data on the purchase of Regaine (a hair loss product that is embarrassing to buy) in Boots (a well-known UK multichannel drugstore). The embarrassing nature of Regaine created differences in the importance that emotions played when consumers intend to purchase using face-to-face channels (such as the physical drugstore) as against multichannel options or the internet. The results were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The effectiveness of the TPB was improved. The variance explained (R2to intention) was 0.44% for the total sample, 49% for the drugstore, 58.4% for the internet, and 42.5% for multichannel

Conceptualising and measuring consumer-based brand–retailer–channel equity

This paper presents a critical review and synthesis of the extant literature which underscores the complexities of conceptualising and measuring the synergies created by brand, retailer, and channel equity. To this end, the concept of Consumer-based Brand–Retailer–Channel Equity (CBBRCE) is developed. The concept and its measurement are subsequently tested empirically using survey data and structural equation modelling with path-PLS. The results confirm that CBBRCE is created by CBBRC Awareness, Quality and Loyalty. The paper concludes with a discussion of the managerial implications of CBBRCE, and signals areas for further academic research