Tourist Shoppers’ Evaluation of Retail Service: A Study of Cross-Border versus International Outshoppers

This article extends the concept of customer perceived value (CPV) to the tourist outshopping context and explores the differences in antecedents and outcomes of CPV between cross-border and international outshoppers. A large-scale field survey in Hong Kong with cross-border outshoppers from mainland China and international shoppers from four Western countries (Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States) shows that perceived product quality, risk, and value for money have a stronger effect on CPV for cross-border outshoppers, and employee service quality and lifestyle congruence for international outshoppers. CPV also has a stronger positive effect on satisfaction, word of mouth, and repeat purchase intentions for cross-border outshoppers, whereas satisfaction has a stronger positive impact on word of mouth and repeat purchase intentions for international outshoppers. We discuss the conceptual contribution and managerial implications of our findings for international retailers, researchers, and tourism organizations

Baleno: Expanding Retail Operations in China

Fuelled by impressive economic growth in recent years, consumers' demand for clothing in China had been increasing. Expenditure on clothing of urban households rose from 374.19 billion yuan in 2004 to 509.29 billion yuan in 2006 (an increase of 36.1%), and for rural households, this increased from 91.66 billion yuan to 118.36 billion yuan (an increase of 29.1%).Baleno, a casual wear retailer, had used mainly franchising to expand its retail network. This method allowed for rapid expansion but controlling franchisees in China could be problematic. Opening directly managed stores, on the other hand, required more capital. Baleno needed to decide how it should keep up with the growth in demand and with the expansion of its competitors.Fashion retail, expansion modes, franchising, market segmentation