Retail brands in the emerging Malaysian market

Currently one of the most controversial innovations in grocery retailing in Malaysia is the introduction of retail brands. A retail brand can be defined as a product that retailers sell under their own brand name. These products may bear the name of the retailer selling them, such as 'Giant', 'Tesco' and/or 'Tesco Value', 'Carrefour', or may be sold under an entirely different name such as 'Aro'. The introduction of this brand may have a great impact particularly on consumer belief, which can lead to the modification in the relative efficacy of retail strategies for the hypermarkets concerned. This study provides a new opportunity for retailers particularly to reassess their retail strategies in order to gain a larger market share. Although Malaysia's grocery retailing was and still is dominated by manufacturers' brands, it is argued that developing a strong retail brand strategy can play an important role in competing and sustaining in the global market. Using one thousand systematic random samples from store-intercept technique from two major hypermarkets in Malaysia, this research investigates several attributes of retail brands that may affect consumers' overall perceptions. In addition, issues such as the situational factors, the shopping motives as well as the image of the store are also considered. Results are analysed and presented which show that while retail brands offer a lucrative market for retailers, as evidenced in the UK, retailers in Malaysia are struggling with these brands. The market indicates that Malaysia is more influenced by the manufacturers' brands. Malaysians perceived retail brands as inferior to manufacturer brands. In addition, certain aspects of the Tesco brands were not perceived as well as the Giant and the manufacturer brands. There is also some evidence suggestive of consumer confusion regarding the Tesco brand because it was introduced after, and possibly influenced by perceptions of the Tesco Value brand. The results also indicate some tactical problems being faced by Tesco. In addition, although situational factors, shopping motives as well as store image, provide significant relationships, the impact on the overall retail brands' perceptions is not strong. This demonstrates that consumers very often do not use explicit, concrete, rational factors to evaluate retail brand products, and thus their perceptions and motivation to purchase are not always easy to articulate. Nonetheless, the results conclude with an opinion of the responsibility that retailers could take in the delivery and strengthening of the advantage offered by retail brands. Retailers should convey their retail brand benefits' more on product functionality thus improving the brand attributes on a gradual basis; expanding on the retail promotion strategies; offering innovation and receptivity in-store environment; projecting store reputation clearly and finally managing their retail brands efficiently. It is argued that retail brands are not just about fulfilling basic consumer needs. Retail brands possess great power and the truly great retail brands will be those that learn to balance this power with responsibility. Incorporating a solid understanding of all aspects of consumer behaviour could assist retailers in their retail brand strategy. Hence, concentrating on one retail brand at a time in a store might be an ideal strategy for an immature market such as Malaysia

Using Photo Elicitation in Identifying Tourist Motivational Attributes for Visiting Taman Negara, Malaysia

This paper investigates motivational attributes of visiting Taman Negara in Malaysia using photo elicitation approach. Photo elicitation is based on the use of photography as a means with which to explore tourist’s views and perspectives of the subject understudy. Understanding photos involves three sets of questions, focused at content (what), purpose of creation (who, when, how) and interpretation (why). The paper argues that photo elicitation approach could produce a different kind of information needed for understanding tourist behaviour or attitude for visiting Taman Negara. The photographs provide the stimulus and the motivation for the photographer (in this case respondents) to explain the outcome and identify what and why they took the photographs, a view which could be misinterpreted by analyzing the images alone. Photo-elicitation is suitable for overcomes many issues associated with traditional methods (such as questionnaires), thus able to generates a wealth of information. Overall the photo-elicitation exercise demonstrated that although there were five (5) separate groups of respondent’s, the categories in the groups had very similar themes such as natural environment (such as forest, river, aboriginal people-the Batek Clan) as well as a place for preserving habitat of wild animals. The findings presents practical considerations and concludes that photo elicitation enlarges the possibilities of evokes information, feelings, and memories and consequently could be used to understand what really motivate tourists to come and visit at Taman Negara. Key words: Photo Elicitation; Motivational Attributes; Tourist; Taman Negara Malaysi

Customers’ emotional reactions as significant predictors towards excellent customer service experiences / Anizah Zainuddin and Shereen Noranee.

This study examines the role of customers‟ emotional reactions in the context of customer service experiences. It investigates how retail banking customers‟ emotional responses to retail banking services to affect their overall banking experience. In the context of retail banking, excellent customer service experiences could be interpreted as just meeting the expectations of the retail banking customers, not any sort of exceeding of failing short of the expectations. Most of the banks try to achieve competitive advantage by taking the responses of the retail banking customers beyond the level of „just service satisfied‟ towards „exceeding their service expectations‟. Therefore, this study attempts to fill this gap by examining the relationship between customers‟ emotional reactions and excellent customer service experiences in banking sector. Structured questionnaires were distributed to 320 retail banking customers using purposive sampling technique in the area of Klang Valley. The instruments used for data collection for all variables in the study includes bank image, emotional reactions, bank service quality value, personal contact value and excellent customer service experiences were adapted from various studies using five point likert scale. The results suggest that emotional reactions, bank service quality value and personal contact value had a moderate relationship with excellent customer service experiences. This study identifies the types of efforts that can be implementing in helping banking sector caused by retail banking customers‟ emotional responses

Preferences for Halalan Toyyiban Retail Supply Chain Certification: A Case of Hypermarket

AbstractOne of the aspects that the grocery retailer needs to take into considerations while be able to serve its customers efficiently is by looking at the effectiveness of their store operations that deal with the issue of halalal toyyiban fulfilment. Issues such as whether the store offer halal products according to syariah; offer products that are imported from various different countries and obtained halal status as well as transit handling and authenticity of halal status of the products offered in the store are well documented; are all vulnerable and crucial for grocery retailer in order to keep their customers confidence at all time. As such, grocery retailer should consider a depth look at their retail supply chain activities. Grocery store operation that wants to be successful needs to have a leading operating model which complements with the need and wants of its customers. The study therefore concentrates in the utilization of MS2400 standards of retail halalan-toyyiban supply chain certification in the overall retail grocery store operations. It was observed that, the halalan-toyyiban concept is no longer confined to food only, but also covers the process of handling, packaging, storage, transporting and delivery. Helping grocery retailers specifically, hypermarket management to meet with their consumer's requirements and expectations will expand their marketplace and increase their sales and revenue. The current study therefore, seeks to explore the preferences of halalan-toyyiban retail supply chain certification among the hypermarket. Using purposively sampling technique, four hypermarkets were interviewed in the selective hypermarket in the Klang Valley, Malaysia. The results revealed that most selective hypermarket were somehow, not ready to embarking on the halalan toyyiban retail supply chain certification. Difficulties in getting information and supports from the hypermarket were among the main drawback of the study. This study is significant for both industry professionals and academician in order to gain information related to the issues of halalan toyyiban retail supply chain certification, thus helping the management in planning their halalan toyyiban retail supply chain certification as well as act as an added value to the hypermarket concern thus able to remain competitive in the market

The role of halalan-toyyiban supply chain practices as significant predictors towards excellent customer service management / Anizah Zainuddin, Sarah Irdina Ridzwan and Sarah Batrisyia Ridzwan.

This study examines the role of Halalan-Toyyiban supply chain practices (HTSCP) in the context of service management. Investigation was done to see how retail customers react to the role of HTSCP; that later influence their overall grocery experience. Halalan Toyyiban is a process associated with religious belief and as such it would be difficult to control and guarantee. From the consumer point of view, the process is difficult to evaluate and verify even after consuming the product. Therefore, consumers have to largely rely on the retailer on the reliable information to guide their purchase. In the traditional context of supermarket retailing, excellent customer service management could be interpreted as just meeting the expectations of the supermarket customers, not any sort of exceeding or falling short of their expectations. It is only recently that several of the supermarkets try to achieve competitive advantage by taking the responses of their customers beyond the level of just service satisfaction. These supermarket retailers are now towards exceeding their service expectations. This study attempts to fill this gap by examining the relationship between the roles of HTSCP as significant predictors towards excellent customer service management. Structured questionnaires were distributed to 489 supermarket customers using purposive sampling technique in the urban area. The instruments used for data collection for all variables in the study include halal inputs, halal processes, controls for halal, halal outputs and excellent customer service management were adapted from Halalan- Toyyiban Assurance Pipeline (Management System Requirements for Retailing) of Department of Standards Malaysia as well as from various studies using a five-point Likert scale. The results suggest that all determinants of HTSCP had a good relationship with excellent customer service management. This study identifies additional management efforts that can be implemented in enhancing good retail supermarket practice

Image segmentation: The case of Taman Negara Pahang / Anizah Zainuddin … [et_al.]

The purpose of this study is to segment the tourism industry market specifically in Taman Negara Pahang, Malaysia (TNP); into consumer groups based on their images of a tourism destination. The objective is to identify segments which offer more favorable images. This is because, positive image will increases the likelihood of visitation, thus present the most significant target markets to the tourism marketers and service providers. 250 questionnaires were distributed with the purpose of assessing local and foreign travelers' image of TNP as a vacation destination. The questions asked utilized using five point Likert scale and consisted of four components involving socio-cultural amenities, natural amenities, participative recreational activities and climate. The respondents were analytically grouped into distinct segments based on their favorable and unfavorable images. Respondents with a similar and different expression on the variables were grouped together. The identified segments were then, described in terms of their image content and were profiled with demographic characteristics. This study was concluded with recommendations of appropriate policies to the relevant authorities for making development decisions in the near future

Work-family balance, employee commitment, and number of dependents among staff in a malaysian tv network / Shereen Noranee… [et al.]

Committed employees tend to perform better as they feel having personal connection towards the organization. However, in some cases, dismissal from the organization also indicates poor job performance. Poor job performance resulted in low organizational commitment. The ability of an individual to balance between work and family depends on several factors such as the type of job, the organization that hires them, economy, social and cultural context. The emerging situation had led to overload of responsibility as people had to play the role of employees, spouses, parents, and parent's caregivers. Biased participation in one role, either work of family, will affect the other role. Work-family balance has two types of relationship. The first relationship is when work interferes with family life and the second relationship is when family life interferes with work. The main purpose of this study was to examine the effect of work-family balance towards employee commitment among TVABC (a Malaysian television network) staff, with number of dependents as moderating variable. The responses were gathered from 184 TVABC staff. Convenient sampling technique was used and hierarchical regression analysis was administered. The results indicated that work interference with family dimension did not had any significant relationship with employee commitment. While family interference with work was proven to have a significant relationship with employee commitment among TVABC staff. The number of dependents, as the moderating variable, was found not affecting the relationship between work-family balance and employee commitment as all tests indicated insignificant relationship

Assessing the role of religiosity on the behavioral intention to buy islamic insurance / Shah Rizal Zambahari … [et al.]

Insurance industry in Malaysia has experience tremendous growth since its inception during colonial period between the 18th and 19th centuries. Market penetration of life insurance, as measured in terms of the total number of policies in force to total population, grew to 39.3% as at end-June (end-June 2006: 38.7%) (The Star, September 8, 2007). But less than 7% of Malaysians are covered by family takaful plans in 2006 although 52 percent of the Malaysian population constitutes Muslim. This research was conducted to identify the level of awareness among Malays toward the importance of life insuranc

Image segmentation: the case of Taman Negara Pahang / Anizah Zainuddin … [et al.]

The purpose of this study is to segment the tourism industry market specifically in Taman Negara Pahang, Malaysia (TNP); into consumer groups based on their images of a tourism destination. The objective is to identify segments which offer more favorable images. This is because, positive image will increases the likelihood of visitation, thus present the most significant target markets to the tourism marketers and service providers. 250 questionnaires were distributed with the purpose of assessing local and foreign travelers' image of TNP as a vacation destination. The questions asked utilized using five point Likert scale and consisted of four components involving socio-cultural amenities, natural amenities, participative recreational activities and climate. The respondents were analytically grouped into distinct segments based on their favorable and unfavorable images. Respondents with a similar and different expression on the variables were grouped together. The identified segments were then, described in terms of their image content and were profiled with demographic characteristics. This study was concluded with recommendations of appropriate policies to the relevant authorities for making development decisions in the near future

Turner syndrome and its profile: A single centre Malaysia study

Nurkhairulnisa Abu Ishak1, Nur Azurah Abdul Ghani2, Anizah Ali2, Ani Amelia Zainuddin2 1Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Kulliyyah of Medicine, International Islamic University of Malaysia, 2Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre ABSTRACT Introduction/Objectives: Early diagnosis of girls with Turner Syndrome (TS) facilitates management especially regarding puberty induction. The aim of this study was to determine the age and presenting complaint at the time of presentation to Paediatrics and Adolescent Gynaecology (PAG) Unit and to identify the karyotype and puberty induction treatment of girls with TS. Methods: Retrospective data was retrieved from medical records of 27 young women with TS aged 17 to 48-year-old within 2015 to 2019. The data include age at diagnosis, karyotype analysis, presenting complaints with its associated problems, hormonal profiles and puberty induction treatment. Results: The mean age of diagnosis was 17.6 (±7.8) years with 45X (48.1%) as the main karyotype diagnosed. Primary amenorrhea (81.5%) was the commonest presenting complaint in PAG clinic. The associated medical problem detected in this study population was low bone mass (70.4%), diabetes (7.4%), heart problem (3.7%) and hearing problem (3.7%). Conjugated Equine Estrogen (CEE) (55.6%) was commonly used for puberty induction. Estrogen treatment dose that mostly induced bleeding was CEE 1.25 mg (33.3%) and the duration of treatment required to induce bleeding was 13 (±15.8) months. Conclusion: Majority of young women with TS were diagnosed in PAG Unit late. Primary amenorrhea triggered evaluation for most patients and most young women require puberty induction for 1-2 years to induce vaginal bleeding. Efforts to improve the early diagnosis of TS and early age-appropriate pubertal induction remain important management targets to improve the quality of life in young women with TS