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Purpose – Grounded on brand equity theory and theory of patronage behavior, this study aims to investigate the moderating effect of consumer involvement and shopping situations in the relationship between consumer-based retailer equity (CBRE) and retail patronage behavior. Design/methodology/approach – The data is collected through a self-administered survey of 338 shoppers in the three biggest shopping centers in Pakistan. Moreover, the data is analyzed through multi-nominal (multiple) regression and interactions analysis. Findings – Results revealed a significant effect of CBRE on patronage behavior and confirmed shopping purpose as a boundary condition in the CBRE-retail patronage behavior relationship. However, the study surprisingly reported that this relationship is not moderated by consumers’ involvement. Research limitations/implications – Considering our focus on CBRE-based retail patronage behavior, the authors contribute to extant marketing/retailing literature that also yields ample openings for further research. The study offers valuable implications for retailers, especially for evaluating consumers’ behaviors. Practical implications – This study assists retail-brand managers in best comprehending the CBRE-based patronage behavior paves the way for managers to increase retail patronage behavior. Originality/value – Regardless of the growing comprehension of consumer-based brand equity and patronage behavior in marketing, more needs to be acknowledged about the relationship between CBRE/retail patronage behavior and related variables, as thus examined in this research. Objetivo – Basado en la teoría del valor de marca y la teoría del comportamiento de patrocinio, este estudio investiga el efecto moderador de la implicación del consumidor y las situaciones de compra en la relación entre el valor del minorista basado en el consumidor (CBRE) y el comportamiento de patrocinio minorista. Diseño/metodología/enfoque – Los datos se recogen mediante una encuesta autoadministrada a 338 compradores en los tres mayores centros comerciales de Pakistán. Además, los datos se analizan mediante regresión multinominal (múltiple) y análisis de interacciones. Resultados – Los resultados revelaron un efecto significativo del CBRE en el comportamiento de patrocinio y confirmaron el propósito de compra como una condición límite en la relación CBRE-comportamiento de patrocinio minorista. Sin embargo, el estudio informó sorprendentemente de que esta relación no está moderada por la implicación de los consumidores. Limitaciones/implicaciones de la investigación – Teniendo en cuenta que nos centramos en el comportamiento de patrocinio minorista basado en el CBRE, contribuimos a la literatura existente sobre marketing/minoristas que también ofrece amplias posibilidades para futuras investigaciones. El estudio ofrece valiosas implicaciones para los minoristas, especialmente para evaluar los comportamientos de los consumidores. Implicaciones prácticas – El presente estudio ayuda a los gestores de marcas minoristas a comprender mejor el comportamiento de patrocinio basado en la CBRE y allana el camino para que los gestores aumenten el comportamiento de patrocinio minorista. Originalidad – A pesar de la creciente comprensión de la equidad de marca basada en el consumidor y el comportamiento de patrocinio en marketing, es necesario reconocer más sobre la relación entre el comportamiento de patrocinio basado en la CBRE y las variables relacionadas, como se examinó en esta investigación. 目的 – 本研究以品牌资产理论和顾客行为理论为基础, 探讨了消费者参与和购物情境在基于消费者的零售商资产（CBRE）与零售顾客行为之间关系中的调节作用。 设计/方法/途径 – 数据是通过对巴基斯坦三大购物中心的 338 名购物者进行自填式调查收集的。此外, 还通过多项式（多元）回归和交互分析对数据进行了分析。 研究结果 – 结果表明, CBRE 对顾客光顾行为有显著影响, 并证实购物目的是 CBRE 与零售顾客光顾行为关系的边界条件。然而, 令人惊讶的是, 研究报告称这种关系并没有受到消费者参与度的调节。 研究局限/启示 – 考虑到我们对基于 CBRE 的零售顾客行为的关注, 我们为现有的市场营销/零售文献做出了贡献, 同时也为进一步研究提供了广阔的空间。本研究为零售商提供了宝贵的启示, 尤其是在评估消费者行为方面。 实践意义 – 本研究有助于零售品牌管理者更好地理解基于 CBRE 的顾客行为, 为管理者提高零售顾客行为铺平了道路。 原创性/价值 – 尽管市场营销中对基于消费者的品牌资产和顾客行为的理解不断加深, 但仍需进一步认识 CBRE/零售顾客行为与相关变量之间的关系, 正如本研究中所探讨的那样。

This study examines service investment decisions in the context of two store brand introduction modes and the mode selection of a retailer. The research focuses on a supply chain comprised of a national brand manufacturer (NBM), an external store brand supplier (SBS), and a retailer. A national brand product (NB) is distributed to the market through both direct and retail channels. The retailer consistently offers service efforts within the retail channel and has two options for launching a store brand product (SB): producing the SB or procuring it from an external source. The findings indicate that, when the retailer has a low fixed cost and a substantial market size for one-stop consumers, the retailer internally producing its own SB is more profitable. However, when the market size for one-stop consumers and the fixed cost of producing the SB are both low, or when the retailer possesses a relatively high fixed cost, it is advisable for the retailer to procure a lower-quality SB from the SBS. Alternatively, the retailer could establish its own production facilities to launch a higher-quality SB. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that the NBM consistently favors the retailer outsourcing the SB production to an external SBS. This implies that both the NBM and the retailer can achieve a “win-win” outcome when the retailer procures the SB.

In recent years, companies in the retail sector have begun to introduce and incorporate the principles of sustainable development into their strategies and began to publish reports on sustainable development. ESG transformation of companies in the retail industry has its own characteristics. The purpose of the work is to determine the directions of ESG transformation in retail companies, as well as tools for ensuring transparency of activities in the field of sustainable development. The methodological basis of the study was the concept of sustainable development and ESG, methods of statistical analysis, a systematic approach, scientific works of leading domestic and foreign scientists in the field of sustainable development, ESG transformation of retail companies. In the course of the work the author has identified 6 areas of ESG transformation that are most relevant and consistent with the Sustainable Development Goals and the industry specifics of the retail sector. It was revealed that there is a problem of comparability of ESG ratings and rankings from various agencies, insufficient prevalence of the practice of publishing non-financial reporting by organisations from this segment.The set of non-financial indicators proposed by the author for retail companies are grouped by areas of ESG transformation, as well as by Sustainable Development Goals. The publication of the proposed indicators in the annual report or sustainability report is intended to help management and interested stakeholders evaluate the results of ESG transformation of retail companies in more depth and detail.

This paper presents a bi-level game model for pricing in a supply chain where the manufacturer (He) is the leader, and the retailer (She) is the follower. The leader decides on the wholesale price, and the follower decides on the selling price and selects seed nodes. The main idea of the model is that the marketing strategy used for promoting the product is focused on giving free samples to potential customers. Hence, the importance of analyzing a social network becomes evident. To maximize her profit, the retailer decides based on three factors: first, the leader's decision about wholesale price; second, the social network structure, which is critical for selecting the seed nodes; and third, people's valuation of the product. Therefore, a bi-level Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programming model is developed to consider the social binds between potential customers. To solve this model, we employ a meta-heuristic algorithm. Finally, the effect of the model's parameters on decision variables and the objective functions is discussed. Based on the analysis and discussions, the production cost has a prominent impact on the players’ decisions and profits. Furthermore, instead of spending all the marketing budget on increasing seed nodes, it is suggested that they be spent on market research and improving good publicity. Moreover, deciding whether the players want to maximize the profit or market penetration is required before diving into decision-making.

Purpose – The purpose is to investigate whether Brazilian e-commerce nonusers all have the same reasons not to purchase online or whether different behavior patterns might lead them to cluster in different groups. Design/methodology/approach – This study carried out cluster analyses on a large sample (N = 9,065) from a nationwide survey on the use of information and communication technology in Brazil. Findings – Three clusters of e-commerce nonusers were identified: the first cluster is quite reluctant; the second is characterized by disbelief in e-commerce; and the last cluster includes members who must see a product to believe it. Overall, nonusers have different reasons not to shop online, but they also share some similarities in this regard. Furthermore, socioeconomic factors do not seem to affect their behavior. The findings suggest that merchants’ failure to attract customers’ attention and tangibility are the major barriers to e-commerce use. Practical implications – Even though nonusers have different reasons not to shop online, the key pattern that emerges is the value of tangibility for these individuals, which is a barrier present in all three clusters. This suggests that current marketing strategies and advertisements are ineffective to reach these consumers. Vendors should therefore try different approaches. Originality/value – The findings contribute to the information systems (IS) literature by bringing a new perspective to the understanding of e-commerce rejection in addition to having managerial implications that involve strategies to attract potential users based on their specificities.

Orientation: Retail managers utilise their position of authority to obtain the highest calibre work to uphold the perceived standards of their individual businesses. Research purpose: The goal of this research is to investigate the impact of leadership power bases and workplace quality on employees’ intentions to remain at a particular retail location in the Gauteng province. Motivation for the study: Effective and efficient management of staff is a key factor in determining the success of retailers in businesses of all sizes in that employees can be significantly impacted by the leadership power a store manager possesses. Research approach/design and method: A quantitative cross-sectional research design utilising a probability random sampling technique was adopted to collect data from a sample of 336 employees through a structured questionnaire. Main findings: Reward power showed a negative prediction of quality of work–life, whereas coercive power and lawful power bases showed a favourable contribution to the prediction of quality of work–life. In addition, quality of work–life proved to be a significant predictor of intention to stay. Practical/managerial implication: By investing in leadership development and fostering a supportive work culture, organisations can create an environment that encourages employees to stay for the long term. Contribution/value-add: Understanding the influence of different power bases, organisations can target development opportunities that will improve overall leadership capability and create a more positive work environment.

This study aimed to identify the factors that comprise the drivers of, and barriers to, the implementation of fast fashion clothing in the retail industry in South Africa via a case study of one of South Africa’s major fast fashion retailers. Using a quantitative, questionnaire-based, e-mailed survey to collect data from a self-selected convenience sample of 78 managers and employees, the study findings confirmed the importance of both information (store feedback and stock planning) and supplier relationships (capability and flexibility) as drivers of fast fashion. Overall, ‘capability’ was perceived overall as the most important factor, enabling adjustments to range, order size and market closer to the selling season. Barriers were confirmed as issues related to product (quality, authenticity, perishability) and social responsibility (environmental and exploitation/ethics) in the opinion of this retailer. Although both were perceived as important, environmental issues dominated, with respondents seeing the wastefulness and excessive consumption of fast fashion as the main barrier to its implementation in South Africa. The first research of its type in South Africa, the study contributes to knowledge about fast fashion in South Africa, and possibly in other developing countries, and should assist with the implementation of this strategy by South African retailers. Furthermore, a clear understanding of some of the negative opinions about FF might assist with a more socially responsible implementation.

Previously undiscovered market studies show that the sale of beer as a loss-leader offer was already used as a competitive tool in food retailing in the 1970s and became an important feature of aggressive competition among retailers in the 1980s. The article illustrates the specific assortment and pricing policies in beer retailing and makes clear that increasing beer sales at low dumping prices led to profit losses for the stores.

The emergence of omnichannel is regarded as a direct consequence of digitalization. The first studies of omnichannel occurred in the retail sector, but today there is an increasing interest in omnichannel in other services, such as tourism, the hospitality industry, healthcare, and banking. At the same time, omnichannel has been influenced by digitization and the Internet, which are undergoing rapid changes, so the phenomenon of omnichannel itself is rapidly transforming. The paper determines the main approaches to the omnichannel phenomenon, its characteristic features, and research scopes based on current research. The main approaches to the definition of omnichannel have been systematized and analyzed. Thus, the main definitions of omnichannel in the scientific literature have been given in the aspects of retailing, marketing, management, strategy, and business. Therefore, terminological ambiguity can be observed, which actualizes the relevance of further research on theoretical developments in omnichannel. The creation of seamless and consistent customer experience (СX) through the integration of online and offline channels (digital and physical) at all stages of the consumer journey has been pointed out as a common characteristic of omnichannel. The important scopes inherent in omnichannel, i.e. Channel Integration and Customer Perception, have been distinguished. The main issues within the scope of Channel Integration have been defined as the followings: omnichannel strategies; the dimensions of omnichannel integration from customer and company viewpoints; the Integration Quality of Channels; the dimensions of omnichannel integration from both customer and company viewpoints. The main issues within the scope of Customer Perception have been defined as the followings: the determinants / factors influencing seamless CX and consumers’ behavior; the factors influenced by a seamless CX and channel integration; the omnichannel-capable measurement of CX; the dimensions of a seamless CX.

Abstract Building on the motivation–ability (MA) theoretical framework, we develop a motivation–trust–vulnerability (MTV) framework to explain behavioral decision making in situations of uncertainty and vulnerability. We apply our new framework to cross-border online shopping, which is characterized by uncertain benefits, potential losses, and increased vulnerability of making cross-border online purchases at foreign online vendors. The MTV framework (1) explains the mechanism of cross-border online shopping by considering the effects and interactions of motivation, trust, and vulnerability (2), offers a new conceptualization of perceived vulnerability and (3) is applicable to culturally and economically distinct country markets. The findings from two major e-commerce markets (China and Germany; N = 808) support our framework and suggest that perceived vulnerability acts as an obstacle that prevents consumers from cross-border online shopping. However, in interaction with trust towards foreign online vendors perceived vulnerability positively affects the relationship between motivating factors and cross-border online purchase intentions. Our findings help explaining consumers’ cross-border online purchasing intentions and provide guidance for retail managers and policy makers on recognizing and coping with trust and vulnerability in international relations.

In this paper, we explore the importance of accounting for climate when determining the impact of weather on product sales. Using a France-wide scanner panel dataset provided by our industry partner, we show that if climate is not accounted for, product categories may be misclassified as being weather sensitive when they are not, and vice versa. This is motivated by previous research and industry reports that suggest a relationship between weather and retail sales. However, these studies often fail to distinguish between weather and climate, leading to inaccurate conclusions. Our results highlight the need to control for climate in order to accurately assess the effects of weather on retail sales. We use ordinary least squares regression to estimate the relationship between temperature and sales for 29 different product categories. The regression models control for various factors, including shelf space allocation, week of observation, quantity purchased, promotion, store brand, store surface area, store competition, and consumer behavior measures. We find that when accounting for climate, only a subset of the product categories is sensitive to weather. Additionally, we show that climate can be approximated using a week index, eliminating the need for additional data collection and approximation efforts. Our findings have implications for both researchers and practitioners. Researchers should be aware of the importance of accounting for climate when studying the impact of weather on retail sales, as failing to do so may lead to erroneous conclusions. Practitioners can use our results to inform their marketing and sales strategies, taking into account the weather sensitivity of different product categories and the role of climate in shaping consumer behavior. Overall, our study emphasizes the need to consider climate when determining the impact of weather on retail sales, and provides practical insights for retailers and economists.

Digital technologies bring a wide range of new opportunities, for both retailers and consumers, but retailers face, and may have to address, several new sets of responsibility issues as they progressively introduce these technologies. These responsibilities are increasingly being captured in the concept of corporate digital responsibility (CDR) but CDR within the retail industry has received little, or no attention, in the academic literature. This paper looks to make a small contribution to addressing that gap in the literature. The paper includes some definitions of CDR, an outline of the concept and scope of CDR, two cameo case studies which provide a simple illustration of some of the ways in which the Rewe Group and the Otto Group, two of Germany’s leading retailers, choose to publicly address CDR, and offers some reflections on retailers and CDR. The paper suggests that there are, potential tensions between the retailers’ management of the economic and the social dimensions of CDR, and that there are issues about whose best interests are served by CDR and the difficulties involved in making such judgements.

Food prices have experienced unprecedented increases in recent times. Simultaneously, grocers are facing allegations of capitalizing on inflation to generate unjustifiable profits. Escalating expenses and a lack of transparency have engendered heightened consumer skepticism. This perceived presence of barriers and excessive profitability gives rise to ethical concerns. Our case study delves into the ethical landscape surrounding Canadian grocers, aiming to probe the public’s demand for accountability. To comprehend the factors responsible for the transformation in consumer perception of Canadian grocers in 2022, we conducted an analysis utilizing data from consumers, corporate watchdogs, and industry sources. We extended the paradox perspective on corporate sustainability framework to include a historical aspect to use as our analytical lens. This study sheds light on the alterations in circumstances that have led Canadian consumers to question entire industries and accounting practices that were previously considered unproblematic. As a remedy, we recommend the establishment of a mandatory code of conduct for grocers and an enhancement in the transparency of financial reporting. Paradoxically, corporate profits may continue to grow when societal needs are no longer perceived as being neglected or, even worse, exploited.

AbstractIn a world with enormous opportunities and challenges from the 4.0 revolution and the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, customer retention is more important than ever for retailers. While marketing and advertising can be more or less limited during the pandemic, retailers pay more attention to the supply and service operations of products as salvage to satisfy the essential demands of customers. However, few scholars discuss the effects of service operations on customer retention in retail because it is lower consumer awareness and challenging to measure accurately and adequately. Therefore, with the foundation of commitment-trust theory, this study examines service operations’ direct and indirect effects on customer retention through perceived benefit in omnichannel retailers. Simultaneously, it assesses how psychological ownership affects customer retention and moderates the effect of perceived benefit on customer retention in the Vietnamese supermarket as empirical evidence. The combination of a qualitative method (with 32 in-depth interviews) and a quantitative method (through a survey conducted with 374 shoppers) is implemented. Partial least-squares structural equation modelling with SmartPLS software is utilized for data analysis and hypothesis testing. From the findings, the study offers an operations perspective and a customer view of how to store service operations contribute to customer perception of benefits and customer retention. Interestingly, the study discovered that psychological ownership is not only a critical antecedent of customer retention but also enhances the effect of perceived benefit on customer retention as its moderating role.

The sector that has suffered the highest market turbulence caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is the retail sector. Evidence for this can be found in the great shocks on the demand side, primarily for essential products necessary in conditions of self-isolation and quarantine. The principal question is whether the sharp increase in demand, restrictions on the operation of retail facilities, strict epidemiological measures among both employees and consumers, tightened safety protocols, mandatory protective equipment etc., have affected the business, primarily of small retailers. In this regard, the aim of the paper is to analyze productivity between key groups of retailers in the market of Serbia with special reference to the assessment of productivity in the period before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results showed statistically significant differences existed between the productivity of local and regional retail chains in relation to the leading retail chains. It was confirmed that the average productivity of associated retailers is higher than that of independent (local) retailers. Also, there are differences in productivity per employee between the observed groups. However, the results showed no statistically significant difference in the degree of productivity of the retail sector in the period before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The obtained results suggest that the retail supply chain has stabilized after the first months of the pandemic and shown its complete flexibility to sudden market shocks. Guidelines for future research are included in the paper.

One of the significant accelerators in economic development of a country is the retail industry, which is experiencing tremendous competition. Due to these circumstances, selecting, retaining and growing employees have become an essential responsibility for managers, especially for human resources departments. Therefore, employees should be engaged both physically and mentally with their work place and job roles. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which different demographic factors including employee rank, number of employees, gender, age and age of the organisation affect employee engagement practices in South African retail organisations. A total of 201 valid responses from employees working in different retail organisations have been collected with a structured survey questionnaire. A quantitative procedure with analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the manager role has the highest score for ‘inform and instruct practice’. General manager and staff roles have the lowest score for ‘inform and instruct practice’ respectively. Moreover, employee engagement practices are higher for female and younger employees than male and older employees respectively. The employee engagement practices are higher for organisations with more years of age and fewer employees. Descriptive analysis with means also concludes that all the practices need to be improved for better employee engagement. The study has implications for retail organisations, decision makers and human resources managers.

Purpose: Retail is one of the most important sectors in modern life. Retail information systems support organizational processes in retail chains. Since such systems are very complex, they need to be structured in a framework based on actual business requirements for understanding the nature and sources of retail information systems. This article focuses on developing a business framework of architecture for a retail information system. This framework allows us to explore the main modules of retail information system. Design/methodology/approach: Research is based mainly on theoretical studies of retail information systems. Findings: As a result, we developed a framework that enables integration of processes in the following areas: assortment management, floor planning, shelf space allocation, pricing strategies, promotion, and store operations. Such solutions allow, among others, for optimization of available shelf space, reducing out-of-stocks, increasing employee productivity, enhance company profitability and improve customer satisfaction. Research limitations/implications: Because of the fact that in retail organizations, RIS modules are generally managed by different departments, some issues in implementation and data transfer could appear. Moreover, in the current framework, there is no artificial intelligence or the Internet of Things included. Originality/value: The results of the research can be used both by retail information systems developers and by retail managers in traditional and online retailing.

Purpose – Salesperson performance is accepted as a relevant factor of retailing success. However, scarce studies reveal the relationship between sales performance and brand relationship. The purpose of this study is both, from one side, to empirically demonstrate the impact of salesperson brand attachment (SBA) on sales performance and, on the other side, to identify the mediators of this relationship in small retailing. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted with a sample of 206 small retailers from different sectors of an emerging country. The proposed model was tested using partial least squares–structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS3. Findings – The results demonstrated that SBA is relevant to driving sales performance through two relevant paths – one following SBA–satisfaction–performance and one path following the SBA–commitment–performance. The model was able to explain 63% of the outcome performance. Practical implications – Regarding small retailers, where the owners, employees and managers have higher levels of interaction than the large national retail chains, the marketing executives must invest in improving the attachment to the brand and create emotional bonds and cognition between marketers and the brand. They must develop strategies to promote job satisfaction and organizational commitment because they determine performance. Originality/value – Despite the relevance of small businesses for economies worldwide and the importance of salesperson brand relationships, no study has been developed to demonstrate the impacts of such relationships on salesperson performance in retailing. Furthermore, in addition to the central role of organizational commitment in the sales research, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore how to mediate the relationship between brand attachment and sales performance.

Aim/purpose – Shelf space is one of the most important tools for attracting customers’ attention in a retail store. This paper aims to develop a practical shelf space allocation model with visible vertical and horizontal categories. and formulate it in linear and non-linear forms.

In the age of technological development, rapid technological progress, and the metaverse development in which humans interact with each other and with the environment using virtual real-world metaphors, payment systems may also need to be re-considered. The study aims to find an answer to the question of what should be retail payments in the metaverse and to begin interdisciplinary discussions about their implementation in this environment. The author reviews the literature which shows that i) socio-economic relations are being implemented in the metaverse, but they still require the money to participate in the exchange relationships, as well as to support such a system; ii) it is impossible to abandon all forms of physical exchange, which is the basis of modern society; iii) the metaverse is an environment usually of anonymous users, who do not have the right to make significant purchases without their identification; iv) accounting of transactions remains the basis of payments in the metaverse as well.

The main research question asked in this paper is whether and when a dual-channel retailer (retailer in short) should adopt the “buy online and pick up in store” (BOPS) strategy. To answer this question, we first derive the optimal price decision using the non-BOPS and BOPS strategies. Subsequently, we compare the performance of retailers under non-BOPS and BOPS scenarios. Our main findings are that under the monopoly scenario, retailers may not always benefit from the BOPS strategy. Retailers will benefit only if the offline operational costs are low and the degree of customer acceptance of the online channel is high. However, the BOPS strategy cannot improve dual-channel retailers’ market share. Furthermore, under a Stackelberg game scenario with e-retailers as leaders, when the value of a product is medium and the transaction costs of the offline channel are high, retailers can use the BOPS strategy to enhance their market share. If the degree of customer acceptance of the online channel is also high, retailers can further improve their profits by using the BOPS strategy. Overall, these findings not only provide decision support for retailers, but also enrich the theories on dual-channel retailing in operations management.

Traditional retailers (bricks-and-mortar) have been continuously increasing online sales. However, not all retail companies were able to respond to the increasing sales with the same efficiency level as their competitors. This paper aims to propose a dynamic model – incorporating principles of Optimal Control Theory (OCT) into a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model - for measuring the performance of retailing companies’ cost efficiency. It also aims to contribute through the application by investigating the impact of the pandemic on companies from the most prominent developing market in Latin America, Brazil. Twenty-one companies publicly traded in the São Paulo Stock Exchanges (B3) between the third quarter of 2018 (3Q2018) and the third quarter of 2020 (3Q2020) were investigated. Also, six measures - initial inventory cost (IIC), final inventory cost (FIC), net operating income (NOI), cost of goods sold (COGS), cost of the purchased product (CPP), and plant, property, and equipment (PPE) – were considered. In this way, the findings have implications for researchers and practitioners. Practitioners can discover which competitor(s) is (are) adopting the best practices at each operational aspect (e.g., inventory cost). Additionally, the proposed method can be replicated in other markets (developing or not) and for other categories of retailing companies (e.g., small- and middle-sized). Further research directions are presented, and their implications are discussed.

Online consumers are increasingly looking for more convenient ways to purchase products and services, and chatbots are becoming increasingly popular in multichannel environments due to their ability to provide an efficient service. In this context, managing digital complexity with the help of artificial intelligence and supporting decisions in a multichannel context is an appealing perspective for the retailer, who must find the right strategy to win and keep customers online. The present empirical study aims to better understand consumer behaviour in the multichannel environment in the context of four categories of products and services (retail banking, mobile communications, fashion, and consumer electronics) from the perspective of identifying determinants of channel selection when the consumer uses chatbots. Data were collected from 936 respondents with multichannel retail experience to conduct an empirical investigation on social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram; these data were then analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). We found that the online consumer’s multichannel behaviour was not only a reality in the field of broad purchasing decisions but already a norm, and consumers had good reasons to use more channels in the context of chatbots. Research results suggest that chatbots can represent a decision-making aid for managers in retail companies who want to develop an efficient and optimal logistics service strategy in multichannel environments.

Retailers must have accurate sales forecasts to efficiently and effectively operate their businesses and remain competitive in the marketplace. Global forecasting models like RNNs can be a powerful tool for forecasting in retail settings, where multiple time series are often interrelated and influenced by a variety of external factors. By including covariates in a forecasting model, we can often better capture the various factors that can influence sales in a retail setting. This can help improve the accuracy of our forecasts and enable better decision making for inventory management, purchasing, and other operational decisions. In this study, we investigate how the accuracy of global forecasting models is affected by the inclusion of different potential demand covariates. To ensure the significance of the study’s findings, we used the M5 forecasting competition’s openly accessible and well-established dataset. The results obtained from DeepAR models trained on different combinations of features indicate that the inclusion of time-, event-, and ID-related features consistently enhances the forecast accuracy. The optimal performance is attained when all these covariates are employed together, leading to a 1.8% improvement in RMSSE and a 6.5% improvement in MASE compared to the baseline model without features. It is noteworthy that all DeepAR models, both with and without covariates, exhibit a significantly superior forecasting performance in comparison to the seasonal naïve benchmark.

While there are several ways to identify customer behaviors, few extract this value from information already in a database, much less extract relevant characteristics. This paper presents the development of a prototype using the recency, frequency, and monetary attributes for customer segmentation of a retail database. For this purpose, the standard K-means, K-medoids, and MiniBatch K-means were evaluated. The standard K-means clustering algorithm was more appropriate for data clustering than other algorithms as it remained stable until solutions with six clusters. The evaluation of the clusters’ quality was obtained through the internal validation indexes Silhouette, Calinski Harabasz, and Davies Bouldin. When consensus was not obtained, three external validation indexes were applied: global stability, stability per cluster, and segment-level stability across solutions. Six customer segments were obtained, identified by their unique behavior: lost customers, disinterested customers, recent customers, less recent customers, loyal customers, and best customers. Their behavior was evidenced and analyzed, indicating trends and preferences. The proposed method combining recency, frequency, monetary value (RFM), K-means clustering, internal indices, and external indices achieved return rates of 17.50%, indicating acceptable selectivity of the customers.

Retail trade in Ukraine demonstrates a sufficient number of market and infrastructure entities, contributes to the development of economic sectors and the seamless promotion of goods to the consumer. The article is aimed at studying the state of domestic retail trade in the context of the main indicators; problem detection; new realities and major tendencies in the future. The essence of retail trade is considered, its features and functions are substantiated; the purpose and importance among the leading sectors of the economy are identified. Leading retail chains are allocated. A characterization of the factors related to assortment, territorial location, cost control and marketing policy of leading retail operators are provided. As a result of the carried out structural and dynamic analysis of retail trade volumes, the following advantages are identified: by types of trade – non-food products; by form of ownership – legal entities; by organizational and legal forms – LLC; in the context of regions leader is the city of Kyiv. The infrastructure and volumes of retail trade over the Internet are considered. The influence of some factors on the purchasing behavior of the consumer is determined. Some forecast models of volumes of food and non-food products for 2021–2022 and development of goods turnover over the Internet for 2021 are presented. As a result of SWOT analysis, on the example of «Silpo» network, strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats of a retail traded chain are identified. The main problems of retail trade in Ukraine are specified, including: lack of investment due to unstable political situation and use of innovative technologies; low purchasing demand of the population; rising prices for raw materials and energy, rent, logistics, etc. Recommendations to resolve these issues are provided.

The development of information technology and the proliferation of e-commerce make online shopping more and more popular. Recent studies indicate that in the modern world, most shoppers purchased products spontaneously and highlighted the necessity of in-depth understanding of impulse buying as an emerging phenomenon in marketing literature. A large number of studies focus on the factors effective on consumers’ impulse buying in brick and mortar retailers but rare research investigate these factors in online environment. There are two key perspectives on the factors effective on impulse buying: a customer’s inherent characters and his/her current state of mind. Based on the self-congruity theory and latent state-trait theory, this study considered this concept in two-sided approach: the state of mind incurred in the shopping environment (website quality) and a particular personal characteristics inherent to the individual customer (e-retailer personality). This paper adapted the concept of retail brand/store personality from brick and mortar context to internet marketing by investigating the impact of e-retailer personality on website quality and impulse buying. Data were collected from 563 online shoppers in Vietnam by online survey and analyzed with Structural Equation Model (SEM). The results indicate some practical implications for website design and enhancing impulsive buying.

The application of augmented reality (AR) is receiving great interest in e-commerce, m-commerce, and brick-and-mortar-retailing. A growing body of literature has explored several different facets of how consumers react to the upcoming augmented shopping reality. This systematic literature review summarizes the findings of 56 empirical papers that analyzed consumers’ experience with AR, acceptance of AR, and behavioral reactions to AR in various online and offline environments. The review synthesizes current knowledge and critically discusses the empirical studies conceptually and methodologically. Finally, the review outlines the theoretical basis as well as the independent, mediating, moderating, and dependent variables analyzed in previous AR research. Based on this synthesis, the paper develops an integrative framework model, which helps derive directives for future research on augmented shopping reality.

Farmers’ markets have become fashionable places for shopping, entertainment, and socialising, and in many cases are no longer sources of cheaper or more convenient shopping. With the growth of the craft and the organic food movements, such products are often marketed through farmers’ markets. Entertainment (e.g., music) is also often provided. Such shopping locations often charge premium prices. Why farmers’ markets have become so popular may be due to a variety of reasons such as shopping, entertainment, and socialising. Furthermore, a variety of different factors may cause customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction. This research is trying to identify what attracts customers to farmers’ markets and what creates satisfaction for the customer. A quantitative, descriptive, cross sectional study was used, based on a sample of 1141 respondents from an e-mailed survey to an online-accessed panel of consumers provided by a commercial panel provider. It is also a comparative study between a developed nation (Germany) and a developing nation (South Africa). The research culminated in a Kano model for farmers’ markets in each of the countries. There was considerable similarity in the ‘delight’ and ‘performance’ factors in the two countries, but only South Africa has ‘basic’ factors (two), while Germany had none. The study has thus contributed to knowledge about consumer behaviour and attitudes towards farmers’ markets and has added to the literature on the use of the Kano model, especially in South Africa.

Abstract An integrated view of energy markets has led to the introduction of new market participants named energy retailers (ERs). Competition among ERs in an integrated market greatly improves market performance in areas such as sustainability, supply security, and environmental awareness. ER performance is evaluated in an integrated market with emission penalty reduction in the objective function. Bi‐level programming is used to model an ER game, and the equilibria of different configurations are compared. In the game's first level, ERs offer various energy carrier selling prices to optimise profits. In the second level, consumers respond by switching from the retail market to minimise their energy bills. This complex problem is simplified utilising a discretisation method based on Nash theory. The configuration scenarios include different structures, components, and ER–user transactions. The effectiveness of the proposed configuration scenarios is validated by their implementation in an illustrative case study. Energy retailers purchase energy from various sources including bilateral contracts with energy suppliers, wholesale market participation, and self‐generation. Electricity retailers explicitly represent the difficulties of energy procurement and bidding strategies. Simulation results for the proposed energy system model indicate better performance than that of the base case and a noticeable increment in retailer profit.

Determining the optimal price of products is essential, as it plays a critical role in improving a company’s profitability and market competitiveness. This requires the ability to calculate customers’ demand in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry as various effects exist between multiple products within a product category. The substitution effect is one of the challenging effects at retail stores, as it requires investigating an exponential number of combinations of price changes and the availability of other products. This paper suggests a systematic price decision support tool for demand prediction and price optimise in online and stationary retailers considering the substitution effect. Two procedures reflecting the product price changes and the demand correlation structure are introduced for demand prediction and price optimisation models. First, the developed demand prediction procedure is carried out considering the combination of price changes of all products reflecting the effect of substitution. Time series and different well-known machine learning approaches with hyperparameter tuning and rolling forecasting methods are utilised to select each product’s best demand forecast. Demand forecast results are used as input in the price optimisation model. Second, the developed price optimisation procedure is a constraint programming problem based on a week time frame and a product category level aggregation and is capable of maximising profit out of the many price combinations. The results using real-world transaction data with 12 products and 4 discount rates demonstrate that including some business rules as constraints in the proposed price optimisation model reduces the number of price combinations from 11,274,924 to 19,440 and execution time from 129.59 to 25.831 min. The utilisation of the presented price optimisation support tool enables the supply chain managers to identify the optimal discount rate for individual products in a timely manner, resulting in a net profit increase.

Digital transformation penetrates into all spheres and industries, starting with finance, banking, media, education, manufacturing, healthcare, etc. Transition to digital technologies covers such aspects as organization of processes within a company, work with personnel, external communication. The term «digital transformation» in retail encompasses a range of business opportunities that go beyond mere focus on one technology or hidden strategy such as e-commerce or click-and-pick. Retail digital transformation strategy refers to the trend of creating new and innovative business models that blur the physical and digital worlds by retailers. Traditionally retailing has been among the leading industries in the field of innovation. The pandemic has accelerated the transformation process. Companies with scalable digital capabilities and infrastructure have adapted relatively well to the existing situation, while those who did not have them are forced to try not only to take immediate action, but also to develop their strategies for change. The pandemic has forced retailers to rethink their models digitally. The purpose of the research is to study the features of digital transformation of retail trade, to analyze its main trends. The article discusses current trends in retail digitalization, its key drivers and main problems. The technologies used have been analyzed: data analytics, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things; examples of their application have been given. Possible ways of introducing digital processes in retail trade enterprises have been proposed.

Augmented reality (AR) is a potentially disruptive technology that enriches the consumer experience and transforms marketing. With the surging popularity of AR in marketing practice, academic efforts to investigate its effects on consumer experience, response, and behavior have increased significantly. To obtain an integrated and comprehensive view of the front-line in AR marketing research and identify the gaps for future research, we analyze the existing AR marketing literature through a systematic literature review. Using 99 journal articles selected from the Web of Science core collections, this research sheds light on the general characteristics such as publication year, publication outlet, research design, and research method. Moreover, this research also gains insight into the AR marketing relevant factors such as application area, application context, AR type, and theoretical lenses. The findings of the analyses reveal the state-of-the-art of scholarly publications on AR marketing research. First, the number of journal articles on AR marketing increased rapidly in the past few years, and the journals that published articles on AR marketing cover a wide range of disciplines. Second, the empirical studies in most literature adopted the quantitative research design and used survey or experiment methods. Third, the studies in more than half of the journal articles used mobile AR applications in various online contexts. Fourth, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework are the two most widely used theoretical lenses used in the literature. After that, the major application areas of AR in marketing are retail, tourism, and advertising. To identify the focal themes discussed in the three application areas, this research summarizes the studies by the outcome variables. Specifically, the outcome variables have five categories: technology-related, product-related, brand-related, tourist destination-related, and advertisement-related. Finally, this research proposes the agenda for future academic efforts in AR marketing.

The purpose of the data is to model the purchase behavior of the subsistence consumer within the retail environment in one of the largest townships in South Africa. The data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire from a sample of 281 consumers. The Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) approach was adopted using the SmartPLS 3 software to analyze the data. The insights from the dataset identify convenience, price sensitivity, perceived product quality, customer trust, and perceived value as factors that stimulate purchase behavior. Furthermore, perceived value only mediates the relationship between perceived product quality and purchase intention. Researchers could use the data to position customer trust as a dependent variable to unearth more valuable insights. Additionally, the segment in question is also known to be price-sensitive. It would be intriguing to find out the role of price sensitivity as a moderator.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed at a United Nations General Assembly in 2015 embrace an ambitious and wide-ranging set of global environmental, social and economic issues designed to effect a transition to a more sustainable future; the United Nations important role of the private sector in addressing the SDGs. The majority of Europe’s leading retailers have been pursuing sustainability strategies, and reporting on their achievements against their strategies, for some time and within the European retail community there is a recognition that retailers have a vital role to play in contributing to the achievement of the SDGs. This exploratory paper reviews and reflects on how seven of Europe’s leading retailers claim to be committed to addressing the SDGs. The findings revealed that all seven retailers reported on their commitment to contributing to the achievement of the SDGs, though the scale and the extent of their commitment varied. In reviewing the retailers’ approach to the SDGs, the authors drew attention to a number of issues namely, concentration on specific SDGs, issues of measurement and reporting and tensions between sustainability and economic growth

Satisfied employees play an essential role in bringing financial and non-financial outcomes for any kind of organisation. Employees need to be engaged, both mentally and physically, with the organisation’s goals, mission, vision and roles. Research showed that companies can enjoy great customer experience and superior business results through engaging their employees. In the light of the health crisis of COVID-19 and its aftermath, the general aim of the study is to examine employee engagement practices among retail organisations in South Africa. The study adopted the approach “Five I’s of Employee Engagement: Inform, Inspire, Instruct, Involve, and Incent” developed by Temkin Group. These five constructs were used to develop the conceptual framework and hypotheses, which were tested through quantitative method and structural equation modelling. The data were collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire that was circulated and hand-delivered to a sample of 250 employees functioning at various levels in retail organisations across South Africa. The results showed that, except for instruct, three employee engagement practices including inform, involve, and incentivise were significantly related to “inspire”. It indicates that the organisations that are higher in inform, involve and incentivise practices are also higher in inspiring practice. In addition, an overall evaluation of the Five I’s indicated low mean values, indicating employee engagement practices need more improvement. It has implications for human resource managers, decision-makers and retail managers regarding effective design and implementation of employee engagement practices, especially in the aftermath of COVID-19.

Although innovating in the physical stores has become a challenge for retailers, previous studies provided insights based primarily on consumers’ and employees’ acceptance of technology, with limited attention towards specific practices for successful adopting innovations. Starting from a qualitative analysis of pioneering strategies adopted by a sample of 50 retailers in the Dutch market, this research is devoted to a broad investigation of the innovation management strategies with emphasis on the choice to be the first to innovate. Our findings provide a correlation between the pioneer practices and the sales outcomes, by describing the more favourable conditions for adopting this strategy in terms of time, place and innovation characteristics (i.e., typology). These results would support retailers in the choice of innovating and managing the innovation process.

El propósito de este artículo es analizar el efecto del retailing en el marketing de las farmacias tradicionales para diseñar estrategias que aporten al incremento de competitividad de este negocio. Entre los fundamentos teóricos utilizados se incluye a Kotler, Kartajaya y Setiawan (2018), Artal (2015), Cavalcante y Akemi (2015) y Domínguez (2016). Se llevó a cabo una investigación cuantitativa y cualitativa, siguiendo un diseño descriptivo analítico con la finalidad de determinar las estrategias de retailing idóneas para las farmacias tradicionales considerando el entorno competitivo en el que se desempeñan. Para la investigación cuantitativa, la población de estudio estuvo representada por 384 usuarios, mientras que la investigación cualitativa tuvo en consideración a propietarios de farmacias. Se pudo concluir que como estrategias de retailing idóneas para una farmacia tradicional se destacan: (a) las herramientas de merchandising; (b) promociones para consumidores para incrementar la frecuencia de compra, y (c) el desarrollo de herramientas publicitarias para dar a conocer la propuesta de productos y servicios.

The research aims to identify the limitations and expectations of producers, transport companies, distributors and retailers in introducing intelligent packaging into supply chains of food products on the market of the Western Balkans. The limitations and benefits from the use of intelligent packaging have been identified in transportation, storage, operations of physical handling and display of food products at the place of their final purchase. The results have shown that there are significant differences in terms of limitations affecting the implementation of intelligent packaging into business operations of supply chains, bearing in mind the business type, number of employees, available capital and integrated standards into business operations. In contrast to this, the results point that there are no significant differences in terms of benefits that the analysed entities expect from introducing intelligent packaging into their systems. A set of measures and incentives have been defined for the competent institutions and food supply chain management to take, in order to minimize the restrictions and advance the implementation of intelligent packaging. The proposals and suggestions for further research are stated in the paper.

This study aimed at determining and evaluating customer service at independently owned retail food chains within the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Furthermore, it included assessing the level of retail service quality, current customer service tools employed by independent food chains in KwaZulu-Natal and the extent to which customer service tools are being used. The study was also about establishing whether there was a significant relationship between retail service quality and customer satisfaction. The study targeted both customers and managers of independent food chains in KwaZulu-Natal from whom a sample of four mangers were interviewed and 444 customers were conveniently selected to participate in the study. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were employed in the collection of data.

Competition among different brands in supermarkets motivates consumer goods companies to develop and implement and activate merchandising materials at the point of sales (POS). These merchandizing materials attempt to influence shoppers and promote sales. On the other hand, behavioral economics studies the decision-making of individuals based on their preferences and beliefs, influenced by cognitive bias. This study attempts to understand the effect of loss aversion and mental accounting in POS materials on supermarket sales. We conduct two experiments with a consumer brand in a supermarket chain. The results reveal a positive and significant effect on sales only for the cognitive bias of loss aversion, applied to the POS materials.

The present work deals with the study of the antecedents and consequences of satisfaction in retailing through two variables of special relevance, such as innovation and store image. By differentiating between innovation in marketing and in technology, the goal is twofold: to analyze the chain of effects innovation in marketing (technological innovation - image - satisfaction – word-of-mouth) and to study the moderating effect of activity sector in these relationships. Based on a sample of 820 customers from food, textile, home and electronics retailers, on the one hand, the results confirm the chain of relationships; and the category of the commercialized product also moderates the influence of image on satisfaction. There are important academic and business implications, as well as interesting lines for further research in this field. Among them, it should be noted that marketing innovation influences on technological innovation. Thus, the consumer perceives the adoption of new ideas by the store as a relevant antecedent of its technological development. The influence of technological innovation on the consumer’s image about the store has also been confirmed. Moreover, image shows a significant impact on satisfaction, and satisfaction influences on loyalty. Finally, the results confirm that the influence of image on customer satisfaction is different based on the activity sector of the store.

Purpose: Retailers acknowledge the importance of the retail store environment as a tool for differentiation and valuable for positioning the retail store. It makes the buyer's decision to visit the store easier. Further, a pleasing retail environment improves the customer's purchasing experience and satisfaction. This paper aims to; investigate the influence of store atmospherics and marketing stimuli on impulse buying behavior among females. Shopping pal provides a boundary condition between the influence of store environment, emotional response, and impulse buying. Methodology: This is a quantitative study and data was collected using surveys. The investigation was conducted using Amos and SPSS version 21, and the results were within an acceptable range. Findings: The findings of the study suggest that an impressive store environment with marketing stimuli such as price discount leads to positive emotions and impulse purchase behavior. Further, a shopping pal provides boundary conditions between the influence. Implications: Retailers must focus on creating a retail experience that is clean, relaxing pleasant, and has an excellent interior design, and they must encourage to group shopping. They might concentrate on promotional activities that encourage group shopping, such as group purchasing coupons and family prizes.

The choice of furniture in a retail store is usually based on a product catalog and simplistic product renderings with different configurations. We present a preliminary field study that tests a Multi-Sensory In-Store Virtual Reality Customer Journey (MSISVRCJ) through a virtual catalog and a product configurator to support furnishings sales. The system allows customers to stay immersed in the virtual environment (VE) while the sales expert changes the colors, textures, and finishes of the furniture, also exploring different VEs. In addition, customers can experience realistic tactile feedback with in-store samples of furniture they can test. The journey is implemented for a furniture manufacturer and tested in a flagship store. Fifty real customers show positive feedback in terms of general satisfaction, perceived realism, and acceptance. This method can increase purchase confidence, reduce entrepreneurial costs, and leverage in-store versus online shopping.

Retailers depend on accurate forecasts of product sales at the Store × SKU level to efficiently manage their inventory. Consequently, there has been increasing interest in identifying more advanced statistical techniques that lead to accuracy improvements. However, the inclusion of multiple drivers affecting demand into commonly used ARIMA and ETS models is not straightforward, particularly when many explanatory variables are available. Moreover, regularization regression models that shrink the model’s parameters allow for the inclusion of a lot of relevant information but do not intrinsically handle the dynamics of the demand. These problems have not been addressed by previous studies. Nevertheless, multiple simultaneous effects interacting are common in retailing. To be successful, any approach needs to be automatic, robust and efficiently scaleable. In this study, we design novel approaches to forecast retailer product sales taking into account the main drivers which affect SKU demand at store level. To address the variable selection challenge, the use of dimensionality reduction via principal components analysis (PCA) and shrinkage estimators was investigated. The empirical results, using a case study of supermarket sales in Portugal, show that both PCA and shrinkage are useful and result in gains in forecast accuracy in the order of 10% over benchmarks while offering insights on the impact of promotions. Focusing on the promotional periods, PCA-based models perform strongly, while shrinkage estimators over-shrink. For the non-promotional periods, shrinkage estimators significantly outperform the alternatives.

Tüketicinin satın alma davranışını etkileyen birçok faktör bulunsa da şüphe yok ki bunlardan en önemlilerinden biri pazarlama karması unsurlarından biri olan fiyattır. Dolayısıyla tüketicilerin satın alma niyetinde oldukları ürün veya hizmetlerin fiyatları ve bu fiyatları nasıl algıladıklarının; satın alma davranışlarının üzerinde ciddi bir etkisi bulunmaktadır. Tüketicinin fiyatı nasıl algıladığı ve bu süreç doğrultusunda satın alma niyetinin nasıl bir oluşum veya değişim gösterdiğini bilmek pazarlamacılara birçok yönden avantaj sağlayacaktır. Ülkemizde konu ile ilgili çalışmaların kısıtlılığı ve perakende sektörünün lokomotifi sayılabilecek indirim marketleri üzerinde konu ile ilgili yapılmış bir çalışmaya rastlanamaması nedeniyle, bu araştırmanın amacı indirim marketlerinde tüketicinin fiyat algılamasının satın alma niyeti üzerindeki etkisi ve bu etkinin yönünün ortaya konulmasıdır. Bu kapsamda üç farklı indirim marketi araştırmaya konu edilmiş ve bu marketlerden alışveriş yapan 400 tüketici üzerinde anket uygulanmıştır.

Purpose – This research enables the authors to highlight the importance of proper pricing for retailers. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of demand-based pricing, providing empirical results that reveal the validity of this pricing philosophy in the sport retailing industry. In particular, this study has identified the limits of acceptable prices for the products studied, selected the most appropriate method for pricing products suffering from high competition and compared the impact produced on price perceptions according to different retail environments to be able to relate changes in the acceptable prices ranges according to the geographical location of each point of sale, differentiating between rural or urban environment and type of client. Design/methodology/approach – The authors have carried out surveys of 350 customers in each of the three points of sale analysed. Therefore, there are a total of 1,050 interviewees, for the three products analysed. The direct method of acceptable prices setting is developed. In addition, ANOVA and t-test have been carried out to find differences between the three shops. Findings – One main finding is that the acceptable price range is not unique. Each point of sale has one that is distinct because it depends on many factors: the competition, the economic capacity of the closest residents, the location of the point of sale or the ability to attract customers. Originality/value – The foremost contribution of this paper is to demonstrate empirically how considering the local demand at setting prices would generate larger earnings, even for a small retail chain. The direct method of setting acceptable prices enables us to set the prices according to the demand. The best option is if these prices are above the costs. It can be noted that the prices should be set according to each shop, and a different price used in each point of sale to maximise profits and to adapt to what the typical customer of each shop is willing to pay, despite the products being the same and the points of sale belonging to the same retail chain.

In the context of digital marketing mode, the traditional retail industry encounters unprecedented impact and competitive edges of traditional marketing are disappearing. This paper comprehensively explores and analyzes retail precision marketing strategies based on the digital marketing model. Firstly, the predicament faced by the traditional retail industry from the aspects of commodity and consumer, sales technology and sales thinking is analyzed. Secondly, the strategic implementation of precision marketing in retail industry is presented. Finally, cases of precision marketing applications in reality are studied to analyze the digital marketing mode in three aspects: customer segmentation in marketing market, positioning of shopping basket and targeted customer marketing. It is demonstrated that using big data, changing the traditional marketing mode, implementing precise marketing strategy, accurately gathering limited marketing resources to valuable customers, and establishing a new marketing mode are of great significance for long-term sustainable development in the era of new retail.

Likewise, other historic cities of Pakistan, Peshawar has two major commercial areas i.e. old city region and Saddar Bazaar. In commercial areas, the Central Business District (CBD) has prime importance, which is the retail heart of a city. Normally, dual cores of the city are present in each city. The cantonment area has suitable grid layout, wide streets & roads and land use planning which make it more dynamic for modern transportation and infrastructure modifications particularly for commercial commuters. The present study is an attempt to identify the CBD of Peshawar using basic characteristics of a CBD. These characteristics are land & rent values, retail volume of sales, vehicular & pedestrian flow, area etc. Using geo-spatial analysis techniques, these characteristics are measured and compared to identify the CBD of Peshawar. The aggregate value of all indicators shows that Saddar Bazaar has 68.25 % value with cumulative probability (% age) of 87.17 %. Saddar Bazaar in cantonment area has no match in these characteristics with old city region and identified as CBD of Peshawar.