Editorial

Citation

Towers, N. (2009), "Editorial", International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 37 No. 12. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijrdm.2009.08937laa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Volume 37, Issue 12

The first two papers in this issue address two different perspectives of age within retailing. Jane Boyd Thomas and Cara Lee Okleshen Peters explore the self-concept, lifestyles, and apparel consumption of women over age 65. Their adopted exploratory research provides an insight into the impact of behavior and needs on apparel purchase decisions for “silver seniors.” Their findings from this research in the USA indicate that women over 65 are still interested in fashion and that looking fashionable for themselves and others is important. They suggest senior adult women continue to remain physically and socially active and have need for a variety of garments. There are a number of recommendations for apparel manufacturers and retailers targeting this lucrative segment.

The second paper by Lisa Meneely, Amy Burns and Chris Strugnell examine the changes in consumers' food retail behaviour with regard to the demographic variable of age, based on the older population. This study focuses on food shoppers aged over 60 years living independently in Northern Ireland. The retail geography in Northern Ireland has changed and whilst affecting all consumers has impacted to a greater degree on older consumers. Together with the fact that the over 60 age group is increasing demographically illustrate why this consumer segment is worthy of greater consideration. A quantitative methodological approach was employed and data were collected using a consumer questionnaire (n=791). The results show that as age increases older consumers' retail buying behaviour and food-related behaviour changes. A decline in patronage of multiple retailers is evident as age increases and impacts consumers' perceived value of multi-purchase promotions and nutritional confidence. Alongside increasing age, there is an apparent increase in the use of local shops, the enjoyment gained from shopping, the difficulty experienced in accessing food retail sites and the problems experienced when cooking.

Louis H. Amato and Christie H. Amato investigate the changing retail power and performance in distribution channels. They examine the relationship between manufacturer profit rate and large retailer market share for five matched retailer-manufacturer groupings. Basic structure-performance modeling is used to relate manufacturer return on assets to large retail market share and a group of control variables. IRS Corporate Statistics of Income size class data provides a sample that covers the full range of firm sizes from the smallest to largest firms in the USA. They found that large retail share negatively impacts small manufacturer rate of return for shopping goods, while in convenience good markets large retail share has no impact on manufacturer return. Shopping goods retailers have opportunities to gain market power from expertise in merchandising, sales assistance and product expertise and that strong private brands may offer leverage for convenience good retailers in negotiations with national brand manufacturers.

The fourth paper by Ayantunji Gbadamosi conducts an exploratory analysis of low-income women consumers' consumption of low-involvement grocery products, and to explore the relevance of cognitive dissonance in this consumption. One focus group discussion and 30 in-depth interviews were conducted with low-income women consumer at Salford in North West England to explore their salient beliefs, motivations, attitudes and behaviours in respect of their consumption of low-involvement grocery products. The findings suggest that low-income women consumers engage in habitual purchasing and are not loyal to brands of grocery products. However, they often buy stores' own value-range brands as they believe that these products are similar to manufacturers' brands. They do not perceive price to be an indication of quality, rather they attribute basic differences between the stores' own value-range and manufacturers' brands as “expensive packaging” and the popularity of the brand name. Value for money was revealed as a key motivation underlying their purchasing of grocery products. Consequently, they are very sensitive to sales promotions and actively engage in making comparisons between the promotions in different stores within their locality. These confirm the incidence of cognitive dissonance in their consumption of these products. The study shows that generalisation in consumer behaviour without due reference to the contextual factors identified among low-income women consumers provides a limited understanding of their decision-making and purchase behaviour. It also supplements the limited empirical information on low-income consumers, and consequently will be of interest to marketing practitioners, as it will reveal potential directions for low-involvement product strategies in respect of the low-income consumer.

Neil Towers