Editorial

Citation

Towers, N. (2013), "Editorial", International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 41 No. 10. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJRDM.08941jaa.001

Editorial

Article Type:

Editorial

From:

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Volume 41, Issue 10

This issue has a consumer focus within retail from four distinctly different perspectives. The submissions include the impact of consumer attributes and household car fleet characteristics on consumer choice for different car segments, as well as the decision to buy a new or used vehicle within each segment, an investigation of the effect of three virtual fashion stores using product display methods dominant by colour, visual texture and style coordination, the development of a reliable and valid measure of retail customer experience and an investigation of the effects of consumer attitudes toward visual food packaging on perceived product quality, product value and brand preference.

The first contribution by Prieto and Caemmerer explores the impact of consumer attributes – in particular economic, household, individual variables – and household car fleet characteristics, on consumer choice for a particular car segment, as well as the decision to buy a new or used vehicle within each segment, in a European context. The study is based on real-life purchase decisions across four different car segments of small, compact, intermediate and luxury cars in France. The analysis showed that income positively impacts on the decision to buy a new car from a higher segment. Similarly, higher levels of education are related to a tendency to favour new cars from higher segments. On the other hand, unemployment is negatively related to new car purchases and the effect seems to be slightly increased for lower compared to higher value car segments. These findings support the notion that the participation in second hand markets is in the main impacted by economic necessity, rather than being a matter of hedonic choice. The results also highlight the key role of car ranking and household car fleet in car purchase decisions.

The second paper by Wu, Ju, Kim, Damminga, Kim and Johnson investigates the effect of three virtual fashion stores using product display methods dominant by colour, visual texture and style coordination on consumers’ retailer interest, retail pleasure, perception of merchandise quality, patronage intention, and purchase behaviour. A mixed methods approach was used in this exploratory study, combining experimental and focus group methods to gather data. For the experiment, data were collected via subjects’ design reflecting manipulation of three variables (i.e. colour, style coordination, visual texture). After the experiment, subjects completed a self-administered online questionnaire. A segment of the subjects also participated in focus group discussions of the virtual stores. The findings suggest that subjects who shopped in the style coordination store spent significantly more money than those who shopped in colour or visual texture stores. Subjects who shopped in the colour store experienced significantly more retail pleasure and showed significantly higher patronage intention than those who shopped in the visual texture and style coordination stores; and they showed more retailer interest than subjects in the visual texture store. Retail pleasure and interest were found to mediate the link between methods of product display and patronage intention. Subjects’ fashion involvement moderated the relationship between fashion product display methods and retail interest.

The third study by Bagdare and Jain aims at developing a reliable and valid measure of retail customer experience. A scientific scale development process has been followed with a survey methodology used to collect data. The results were tested for reliability and validity using Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The study conceptualises retail customer experience as a reliable and valid multidimensional construct, explained in four dimensions of leisure, joy, distinctive and mood. The research was confined to “brick and mortar” personal lifestyle retail stores but the mediating and moderating effects of contextual variables and the influence of antecedents have not been studied. It provides insights into the “delivered” retail customer experience as perceived by the shoppers and the scale can be used to measure the experiential responses of retail customers and provide directions for retailing strategies.

The final contribution by Wang develops a theoretical model to show the effects of consumer attitudes toward visual food packaging on perceived product quality, product value, and brand preference. Although the increase in point-of-purchase decisions heightens the communication potential of food product packaging, empirical research on understanding how visual packaging affects consumers’ subsequent product and brand evaluations and perceptions is limited. The empirical results show that attitudes toward visual packaging directly influence consumer-perceived food product quality and brand preference. Perceived food product quality also directly and indirectly (through product value) affects brand preference. This paper offers directions for understanding the effects of visual packaging on positive consumer product and brand evaluations. Based on the study findings it is proposed that food firms should emphasise the visual packaging design factors such as colour, typeface, logo, graphics, and size to form consumers’ positive perceptions and brand preference.

Neil Towers