Editorial

Citation

Broadbridge, A. (2008), "Editorial", International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 36 No. 12. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijrdm.2008.08936laa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Volume 36, Issue 12

This issue of Retail Insights contains four papers. In the first, Sameer Kumar, Erika Strandlund and Douglas Thomas provide a case study approach and create a strategy for “Best Buy”, a US major consumer electronic and appliance retailer. Utilising a combination of design methods, they analysed customer satisfaction with the service provided at Best Buy, and this enabled them to come up with alternative strategies to improve their system. They argue that retailers focused on service provision should invest in staff and implement customer service training programmes to improve quality of service delivery to customers. As the case study is based on experience and evidence and provides practical implications for the professionals involved in retailing and distribution industry it is of relevance to practitioners and other readers. It might be of interest for teaching purposes, particularly in the areas of customer service and employee involvement in the overall service experience.

Peter Jones, Daphne Comfort and David Hillier provide some reflections on the Sustainable Developments Commission’s current thinking on the move towards a sustainable food system by drawing on their report published in February 2008. The Sustainable Developments Commission report prioritised six main areas: climate change; waste; water; ecosystems; nutrition and obesity, and provided a series of the questions concerning why the issue is a priority, the government’s current approach, the responses from the major retailers, perceived gaps in government policies and retailer initiatives and recommendations to government to stimulate further changes.

Peter and his colleagues reflect on the report and focus on the issues of differing definitions of sustainable development, the role of the state in implementing sustainable development and the ways in which sustainable development is constructed. Their review provides some reflection on the extent to which the report can provide a platform for the “serious action” required if sustainability challenges facing the food system are to be met.

Jeremy Noad and Beth Rogers show how an industrial retailer used a small scale study to explore the importance of retail atmospherics in non-consumer retailing. In it they concentrate on the importance of interior and point of purchase retail atmospherics as a sales tool in industrial retailing. They argue that atmospherics are important to business to business retailing although differences occur in the levels of importance attached to various elements of atmospherics. They also claim that the level of importance of the elements varies with trade customers depending on the type of purchase that is taking place. Their study concludes that there is a difference between consumer retailing and industrial retailing in respect of the importance that customers placed on various atmospheric elements. They found the atmospherics considered most important were found to be product availability, product range, product quality, product information and staff interactions.

Anne Findlay and Leigh Sparks provide an introduction to the The National Retail Planning Forum (NRPF) Briefing Paper Series which was established in 1995. It combines a focus for improving understanding between private and public sectors on planning and its impact on retailing, as well as having a strong research programme. It attempts to identify, understand improve the knowledge about retail planning. To this end there is an established bibliography which is updated annually which is incorporated into the Retail Planning Knowledge Base. Associated with this is a regularly updated Planner’s Bookshelf. In 2006 the Institute for Retail Studies at the University of Stirling along with the NRPF decided that a Briefing Papers Series would enhance the mission of the NRPF and focus attention on the evidence base in a changing retail scene. Their paper introduces this highly accessible web based source, and begins by considering the recent developments in the UK retail planning debate before moving on to review a selection of the nine Retail Briefing Papers already published. They argue that the series highlights the importance of ensuring that policy relates to the realities of retail planning as witnessed from evidence based research.

Adelina Broadbridge