Retail evolution
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to enhance students’ ability to use theory to assess facts logically and creatively. To achieve this end, the author explicates the evolution of retailing from its pre-industrial genesis to its Internet descendants in a historically based retail strategy class that investigates the determinants of new retail formats ( major retail innovations – MRIs) over a > 200 year span. MRIs entail a major reconfiguration of the retail mix (i.e. price, product, place, promotion and personnel) , take significant business from existing formats that sell the same goods, generate greater benefits to customers than do rival formats and are widely imitated. Design/methodology/approach – The author chronologically presents how the industrial revolution generated major environmental changes that facilitated a creative and highly effective re-organization of the retail mix. Findings – Changes in environmental factors (e.g. mass production, transportation, location of population and communication) made possible retail formats that could not have existed earlier. Research limitations/implications – The course is based on two theories that are linked by the retail mix; one theory relates to consumer store choice, while the other relates to the minimum market size required for a retail format to be viable. To illustrate, more personnel raises service, drawing customers from rivals while raising costs; higher costs raise the needed market size. Originality/value – All six MRIs are derived from the two aforementioned theories. Experience indicates these theories are valid for assessing retailing at all stages of economic development. The course is based on the authors own material.
Year of publication: |
2014
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Authors: | A. Ingene, Charles |
Published in: |
Journal of Historical Research in Marketing. - Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1755-7518, ZDB-ID 2494385-X. - Vol. 6.2014, 2, p. 279-299
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Publisher: |
Emerald Group Publishing Limited |
Subject: | Retail history | Critical thinking | Consumer shopping theory | Geographic breakeven theory | Chain stores | Department stores | Mail-order houses | Supermarkets | Shopping centers | Online retailing |
Saved in:
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