The great development of the multimedia technologies in this decade scams to impose a real revolution on our environment and on the relationships among manufacturers, retailers, and consumers. New frontiers arc opening in front of us due to the tied links in the world of telecommunications, electronics and computer technologies. A few years ago. Virtual Reality was confined to laboratories, amusement arcades and science fiction novels and was rarely taken seriously in the business world, Today, however, it is entering the mainstream of corporate computing and is being used for everything from complex engineering design work to medical training, retailing and data visualisation. In 1994 in Europe of the 800 virtual reality projects in existence, more than 600 were in areas not associated with entertainment. These applications have been developed using the technology evolution that has allowed the system manufacturers to reduce the costs, which have been the real barrier for a massive implementation.
MFI, the UKs leading furniture retailer, recognised the need to develop its trading format as a response to customer feedback and also as a response to pressure on its share of the kitchen furniture market, one of MFCs core product areas. As a test bed for new ideas, the Homeworks store concept was developed and tested in the UK. Homeworks primary points of difference from MFCs trading format lay in part in the simplication of pricing, and a move away from heavy price promotions, but more fundamentally lay in the adoption of a radically different store design from the traditional MFI outlet. A programme of exit interviews and observations of shoppers usage of the Homeworks outlets was undertaken in an attempt to test the value of the Homeworks experiment for MFFs core business. The results of this survey work showed clearly the power of store design to reposition the MFI proposition; through the Homeworks store format, MFI was able to reach customer segments previously unavailable to traditional MFI stores whilst maintaining its core shopper base.
This paper will consider the following two issues: in the first part, the state of the art of private label loyalty card in the Italian retail market will be presented and discussed, in the second one the opportunity of exploiting the loyalty card potential through a set of Database Marketing tools and a comprehensive Customer Marketing strategy will be identified and analysed.
The focus of this paper will be on retail brands of the first type - the kinds of retailers who may be termed FMCG retailers (supermarkets, fast food outlets, fashion chains, petrol stations, toiletries/drugs, off-licences etc) where customers have repertoires of brands/own label within categories as well as repertoires of retailers rather than automotive, IT, communications, financial services where lifetime customer management concepts are the topic of current strategic thinking.
This paper outlines the current redevelopment programme taking place at Selfridges, a leading destination department store in London, and explains the three-stage approach they have adopted to review existing customer service initiatives: who are the customers? what do they want? how can their expectations be exceeded? The comprehensive and ongoing research programme undertaken to understand customer requirements and how to surpass them is described and findings from the first two stages are presented and reviewed. Researching the opinions of department store customers can be challenging, due to the extremely broad range of situations, needs and experiences. The impact of this diversity on sampling and logistical issues is examined in some detail. The paper concludes with a discussion of the way forward for Selfridges in the light of these findings and describes how the research will be used to guide further developments of the Selfridges brand outside of its traditional base of department store retailing. The importance of maintaining its brand values during this expansion process is also discussed.
The environment in which retailers operate is changing rapidly in the late twentieth century. This is evidenced in the higher levels of turbulence, major political changes and new demands being made by consumers. The traditional approaches to retail strategy are no longer adequate. New approaches have to be implemented which combine low cost with high service and locally adapted retail offers into a single strategy. Some of the major companies in European retailing are addressing the ways to implement these new strategies. Implementation procedures include new ways of using retail brands, wider use of alliances, more extensive internationalisation of activity and the more creative use of information. Impediments to the introduction of the new approaches to strategy include the need to change the corporate culture of many retailers, the extensive restructuring of the retail sector across Europe and the mixed role that public policy takes in encouraging and impeding change.
The focus of this paper is on leveraging on distribution to gain completive advantage especially in a highly competitive scenario. The paper demonstrates through an Indian case study pertaining to watch purchase that a. Consumers seek a distinct bag of benefits from the outlet they shop from b. There are distinct groups of consumers based on the benefit bag they seek c. A marketer must adopt differential retailing strategy to cater to each of these groups A set of distinct shopping related benefit propositions were generated through a qualitative research among recent buyers of watches. These were used in a quantitative research to identify different benefit segments existing in the market. The characteristics of each segment was examined to provide inputs to devising an optimum retailing strategy. That this approach could be used by retail chains as well is demonstrated briefly through another case. Market segmentation on different variables in order to devise product - market strategy is a commonly adopted practice by most marketers across product categories. Having decided on which consumer segment to target at, the product offer is tailored to maximise the probability of success in that chosen segment. While much thought is given to the basic elements of the product offer viz the product itself, the pricing and the communication, it is our contention that distribution element is probably not leveraged to its potential to gain competitive advantage. This paper is based on the ground realities of India where innovative approaches to retailing is just emerging - be it the mushrooming departmental stores and drains or the mail order selling. In this context, there is a tendency to view distribution just as a conduit to flow goods from the supplier to the consumers.
The continued growth of the superstore and super chains has created chaos in the U.S. retailing markets. It has particularly taken its toll on the more traditional retail chains and at the same time created severe problems for manufacturers attempting to position themselves for the next several years. For example, a paper products manufacturer, who in the past has dealt primarily with major supermarket chains, has found two new channels of distribution upsetting his five-year plan. The first is the continued growth of the Warehouse Clubs (Sam's and Price/Costco) which sell millions of bulk packed facial and bathroom tissues, as well as paper towelling. These relatively new outlets are in direct competition with the firm's regular- supermarket customers and bring on a need for price cutting.
Lakeside Shopping Centre, the largest in the south of England, is the subject of this presentation. A wealth of research has been conducted here over the 5 years it has been open. The purpose of the presentation is to demonstrate the types of research conducted and to show how useful this has been in the development of the Centre.
From a business point of view, Germany is made up of about 35 million households. These people purchase lots of food, cars, gelly babies, mountain bikes etc. And they buy lots of furniture to the value of more than 40 thousand million marks a year. The main question for individual manufacturers and retailers is not how to increase 40 to 45 thousand million marks. 'The main question for them is: How can I satisfy my customers and encourage them to purchase more of my products. This is where money comes from - especially since trying to win new customers becomes increasingly expensive. 'flic following paper tries to give an example of how current customers can be brick- walled. 'The first part of the paper includes a very short overview on the German furniture market as well as some general statements on customer satisfaction and customer retention. The main intention is to show: -how the study was designed to be profitable for both manufacturer and retailer, and - how the results of this study can be used to analyse the furniture market. It reveals how manufacturer and retailer can efficiently improve their performance - based on the philosophy: customer first.
In this paper three topical ways of segmenting retail markets are discussed illustrating the principal advantages and unique insights afforded by each of them individually. By use of a matrix approach it will then be shown how they can be combined into a single easy-to-use tool that retains all the qualities of the measures individually, and adds a substantial depth of perspective. The first approach is the segmentation of markets by Lifestage or age group, and this paper will show how ones lifespan can be divided into 5 year periods. In each of these periods peoples circumstances change, their interests and activities change, their buying behaviour and levels of consumer expenditure change. The second approach is the segmentation of markets by Lifeplane or socio-economic group, with Education being the key. This paper will show how buying behaviour, store choice and consumer expenditure levels are a function of Life Plane. The third approach is the use of Shopper Typologies to segment retail markets and this paper will show how different types of people react to retail and media offerings. In concluding the paper, it will be shown how a matrix approach may be used to combine all three measures.