• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.97-109
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• 2011

As a marketing vehicle to survive in intensified retailing competition, retailer brand development has been adopted by retailers in Korea. As evidence, the retailer brand share of a major retailer, Tesco Korea, has grown from 20% in 2007 to 22.8% in the first half of 2008. It means that retailers have provided more and more retailer brand foods for customers. With the growing accessibility to retailer brand foods, it would be expected that the number of retailer brand food claims will increase. Customers have increasingly exposed to a variety of marketing activities conducted by retailers. When buying the retailer brand foods, customers tend to be affected by marketing activities of retailers. Despite the fact that customers trust retailers and then, buy their brand foods, in case of food accidents caused by production process, customers have to seek compensation from a retailer brand supplier. Of course, a retailer tends to shift its responsibility to its suppliers. Accordingly, it is not easy for customers to solve food claims. The research, therefore, aims at exploring the relationship between the buying-decision processes of retailer brand customers and which side takes legal responsibility for food claims. To effectively achieve the research aim, the author adopted a quantitative and a qualitative research technique, in order to supplement the disadvantages of each method. Before field research, based on the developed research model, the author pre-tested questionnaire with 10 samples, amended, and handed out to 400 samples. Amongst them, 316 questionnaires are available. For a focus group interview, 9 participants were recruited, who are students, housewives, and full-time workers, aged from 20s to 40s. Through the focus group interview as well as the questionnaire results, it was found that most customers were influenced by a retailer or store image in a customer's mind, retailer reputation and promotional activities. Surprisingly, customers think that the name of a retailer is a more important factor than who produces retailer brand foods, even though many customers check a retailer brand supplier, when making a buying-decision. Rather than retailer brand suppliers, customers trust retailers. That is why they purchase retailer brands. Nevertheless, production-related food claims is not involved with retailers. In fact, it would be difficult for customers to distinguish whether a food claim is related to selling or manufacturing processes. Based on research results, from a customer perspective, the research suggests that the government should require retailers to take the whole responsibility for retailer brand food claims, preventing retailers from passing the buck to retailer brand suppliers. In case of food claims, in order for customers to easily get the compensation, it is necessary to reconsider the current system. If so, retailers have to fully get involved in retailer brand production stage, and further, the customer awareness of retailer brands will be improved than ever before. Retailers cannot help taking care of the whole processes of retailer brand development, because of responsibility. As a result, the process to seek compensation for food claims might become easier, and further, the protection of customer right might be improved.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.5-13
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• 2015

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to understand how retailers' green practices influence customer environmental values and their organic food purchasing intention. Research design, data, and methodology - Data were collected from randomly intercepting retail shoppers (n=719) departing from 33 retail stores selling organic food products located in Florida, USA. U.S. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, CFA and Hierarchical regression analyses. Results - Results documented that customer environmental values (social-altruistic values and biospheric values) were determinants of organic food purchasing intention. Retailers' green practices representing'green self-governance'were found to significantly enhance the effects of customer environmental values upon organic food purchasing intention. Conclusions - This study successfully demonstrated that customers'willingness to purchase eco-friendly products can be greatly increased when having a positive perceptions toward retailers'green practices such as environmental friendly waste management, environmental improvement of packaging, taking back packaging and recovery of the company's end-of-life products.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.25-33
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• 2018

Purpose - This research is to examine how different Korean retailers are from Japanese ones, in terms of taking a social responsibility for product scandals. Through a comparative analysis, the authors will provide some implications for retailers in Korea. Research design, data, and methodology - Based on the existing literature studied how retailers as well as manufacturers responded to food poisoning and product scandals, the authors compared Korea with Japan, in terms of taking a social responsibility. Results - As soon as food safety scandals occurred in Japan, a local government quickly ordered Snow Brand to recall and stop producing problematic milk products. In addition, retailers have stopped displaying them on their store shelves to minimize the number of victims. By stopping selling them, Japanese retailers took a social responsibility for product scandals. Conclusions - The authors found that retailers play a very important role in protecting customer rights. Moreover, customers have become more and more aware of the roles of retailers taking a social responsibility for social issues. The research proposes that a government has to develop the laws to protect customers from food poisoning and product safety issues effectively and that boycott campaigns should be legally protected by a government and promoted by customers.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.69-77
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• 2020

Purpose - This paper is aimed to analyze the effects of the mandatory closing regulation targeting large retailers, which has been implemented since 2012 to protect small retailers. We examine the changes in consumers' choice of retailers and their purchasing patterns of agri-food following the implementation of such regulation. Research design, data, and methodology - Household spending patterns were identified through the historical data of household food purchase, consumer panel provided by the Rural Development Administration. Clustering was employed to determine the household spending patterns. Moreover, the different household spending patterns before and after the regulation were comparatively studied. The patterns of consumers' choice of retail stores and shopping baskets by the type of retailers, derived from the respective datasets before and after the regulation, were compared to analyze the effects of the regulation. Results -After the regulation, some consumers who used to shop at large retailers before the regulation changed their shopping places to small retailers. However, the product categories that consumers had mainly purchased before the regulation were rarely changed even after the regulation. Conclusions - Although the regulation helped migrate some of the consumers to small retailers, the regulation seemed to have failed to stimulate consumers to purchase the goods, normally bought at large retailers, from traditional markets. In other words, traditional markets are not effective substitutes for regulation-affected retailers.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.73-79
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• 2014

Purpose - The Korean government has revised the distribution industry development law to regulate large-scale retailer operations to protecting medium- and small-scale retailers and traditional markets. According to the revised law, large-scale retailers must follow regulations on operating hours and compulsory store closures two days per month. Based on the revised distribution industry development law, most local governments regulate operation hours and they have adopted compulsory closure programs for large-scale retail stores. However, it is argued that fresh food producers suffer from a decrease in sales based on the compulsory closure of stores operated by large-scale retailers. Large-scale retailers reduce their fresh food orders from agricultural and fishery producers because of the compulsory store closures. Fresh food producers also suffer from a decrease in prices because reduced orders lead to a decrease in auction prices based on the availability of excess goods in wholesale markets. This paper investigates the effects of operation regulations for large-scale retailers on agricultural producers by surveying agricultural and fishery producer organizations. Research design, data, methodology - A survey was conducted on 117 producer organizations of fruits and vegetables, cereals, fisheries, and livestock products from September 10 to October 4, 2012. Survey items are annual sales, shares of sales accounted for by large-scale retailers, reduction of orders and prices from large-scale retailers, methods to deal with the sales reduction, unfair trade practices of large-scale retailers, opinion of the large-scale retailer regulations, and so on. The average sales of the sampled producer organizations are 13.7 billion won and the average share of sales accounted for by large-scale retailers is 35.4%. Results - Survey results show that the sample producer organizations' sales decreased 10.1% because of the compulsory closures of stores operated by large-scale retailers. It is estimated that the total sales of producer organizations decreased 371.2 billion won because of the regulations on the operation of large-scale retailers. In addition to the direct effect of a sales decrease due to order reduction, agricultural and fishery producer organizations suffered from the secondary effect of price reduction in wholesale markets. When orders from large-scale retailers decreased, most agricultural and fishery producer organizations shipped redundant products to wholesale markets, decreasing auction prices. It was estimated that the price received decreased 21.9% when sold in other marketing channels. As producer organization sales decreased, it was reported that the labor force employed by producer organizations also decreased by 15.1%. Therefore, we can conclude that the regulations for large-scale retailer operations resulted in negative impacts on agricultural producers. Conclusions - Although the sales reduction due to the regulations for large-scale retailer operations are not great, the cumulative effects due to the continued compulsory closure of stores operated by large-scale retailers could be great. This paper suggests governmental programs that could help agricultural producer organizations to find new and effective marketing channels such as direct marketing, farmers' markets, exports, Internet shopping, and so on.

• The Journal of Economics, Marketing and Management
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.25-38
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• 2021

Purpose: This study is aiming at providing researchers and practitioners with new insights to analyse how retailers have made a contribution to the growth of HMR market in Japan and UK. Research design: The second section will look at the definition of HMR, and then, introduce each county's case, while analysing how retailers have developed the HMR market and illustrating some implications. Finally, the authors will draw a conclusion. Results: Retailers have established the retailer brand development department with the sophisticated retail information system which has made a considerable contribution to the growth of the HMR market. Also, it enables retailers to accumulate retail knowledge associated with ready-to-eat meals and train top-level experts, whilst helping them to build the trustworthy supply chain relationships by sharing the POS data with food manufacturers. Consequently, the cooperation with food manufacturers has enhanced in the HMR market in both Japan and UK, on the basis of sophisticated delivery system as well as the concept of innovation into the HMR sector. Conclusions: Retailers have to benchmark Japanese and British retailers' Knowledge to grow ready meal market in Korea and invest their marketing resources in developing various HMR foods, on the basis of innovative thinking.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.69-80
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• 2021

Purpose: This study's purpose is to explore the relationship between entrepreneurial marketing orientation on new product development performance via marketing and innovation capabilities. Research design, data, and methodology: This research has applied a survey method which involved 159 respondents from food retailers among Michelin Guide Restaurants in Thailand. The literature's existing measurement scales were used to operationalize the constructs proposed in this study. The analyses were conducted using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to test the hypotheses. Results: The results have shown that new product development performance received positive and direct impacts from entrepreneurial marketing orientation, particularly in three dimensions: customer value orientation, opportunity-driven initiatives, and leveraged resources. Likewise, new product development performance received a positive, indirect impact from opportunity-driven initiatives, risk management, customer value orientation, and innovation that is focused on marketing and innovation capabilities. Conclusions: The results are useful for Thai food retailers as to strategy formulation in order to attract tourists from all over the world to tourist destinations in Thailand. Therefore, this empirical study is extremely important for domestic economic development and the international economy. These findings provide theoretical and managerial contributions for developing competitive strategies which will lead to sustainable business practices, as well as for providing future research directions.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.106-124
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• 2022

Purpose - The increasing share of Korean private label products (PLPs) in the domestic market helped generate lucrative revenue. In recent years, major South Korean retailers have begun to cast their sights on overseas markets and actively export their PLPs. In China, the proportion of private label fresh food (PLFF) is gradually expanding amid the development of the new retailing model. A profound understanding of the relationship between private label fresh produce and purchase intention may be the answer to helping Chinese retailer private labels expand supply chains in Korea. This study, taking Chinese retailers as an example, examines the impacts of selection factors of private label fresh food and perceived value on purchase intention. Apart from that, the relationship between the selection factors and purchase intention will be analyzed with perceived value as a mediator. Design/methodology - This work aims to empirically analyze the purchase intention of private label fresh food using statistical analysis. In this study, a hypothetical causal model consisting of 6 latent variables and 24 measured variables is developed based on the literature review. To validate the research hypotheses and the research model, SPSS23.0/AMOS23.0 is used to analyze factors such as validity and reliability, as well as structural equation modeling. Findings - The hypothetical model established in this study is of general applicability. In respect to PLFF, perceived value, while significantly influencing purchase intention in combination with four selection factors (perceived quality, perceived price, brand trust, and store image), mediates partially between the first three factors and purchase intention, which rules out the impact and mediating effect of store image on purchase intention. Originality/value - These research results, as helpful insights into the present circumstances of Chinese PLFF in the domestic market, provide useful information and guidance for Korean retailers and service providers to innovate production and service, as well as develop marketing and promotion strategies, so that they can shift private label goods with advantages from domestic demand to export, thus increasing overseas profitability. Further, this work will also contribute to relevant research.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.89-98
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• 2020

Purpose: The growth of online commerce is now becoming a major threat and a new opportunity for retailers. Existing offline retailers struggle to cope with new online retailers' threats by utilizing offline infrastructure. Besides, online retailers expand their online strengths to offline sales by opening their offline stores. Many retailers are paying close attention to the O2O business and the resulting changes. Thus, this research focuses on the O2O business model and process that retailers can adopt. Research design, data and methodology: Considering the features of products that retailers sell, this paper divides O2O business process with the following criteria: delivery lead-time and delivery area. And This research uses the business model canvas to define the features of O2O commerce business process. This paper also uses nine key elements in the business model canvas for analyzing the structure of O2O commerce business. Results: This paper suggests the delivery model of retailers respond to offline customer orders and summarizes the following results. (1) Considering characteristics such as logistics process, delivery area, and product type, we define the features of O2O business models: wide-area (warehouse) based O2O business model, regional area (store) based O2O business model and time-separated O2O business model. (2) This study checks the availability of the business model through the business cases of O2O business models. (3) This study also analyzes the O2O business model of domestic retail companies by the factors defined in the business model canvas. Conclusions: Retailers can adopt the O2O business process to fit their business requirements and strategy. The online retailers who deal with normal consumer products mainly have the wide-area based O2O business model. The wide-area based O2O business model can be suitable for retailers who manage inventory centrally. The time-separated O2O business model can be a good solution for fresh food retailers to operate the logistics process efficiently. And to shorten the delivery lead-time of fresh foods, the regional area based O2O business model can be fit to the retailer that utilizes its offline logistics or sales infrastructure. It may be much more important for retailers to share the inventory information with other branches and to change the role of offline stores.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.273-285
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• 2010

This paper analyzes retailers' purchasing patterns of fruits and vegetables and the problems with purchasing from agricultural product wholesale markets. While large-scale retailers purchase fruits and vegetables from various sources, medium and small-scale retailers and food service companies buy them mostly from agricultural product wholesale markets. The retailers point out the problems with purchasing from agricultural product wholesale markets as a lack of quality uniformity, not sufficient cooling storage facilities, not sufficient space for shipping area, high distribution cost, unnecessary price fluctuation, and etc. In order to enhance the linkage with retailers, agricultural product wholesale markets, first of all, have to adopt more flexible trading methods such as private treaty besides auctions which are exclusively legitimate trading methods in the market. Necessary are enlargement of jobbers' operating scale, securing shipping space for retailers, adoption of inspection service, introduction of methods to stabilize auction prices, saving of loading and unloading costs, implementation of marketing strategies.