Retail Influence of Brand Perception - Dissertation Example

Retail Influence of Brand Perception Introduction In modern commercial markets the competition among the participants is hard. In this context, the companies and the entrepreneurs around the world have to follow innovative strategies in order to keep the customer satisfied, a target that has been proved more difficult that it was primarily estimated. The creation of brands in the local markets internationally has offered to the enterprises the chance to expand their activities based on the preferences of consumers as these have been observed throughout the years. However, not all sectors of commerce present satisfactory results regarding the expansion initiatives of the enterprises involved. An indicative example of a commerce sector that faces severe turbulences the last decade is the retail industry. Towards this direction it has been supported by Incandela et al. (1999, 84) that ‘unlike companies in other industries, retailers have not been able to travel light: those seeking to establish new markets abroad must find suitable high-quality sites, develop distribution support systems, and deal with the complexities of local zoning regulations, tariffs, and quotas, as well as understand local tastes and manage local labour forces’. However, despite the above difficulties firms in the retail sector try to increase their performance by applying a series of innovative commercial techniques and plans, brand management is one of these ‘entrepreneurial tools’ used for the achievement of the above target. Statement of the problem The main problem under examination in current study is the retail influence on brand perception. The creation of brands as it is observed in markets around the world will be evaluated in relation with the retail sector and all the possible influence of the latter to the former. Moreover, the retail influence will be also examined regarding all aspects of brand – related activities including the issue of responsibilities of brand managers. Research methodology The research will be based on the theories stated regarding the issue under examination, i.e. the literature review while its empirical part will be based on the studies and the researches that have already been made regarding the particular issue as well as on a series of statistical data as they are published by governmental and private institutions. In other words, current research will be a qualitative one, as it has been described in the online encyclopedia, the Wikipedia (2006) ‘Qualitative research’ involves ‘an indepth understanding of human behaviour and the reasons that govern human behaviour and it also relies on reasons behind various aspects of behaviour; Simply put, it investigates the why and how of decision making, as compared to what, where, and when of quantitative research’. The results of the qualitative research as described above are going to be analyzed in accordance with the views presented in the Literature Review section. Outline of chapters The paper has been divided in Four Chapters which include both the material used and the analysis made on the issue under examination and which have been divided in sub-sections in order to highlight the particular parts that need specific development. In this context, Chapter One includes the Introduction of the paper, the Statement of the problem (where the main issue under examination is presented), the research methodology, i.e. the method of empirical research that has been used in the specific paper as well as the outline of the chapters. At a next level Chapter Two refers to the Literature Review while the next Chapter, Chapter Three, contains all data used in current study. Finally, Chapter Four includes a general conclusion on the subject of the study as well as a series of recommendations regarding particular aspects of the issue under examination. Chapter Two Literature Review In order to evaluate the retail influence on brand perception we should primarily define brand. In this context, it has be noticed by Henderson et al. (2000, 112) that ‘the building of a brand starts with a precise definition of the target customer group and its needs and expectations and proceeds to a realistic assessment of how well the brand currently meets them; next, the retailer must decide which of the benefits it can offer will give the brand a distinctive position in the marketplace; then the retailer's marketing and advertising efforts must fashion an image around the brand that is not only consistent with these benefits but also credibly promises that they will bring excitement and satisfaction’. From another point of view, Dennis et al. (2002, 355) supported that ‘branding is well known for consumer products but power has shifted from manufacturers' brands towards retailers' while the term 'image' is more common than 'brand' in the context of shopping centres, but 'branding' may become more important’. In other words, branding is known as a common strategic technique for the expansion of business operational activities in many areas globally. However, Chung et al. (1997, 361) noticed that ‘competition among brands has become more complicated as the number of brands originating from foreign countries increases; many foreign brands compete with domestic brands in many global markets in North America (e.g., the automobile market); two concepts have been identified as key variables for the long-term success of brands or firms in global markets: brand popularity and country image; competitive analysis has been complicated as these two factors interact with other marketing variables in influencing brand performance’. It should be noticed however that the relation of branding with the expansion of enterprises in the retail sector cannot be specified with accuracy mostly because retail industry is a very competitive one with continuously changing characteristics. Towards this direction, Pettinger (2004, 165) examined the ‘juxtaposition between production and consumption that characterises the retail sector render it interesting for studies of work and consumption’ and came to the conclusion that ‘contemporary chain store clothing retail is characterised by "lifestyle retail brands" that compete for sales through offering products and services targeted to customers of particular class, age, and gender backgrounds, and with particular orientations to fashion leading to the assumption that the influence of branding and marketing in retail extends beyond components such as store design while branding influences who is employed in a store, and what work they do and this test is taking place through two main ‘routes’: through customer service provision and through how workers are embodied, both of which influence consumption by shoppers’. The above views are in accordance with those of Pepall et al. (2002, 535) who supported that ‘the extension of a successful brand label from an initial home market to a different product lineusing a model that assumes that brand identity is a complementary feature that enhances consumer willingness to pay’ while his study led to conclusion that ‘a pattern of brand-stretching entry in which (1) firms with strong brand identities may prefer to extend their brands to markets that are "far" from their original product line, and (2) fragmented or unconcentrated markets with no strong incumbent brands are attractive entry targets for brand extension’. On the other hand, branding cannot produce the expected results if the customers’ preferences are not taken into account. Towards this direction, it has been found by Henderson et al. (2000, 113) that ‘another important step in the brand-building process is assuring a brand's proximity to consumers; for the sake of customers' convenience, the office supply competitors Staples and Office Depot, for example, have begun putting smaller stores in more locations, expanding the definition of the brand by giving the consumer access to a killer assortment of goods through whatever format or channel best suits a given transaction; the culmination of this trend, of course, is electronic commerce over the World Wide Web. Big-box retailers in particular increasingly face the challenges of multichannel management and the need to provide a consistent brand statement across each channel’. The findings of the study made by the above researchers are similar with those that resulted from the research of Lane et al. (2006). More specifically, Lane et al. (2006, 35) used a series of ‘sourcing strategies of clothing firms in the developed economies of the UK and Germany in the context of their national institutional framework’ to evaluate the performance of a series of brands that operate under different conditions. The above study led to the conclusion that ‘these firms pursue different sourcing strategies and make different locational choices; also particular emphasis was given on the different mix of arms' length and relational contracting that firms develop, and on the divergent degree of control over the manufacturing process and the product that they retain’. In other words, place and market conditions seem to be significant factors towards the success establishment of a brand. The role of the industry involved in the success of this effort has not evaluated yet. On the other hand, Girod (2005, 514) presented the model of Burt and Sparks (2002) ‘which proposes that a retail brand depends on the alignment between a retailer's substance (vision and culture) and its perceived image by customers – this model was tested using as a basis an ethnographic study conducted within the Oxfam Trading Division, GB from October to December 2002 which demonstrates that it was the alignment between the vision of Oxfam's top management and its new customer-oriented culture, two elements of its core substance mediated to customers by store employees, which has enabled an improved customers' perception of the brand’. The use of the above model in specific commercial conditions should be regarded as an effective method in order to test the performance of the brands involved within the UK market. This method of brand evaluation could be possibly used in other sectors of the British commercial market. Regarding specifically the British market it has been supported by Oxborrow (2000, 27) that the main developments in the country’s manufacturing industry ‘resulted from the reconfiguration of retailing in the 1980s when the concept of lifestyle shopping, pioneered by Next ‘forced’ consumers to develop a preference for more sophisticated product ranges, better quality and higher design content, forcing major chains to move away from standardized mass-produced items, to smaller quantities of better quality, well designed, and co-ordinated ranges’. The above findings are in accordance with those of ICC Business Ration Plus (2000) which highlighted ‘the dominance of seven chain store groups that collectively account for almost half of all sales; These include Marks & Spencer (16%), the Burton Group, BhS, Next and Littlewoods; The fastest growing retailers, however, include smaller chains such as Oasis and New Look, while the most profitable are Burberry, River Island, Monsoon and Mackays’ (ICC Business Ration Plus, in Oxborrow, 2000, 29). At a next level, the success of brands around the world has been related with the brand managers and their capacity to face the challenges set by the global competition. In this context, Macrae et al. (1997, 64) supported that ‘brand managers face many challenges (including questions of brand strength, world-class culture, “global” branding, seeded marketing channels, “service smart” integration, brand architecture and brand organizing) and for this reason a framework is presented for thinking about the challenges and how to deal with them: it is called “brand chartering” and has three principal elements: creating and communicating the brand, managing the brand organization, and directing and structuring the brand’. Towards the same direction, James (2005, 14) claimed that ‘understanding brand associations and their role in the formation of attitude towards brands is necessary for managers to understand fully the dynamics of their brands and how consumers evaluate and make brand choices’. The role of brand associations is mentioned because of their power to formulate the main characteristics of brand management internationally. Moreover, the study of Glemet et al. (1995, 174) showed that ‘in recent years, most European retailers have been working to develop their distributor own brand (DOB) product lines, sometimes by extending own brand into new categories, sometimes by widening the assortment in categories where it is already present; when DOB is introduced in a new category, the expectation is that it will improve overall category profitability by: (1) increasing the number of units sold by improving perceived value; (2) reducing average buying costs and, since the reduction is only partly passed on to the consumer, raising the retailer's absolute margin: and (3) increasing other revenues such as promotional investments paid by manufacturers to counterbalance the additional threat of this "new" in store competition’. Furthermore, the behaviour of specific brands towards the challenges set by the hard global competition has been examined using as example a series of firms from the automobile industry. More specifically, Chung et al. (1997, 361) – referring especially to the branding activities in the automobile sector - support that ‘over the years, certain brands, such as Plymouth Horizon and Renault Alliance, have disappeared from the market place, while other brands, such as Mazda 323 and Pontiac LeMans, have barely maintained their market share as non-popular brands but only a few brands such as Ford Escort and Honda Civic have established their popularity; brand popularity is considered to be the accumulation of market acceptance and brand goodwill over time; behind firms' efforts in creating or maintaining the popularity of their car models is a strong belief that once a particular model has become popular, the popularity component will bring a positive contribution to the brand's loyalty, image, or market sales’. In accordance with the above study, brand popularity can be considered as an element that has an indirect influence on the firms’ performance in the automobile industry (and in other industries that present similar characteristics). At a next level, Cravens (1989, 18) presents ‘a supporting rationale for four generic marketing strategies: these include market domination in the firm that tries to achieve or hold the dominant competitive position in an industry: A market development strategy seeks to expand market boundaries to generate enhanced performance: A market selectivity strategy is defined as trying to dominate one or a few market segments in heterogeneous markets; finally, a firm may employ a differential advantage strategy where it seeks to develop and exploit a competitive advantage in a homogeneous market’. In the above context, when conducting marketing operations, ‘firms have several options for sourcing the various communication activities; essentially, it is a make or buy decision: source from within or externally but if communications functions are sourced on the outside, one option is to employ a full service advertising agency; other options include using specialized suppliers for creative, media planning/buying, direct response programs, public relations, and other services’ (Griffin et al., 1997, 24). The role of marketing in the development of business performance cannot be doubted. However, it has been suggested by Moore (1995, 282) that ‘a successful company is not one that begins with an unattractive product and then uses marketing techniques to sell it; a successful company uses marketing techniques such as focus groups, surveys, and so on to discover what particular features consumers desire in a product; that way, the company can design a product that fits consumers' desires; in this sense, marketing becomes a way of tapping the current of consumer desires and giving it force in the process of product design and manufacturing’. In other words, the success of a business in the modern commercial market is closely connected with the quality of the products/ services that this firm offers to the public. In case that the products/ services provided are not in accordance with the standards claimed in the firm’s marketing campaign, it is very likely that the firm will soon have to face a limitation of its activities with subsequent severe financial losses. Chapter Three Presentation and analysis of data The position and the status of brands have been examined thoroughly in the area of empirical research. In this context, O’Cass et al. (2002, 67) attempted ‘to expand our understanding of brands and their impact on consumer behaviour by assessing the relationship between brand associations, which contribute to consumption behaviour and for this reason they developed a self-administered questionnaire which was administered to a non-probabilistic convenience sample of 315 young consumers’. The study of these researchers as described above led to the conclusion that ‘the status-conscious market is more likely to be affected by the symbolic characteristics of a brand; feelings aroused by the brand; and by the degree of congruency between the brand-user’s self-image and the brand’s image itself; results also indicate that the higher the symbolic characteristics, the stronger the positive feelings, and the greater the congruency between the consumer and brand image, the greater the likelihood of the brand being perceived as possessing high status elements while the suspicion that status-laden brands would be chosen for status consumption and conspicuous consumption was also confirmed’ (O’Cass et al., 2002, 67). However, it is not made clear whether the above results refer to specific sectors of the commercial market. Moreover, Fernie et al. (1998, 366) tried to locate ‘the growth strategies adopted by fashion design houses to transform and reposition their businesses from relatively small, niche-market and privately-owned companies to stock market listed conglomerates which produce fashion and lifestyle products aimed at a lucrative and international middle retailing market’ taking into account ‘the geographical implications of these strategies as illustrated through an examination of their locational impact on London and New York’. The above research led to a series of interesting findings: ‘both cities have experienced unprecedented and parallel patterns of development, apparently as a result of the aggressive expansion activities of fashion designer companies’ (Fernie et al., 1998, 366). At a next level, Newman et al. (2004, 770) studied the performance of two leading British brands ‘Topshop’ and ‘Gap’. In this research a significant number of customers (around 3000) has been used. In accordance with the results of this study ‘Gap customers were offered lifestyles in advertising that were out-of-step with the merchandise on the shelves, a trend that reflected a failure on the part of retail management to satisfy the target market whereas Topshop customers displayed high levels of confidence in the merchandise proposition but stressed the importance of atmosphere and sales staff in overall assessments; this finding reinforces the view that sustainable retailer positioning pivots on a range of marketing activities as well as matching fashion consumers to styles’ (Newman et al., 2004, 770). The clothing sector has not been the only one examined regarding the performance of branding initiatives. More specifically, in another part of the retail sector, the precious jewellery market, the research made by Jamal et al. (2001) led to a series of interesting findings. In the relevant research ‘a questionnaire was sent to 500 consumers of precious jewellery in five major cities of the UK; results indicate that self-image congruity was a very strong predictor of consumers’ brand preferences and a good predictor of consumer satisfaction; respondents with higher levels of self-image congruity were more likely to prefer the brand and enjoy higher levels of satisfaction with the brand as compared to those with lower levels of self-image congruity’ (Jamal et al., 2001, 282). In a similar survey, Kerfoot et al. (2003, 143) used ‘a series of semi-structured interviews with a small sample of female undergraduate students which (interviews) incorporated the use of stimulus material – photographs taken of concessions in a department store some 150 miles away from the research location’ the above interviews were used ‘in order to examine the results of an initial investigation on “visual merchandising” and its effects on purchase behaviour and brand recognition; the context is concessionary branded female fashion offerings within a department store; results suggest that the themes that linked most strongly to purchase intention were: merchandise colours, presentation style, awareness of fixtures, path finding, sensory qualities of materials and lighting whereas initial findings suggest that liking of display does not totally determine purchase, but does make it four times more likely’ (Kerfoot et al., 2003, 143). However, even if the view of the public regarding a specific brand seems to be formulated, in fact there are many issues that can influence the final choice of the consumer. Regarding this problem, Child et al. (2002, 11) have found that ‘conventional wisdom holds that a great retail brand must present one face to the world--a consistent image that defines the product wherever consumers find it; but retail chains have found that although they can hang out their signs anywhere, consumers respond differently in every country; understanding those differences is the key to building a successful retail brand across borders’. In order to support their views, the above researchers made a survey on a series of retail groceries and clothing brands in ‘France, Germany, and the United Kingdom trying to show the importance of tailoring a product's image to each national market; as retailers such as Aldi, Tesco, and Zara move into new territory, they may have to define themselves not once but many times over but retailers that rely on a single brand formula can find themselves forced out of some markets, as Eddie Bauer, Marks & Spencer, and Wal-Mart can attest’ (Child et al., 2002, 11). The above findings refer on brands that are well known to the public, i.e. they are brands the promotion of which has been achieved through an extensive and costly advertising scheme. Towards this direction, Hall (2002, 24) found that ‘if packaged-goods companies cut brand advertising, sales fall not because consumers forget to look for the product in the grocery store, but because their memory of the "objective sensory experience" they have had with the product begins to degrade but without ongoing advertising, the consumer's experience begins to match the actual product experience; this will fall below the recalled level of competitive products that continue to advertise, and sales will fall; for a product to succeed in the marketplace on product superiority alone, it must be substantially better than--not equal to!--the advertised alternatives’. In a similar survey ‘a randomly chosen sample of 20 brands being sold by each of Britain's 20 top suppliers to Tesco and Sainsburys (Britain's two leading grocery chains) were analyzed in the content analysis; the sample includes most of the Western world's leading suppliers of grocery products but leans heavily toward British firms; The process was incremental: First, brands from one manufacturer were examined and the interplay between their brands and corporate identities recorded; brands from other suppliers were then analyzed until a classification scheme was developed; Six types of brand mark were identified, and the relative priority given to them on each sample package was noted; semistructured personal interviews were then conducted with senior managers from the suppliers and agencies interested in branding’ (Laforet et al., 1994, 65). Furthermore, the above researchers came to the conclusion that ‘most of the firms studied used some form of mixed branding; those that did not tended to use mono brands; the range of ways brands are used, even within one market, suggests that the process is not purely consumer driven; this was confirmed by interviewing companies; surprisingly, for an issue so close to the core of marketing, non-marketing issues are very important in explaining what companies are doing; corporate history, company structure, and philosophy all play a major part’ (Laforet et al., 1994, 68). At a next level, in accordance with the Britain's first official survey of e-commerce by the Office for National Statistics ‘almost one fifth of e-commerce in 2000 was business to consumer, worth some £10 billion; much of this was financial sector business, such as stock trading, however, a figure of £1.2 billion was reported for general consumer shopping’ (Retail Industry, 2007) Chapter Four Conclusion and Recommendations In order to achieve the targets related with their creation, brands should follow specific strategic techniques. Gathering information from customers would be a valuable solution in order to identify the preferences of the public regarding a specific product/ services provided. In this context, it has been found by Hagel et al. (1997, 65) that ‘companies have good reason to collect information about customers; it enables them to target their most valuable prospects more effectively, tailor their offerings to individual needs, improve customer satisfaction and retention, and identify opportunities for new products or services; but even as more and more managers begin to build strategies based on capturing information about their customers, a major change is under way that may undermine their efforts; we believe that consumers are going to take ownership of information about themselves and demand value in exchange for it; as a result, negotiating with consumers for information will become costly and complex’ (Hagel et al., 1997, 65). On the other hand, the impact of globalization in the development of branding activities around the world cannot be denied. More specifically, the study of Barth et al. (1996, 117) showed that ‘one of the most problematic trends in today's retail industry is globalization; given the substantial productivity advantages enjoyed by the world's best retailers, opportunities to move successful and innovative formats abroad would appear to be boundless’(Barth et al., 1996, 117). One of the most severe consequences of globalization to the establishment of brands within the international marketplace especially in the retail sector has been the reduction of profits that the firms operating in the specific sector have to face. Towards this direction, Werner et al. (2004, 10) supported that ‘many industries have been hit hard by the recent recession, but none more so than the retail sector; as retailers have struggled, however, a few major chains have found ways to increase both earnings and sales: companies such as Staples, Bed Bath & Beyond and Office Depot have consistently posted top-quartile earnings growth compared to their peers; what – if anything – are these companies doing differently from their competitors?’. From another point of view, there is always the risk involved in the public’s preferences. In this context, Hall (2002, 24) noticed that ‘consumers "change their minds" about a product, then they change their attitude, and then they act; in other words, the process begins with cognition, which translates to affect, which then translates to behaviour and in this way the purpose of advertising is primarily to drive trial by inserting the brand into the consumer's head and keeping it there’. Because of the above behaviour of consumers, the existence of a broad and continuous marketing campaign is considered as necessary for the survival of any brand around the world. However, in order for any marketing strategy to be successful it is necessary that it will be designed carefully taking into account the needs of consumers and the strengths of the particular market. At a next level, it has to be noticed that the role of the brand manager is considered as crucial towards the success of any relevant initiative in the international marketplace. Of course this role will have to be formulated in accordance with the standards set by the specific firm and the personal characteristics of the manager, however it should follow a general principle: ‘a brand leader must understand that a move to displace smaller manufacturers of private label may erupt in a fierce price war’ (Glemet, 1993, 87). On the other hand, it has been noticed by Hagel (1993, 27) that ‘there is no effective way to carry out a systemic, performance-oriented re-integration of a business other than by working to view that business as a limited set of, say, three to five "core" end-to-end operating processes’. All the above initiatives, i.e. the location of the most appropriate (in terms of reduction of relevant costs) supplier and the re-structuring of business orientation, are crucial for the success of the established brand. The existence of accurate informing of all staff involved in the process is also significant. For this reason Moore (1995, 143) supported that ‘what is strategic in the communication is not that it is designed to be manipulative, but instead that it is designed to advance particular policies or organizational strategies by making them comprehensible and by enlisting the support and cooperation of those who must work together to produce the intended result’. The appropriate communication between the participants of a business process is a necessary element of the success of the relevant process. In the long term, the accurate application of all appropriate guidelines (as developed above) can lead to the creation of a profitable brand - with a special reference to the retail industry. References Barth, K., Karch, N., Maclaughlin, K., Smith, C. (1996). Global Retailing: Tempting Trouble. The McKinsey Quarterly, 1: 117-125 Child, P., Heywood, S., Kliger, M. (2002). Do Retail Brands Travel? The McKinsey Quarterly, 11-16 Chung, J., Kim, C., (1997). Brand Popularity, Country Image and Market Share: An Empirical Study. Journal of International Business Studies, 28(2): 361-384 Cravens D. W., Hills, G. E., LaForge, R., Lunsford, D. (1989). Toward a Theory of Marketing Strategy for New Ventures: Some Preliminary Propositions. In Proceedings of the Winter Educators' Conference. 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(2004). ‘The marketing directions of two fashion retailers’ European Journal of Marketing, 38(7): 770-789 O’Cass, A., Frost, H. (2002). ‘Status brands: examining the effects of non-product-related brand associations on status and conspicuous consumption’ Journal of Product & Brand Management, 11(2): 67-88 Oxborrow, L. (2000) ‘Beyond Needles and Thread: Changing Supply Chains in the UK’ Emerging Changes in the UK Apparel Supply Chain, January 2000: 25-83 Pepall, L., Richards, D. (2002). ‘The Simple Economics of Brand Stretching’ The Journal of Business, 75: 535–552 Pettinger, L. (2004). ‘Consumption, Markets and Culture’ Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group, 7(2): 165-184 Retail Industry (2007) Comparison between U.S. and UK E-tail trends http://retailindustry.about.com/library/bl/q2/bl_imrg0525b.htm?terms=commercial+finance+plc Werner, U., McDermott, J., Rotz, G. (2004). ‘Retailers at the crossroads: how to develop profitable new growth strategies’ Journal of Business Strategy, 25(2): 10-17 Bibliography Aufreiter, N., Lawyer, T., Lun, C. (2000). A New Way to Market. The McKinsey Quarterly, 53-58 Henrik, U. (2006) ‘The corporate brand association base: A conceptual model for the creation of inclusive brand architecture’ European Journal of Marketing, 40(7-8): 785-802 Karakaya, Fah., Karakaya, Fer. (1998). Doing Business on the Internet. SAM Advanced Management Journal, 63(2): 10-16 Seitz, V., Handojo, D. (1997). ‘Market similarity and advertising standardization: A study of the UK, Germany and the USA’ Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied Marketing Science, 3(3): 171-183 Smith, G. (1996). ‘Framing in Advertising and the Moderating Impact of Consumer Education’ Journal of Advertising Research, 36(5): 49-60 Appendices Figure 1 – Consumer durables in UK (Source: National Statistics Online) Read More