Managing Retail Consumption

Managing Retail Consumption locates retailing in its social context and develops the position that retailing can be regarded as a site of consumption, identity creation and pleasure. It develops a consumption perspective, which provides a balanced approach between management and the social sciences. The consumption perspective considers the way retail sites are created or manipulated with a view to understanding the interplay between the provider's requirements and the consumer's ability to manage, structure and edit their repertoire of responses. Preface

Acknowledgment

Introduction

PART 1 INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT : THE ROLE AND HISTORY OF RETAIL CONSUMPTION

Retailing History

The Birth of Modern Consumption

Consumption, Signs and Symbols

PART 2 MANAGEMENT OF THE ARENA OF RETAIL CONSUMPTION

A Dramaturgical View-Elements of the Drama: A Question of Perspective

The Servuction Model and its Extensions

The Physical Environment

Merchandise

Atmosphere and Image

The Social Dimension

The Temporal Dimension

Customers' Psychological State

PART 3 THE RETAIL ENTERPRISE IN CONTEXT

The Strategic Context

Service Characteristics and Context

The Locational Context

The Social and Ecological Context

PART 4 THE RETAIL FUTURE

Conclusions and Prognosis

Index "…this book is well presented and offers some vignette type cases to support learning…" (The Marketing Review, Winter 2002)

Barry Davies and Philippa Ward are both of Cheltenham & Gloucester College of Higher Education, UK. Managing Retail Consumption explores retailing primarily from the customer's viewpoint, as well as placing the subject in its wider social context. In this new book, Barry Davies and Philippa Ward give both the student and manager of retailing a unique perspective on consumption that balances marketing, management and the social sciences. Using this interdisciplinary approach, the authors consider the way retail spaces are both created and manipulated. They also explore the interplay between the retailer's provision and the consumer's ability to structure, manage and edit individual responses.

FEATURES

• Includes concise histories of retail development and the birth and growth of consumer culture.
• Investigates retailing through the metaphor of drama, using the Servuction model as a framework.
• Illustrates retail practice with examples from many well-known international organizations, e.g. Aldi, Marks & Spencer, Mitsukoshi, Nordstrom and Wal-Mart.

Managing Retail Consumption is written for those studying retailing at advanced undergraduate and postgraduate levels, as well as those actively manging the retail environment