European Retail Digest articles from December 2004

European Retail Digest archives from December 2004

Director, Oxford Institute of Retail Management.(Editorial)
December 22, 2004... UK retailers have become increasingly vociferous over the costs of regulation upon their businesses. The Department of Trade & Industry's retail strategy group concluded: "regulation must be proportionate and accountable, consistent,...

The kaleidescope principle: a new view on collaborative CRM.(Feature: Retail Information Technology)
December 22, 2004... Introduction Thinking of supermarkets just as media owners grossly understates the true opportunity for manufacturers and retailers to cooperate on customer management. It may be hard to believe but some of the UK's most popular retailer...

Retailers prepare for future in-store IT to perfect the shopping experience.(Feature: Retail Information Technology)
December 22, 2004... Emerging Trends A trend is emerging in the tier one/tier two retail communities throughout Europe that sees a shift in emphasis away from using IT for pure efficiency and cost-saving initiatives towards customer service improvements in...

IBM finds that shoppers around the world are increasingly open to new shopping experiences.(Feature: Retail Information Technology)
December 22, 2004... Next Generation Store Technology adoption requires clear demonstration of benefits and is influenced by category and occasion-specific needs. IBM reports the results from its recent "next generation store" customer research, the latest in...

IXRetail: real, ready and proven.(Feature: Retail Information Technology)
December 22, 2004... Introduction Technology has always been difficult to implement when it comes from more than one source. No technical advancement has been propagated in any industry by multiple producers without standards. A famous example includes the...

Driven by corporate principles and an obsession with customers and quality: interview with Claude Hauser, Chairman of the Board of the Federation of Migros Cooperatives.(Interview)
December 22, 2004... Migros is the number one retailer in Switzerland with 1.9 million cooperative members, 590 stores and a staff of over 80,000. The group is a vertically integrated business, incorporating a dozen food and near-food industrial companies, and is...

Below-cost legislation, price competition and inflation in French retailing.(European Regional Review: France)
December 22, 2004... Introduction Since new legislation was enacted in France, the prices of the leading manufacturers' brands have increased continuously and the price differential with private labels--and low-price products--has also increased. ...

French retailers seek freedom for price cuts.(European Regional Review: France)
December 22, 2004... Legislation introduced nearly a decade ago to protect small and medium-sized French food producers from the growing power of the country's retailers has come under fire in the last year, accused of contributing to the sharp rise in food prices....

Auchan's internationalisation: waaoh, wow or woe?(European Regional Review: France)
December 22, 2004... Introduction With a pre-tax turnover in 2003 of 28.7 billion euros in 2003, Auchan is the third largest food retailer in France (behind Carrefour and Intermarche), the eighth in Europe and the seventeenth world-wide. Founded in 1961 in...

Casino's French challenge.(European Regional Review: France)
December 22, 2004... As its domestic market, France has always been important for Casino. It continues to play a critical role for the group today: Eight years after the group's internationalisation began, France still accounts for 80% of group turnover and 95% of...

DIY in France.(European Regional Review: France)
December 22, 2004... The European scene DIY varies around Europe, from the project-led, heavy end focus of Germany, to the soft-end home decorative approach of Homebase in the UK. On the way it takes in the ill-defined Scandinavian businesses which usually...

Changing retail landscape for organic products.(European Regional Review: France)
December 22, 2004... Introduction Once a niche sector of the food industry, organic foods are now considered mainstream with most food retailers in western Europe offering some organic products. The metamorphosis from niche to mainstream status has involved...

EU international trade policy: Peter Mandelson (UK) takes over as commissioner.(European Political Issues)
December 22, 2004... Peter Mandelson Takes Office Peter Mandelson took up his new post as the Trade Commissioner of the EU on 22 November 2004, after the whole new team of Commissioners, headed by Jose-Manuel Barroso had been approved in a vote by the European...

Europe-wide survey confirms that retailers are going for growth.(European News Analysis)
December 22, 2004... In a unique and searching telephone survey, in which some 500 retailers across Europe were contacted, three-fifths said they had identified opportunities for organic expansion. Expansion opportunities in the developed domestic market may be...

Deshopping: retail perspective on the mismanagement and prevention of 'deshopping'.(European News Analysis)
December 22, 2004... Deshopping is the return of products, after they have fulfilled the purpose for which they were borrowed. This paper examines deshopping from a retail perspective. Research was conducted in collaboration of the British Shops and Stores...

European grocery retailers: international divestment activities.(European News Analysis)
December 22, 2004... Until recently, the focus of research into retail internationalisation has been on corporate growth and expansion. The increased number of international activities, and the attention given to these in both the trade and popular press, has...

New Zealand.(Letter)
December 22, 2004... Dear Reader Until the 1990s you would talk to North Americans (and maybe even some Europeans) and you'd find that they 'like New Zealand because it reminds them of the USA 20 years ago'--little or no crime, laid back lifestyle etc. But...

The contribution of food retailing to society and to the economy.(Viewpoint)
December 22, 2004... This article highlights some of the results from a study, commissioned by the Paris based CIES and carried out by the Oxford Institute of Retail Management (OXIRM). The study set out to explore the contribution of food retailing in three key...