• Understand the new rules for retail and the way customers want to buy
• Develop a strategy to connect with consumers, increase sales and create real brand loyalty
• Spot and avoid the traps which have allowed new entrants to destroy established market leaders
• Explore case studies and examples from a wide range of industries from around the world
• Build a project plan to reinvent your business strategically with everyday practical steps to drive commercial results

Drawing on several interviews and a comprehensive statistical analysis, Alfred Angerer proves the effectiveness of such ASR systems. The following questions are adressed: Which types of ASR system exist? What are the exact benefits of ASR systems? Which variables influence the ASR performance? Which ASR system is best suited for each product?
How does a company best implement ASR systems?

Wie konnen sich Unternehmen andern und sich dabei treu bleiben? Es gibt viele Wege zum Erfolg, eines jedoch haben sie gemeinsam: Ihr Fokus liegt auf Change Communications (Veranderungskommunikation). In dem Buch wird die zentrale Aufgabe von Change Communications veranschaulicht, namlich die Kommunikation wahrend eines Veranderungsprozesses zu steuern, zu managen und zu gestalten. Pramierte Projekte (European Change Communications Award) werden detailliert vorgestellt und durch Expertenbeitrage zu den Themen Traditionen, Werte und Rituale erganzt."

Leading international food retailers have in recent years expanded beyond national boundaries and started to operate on a global scale. This book describes the current state of play, looking in detail at the main competitors worldwide and analyzing the factors underlying their successes and failures. The authors are leading commentators on this industry and identify the essential characteristics of a global strategy in food retailing and include many compelling examples.

This book defines supply chains, focusing on the impact that they can have o the retail industry. Featuring step-by-step how supply chains are set up, the factors that can impact them and what that means to the customer.

This book studies the main causes, consequences and nature of the Asia-Pacific's new free trade agreement (FTA) trend, and its implications for the global economy. It explores the FTA policies of the region's trade powers and offers conceptual and theoretical perspectives on the relationship between economic bilateralism and regionalism.

Japanese distribution was long seen as archaic and difficult to understand, but today that has changed. Domestic firms stretching across all retail formats and categories have taken control of channels and now lead the consumer market from the front. They are now so advanced that the very best are bursting out of the Japanese market and operating across Asia and even as far as Western Europe. Through case studies and concrete examples, this book provides the most detailed analysis of retailing in Japan ever written; it is the definitive guide to how Japan has changed and what to expect in the future.

This book provides a compendium of cutting-edge knowledge for an efficacious retailing strategy, with lessons from the organized retailing sector in India. It explores customer needs and their impact on developing successful retailing strategies and organized retailing in emerging economies with changing consumer behavior. It discusses the importance of developing appropriate retailing strategies in the context of an emerging economy, being agile and forward-thinking to implement a customer-centric approach across the retail value chain's upstream and downstream actions, and the requirement of clarity on the exact tools and techniques that will allow the retailers to move from their present product-centric state to the looked-for customer-centric state. This book aids the practitioners in developing and adopting a culture of customer-centricity and focuses on various retail strategy concepts and their implementation. It aims to present the multifaceted and multifarious questions of retail marketing in two studies, where each study provides a comprehensive solution.

Shopping Tourism, Retailing and Leisure provides a comprehensive examination of the relationships between tourism, leisure, shopping, and retailing. Critical issues are examined within the framework of the dichotomous relationship between utilitarian and hedonic forms of shopping, shopping as a primary and secondary attraction in tourist destinations, the development of various tourist-retail venues, the role of souvenirs in tourism, and management issues (e.g. merchandising, venue design, and customer service).

Following the journey of eight bargain store objects, Alison Hulme reveals the complex story behind society's simplest and cheapest commodities. Inspired by Walter Benjamin's Arcades Project, On the Commodity Trail explores the colourful and fascinating histories of everyday objects.Along the way, we observe raw materials on municipal rubbish dumps in China, newly re-made products in the world's largest wholesale market, and take a journey across the seas, to bargain stores in Europe and North America, arriving finally in the homes of consumers. Weaving together narratives from the people we meet at different parts of the commodity chain - waste peddlers, wholesalers, store owners, and shoppers - the book examines the places and people at the heart of these localized yet immense global networks.Unlike other investigations of commodity chains, this study does not chart a straightforward trajectory from production to consumption. Instead, it demonstrates that the low-end commodity chain is one of constant rupture in which products are made and re-made, blurring the dividing line between producing and consuming.An ethnography of material culture as well as an examination of commodity culture at a time of economic downturn, this deeply-engrossing book makes a unique contribution to our understanding of commodity chains and consumer culture.

"Small Store Survival should challenge retailers' views of small store retailing by questioning key areas of business. What is the vision for the store in 10 years? How have the customers changed over the past few years? How current are the managers about what customers genuinely like and dislike? What is being done to attract, educate, and motivate the best retail talent in the area? How effective is the merchandising strategy? What plans exist for succession?

"The real lesson of this study is that the best retailers never stop learning. They never stop growing. They never lose their enthusiasm for the customers and the business. And they never cease to revel in change and the chance to deal with it." —from the Executive Summary of Small Store Survival

Small Store Survival

Over the past decade, thousands of small retail stores have fallen victim to overwhelming competition from huge discount chains determined to take in every retail dollar in sight. But not everyone succumbs to the megastore invasion; many small retailers grow and prosper in spite of this cutthroat competition. How do they do it? Even more important, how can you do it?

Small Store Survival is the how-to book that belongs behind the counter of every independent retail store. It analyzes small-store operation in detail and lays out optimal survival strategies and tactics for seven key areas of business practice that are critical to success: customer service, marketing, merchandising, store operations, management, human resources, and finance. Its clear and logical organization enables you to evaluate your business practices function by function, identify strengths and weaknesses, and develop action plans to improve operations in each of these crucial functions.

Written by a team of experts from Arthur Andersen LLP, this guide presents detailed solutions and best practices culled from retailer surveys, site visits, and industry research. Its recommendations are applicable to a broad variety of retail formats, including stores that specialize in apparel; appliances; books; drugs, health, and beauty care products; electronics; hardware; home and garden supplies; pets and pet supplies; as well as other specialty stores. Numerous case studies illustrate the problems that plague many retailers and demonstrate ways you can overcome these obstacles and improve your business. You'll learn how to:

• Identify customer expectations and meet or exceed them at every turn
• Identify, pursue, and capture a distinct customer market
• Establish a vision and culture for your store, plan where the company needs to go, and take steps to get there
• Compete for quality employees and, once you hire them, keep them
• Establish budgetary controls and contain costs
• Negotiate effectively for favorable terms from vendors and suppliers

The most successful retailers never stop learning, growing, and adapting to changing circumstances. The hundreds of sound ideas presented in this study were developed and implemented by the most successful small store operators in the industry. Here is your chance to learn and grow with them by adapting these solutions to your own business needs.

Uncovering how cash-in-hand economies are composed of not only the underground sector (work akin to formal employment conducted for profit-motivated purposes), but also a hidden economy of favours more akin to mutual aid, this book displays the need to transcend conventional market-oriented readings of cash-in-hand work and radically rethink whether seeking its eradication through tougher regulations is always appropriate. It argues for a variegated policy approach that recognizes these two distinct forms of cash-in-hand work and which tailors policy accordingly.

To beat your competitors you must know exactly what they are doing. It is impossible to put together a successful competitive strategy if you are unsure what your competitors are doing, what they plan to do or even who your competitors really are. As markets evolve even more rapidly and companies adapt their plans much faster, the demand for competitive intelligence has spiralled. Christopher West, an expert in the field, shows you how to collect, analyse and use competitive intelligence from a variety of sources, including the internet, and change your competitive strategy accordingly.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Electronic Commerce, ISEC 2001, held in Hong Kong, China in April 2001.The eight revised full papers presented together with four short papers and two survey papers were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the book. The book offers topical sections on secure payment, trust and security, tools for e-commerce applications, e-commerce frameworks and systems, performance and QoS, and e-commerce surveys.

This book presents 12 revised full papers on Agent-Mediated Electronic Commerce: seven papers were initially presented at the AMEC 2000 Workshop and the five others were solicited by the volume editors in order to achieve competent coverage of all relevant topics.The book is divided in topical sections on electronic negotiation models for agents, formal issues for agents operating on electronic market places, virtual trading institutions and platforms, and trading strategies for interrelated transactions.

This book documents the efforts undertaken by the EG AgentLink Special Interest Group on Agent Mediated Electronic Commerce, SIG AMEC.First and foremost, the book presents a roadmap of research and current technological development in the area of agent mediated electronic commerce. A particularly interesting part of this roadmap is the joint perspective on future developments.The book also contains a number of papers that fill in parts of this roadmap in a European context. Some of the papers present significant current R&D results while other papers indicate some clear directions for future research. The book is structured in topical sections on negotiation, markets, user preferences, and security.

This book, based upon a large-scale research project, examines alternative types of exchange rate policies being pursued and the changing nature of exchange rate policy during the transition process in four countries, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Poland and the Czech Republic. The book brings together a series of original contributions by country experts and draws out some common themes and over-arching policy implications for the operation of exchange rate policy in the transition process.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Electronic Commerce, WELCOM 2001, held in Heidelberg, Germany in November 2001.The 17 revised full papers presented together with two invited contributions were carefully reviewed and selected from 34 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on trade and markets, security and trust, auctions, profiling, and business interaction.

This volume includes the papers accepted for the First International Conference on Electronic Commerce and Web Technologies, which was held in Greenwich, UK, on September 4-6, 2000. The conference is the first of a series of planned conferences on these topics with the goal to bring together researchers from academia, practitioners and commercial developers from industry, and users to assess current methodologies and explore new ideas in e-commerce and web technology. The conference attracted 120 papers from all over the world and each paper was reviewed by at least three program committee members for its merit. The program committee finally selected 42 papers for presentation and inclusion in these conference proceedings. The conference program consisted of 14 technical sessions and two invited talks spread over three days. The regular sessions covered topics such as web application design, intellectual property rights, security and fairness, distributed organizations, web usage analysis, modelling of web applications, electronic commerce success factors, electronic markets, XML, web mining, electronic negotiation, integrity and performance, facilitating electronic commerce, and mobile electronic commerce. There were two invited addresses at the conference. The first was by Anthony Finkelstein, University College London, UK on "A Foolish Consistency: Technical Challenges in Consistency Management." This was a common address to the DEXA, the DaWaK and the EC-Web attendees. The second talk was by Paul Timmers, European Commission, Information Technologies Directorate on "The Role of Technology for the e-Economy."

Among the many changes brought by the Internet is the emergence of electronic commerce over the Web. E-commerce activities, such as the online exchange of information, services, and products, are opening up completely new opportunities for business, at new levels of productivity and profitability. In parallel with the emergence of e-commerce, intelligent software agents as entities capable of independent action in open, unpredictable environments have matured into a promising new technology. Quite naturally, e-commerce agents hold great promise for exploiting the Internet's full potential as an electronic marketplace. The 20 coherently written chapters in this book by leading researchers and professionals present the state of the art in agent-mediated e-commerce. Researchers, professionals, and advanced students interested in e-commerce or agent technology will find this book an indispensable source of information and reference.

The new digital economy has pronounced implications for corporate strategy, marketing, operations, information systems, customer service, global supply-chain management, and product distribution. This handbook examines most aspects of electronic commerce, including electronic storefronts, online business, consumer interface, business-to-business networking, digital payment, legal issues, information product development, and electronic business models. An indispensable reference for professionals in e-commerce and Internet business.

Mediaplanung ist ein Instrument, um Kommunikationsziele durch geeignete Auswahl der Werbetrager moglichst kostengunstig zu realisieren. Die Autoren zeigen, wie sich Mediaplanung in die Marketingkommunikation integrieren lasst: als Entscheidungsprozess hinsichtlich Mediaselektion und Marktsegmentierung, Zielbestimmung, Kommunikationsinhalte und Budgetierung. Ein betrachtlicher Teil des Buchs ist der Mediaforschung sowie den verschiedenen Mediagattungen gewidmet. Dabei werden aktuelle Entwicklungen und Daten der relevanten Medien berucksichtigt."

Endorsed by the Chartered Banker Institute as core reading for the Personal and Private Banking module, Retail and Digital Banking looks at the changes that have occurred, including developments in onshore and offshore operations, call centres and the impact of technology and other critical factors in retail and digital banking. This book considers the evolution of retail banking services and the major role that technology has played in providing quality, cost-effective services to consumers. This fascinating text then goes on to offer expert thought leadership on the future of retail banking and what this could mean for existing established banks and disruptive new entrants. Retail and Digital Banking offers readers the opportunity to take a step back and consider the evolution of the sector in which they work and the tremendous level of change that has occurred over time for all operational activity. Retail and Digital Banking provides support for the Personal and Private Banking module assessment and features practical case studies from the banking sector. This essential text brings the journey of modern banking to life and considers what the future holds. Online supporting resources include a glossary and updates to regulation.

A funny thing happened on the way to the digital utopia. We've begun to fall back in love with the very analog goods and ideas the tech gurus insisted that we no longer needed. Businesses that once looked outdated, from film photography to brick-and-mortar retail, are now springing with new life. Notebooks, records, and stationery have become cool again. Behold the Revenge of Analog. David Sax has uncovered story after story of entrepreneurs, small business owners, and even big corporations who've found a market selling not apps or virtual solutions but real, tangible things. As e-books are supposedly remaking reading, independent bookstores have sprouted up across the country. As music allegedly migrates to the cloud, vinyl record sales have grown more than ten times over the past decade. Even the offices of tech giants like Google and Facebook increasingly rely on pen and paper to drive their brightest ideas. Sax's work reveals a deep truth about how humans shop, interact, and even think. Blending psychology and observant wit with first-rate reportage, Sax shows the limited appeal of the purely digital life - and the robust future of the real world outside it.

Electronic Commerce, as a gamut of activities involving electronic transactions performed over a network via software that may be more or less autonomous, is an emerging reality. Strategic studies have shown that electronic commerce is a major growth industry.
The book is devoted to the challenges and opportunities that electronic commerce opens for agent technology. For some time, electronic commerce has attracted the avid attention of agent-builders and agent technology researchers, and these have decisively contributed to advancing the state of the art in the field. The second-generation software agents now entering the scene hold great promise for the further advancement of electronic commerce. This book originates from a workshop on Agent-Mediated Electronic Trading held at Agents'98 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in May 1998. The eleven carefully reviewed and revised papers present a unique survey of software agents in the context of electronic commerce.