According to Michael Porter¡¦s Competitive Advantage, only through Value Chain Analysis, a company can realize it¡¦s cost behavior and the resources needed for differentiation. Thus the company can optimize its resources usage and increase it¡¦s business activities¡¦ performance. With the Internet environment, economic value for a company is nothing more than the gap between price and cost, and it is reliably measured only by sustained profitability. In e-retailing, e-retailers that want to reach competitive advantage and high economic value must consider how to create real margins, how to measure and manage the cost of e-retailing activities, and execute it in a efficient way to enhance e-retailer¡¦s competitive advantage. This research applies Activity-Based Costing approach to confer e-retailing activities. Value chain analysis is first employed to explore the primary activities of e-retailing. Then the improvement of cost and process are sought from activity analysis, resource cost driver and process cost driver. Finally, the critical e-retailing activities result from the internal value chain analysis. The research results indicated that the price of product and the characteristic of product have different influence on e-retailing activities. In addition, e-retailer want sustained profitability, the finite resource must provide for the customer and product that contribute to e-retailer¡¦s sustained profitability. Finally, the research also indicated that the link of marketing/sales activities and customer service activities are the most critical e-retailing activities. Keyword¡Gvalue chain, e-retailing activities, Activity Based Costing

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This study explores the contemporary collective significance of over seventy London markets in the 'long' eighteenth century. Markets are loosely defined as those institutions which were publicly recognized as places of regular trade in basic commodities: meat and livestock, fish and corn, fruit and vegetables, hay and straw, cloth, coal and animal skins. Their characteristics and development were shaped by a range of factors: principally 'market forces', but also political concerns and the growth and modernization of the metropolis. This thesis represents the first attempt to consider the markets of London during this period collectively and eclectically. One of its principal elements, therefore, is the classification of markets according to various criteria (e.g. size, ownership, location) over time (Chapter Two). One key trend is the apparent rise and fall of food market retailing, which is explained by various economic and cultural factors (Chapter Three). The economics of wholesaling demonstrate that formal market mechanisms generally adapted to changing times and performed the task of distribution with reasonable efficiency (Chapters Four and Five). Political influences on the geography and development of the markets - the role of market rights and regulations - highlight the distinctive and complex political economy of the metropolis (Chapter Six). A final dimension of inquiry concerns the relationship between markets and the city environment, and the extent to which metropolitan growth and 'improvement' impinged on the traditionally focal and symbolic status of markets (Chapter Seven). In general, markets' collective identity was fragmenting: some prospered whilst others declined; wholesale-retail distinctions established themselves; the boundaries between formal marketing and other forms of exchange became increasingly blurred. Nevertheless, the market place was not made obsolete by the process of metropolitan modernization. The abiding impression of the study is one of London's commercial, topographical and political complexity and diversity.

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Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2009.

As online fashion retailing has grown immensely over the last fifteen years, retailers’ website designs have had to evolve to meet customers’ increasing demands, needs and expectations in order to attract and retain them. The purpose of this thesis is to provide a greater understanding of how different ages of consumers respond to retailers’ holistic website designs through the use of eye tracking technology. Insights gained from this research will enable retailers to enhance their website design in accordance with their target market’s behaviour, habits and expectations. Eye tracking is a key tool for analysing and understanding human-computer interaction and can be used alongside qualitative in-depth interviews to provide a detailed understanding of users’ responses to the website design. This study uses the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) paradigm to investigate how the fashion retailer’s holistic website design influences users’ visual, cognitive and behavioural responses, which leads to their approach or avoidance behaviour. The study also examines whether the shopper’s motivation or age will have an influence on their responses to the website design. It is important to analyse the differences in behaviour between age groups because more mature consumers are now shopping online, and academic research on this topic is limited. A sample of 50 participants, spanning ages 20 to 70 and consisting of regular users of the website, participated in the study. The study was conducted on the fashion retailer’s live website and results were recorded in real time, making the findings more valid. The study found that users were very focused on looking for products when shopping online and that the product listings page is arguably the most important page on the website as users visit it the most and spend the most time on it. Furthermore, the study found that navigation and customisation design stimuli were the most important to users and that they did not to pay much attention to the lower sections of the web pages. The study also found that users’ responses to the website can change according to their motivation as users spent less time on the website if they were goal-directed shopping and had more focused viewing patterns than if they were browsing. Moreover, the study also found that different age groups had different responses to the website design, as older users took longer to navigate the website and had slower viewing times than younger users, and also looked at the thumbnail images that were further down the page a lot less. This research has filled a gap in the academic literature and provided a detailed understanding of eye fixations, and how they can be interpreted in website design studies. Future academic studies on retailers’ website design can assume that long fixation durations indicate positive attention. Also, the findings enable retailers to understand how the design stimuli affect different ages of users’ shopping experiences and, as a result, can design their website according to their target markets’ behaviour. Furthermore, this study highlights the areas that are not capturing users’ attention on the website, and that need to be improved by retailers. Overall, the findings suggest that retailers should focus on providing an easy, efficient and quick shopping experience for users when designing their website.

First of all I have focused on introducing Vietnam and its economical developmnet. Secondly I have subcrised the level of retail in Vietnam and I have come to the conclusion that Vietnam is an atractive country for the retail investment. Finally I have mention my own experience with shopping in that country.

This thesis empirically examines the nature of consumer experiences as the result of interactions with components of the fashion store environment. It aims to further understand the consumption experience construct by adopting a multidimensional view of experience and a holistic view of antecedents, with the support of empirical data. A qualitative approach is adopted utilising face to face interviews with 5 practitioners and 20 young fashion consumers. By examining two perspectives a greater insight in to the way in which consumer experiences are created and are consumed can be gained. Data has been compared to establish differences between the way practitioners perceive the consumer experience, and the actual experiences of consumers. In doing so the research identifies several managerial implications which can be used to enhance the creation of experiences to meet the desires and wants of young fashion consumers. Findings suggest several stimuli including product, the physical setting, people, technology and brand message components contribute towards the creation of specific cognitive, emotional, sensory, physical and social experiences in fashion stores. It identifies technology as an important component affecting the consumer experience not yet discussed in existing literature concerning mid-market fashion store environments and proposes further research into this stimulus in a fashion context. Physical experiences in store are a vital element of the fashion store experience. Consumers should be immersed in physical experiences to provide unique and memorable encounters with a retailer that cannot be gained online. Furthermore the physical store should foster the relationship between consumer and consumer in order to create social experiences that engage consumers on more personal levels. In creating immersive and engaging experiences in the physical store retailers can ensure that the store format remains competitive in today’s challenging market.

The thesis deals with mystery shopping and its use in practice. The goal of thesis is to identify and analyze the possibilities to use this method as a tool for the effective control of sales staff. The thesis is divided into three chapters. The first chapter contains information about retailing and its division. The second chapter deals with mystery shopping including: introduction of the method and its history, MS technics, internationally valid standards for MS and characteristic of the mystery shopper. The last chapter focuses on practical research which was carried out in cooperation with O'Neill company.

Background: Retailing industry has been growing all around the world tremendously. We will see a remarkable change and improvement in clothing and baby products retailing industries in Sweden. Previously, companies either try to sell through traditional brick and mortar physical stores or online. But since the last decade, to become successful company in new global world, companies realize the fact that they need to combine the strategy of selling through different channels. In plain words the integration of these channels is referred as an omni-channel. Combining the different selling strategies and offering through different mode of channels raises the need for enhanced performance management throughout the supply chain. Within supply chain, warehouse is a crucial element and due to shift in strategies it is the most affected section. An efficient warehouse design is become essential in order to get performance and cost-effective benefits. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the impacts of having omni channel strategy on warehouse management. How it affects the overall working of warehousing, and influence their planning, need for improvement, integration and optimization. Further, challenges that a central warehouse faces in accordance to meet new demands and needs, raised due to omni channel strategy e.g. buy anything from anywhere at any time, could be explored along with their possible solutions. Method: An exploratory study is conducted, with qualitative case study methodology. Primary data with semi-structured interviews were considered to be main data collection method. Conclusion: The author has founded challenges that central warehouse faces during its operational activities. Challenges that are identified in central warehouse operational activities with reference to omni channel logistics strategy are human errors, additional work, large and mix pallets, barcoding, ERP and WMS low level integrated systems, unsuitable warehouse design, incompatible picking gears, ineffective automated packing machine and shipping. But these problems can be solved by having optimal integrated ERP system, RFID technology, new improved information technology, improved warehouse layout design and using advanced picking gears.