Professor Steve Wood

Abstract
Purpose – Inaccurate product information on retail websites lead to dissatisfied customers and profit losses.
Yet, the effects of product information failures (PIFs) remain under-explored, with the mobile commerce
channel commonly overlooked. This paper aims (1) to investigate the negative effects of PIFs on shoppers’
attitudes and behaviours in a mobile context. The authors further (2) evaluate the impacts of the cause and
duration of a PIF, changes of expectations towards the retailer after a PIF occurred and how previous mobile
shopping experience in general decreases the effects of PIFs.
Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a scenario-based experiment with a one-factorial
between-subjects design. The six most common PIFs of an international leading online fashion retailer are
operationalized and tested against a control group. The final sample consists out of 758 mobile shoppers from
the UK.
Findings – The results demonstrate that the perceived severity of PIFs based on showing customers incorrect
information is higher when key information is lacking. Further, when the cause of a PIF is attributed to the
retailer, it results in higher recovery expectations towards them. The results also reveal that respondents who
have shopped mobile before perceive PIFs as less severe than inexperienced ones.
Originality/value – This research expands the online service failure literature by examining PIFs and its
effects in the specific context of mobile commerce. The authors also provide recommendations for a better
management of PIFs like the incorporation of PIFs information into reporting packs.

Online shoppers make product purchase decisions based on product information shown on a retailer’s website and potentially in comparison to that seen on competitors’ websites. Insufficient, poor quality or missing information about a product can lead to reduced retailer sales. Measuring online Product Information Quality (PIQ) is therefore an essential element in helping retailers maximize their potential success. This paper aims (1) to identify directly quantifiable PIQ criteria, (2) to assess the effects of PIQ and (3) to evaluate the moderating effect of product involvement. We conducted a scenario-based experiment within 3,544 DIY online shoppers from the UK. Within an 8x2x2 between-subjects design we manipulated the factors PIQ criteria (8), PIQ level (2) and product type (2). The findings support that poor PIQ has a negative impact on consumers online shopping outcomes. We also found that the effects of PIQ differ between the various criteria, the product category and the level of consumer involvement in the selling process. In the context of product depiction, title readability and product attribute comparability with other retailers’ websites a high level of PIQ is required. Moreover, high involvement products need a higher level of PIQ than low involvement products. This research expands website quality and service failure literature by introducing PIQ criteria and its effects in the context of online retailing. We also establish actionable managerial recommendations to assist retailers to embrace and utilize PIQ to better understand their own potential website, and thus business, improvements.
 

Purpose – Different age groups display different shopping patterns in terms of how and where consumers buy products. During times of crisis such behavioural differences become even more striking yet remain under-researched with respect to elderly consumers. This paper investigates the impact of age on retail related behavioural changes and behavioural stability of elderly shoppers (in comparison to younger consumers) during a crisis.
Methodology – We surveyed 643 Austrian consumers to assess the impact of perceived threat on behavioural change and the moderating effect of age-groups. Based on findings from this survey, we subsequently conducted 51 semi-structured interviews to understand the causes of behavioural change and behavioural stability during a crisis.
Findings – Elderly shoppers display more stable shopping behaviour during a crisis compared to younger consumers, which is influenced by perceived threat related to the crisis. Such findings indicate that elderly shoppers reinforce their learnt and embedded shopping patterns. The causes of change and stability in behaviour include environmental and interpersonal factors.
Originality – Through the lens of Social Cognitive Theory, Protection Motivation Theory and Dual Process Theory, this research contributes to an improved understanding of changes in shopping behaviour of elderly consumers, its antecedents, and consequences during a time of crisis. We reveal reasons that lead to behavioural stability, hence the absence of change, in terms of shopping during a crisis. We further outline implications for retailers that might wish to better respond to shopping behaviours of the elderly.
Keywords – Elderly Shoppers, Shopping Behaviour, Causes, Consequences, Crisis, Change
and Stability
Article classification – Research paper

This paper conceptualises the industrial and institutional co-evolution of the Chinese import cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) industry, led by digital platform firms, over the decade 2012-2022. By drawing on empirical interview data and extensive secondary material from industry and government sources, and applying Gong and Hassink’s (2019a) framework of industrial-institutional co-evolution, we develop a three-phase conceptualisation to assess how industrial and institutional dynamics have developed in tandem, leading to significant regional development through CBEC pilot zones. Contrasting with research that has implied limited agency of industrial actors in a Chinese state-led institutional environment, our analysis explores how leading platform firms have successfully legitimised their role in the sector through government engagement and lobbying activities. Further, and in contrast with recent regulatory tightening with respect to the wider activities of platform firms, the technological infrastructure and associated data transparency offered by the platforms has led the Chinese state to set aside oligopolistic antitrust concerns in its regulation of this industry. 

Purpose: The expansion of online shopping aligned with challenging economic conditions have contributed to increasing fraudulent retail product returns. Retailers employ numerous interventions typically determined by embedded perspectives within the company (supply side) rather than consumer-based assessments of their effectiveness (demand side). This study aims to understand how customers evaluate counter-fraud measures on opportunistic returns fraud in the UK. Based on the Fraud Triangle and the Theory of Planned Behaviour, we develop an empirically informed framework to assist retail practice. 

Design/methodology/approach: We collected 485 valid survey responses about consumer attitudes regarding which interventions are effective against different types of returns fraud. First, a principal component section evaluates the policies' effectiveness to identify any policy grouping that could help prioritise specific sets of policies. Second, cluster analysis follows a two-stage approach, where cluster size is determined, and then survey respondents are partitioned into subgroups based on how similar their beliefs are regarding the effectiveness of anti-fraud policies. 

Findings: We identify policies relating to perceived effectiveness of interventions and create customer profiles to assist retailers in conceptualising potential opportunistic fraudsters. Our product returns fraud framework adopts a consumer perspective to capture the perceived behavioural control of potential fraudsters. Results suggest effectiveness of different types of interventions vary between different types of consumers, which leads to the development of managerial implications to combat the fraud. 

Originality/value: This study is unique in assessing the perceived effectiveness of a range of interventions based on data collection and advanced analytics to combat fraudulent product returns in omnichannel retail.

In the past decade, China's food retail market has undergone significant restructuring driven by platform firms, enhancing omni-channel capabilities across the sector, and bolstering the resilience of domestic retailers.  These shifts have contributed to the exit of numerous international food retailers.  Despite this transformation, there remains a lack of understanding regarding the economic geography of China's food retail market, especially in terms of digital platform operations.  This paper aims to conceptualise two major Platform Business Groups (PBGs), Alibaba Group and Tencent-JD.com Alliance, and investigate their respective roles in the omni-channel transformation of Chinese food retailing.  Drawing on forty semi-structured interviews and diverse quantitative and qualitative sources, the study conceptualises two distinct PBG models shaping the market: Alibaba’s ‘Integrated PBG’ and the Tencent-JD.com Alliance’s ‘Cooperative PBG.’  The research explores how the two groups utilise online analytics directly through foodstore subsidiaries and indirectly by providing omni-channel digital services to third-party food retailers.