Consumers and Retail Research Unit

• Description and Aims
• Keywords
• Staff
• Current Projects
• HDR Students
• Recent/Forthcoming Events
• A Selection of Recent Publications
• Contacts

Description and Aims

The Consumers and Retail Research Unit (CRRU) aims to facilitate and foster academic study into how consumers interact with the retail sector. The unit is an umbrella 'virtual' organization across the research strengths of the Department of Marketing but aims to also cooperate with staff from other departments and faculties.

The unit benefits from the presence at Monash of the Australian Centre for Retail Studies (ACRS), which is a separate, commercially based, centre for applied research and industry leadership within the Department of Marketing. The ACRS has operated as a centre of retail expertise for over 30 years. The CRRU is the academic counterpart of the ACRS and cooperates with the ACRS where possible, for example in developing industry links for funding applications and the dissemination of new knowledge to industry and applied researchers.

Background

The Retail Industry is one of the most important sectors in the economy, providing over 15 per cent of all employment and including some of the largest and most admired companies worldwide. Retailing deals with a large variety of products – ranging from physical products such as packaged goods, to intangible products such as financial services or travel. Traditionally, this sector comprised mostly small businesses who typically invested very little in research, however, these days the retail sector is a driver of technological and managerial change. The importance of retailing for consumers does not need much explanation: most people deal as consumers with retailers almost every day and for many people shopping plays an important part in their lives!

There is a long tradition of academic retail research, with the Journal of Retailing being the oldest journal in the marketing discipline. Retail research spans across a range of disciplines, including economics, geography, marketing and management, psychology, sociology and transportation, to mention a few. Recent years however has seen a further increase in the interest in retail studies.

At Monash University this increased interest is evidenced by a substantial increase in research output over in the last few years. Staff published in top tier scholarly journals, including the Journal of Retailing and Journal of Marketing Research. Staff were successful in competitive grant applications such as ARC grants and attracted external industry funding. Last but not least there in increasing number of Higher Degree students (Mphil, PhD or DBA) choosing retail topics for their dissertation studies. Several of the CRRU staff also participate in the Experimental Design research group. This group has access to the Business and Economics Behavioural Lab, a state-of-the-art facility for research into consumer perception and decision making processes including brand perceptions, information search and store choice.

Keywords

• consumers
• consumer decision making
• consumer culture
• consumer trends
• shopping behaviour
• choice modelling
• demand analysis
• market analysis
• spatial analysis
• retailing
• assortments
• retail brands
• merchandising
• pricing
• store location
• store atmosphere
• services in retail
• experiential retail
• shopping centre research

Core staff

• Dr Harmen Oppewal, Professor, Marketing Department (Director)
• Mark Bender, Lecturer, Department of Business Law and Taxation
• Dr Jan Brace-Govan, Senior Lecturer, Department of Marketing
• Carla Ferraro, Research Fellow, ACRS
• Dr Yongfu He, Lecturer, Department of Marketing
• Dr Rowan Kennedy, Lecturer, Department of Marketing
• Junzhao Ma, Lecturer, Department of Marketing
• Dr Margaret Matanda, Lecturer, Department of Marketing
• Dr Colin McLeod, Associate Professor, Australian Centre for Retail Studies
• Dr Mauricio Palmeira, Lecturer, Department of Marketing
• Dr Vaughan Reimers, Lecturer, Department of Marketing
• Dr Sean Sands, Research Fellow, ACRS
• Satheeshkumar Seenivasan, Lecturer, Department of Marketing
• Dr Dominic Thomas, Lecturer, Department of Marketing
• Dr Dewi Tojib, Research Fellow, Department of Marketing
• Dr Yelena Tsarenko, Senior Lecturer, Department of Marketing
• Dr Steve Worthington, Professor, Department of Marketing

Current Research Projects

Current research projects focus on:

• Consumer shopping behaviour
• Assortment perceptions
• Store location and agglomeration effects
• Store names as brand names
• Store atmosphere and the retail experience
• The role of personal selling
• Loyalty programs in retail
• Distribution issues in the automotive sector
• Franchising in retail
• Corporate social responsibility in retail
• Ethnic minorities and store choice
• Online impulse purchase behaviour
• Consumer channel choice
• Sequential choice analysis and multipurpose shopping
• Food retailing competition at the micro-level
• Refuelling behaviour and consideration set formation

Substantial grant income has been received from the Australian Research Council (Linkage and Discovery grants), CRC for Sustainable Tourism and the Advanced Institute of Management Research (UK)

There is also a continuing program of commissioned research (with the ACRS) for the International Car Distribution Programme Australia

Number of HDR Students

10 - See marketing website.

Recent or Forthcoming Events

Seminars

Department of Marketing Seminar Series
Australian Centre for Retail Studies Seminar Series

A Selection of Recent Publications (by year)

2011/forthcoming

• Ho, H. D., Ganesan, S., & Oppewal, H. (2011). The Impact of Store-Price Signals on Consumer Search and Store Evaluation. Journal of Retailing, 87(2), 15.
• Morrison, M., Gan, S., Dubelaar, C., & Oppewal, H. (2011). In-store music and aroma influences on shopper behaviour and satisfaction. Journal of Business Research, 64(6), 7.
• Palmeira, M. (2011). The Zero-comparison effect. Journal of Consumer Research, 38(1), 11.
• Sands, S., Harper, E.-H. s., & Ferraro, C. (Forthcoming). Customer-to-noncustomer interactions: Extending the 'social' dimension of the store environment. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Pub = Pergamon Kidlington UK.
• Tojib, D., & Tsarenko, Y. (Forthcoming). Post-adoption modeling of advanced mobile service use. Journal of Business Research.
• Worthington, S. (2011). Banking without the banks. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 29(2), 12.
• Worthington, S., Thompson, F. M., & Stewart, D. B. (Forthcoming). Credit cards in a Chinese cultural context—The young, affluent Chinese as early adopters. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services.

2010

• Berthon, P., Pitt, L., Halvorson, W., Ewing, M., & Crittenden, V. (2010). Advocating Avatars: The Salesperson in Second Life. [Full paper]. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 30(3), 14.
• Oppewal, H., Morrison, M., Wang, P., & Waller, D. (2010). Preference Stability: Modeling how Consumer Preferences Shift after Receiving New Product Information. In S. H. a. A. Daly (Ed.), Choice Modelling: The State-of-the-Art and the State-of-Practice (Vol. 1, pp. 18). Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Ltd.
• Oppewal, H., Paas, L., Crouch, G., & Huybers, T. (2010). Segmenting consumers based on how they spend a tax rebate: An analysis of the Australian stimulus payment. Journal of Economic Psychology, 31(4), 10.
  Revels, J., Tojib, D., & Tsarenko, Y. (2010). Understanding Consumer Intention to Use Mobile Services. Australasian Marketing Journal, 18(2), 74-80.
• Sands, S., & Ferraro, C. (2010). Retailers' Strategic Responses to Economic Downturn: Insights from Down Under. International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, 38(8), 11.
• Sands, S., Ferraro, C., & Luxton, S. (2010). Does the online channel pay? A comparison of online versus offline information search on physical store spend International Review of Retail, Distribution, and Consumer Research, 20(4), 14.
• Saunders, S. G., & Lynn, M. (2010). Why Tip? An Empirical Test of Motivations for Tipping Car Guards. Journal of Economic Psychology, 31(1), 106-113.
• Worthington, S. (2010). Information is Useful, but Knowledge is Power! Loyalty Programmes and how they can Benefit Retailers. European Retail Research, 24(11), 24.

2009

• Chao, C.-W., Reid, M., & Mavondo, F. (2009). The influence of consumer innovativeness on really new product adoption. Paper presented at the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC) 2009.
• Ferraro, C., & Sands, S. (2009). 'Greentailing': a key to thriving in the recession? Paper presented at the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC) 2009.
• Healy, M., Beverland, M., & Oppewal, H. (2009a). Autonomy, control and importance: a renaissance for the three 'Lost' pillars of dominance. Paper presented at the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC) 2009.
• Healy, M., Beverland, M., & Oppewal, H. (2009b). Orchestrating the Experience: Authorship of the Soul. The Case of Mag Nation Melbourne. In A. Lindgreen, Vanhamme, J., and Beverland, M. (Ed.), Memorable Customer Experiences (pp. 101-117). UK: Gower Publishing Ltd., Gower House, Aldershot, Hants, UK.
• Khajehzadeh, S., Oppewal, H., & Tojib, D. (2009). How consumers value mobile coupon services: a conceptual model and research propositions. Paper presented at the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC) 2009.
• Luxton, S., Mahmood, U., & Ferraro, C. (2009). Mobile phone marketing: challenges and perceived attitudes. Paper presented at the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC) 2009.
• McIver, P., Luxton, S., & Sands, S. (2009). Multichannel retailing: the relationship between search and purchase channel choice. Paper presented at the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC) 2009.
• Mitchell, N., Oppewal, H., & Beverland, M. (2009). Great expectations: the power of store atmosphere and merchandise effects on customers' perceptions of a retail salesperson. Paper presented at the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC) 2009.
• Oppewal, H., Huybers, T., & Crouch, G. (2009). Modelling Australian Tourism Consumers' Choice of Holiday Destination and Experience: CRC for Sustainable Tourism.
• Oppewal, H., Paas, L. J., Crouch, G. I., & Huybers, T. (2009). Segmenting Consumers Based on How They Spend a Tax Rebate: An Analysis of the Australian Stimulus Payment. Paper presented at the The 2009 Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC). Retrieved from Abstract only - for special sessions
• Porublev, E., Brace-Govan, J., Minahan, S., & Dubelaar, C. (2009). To wrap or not wrap? What is expected? Some initial findings from a study on gift wrapping. Paper presented at the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC) 2009.
• Rajaguru, R., & Matanda, M. (2009). Influence of Organizational Integration on Business Performance: The Mediating Role of Organisational-Level Supply Chain Functions. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 22(4), 456-467.
• Reimers, V., & Clulow, V. (2009a). Retail centre convenience: its' influence over consumer patronage behaviour. Paper presented at the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC) 2009.
• Reimers, V., & Clulow, V. (2009b). The role of convenience in the evolution of the mall. Paper presented at the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC) 2009.
• Reimers, V., & Clulow, V. (2009c). The role of convenience in the evolution of the mall. Paper presented at the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC).
• Revels, J., Tojib, D., & Tsarenko, Y. (2009). Factors influencing consumers' intentions to use mobile commerce. Paper presented at the The 11th Global Business and Technology Association (GBATA) conference.
• Sands, S., Oppewal, H., & Beverland, M. (2009). The effect of in-store themed events on consumer store choice. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 16(5), 386-395.
• Ting, S., Dawson, L., & Dubelaar, C. (2009). Understanding IT Adoption and Consumption within the Social Structure of a Consumer's Economy. Paper presented at the The 15th Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) 2009.
• Tsarenko, Y., & Tojib, D. (2009). Examining Customer Privacy Concerns in Dealing with Financial Institutions. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 26(7), 468-476.
• Vocino, A., & Oppewal, H. (2009). What's in a name: using a cue diagnosticity framework to understand consumer product search behaviour. Paper presented at the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC) 2009.
• Worthington, S. (2009a). Can Retailer's move into the provision of Financial Services? The case for and against. Paper presented at the European Association for Education and Research in Commercial Distribution 15th Conference of the European Association for Education and Research in Commercial Distribution (EAERCD).
• Worthington, S. (2009b). Debit cards and fraud. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 27(5), 3.
• Worthington, S., Russell-Bennett, R., & Hartel, C. (2009). One size doesn't fit all. Exploring marketing strategies for influencing three dimensions of brand loyalty. Paper presented at the Academy of Marketing.

Contacts

Professor Harmen Oppewal, Director, Consumers and Retail Research Unit, tel: (03) 9903 2653