Retail shopper marketing: the future of promotional flyers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the recent evolution of store flyers to illustrate how a tool of traditional marketing can be applied to generate insight on customer “couch-to-cart” behaviour thus supporting an innovating shopper marketing approach. The authors support this position by elaborating on three themes: first, the recent evolution of flyers, driven by incorporation of customer insight derived from loyalty data and by new features enabled by flyer digitalization; second, the evolution of the flyer planning and management process, related to opportunities and challenges in the retailer organisational structure; and third, the rise of online flyer aggregators. Design/methodology/approach – The authors used field interviews. The authors included the perspectives of different subjects involved in planning and delivering flyer-based promotions. Secondary data were also collected regarding flyer activities of a sample of 67 retail groups across 15 countries and four industries. Findings – Critical aspects of flyers as retail marketing tools emerged. The authors found that there are changes taking place in flyer-based promotion caused by “fertilisation” by loyalty data and digital that have not been captured by research so far. Retailers are experimenting with flyer aggregators. These infomediaries generate new insight on various aspects of the shopping cycle. Retailers can use these metrics to improve flyer strategy and negotiation with suppliers. The authors shed light on obstacles that prevent exploitation of shopper marketing benefits and value. Among the managerial challenges the authors found retailer organisation and management and functional integration. Research limitations/implications – The paper points to four areas for future research: promotion innovation, electronic intermediaries, marketing organisation and competition. Research questions are suggested. Practical implications – This study contributes to retail management by identifying best practices that support promotional campaign development in a shopper marketing perspective. The authors provide suggestions around the incorporation of loyalty data in the flyer planning process and the creation of inter-functional teams. Originality/value – Academic research has long addressed flyer-based promotion, but has not linked it to innovation or shopper marketing. Little or no attention has been paid to the flyer management process and its organisational dimensions, nor to digital flyers.

Fostering Networked Business Operations

Long being seen as commercially unsuccessful after the dot-com era, interest in web-based B2B electronic intermediaries is again increasing in the light of globalization and cost-pressure on procurement departments of enterprises. Driven by increased profitability, these systems are getting more sophisticated. Based on a thorough literature-driven requirements analysis, this paper presents a state-of-the-art service-oriented reference architecture for B2B electronic intermediaries and provides scientifically grounded recommendations for developing such systems. The framework supports practitioners to create and further develop B2B electronic intermediary systems. It also serves as a basis for future design-oriented research endeavors in the field. The value of the presented artifacts is demonstrated by means of two use cases.

E-Services for Managing and Orchestrating Organizational Networks

Organizations increasingly cooperate in organizational networks to remain competitive. Electronic intermediaries can provide all kinds of e-services to support the creation and management of such networks. While there has been substantial discussion on intermediaries matching demand and supply, there has been little analysis in relation to the management and orchestration of organizational networks. In this chapter, we analyze an intermediary that uses e-services for orchestrating a network in the consumer electronics industry. The empirical results show that the coordination and management of networks requires specific expertise and skills which could be provided by specialized intermediaries. The primary value creation activity of the intermediary is leveraging the products, activities, and knowledge of the specialized companies and providing e-services for orchestrating the organizational network to create short lead times, improve customer responsiveness, and ensure adaptability.

Attribute Hierarchies to Tally Fish

This chapter presents a model that addresses some shortcomings associated with limitations in the way that electronic identities are used in an application environment. This model, Snowflake, allows the exchange of validation data in order to establish trust when identity attributes are used in applications. Snowflake leverages upon groups of validation authorities as electronic intermediaries to facilitate application interoperation. The application area of choice is the electronic reporting of fish catches by a vessel’s master in line with the European Union legal framework. Grouping together the services of multiple validation authorities maximises the utilisation of resources available especially in environments that do not shy out in sharing resources and data such and the electronic fish logbook provides a good platform in this respect.

Electronic Intermediaries Managing and Orchestrating Organizational Networks Using E-Services

Organizations increasingly cooperate in organizational networks. Electronic intermediaries can provide all kinds of e-services to support the creation and management of such networks. While there has been substantial discussion on intermediaries matching demand and supply, there has been little analysis in relation to the management and orchestration of organizational networks. In this article we analyze an intermediary that uses e-services for orchestrating a network in the consumer electronics industry. The empirical results show that the coordination and management of networks requires specific expertise and skills which result in the rise of intermediary specialized in orchestrating such organizational networks. The primary value creation activity of the intermediary is leveraging the products, activities and knowledge of the specialized companies and providing e-services for orchestrating the organizational network to create short lead times, improve customer responsiveness and ensure adaptability.

Electronic Intermediaries Managing and Orchestrating Organizational Networks Using E-Services

Organizations increasingly cooperate in organizational networks. Electronic intermediaries can provide all kinds of e-services to support the creation and management of such networks. While there has been substantial discussion on intermediaries matching demand and supply, there has been little analysis in relation to the management and orchestration of organizational networks. In this article we analyze an intermediary that uses e-services for orchestrating a network in the consumer electronics industry. The empirical results show that the coordination and management of networks requires specific expertise and skills which result in the rise of intermediary specialized in orchestrating such organizational networks. The primary value creation activity of the intermediary is leveraging the products, activities and knowledge of the specialized companies and providing e-services for orchestrating the organizational network to create short lead times, improve customer responsiveness and ensure adaptability.