Professor Leigh Sparks researches retail and has had a thing or two to say about clone towns in recent weeks.
Asian companies have a huge advantage over Western companies because they understand the culture better, says Hana Ben-Shabat, who researches retail markets for management consultant A.T. Kearney in the U.K. For example, Asian store operators better appreciate the Chinese penchant for mixing their shopping with a little entertainment, she says.
Ken Perkins, president of the research firm Retail Metrics, said that "retailers have to be very pleased with how sales panned out" in January.
John Griffiths, the Welsh assembly's environment minister, said: "I am delighted that research and retail figures support what shoppers and retailers have been telling us for some time.
The article discusses the utility of the resultant classification in terms of research and retail strategy including opportunities for targeting through adjustment of the retail offer.
The hot new technique in exploring your buying decision is called "observational research" or "retail ethnography".
"There's definitely been a split," said Ken Perkins, the president of the research firm Retail Metrics.
Apparel has joined books atop the list of online shoppers' most popular categories of goods, according to new research from Retail Forward, a consulting company based in Columbus, Ohio.
The research firm Retail Metrics put the industry decline at 1.8percentt and said that without Wal-Mart Stores, the nation's largest retailer, sales would have fallen 5.6percentt.
According to a recent report by Euromonitor, a research firm, retail sales of biscuits in China are gathering pace with a growth rate of 9% so far this year.
