Retailing in Romania: From Statist to Nearly Capitalist

Moravian Geographical Reports

Bejan

Grant

2018

Self Cite

Customer loyalty enables companies to outperform competitors and better satisfy customers’ needs and desires. People today are increasingly interested in buying green or sustainable products, pursuing responsible consumption, getting involved in environmental protection activities and preserving resources. These key elements of sustainability are crucial in retailer strategies for approaching customers, strategies encompassing both communication and well-structured offers of sustainable, green and environmentally friendly products to gain customers’ loyalty and assist them in adopting responsible (green) consumption behaviours. This may not be the case in all retail markets or sub-markets, however. This paper investigates these issues in the context of the emerging European economy of Romania, using a survey conducted in four major retail segments comprising more than 3,000 respondents. Using structural equation modelling the authors reveal that Romanian retailers are concerned with drawing customers and gaining their loyalty by adopting strategies based on the principles of sustainability. The results indicate that in this emerging market behavioural antecedents differ across the analysed retail formats in building green loyalty, which represents a challenge for retailers in their attempt to draw, satisfy and bind consumers to their retail formats and stores. At the same time, there is also a growing awareness of green aspects among Eastern Europeans, even if they have been challenged with sustainability issues and the need to adopt green behaviours more recently than their Western European counterparts.

Section: Sample Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sample Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Food Retailmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Impact of Consumer Green Behaviour on Green Loyalty Among Retail Formats: A Romanian Case Study

Moravian Geographical Reports

Bejan

Grant

2018

Self Cite

“…Romania has been chosen as a target market, as it has one of the strongest and most intensive growth of the region and of the European Union, not only in terms of GDP (Obucina 2017), but also regarding consumption behaviour and development of new retail outlets and stores (Dabija and Abrudan 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing green loyalty towards apparel retail stores: A cross-generational analysis on an emerging market

Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity

2018

Self Cite

Faced with an array of scandals and challenges caused by environmental pollution and exploitation of workers, apparel retailers are often compelled to re-think their strategies in compliance with environmental governance, and to implement specific measures aimed at environmental protection and preserving resources. By adopting green-based strategies to reach their target segments, retailers seek not only to capture the attention of different consumer generations, but also to inspire loyalty and encourage them to re-visit stores. Based on the generational theory and by means of quantitative research addressing four consumer generations in an emerging market, the authors highlight the extent to which clothing retailers are able, by adopting green strategies and consistently implementing environmental protection actions, to attract mainly young consumers to their stores, encouraging the sharing of peer recommendations, increasing purchasing behaviour and invoking loyalty. The article highlights the contribution of green marketing strategies in developing consumer loyalty in an emerging market by offering retailers the possibility of deepening their understanding when approaching different consumer generations.

“…The collapse of the communist regime and market liberalization paved the way for big international retail chains to enter the Romanian market, first the Belgian group, Delhaize in 1994 and then the German group, Metro in 1996 [26,27]). These changes further enabled the introduction and development of the organic farming/agriculture sector [20] through the setting up of organic farmers' associations.…”

Section: Organic Food Marketmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing the Romanian Organic Market: A Producer’s Perspective

Popa

2019

Sustainability

Self Cite

Romania’s organic market increasingly resembles its Western counterparts: a vegetarian diet, disease prevention through consumption of organic food produced according to specific standards, preferring quality over quantity—all relevant factors influencing purchasing behaviour. It is the task of consumerist organisations to educate consumers on the benefits of the above factors, a process influenced by social and cultural trends, experience, lifestyle, motivations and preferences. The market is attractive to domestic producers offering an increasing assortment of organic food types. This paper aims to highlight the most relevant features of the rapidly expanding Romanian organic market from the perspective of organic producers. To this effect, it reviews the literature dealing with the main factors influencing consumer behaviour and attitudes. The qualitative research among producers reveals strategic directions pursued in order to understand and adapt to market characteristics and dynamics. The results allow better understanding of organic consumers’ behaviour in the emerging markets and highlight strategies to increase market success. Healthy lifestyle, desire to protect the environment, product quality and attractive prices are all important factors determining consumption of organic products. Whilst aware of these factors, producers point to the lack of education for developing an organic mentality and identifying organic products, poor distribution of products and lack of financial support across the entire logistics chain.