Socio-Cultural Retailing: A literature review

Författare

Christian Fuentes

Summary, in English

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the cultural turn in retail studies by offering an overview of the interdisciplinary field of socio-cultural retailing and, based on this introduction, draw out and discuss what this body of work can contribute to the field of retail marketing. The paper reviews socio- cultural retail research from the disciplines of marketing, cultural geography, sociology and anthropology. Taken together this body of work clearly shows that retailing and shopping practices are anchored in and also work to reproduce wider social and cultural processes. Retailing does not exist part from socio-cultural processes of identity and meaning construction but is intrinsically interlinked with these processes. Therefore, to understand why some store concepts, marketing practices and products work and others fail; it is important to understand the socio-cultural processes underlying the practices of retailing, shopping and consumption. In addition, accepting that retailing practices and spaces are not only linked to socio-cultural processes but also actively work to reproduce these processes means acknowledging the political role of retailing. From this perspective, retail practices and spaces are actively involved in the construction of identities, meanings and worldviews; they shape, to some extent, the way we view the world and ourselves.

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