The Kids and Retailing research topic has been growing in popularity and currency over the last years. Children links and relationships with retailers have been developing with empirical and scientific investigation from the research community. However the lens of wellbeing of the child has the potential for a rich and broad area of theoretical contributions from retail and distribution management scholars.
The special issue will act as a forum for disseminating original, new and novel contribution to this research area.
The Special Issue:
Wellbeing in retailing is a current and topical subject within stores and online shopping. The last decade has seen an increase in economic, social and environmental risks leading businesses to reflect on key indicators to achieve their role of responsible companies. This is all the more important for retailers given that the consumers are increasingly more demanding with greater concern of where they buy and the values of companies. Therefore retailers are subjected to the question of their responsibility and wellbeing of customers, particularly when they are involved with children. Indeed children aged between 6 and 12 years of age, known as Kids are frequently in contact with the point of sales, within the family buying context or as self-sufficient shoppers. But they are also seen has a vulnerable group which places them in a different position compared to adults. In the light of this, retailers need be especially vigilant to the way they consider the psychological, philosophical, emotional and social dimensions of kids’ wellbeing becoming a rising value that retailers can’t avoid.
The Special Issue is aimed at debating the ‘bright’ and the ‘dark’ side of retailing directed to young consumers, often considered a particularly vulnerable population. It is also to consider how the stakeholders involved in retailing may promote marketing practices in favour of both children’s wellbeing and retailers’ performance. In the last decade the number of papers and books dealing with kids has significantly increased, highlighting the importance of the young consumer in the consumption context. However there has been limited contextualisation of the connection between the retailer and children to provide a greater understanding of their interaction.
Contents focus:
Papers on all topics related to the research and practice for the child consumers’ wellbeing and retailing processes are welcome. The topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Children socialisation process throughout the retail environment
- Retail brand influence on nutritional learning
- Children’s relationship to retailer brand
- Understanding today’s children’s mindset and motivations for retail activities
- Understanding young consumer behaviour in the retail process
- Ethical and societal issues throughout the retail supply process such as sexualisation of children or the purchase incentive
- Responsible consideration of retailing in food waste
- Retail process including population with low purchasing power
- Retail assistance of children poverty
- Contribution of collaborative retailing on children wellbeing
- Heath, food wellbeing
- The impact of packaging of children wellbeing
- Over solicitation of the retail environment and childhood obesity
- Influence of materialism on wellbeing in the retail context
- Development of the link between charity and retailers for the child wellbeing
- Retailers’ fight against social exclusion
- Young consumers’ rights in the retail process
- Retailing in a multicultural word: interplay of ethnic consumption and wellbeing
- Risks of shopping online for children
Final papers must be submitted by August 31st 2017
Papers should be submitted via ScholarOne: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ijrdm