£3500

Paying for Time: The Future of Retailing

This report deals with three inter-related issues, which can be summarised as the impact of new technology on the retail industry, discount delay and rapid retailing. The aim of the report is to assess how new technology can play a role in helping retailers improve their profitability in a world where consumers often want instant gratification of their wants, but may be persuaded to delay gratification if the appropriate rewards are provided (e.g. lower prices). For example, is the growth of multichannel retailing and the impact of new technology altering customers' expectations of speed/tolerance of delay?

This report addresses a fundamental question: Can the bricks and mortar operations of retailers (and bricks and mortar-only retailers) compete against the online world by using in-store technology?

The notion of discount delay is bound up with a host of psychological, economic and sociological motivations and factors that collectively influence what can be called "the price of impulse".

Buy Report