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This paper explores the assumptions retailers make when developing lifestyle retail brands (LRBs). Observations from the marketplace are integrated with marketing theory and insights from related disciplines to develop a set of research propositions. The issues explored concern the consumption experience, retail marketing mix, brand management, lifestyle as popular culture, value creation and perceptual gaps. It is asserted that LRBs can be viewed as distinct value creating entities that provide value for retailers and consumers in new ways. Their effectiveness can be determined by the perceptual gap between retailers and consumers.
INTRODUCTION
Lifestyle retailing is described as the policy of tailoring a retail offer, or a portfolio of retail offers, closely to the lifestyles of specific market segments [Blackwell and Talarzyk, 1983]. There are numerous examples of lifestyle retailing, e.g. Next, the Gap, Laura Ashley and Benetton. Each of these embodies a distinct set of lifestyle values, which appeals to a particular consumer segment. A further development in retailing has been the adoption of own brand strategies and thus a number of retail offers in the marketplace can be viewed as lifestyle retail brands. A lifestyle retail brand (LRB) is a focused retail brand, targeted at a specific market segment defined by lifestyle. The basic retail proposition is augmented with a set of added values that have symbolic value and meaning for the lifestyles of a specific consumer group. The lifestyle and brand components distinguish these concepts from other retail concepts, because they extend the function of the retailer into the lives of consumers, redefining and creating value for both partners in the relationship. It is argued that the effectiveness of these concepts can be partly determined by the breadth of the perceptual gap between consumers' perception of the LRB and those intended by the retailer. The purpose of this paper is to explore the efficacy of a set of assumptions that retailers appear to be making when developing LRBs. Observations from the marketplace are integrated with marketing theory and insights from related disciplines to develop a set of research propositions.
There exists only a limited literature related to the topic. We have assumed the task of integrating the relevant areas of the marketing literature, to establish a 'territory' for the LRB, to...