Strategic alternatives for small retail businesses in rural areas

The issue of retailing in rural areas has received relatively little attention in recent years. This article considers retail businesses in a remote, rural area, the Uist chain in the Western Isles of Scotland. Drawing on the marketing and retail strategy literatures, a "funnical" model of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Management research news 2003-10, Vol.26 (7), p.33-49
Main Authors: Byrom, John, Medway, Dominic, Warnaby, Gary
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Business development
Food
Islands
Market positioning
Market shares
Product development
Retail stores
Retailing
Rural areas
Rural development
Small business
Small enterprises
Strategic planning
Studies
SWOT analysis
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Summary:The issue of retailing in rural areas has received relatively little attention in recent years. This article considers retail businesses in a remote, rural area, the Uist chain in the Western Isles of Scotland. Drawing on the marketing and retail strategy literatures, a "funnical" model of rural retail strategies is developed, and examples of independent retail businesses that have adopted both market-led and product-led strategies are posited. These have ranged from a situation of "strategic stasis" within some retail organisations, where more "extensive" methods of running retail outlets have been adopted, through to various new development strategies. Overall, it is evident that retailers may mix strategic directions for their business within the specific geographic context that they are located. This appears to contrast with Jussila et.al. (1992: 192), who imply that their strategic alternatives are mutually exclusive and that the individual strategies are "spatially bound". In the light of these findings, the article considers the implications presented for retailers in other rural areas of the UK.
ISSN:0140-9174
2040-8269
1758-6135
2040-8277
DOI:10.1108/01409170310783574