Over the past decade, increasing the use of new technologies and the growing importance of technological solutions creates new opportunities and challenges for retailers. This evolution mostly affects the brick and mortar, e-commerce and customer engagement of most retailer sectors. For the food sector, the spread of technology leads to two different objections. The first debate is that the recent strong growth in home delivery and click and collect services as a part of e-commerce has resulted in a reduction in the amount of space required for many retailers. The second discussion is that new technology is improving both the convenience and experience aspect of dining out which has a positive effect on brick and mortar. Despite the presence of these debates in the food sector, the main focus of literature is around the clothing retail and especially fashion and luxury retail sector. Hence, the lack of practice in this topic gives the necessity to recognize the mentioned effects on this important sector and in particular on the fast food chains retail. By this end, the relationship of e-commerce and brick and mortar in fast food chains sector is studied in this work. For this purpose, Milan which is the technological advanced, commercial and financial capital of Italy offers a great opportunity to study in this regard. The research methodology of this study consists of three main phases. In the first phase, fast food chains in Milan are examined in three separate perspectives: Brick and Mortar, e-commerce, and online customer engagement perspective. The first and the second perspectives are aimed to study different sales channels of fast food chains. However, the third perspective is designed to investigate online customer engagement of fast food chains. The analyses of the first phase show that 219 fast food stores which belong to 40 fast food chain brands are currently active in Milan. In total 80% of these brands, which contain 69% of the whole stores, are Italian origin, and 20% of brands, with 31% of the total stores, are the International origin. Also, regardless of the number of stores, almost all fast food chains provide part of their online sales through their own or by collaboration with the food delivery companies. The international fast food chains demonstrate higher reputation and popularity in Italy. The second phase is accomplished, by physical observation of six stores from different fast food brands in the center of Milan. The analyses in this phase give the idea that, the touristic position of this area may have a positive impact on the daily order of fast food chains and mostly for the international brands. In the third phase, a semi-structured interview is conducted with Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) real estate company. The outcome of this interview indicates that the trend of opening stores in the food sector is increased in the last five years in Italy and the main driver of location choices for brands is high footfall. Interestingly this statement is consistent with the distribution analysis of fast food chains in different areas of Milan which was performed in this study. From the e-commerce point of view, the C&W predicts that, while the share of online sales to total sale in Italy is around 3-4%, food sector would have a low growth with only one percent in the next five years. It is notable to mention that, this statement is also consistent with the physical observation of 2-6% share of online to the total orders, which was obtained in this study. In the end, this study could agree with the comment of C&W which mentioned that e-commerce would not affect those segment where the experience is the first thing like the food retail. However, it might affect other retail sectors like fashion and luxury. It is not apparent that e-commerce would be an enemy for brick and mortar in the near future, in contrary the growth in new technology and the e-commerce could add further channels to improve the experience for customers.
Negli ultimi dieci anni, l'aumento dell'uso delle nuove tecnologie e la crescente importanza delle soluzioni tecnologiche creano nuove opportunità e sfide per i rivenditori. Questa evoluzione riguarda principalmente Brick and Mortar, l’e-commerce e Customer engagement nella maggior parte dei settori di vendita al dettaglio. Per il settore alimentare, la diffusione della tecnologia porta a due diverse obiezioni. Il primo dibattito è che la recente forte crescita dei servizi di consegna a domicilio e di click and collect come parte dell'e-commerce ha comportato una riduzione della quantità di spazio richiesta per molti rivenditori. La seconda discussione è che la nuova tecnologia sta migliorando sia l'aspetto della convenienza e dell'esperienza di cenare fuori che ha un effetto positivo su Brick and Mortar. Nonostante la presenza di questi dibattiti nel settore alimentare, l'attenzione principale della letteratura è rivolta al commercio al dettaglio di abbigliamento e in particolare al settore della moda e della moda e il lusso. Quindi, la mancanza di pratica in questo argomento dà la necessità di riconoscere gli effetti citati su questo importante settore e in particolare sulle catene di fast food al dettaglio. A tal fine, il rapporto tra l’e-commerce e Brick and Mortar nel settore di fast food chain è studiato in questo lavoro. Per questo scopo, Milano, che è la capitale tecnologica avanzata, commerciale e finanziaria d'Italia, offre una grande opportunità per studiare a questo proposito. La metodologia di ricerca di questo studio consiste in tre fasi principali. Nella prima fase, fast food chains di Milano sono esaminate in tre prospettive distinte: Brick and Mortar, e-commerce e online customer engagement. La prima e la seconda prospettiva sono finalizzate allo studio di diversi canali di vendita di fast food chains. La terza prospettiva è studiata per investigare l'impegno dei clienti online su fast food chains. Le analisi della prima fase mostrano che 219 negozi di fast food che appartengono a 40 marchi di fast food chains sono attualmente attivi a Milano. In totale 80% di questi marchi, che contengono il 69% di tutti i negozi, sono di origine italiana e il 20% dei marchi, con il 31% del totale dei negozi, sono di origine internazionale. Inoltre, indipendentemente dal numero di negozi, quasi tutte di fast food chains forniscono parte delle loro vendite online per conto proprio o in collaborazione con le aziende di consegna del cibo. Le internazionali fast food chains dimostrano maggiore reputazione e popolarità in Italia. La seconda fase è compiuta osservando fisicamente sei negozi di diversi marchi di fast food nel centro di Milano. Le analisi in questa fase danno l'idea che, la posizione turistica di quest'area possa avere un impatto positivo sull'ordine quotidiano delle fast food chains e soprattutto per i marchi internazionali. Nella terza fase, un'intervista semi-strutturata viene condotta con la società immobiliare Cushman & Wakefield (C & W). Il risultato di questa intervista indica che la tendenza di aprire negozi nel settore alimentare è aumentata negli ultimi cinque anni in Italia e il principale fattore di scelta delle location per i marchi è footfall. È interessante notare che questa affermazione è coerente con l'analisi della distribuzione di fast food chains nelle diverse aree di Milano che è stata eseguita in questo studio. Dal punto di vista dell'e-commerce, C & W prevede che, mentre la quota delle vendite online alla vendita totale in Italia è intorno al 3-4%, il settore alimentare dovrebbe registrare una crescita bassa con 1% nei prossimi cinque anni . È degno di nota il fatto che questa affermazione sia anche coerente con l'osservazione fisica del 2-6% della quota online degli ordini totali, ottenuta in questo studio. Alla fine, questo studio potrebbe essere d'accordo con il commento di C & W che ha affermato che l'e-commerce non interesserebbe quei segmenti in cui l'esperienza è la prima cosa come il cibo al dettaglio. Tuttavia, potrebbe interessare altri settori di vendita al dettaglio come la moda e il lusso. Non è chiaro che l'e-commerce sarebbe un nemico per Brick and Mortar nel prossimo futuro, contrariamente alla crescita delle nuove tecnologie e l'e-commerce potrebbe aggiungere ulteriori canali per migliorare l'esperienza per i clienti.
On the fast food retail in Milan. Brick & Mortar and e-commerce
KHOSHKAR, MARYAM
2017/2018
Abstract
Over the past decade, increasing the use of new technologies and the growing importance of technological solutions creates new opportunities and challenges for retailers. This evolution mostly affects the brick and mortar, e-commerce and customer engagement of most retailer sectors. For the food sector, the spread of technology leads to two different objections. The first debate is that the recent strong growth in home delivery and click and collect services as a part of e-commerce has resulted in a reduction in the amount of space required for many retailers. The second discussion is that new technology is improving both the convenience and experience aspect of dining out which has a positive effect on brick and mortar. Despite the presence of these debates in the food sector, the main focus of literature is around the clothing retail and especially fashion and luxury retail sector. Hence, the lack of practice in this topic gives the necessity to recognize the mentioned effects on this important sector and in particular on the fast food chains retail. By this end, the relationship of e-commerce and brick and mortar in fast food chains sector is studied in this work. For this purpose, Milan which is the technological advanced, commercial and financial capital of Italy offers a great opportunity to study in this regard. The research methodology of this study consists of three main phases. In the first phase, fast food chains in Milan are examined in three separate perspectives: Brick and Mortar, e-commerce, and online customer engagement perspective. The first and the second perspectives are aimed to study different sales channels of fast food chains. However, the third perspective is designed to investigate online customer engagement of fast food chains. The analyses of the first phase show that 219 fast food stores which belong to 40 fast food chain brands are currently active in Milan. In total 80% of these brands, which contain 69% of the whole stores, are Italian origin, and 20% of brands, with 31% of the total stores, are the International origin. Also, regardless of the number of stores, almost all fast food chains provide part of their online sales through their own or by collaboration with the food delivery companies. The international fast food chains demonstrate higher reputation and popularity in Italy. The second phase is accomplished, by physical observation of six stores from different fast food brands in the center of Milan. The analyses in this phase give the idea that, the touristic position of this area may have a positive impact on the daily order of fast food chains and mostly for the international brands. In the third phase, a semi-structured interview is conducted with Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) real estate company. The outcome of this interview indicates that the trend of opening stores in the food sector is increased in the last five years in Italy and the main driver of location choices for brands is high footfall. Interestingly this statement is consistent with the distribution analysis of fast food chains in different areas of Milan which was performed in this study. From the e-commerce point of view, the C&W predicts that, while the share of online sales to total sale in Italy is around 3-4%, food sector would have a low growth with only one percent in the next five years. It is notable to mention that, this statement is also consistent with the physical observation of 2-6% share of online to the total orders, which was obtained in this study. In the end, this study could agree with the comment of C&W which mentioned that e-commerce would not affect those segment where the experience is the first thing like the food retail. However, it might affect other retail sectors like fashion and luxury. It is not apparent that e-commerce would be an enemy for brick and mortar in the near future, in contrary the growth in new technology and the e-commerce could add further channels to improve the experience for customers.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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ON THE FAST FOOD RETAIL IN MILAN- BRICK & MORTAR AND E-COMMERCE.pdf
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/143952