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ABSTRACT. The strong trend towards innovations in the Romanian DIY market brought about by increased offer diversification and renewal, the hectic pace of accommodation and business centre construction in big cities and the increased interest in refurbishing houses and facades prompted the authors to conduct an exploratory study on the representatives of Generation X: those equipping a house or apartment, individual entrepreneurs using their own labour force to refurbish properties for resale, small-scale craftsmen supplying themselves with the necessary materials for this work, together with representatives of construction, real estate and interior design companies. The objective of the study is to determine how innovation in wide-area DIY retail is perceived by Gen X, be they individual consumers, entrepreneurs, small-scale craftsmen, or company representatives. The results reveal significant managerial implications which retailers should consider when defining and modifying their strategies for approaching and processing the market.
Keywords'. DIY retail, customer clusters, innovation in DIY retail, projective tests, Romania.
Received: December, 2016 1st Revision: March, 2017 Accepted: June, 2017
JEL Classification: L81, M30, M31, O3
Introduction
Generating competitive advantage by proper differentiation of products and services is probably the greatest challenge for 21st Century firms. Product assortment changes, improvement of manufacturing recipes and product presentation, as well as ongoing innovation probably represent the best way that a company may choose to attract and impress customers, arouse their interest, make them respond favourably to the whole organization and its brands, recommend its products and services to others and return to the store. Innovation encompasses a wide range of facets and meanings, from mere re-thinking of an advertising slogan to substantial change in a product or identification of a new technical solution based on extensive research.
A high degree of interaction between the retail service provider and customer increases the latter's capacity to recognize innovation and novelty, which represents a strong motivating factor that drives demand. Supermarkets, specialty stores, discounters and other retailers that enable their own customers to be more innovative will be successful in the face of fierce market competition. Innovation, development of new products and technologies, together with, and for customers represent an important element that each company should include in its corporate culture. Following this course of action, a retailer will be able not...