Knowledge and understanding: This course provides advanced knowledge and analytical resources that will enable students to understand the retail industry and the various aspects regarding the definition of the retailing strategy, merchandise management, human resources and store management, and customer service experience. Applying knowledge and understanding: The students will be able to: 1) apply knowledge from retail and customer service experience to marketing strategy; 2) understand the impact of retailing strategies and decisions on consumers and stakeholders; and 3) analyze how new trends and technologies shape, constrain, and enable retailing. Making judgements: Students will be able to use the skills and knowledge acquired in this course to support marketing decision making. Furthermore, students are expected to learn how to: 1) discuss and evaluate key issues in retailing; 2) access specialized and reliable resources to support their analysis and decision-making process and 3) work in team to provide solutions on controversial issues. Communications skills: Through projects to be presented in class this course will give the students the opportunity to share and communicate their ideas, proposals, analysis and critical thinking in the field of retailing and customer service experience in the most effective and appropriate way. Learning skills: This course will provide students with the tools they need to understand the retail industry and service experience marketing. Analytical and creative thinking are required to analyze trends and controversies in this field. Students will learn how to provide solutions which support the marketing decision making process.

Students will: 1) earn a thorough understanding of the managerial problems that retailers are facing nowadays and 2) learn theories and methods to solve these problems and best support decision making

Three macro themes will be examined during the course. Sustainability, Technology and Customer Experience.

There is no textbook required for this class. However, for those students who have a deep interest in retailing or who have little or no background in retailing, please consider obtaining a copy of “Retailing Management” by Michael Levy, Barton Weitz, 10th edition, Irwin- McGraw Hill”. Please note that this text is optional. Students have to study the following articles to pass the course Gielens, K., Geyskens, I., Deleersnyder, B., & Nohe, M. (2018), “The new regulator in town: The effect of Walmart's sustainability mandate on supplier shareholder value,” Journal of Marketing, 82(2), 124-141 Sun, J. J., Bellezza, S., and Paharia, N. (2021), “Buy Less, Buy Luxury: Understanding and Overcoming Product Durability Neglect for Sustainable Consumption,” Journal of Marketing, 85(3), 28-43 Mookerjee, S., Cornil, Y., and Hoegg, J. (2021), “From Waste to Taste: How “Ugly” Labels Can Increase Purchase of Unattractive Produce,” Journal of Marketing, 85(3), 62-77 Shankar, V., Kalyanam, K., Setia, P., Golmohammadi, A., Tirunillai, S., Douglass, T., Hennessey, J., Bull, J.S. and Waddoups, R. (2021), “How technology is changing retail,” Journal of Retailing, 97(1), 13-27 Grewal, D., Ahlbom, C. P., Beitelspacher, L., Noble, S. M., & Nordfält, J. (2018), “In-store mobile phone use and customer shopping behavior: Evidence from the field,” Journal of Marketing, 82(4), 102-126 Mende, M., Scott, M. L., van Doorn, J., Grewal, D., and Shanks, I. (2019), “Service robots rising: How humanoid robots influence service experiences and elicit compensatory consumer responses,” Journal of Marketing Research, 56(4), 535-556 Siebert, A., Gopaldas, A., Lindridge, A., Simões, C. (2020), “Customer Experience Journeys: Loyalty Loops Versus Involvement Spirals,” Journal of Marketing, 84(4), 45-66 Herhausen, D., & Kleinlercher, K., & Verhoef, P., Emrich, O., Rudolph, T. (2019), “Loyalty Formation for Different Customer Journey Segments,” Journal of Retailing, 95, 9-29 Jungwoo, L., Hyunae, L., Namho, C. (2020), “The impact of customers’ prior online experience on future hotel usage behavior,” International Journal of Hospitality Management, 91 Bonfanti A. and Yfantidou G. (2021), “The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on customer experience design: The hotel managers’ perspective,” International Journal of Hospitality Management, 94 Vadakkepatt et al. 2021, Sustainable retailing, Journal of Retailing Grewal et al. 2021, Strategizing Retailing in the New Technology Era, Journal of Retailing Guha et al. 2021, How artificial intelligence will affect the future of retailing, Journal of Retailing Grewal and Roggeveen 2020, Understanding Retail Experiences and Customer Journey Management, Journal of Retailing Roggeveen et al. 2020, The DAST Framework for Retail Atmospherics: The Impact of In- and Out-of-Store Retail Journey Touchpoints on the Customer Experience, Journal of Retailing

Lectures + discussion and project works on relevant empirical issues Students’ participation during lectures is strongly encouraged

For attending students, the final evaluation will be based on: Group Project: 50% Individual tests: 20% Papers presentation and discussion: 10% Final Exam: 20% For non-attending students, the final evaluation will be based on: Final Exam: 100%

no specific criteria