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Abstract

DR. ALAN TREADGOLD is a research associate in the Oxford Institute of Retail Management at Templeton College, England. The successful application of instore information technology systems has been identified as a source of substantial competitive advantage for retail businesses. Multiple retail businesses, in the United Kingdom as elsewhere, are demonstrably committed to heavy investment programmes in data collection, transmission and manipulation systems. There has, however, prevailed an assumption that the application of l.T. systems is confined to large multiple retailers. In consequence little is known of the activities of the smaller independent retailer. This paper addresses this knowledge gap. Three l.T. devices, namely EPOS (electronic point of sale) terminals, in-store computers, and portable data capture units (PCDUs), are identified as especially well-suited for application in even the smallest retail outlets. An attempt is made, through the presentation of the results of survey work. to identify the overall level of I.T. device adoption, adoption by principal trading activity and size of outlet, and the success of l.T. applications in this sector of the retail trades.

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Information Technology and the Independent Retail Business

Abstract

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