Cognitive source and clothing retail : Some results from an empirical research in the Italian fashion market

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to analyze the role of market knowledge embodied in sales outlet management and in particular to investigate in a static way the role of cognitive sources in relation, to the structural characters of the retail enterprise and its sales outlet on the one hand (the latter understood as a commercial product), and to performance (expressed as revenue achieved by the sales outlet) on the other hand. Design/methodology/approach – The survey and the results presented in the paper were carried out by administering a structured questionnaire to a sample of over 800 sales outlets located in the historical town centres of Florence and Prato and surrounding areas. This method analyzed the relations between the structural characters of the retail enterprise and the sales outlet, and also the relations with cognitive sources expressed in terms of activities, enterprise behaviour and performance. The theoretical model of reference tested is based on the relation between structural character, behaviour and performance. Findings – The analysis demonstrates the presence of an association between cognitive sources and sales outlet performance values in the sample analysed. In particular a relation was observed between performance and event organizing and relative level of perception, and also between performance and importance attributed to the satisfaction questionnaire. This phenomenon can be interpreted as a tendency towards qualitative growth of the sales outlet, associated with awareness of the need to resort to alternative and complementary cognitive sources in order to become more competitive. Research limitations/implications – These first results are not absolute, but will be subjected in forthcoming research to verification and in‐depth examination. Practical implications – The paper proposes an interpretive model that could be adopted by managers to improve the use of market knowledge in outlet management. Originality/value – This paper presents a valid model that will be interesting to both managers and academic researchers.