Evolution of a New Retail Institution Type: Case Study in South Korea and China

Kim and Kincade (2006) proposed the Combined Retail Evolution Model (CREM) by examining retailing in a non-Western country (South Korea) and subsequently identified the Private-Branded Hive type store (PBH) as a new retail institution type.The purposes of this new study are (a) to examine the evolution of the PBH and (b) to examine the Supply Chain City (SCC) in China, using a case study research method with content analysis and researcher observation.The results indicate that the evolution of the PBH has begun, and it is changing into a new retail type. For the SCC, environmental influences identified in China were similar to those found in the Dong Dae Moon district (DDM) of South Korea.Although the retail component of the PBH retail institution type has not appeared in the Chinese SCC, the high possibility of acceptance of PBH-style retail stores by Chinese consumers can be seen in Beijing’s Commodity Trading Stores.