The country of origin impact on online retailing

In general, country of origin is defined as ‘Made in [..]’ (Parkvithee and Miranda, 2012), referring to the place where the product was manufactured. However, the concept of country of origin is constructed with several other dimensions such as country of parts, country of design and country of brand origin. This is “in response to the evolving global economy, where Made in [country name] label, no longer fully corresponds to the product and/or brand’s country name” (Rashid et al., 2016, p. 230). In other words, a product may be manufactured in one country, the brand origin can be another country and design and parts can be in a completely different country. However, country of origin is still deemed as an effective branding tool, as consumers evaluate the quality of the product based on the place of manufacture, or the origin of the brand.

In part, the country of origin impact on consumers vary, depending on the type of market, type of product, associating with cultural factors, personal knowledge and stereotypical perceptions, and is also linked with emotional, expressive and symbolic factors (Aiello et al., 2009; Fionda and Moore, 2009; Verlegh and Steenkamp, 1999). As a result, country of origin has drawn many researchers attention (e.g. Bilkey and Nes, 1982; Insch and McBride, 1998; Parkvithee and Miranda, 2012). For example, Thakor and Kohli (1996) examined county of brand origin and brand image, suggesting that consumers may have limited knowledge about the origin of the brand (Rashid et al., 2016). In addition to this, authors have examined different dimensions of COO, such as Hamzaoui and Merunka (2006) and Insch and McBride (1998) investigated the effect of country of design and country of manufacturing, whilst Chao (1993), and Ha-Brookshire (2012) examined country of parts and other COO effects.
Very recently, authors have also contributed industry perspectives on country of origin, with particular emphasis on the UK fashion industry (e.g. Rashid et al., 2016; Rashid and Barnes, 2017), adding knowledge in relation to branding implication and re-shoring of manufacturing back to the UK. However, there is still gap in the knowledge with specific reference to the impact on online retailing (e.g. pure-play retailers), especially where they are implanting different marketing activities, such as pop-up stores (e.g. BOOHOO did a one-month pop-up store at Coachella, California), to not only develop international recognition but also to develop brand positioning, and how COO impacts the businesses when they are conducting temporary marketing activities.

To investigate the country of origin ‘effect’, previous studies have mainly used the quantitative approach, to measure consumer-oriented research (e.g. Acharya and Elliott, 2001; Samiee et al., 2005; Insch and McBride, 2004). Although, very recently, authors (e.g. Rashid et al., 2016; Rashid and Barnes, 2017; Genc and Bayraktaroglu, 2017) have also used the qualitative approach, to understand the industry and/or consumers perspectives in different business context. Consequently, this study can use a combination of both, observation and in-depth interviews or a case study approach to gain rich insight into the perception, motivation and attitude, as well as quantitative.