Small Business Apparel Retailing in Jamaica: An Exploratory Investigation into Product Development Processes and Practices

Authors

Natalie Johnson-Leslie, Arkansas State UniversityFollow
LuAnn R. Gaskill, Virginia Tech UniversityFollow

Abstract

While the process and practices of retail product development in developed countries have been documented, avoid exists in descriptive analysis regarding retail product development in an international setting. The primary purpose of this study was to explore small business apparel retailing, and specifically the retail product development process and practices in Jamaica. Using the case study approach, five apparel retailers in Jamaica who engaged in retail product development are profiled. In- depth interviews, observations, and documents were used to collect data and results were presented after analysis. The findings revealed that the process of product exclusivity, training of workers, modern technological devices, networking, and product quality were of major concern to apparel retailers in Jamaica, which is shown to be very similar to the retail product development process carried out in the U.S.A.

Keywords

Apparel Retailing, Jamaica, Small Business, Product Development, and Qualitative Research.

Publication Date

9-1-2006

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2006.1661

Recommended APA Citation

Johnson-Leslie, N., & Gaskill, L. R. (2006). Small Business Apparel Retailing in Jamaica: An Exploratory Investigation into Product Development Processes and Practices. The Qualitative Report, 11(3), 417-449. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2006.1661