Comprendre les spécificités de la distribution en vrac pour adapter le retailing mix : apport des théories des pratiques

Objectives/Research questions: Packaging-free shopping, i.e. selling products presented without any packaging, in quantities that the consumer chooses and in reusable containers, is a kind of distribution that currently experiences a renewed interest. Its development changes the retailers' practices. Based on social practices theories, this article aims at understanding the specificities of packaging-free professionals' practices in order to adapt the retailing mix to the case of packaging-free distribution.Methodology/Approach: This research uses a qualitative study, which includes interviews with retailers, visits of stores with observations and photographs, and a systematic review of a professional journal.Findings: Based on the three pillars of the retailing mix – product/service mix, physical distribution mix and communication mix – the results highlight the specificities of packaging-free distribution and, in particular, the permeability of the boundaries between the pillars of the mix and the importance of the meanings that create heterogeneity in the practices.Implications: Analyzing packaging-free distribution through the prism of practices theories reveals the need to adapt the retailing mix to this particular case. The contribution of this research is to propose an adapted retailing-mix integrating the material-skills-meaning dimensions to deploy it. Resulting managerial recommendations regarding the implementation of this adapted retailing-mix are therefore proposed. These propositions allow to remove some barriers that hinder the diffusion of packaging-free distribution. Originality: Contrary to previous studies that used social practices theories at the individuals' level, this research uses them here in a new framework, the one of professionals of a specific sector. They prove to be relevant to understand the distribution of unpackaged products, a topic that remains unexplored in the marketing literature.Keywords: sustainable development; packaging; packaging-free products; retailing mix; theories of practices.