Who buys from farmers’ markets and farm shops: The case of Germany

In this article, we analyze the influence of sociodemographic factors and consumer attitudes toward direct marketing products and sources (outlets) on the frequency of buying food from farmers’ markets and farm shops. By conducting an intercept survey with pedestrians in 2011 and 2012, we interviewed a total of n = 550 consumers. The target regions of the study were the Eastern German federal states. The study uses two ordered logit regression models to investigate consumers’ shopping behaviour at farmers’ markets and farm shops separately. We find that different factors significantly influence consumers’ buying behaviour at the two direct marketing outlets. Specifically, both a more favorable view toward the freshness of directly marketed foods and the intention to support local producers are positively related to consumers’ purchase frequency from farmers’ markets. In contrast, consumers’ purchase frequency from farm shops is significantly influenced by their perception of the cost of the products, confidence in food producers of directly marketed products, perception of the safety of the food and perception of the accessibility of farm shops. The study results indicate that considering consumer behaviour separately for different direct marketing channels for food rather than considering the entire category of local food outlets may provide new and valuable insights.     

Understanding postorganic fresh fruit and vegetable consumers at participatory farmers’ markets in Ireland: reflexivity,trust and social movements

This paper examines how trusting relations between consumers and vendors of organic fresh fruits and vegetables (FFVs) in a particular type of farmers’ market (FM) in Ireland are established and maintained, and what the implications of this are. First, the food system is outlined, and then its attendant problems. These problems have led to various solutions, two of which are organic food and FMs. Then, the growth in these two areas is outlined, as is the accompanying growth in the academic literature on these two areas, some of which overlaps. Various pressures, including in particular the increasing distance food travels and disconnected stallholders and products at the FM, are suggested. In light of this, a need to apply an understanding of the reflexive consumer, trust and social movements is suggested. It is found that the consumers interviewed act reflexively by choosing to go to these FMs. They prioritize the trusting relationships built up through repeated personal contact at these FMs over and above organic certification. Along with and as part of this, they prioritize local, fresh, seasonal ‘chemical‐free’ FFVs over and above imported certified organic produce. Various aspects of collective identity formation, including modes of behaviour, objects and stories, and language, are involved in this process. These elements, to some extent, act as a buffer against the pressures of distance and disconnection. Along with this, the essential meaning of the word organic is, in this particular context, reconstructed to include various socio‐environmental values missing from some certified organic produce. The word postorganic is suggested. The main methodologies used are semistructured in‐depth interviews and participant observation.     

Elaboration of marketing communication through visual media: An empirical analysis

Visual media plays a significant role in the marketing and promotion of several international tourism services in today's connected marketplace, in particular here, international tertiary education. This study was developed to examine how visual media influence potential audiences' perception towards a specific educational tourism destination through the theoretical framework of Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty and Cacioppo, 1986). Researchers compare central and peripheral routes of individual persuasion via visual media and this aids marketers' understanding of how visual media impact consumers' purchase decisions. This study confirms a positive relationship between argument quality, audience engagement, source credibility, audience involvement and international students as tourists' perceived destination image. The findings suggest that peripheral routes of persuasion have stronger effects on individual adoption of information than central routes of persuasion. The study provides useful insight for tertiary education agents who promote international studies, destination marketers, and other users of visual media communicators.     

Exploring consumers’ purchase intention towards green products in an emerging market: The role of consumers’ perceived readiness

Consumers’ awareness of green products has increased in the last few years, but studies show that the demand for green products has been stagnant. The purpose of this study is to explore the roles of consumers’ perceived readiness to be green and subsequently, how readiness to be green affects consumers’ purchase intention towards green products in an emerging market, Indonesia. A total of 916 survey responses were collected in three universities, two major shopping malls and several housing areas in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The findings reveal that consumers’ attitude (ATT), subjective norm, perceived behavioural control (PBC), pro‐environmental self‐identity (PEI), ethical obligation and consumers’ readiness to be green are the determinants of intention to purchase green products. Consumers’ readiness to be green mediates the effects of ATT, PBC, PEI and perceived sense of responsibility on purchase intention. The study provides further insights into the discrepancy between professed positive attitudes towards the environment and the slow uptake of green behaviour in an emerging market.     

The impact of technology on the Arab communication style and culture: Implications for marketing

‘Culture is communication and communication is culture,’ as Hall (1976, Beyond culture, Garden City, NY: Anchor Books, Doubleday) reminds us. The main purpose of this paper was to assess the impact of technology on the Arab communication style. The Internet is a unique environment with particular characteristics that might cause shifts in people's communication styles. The setting/context of online communication is very different from face-to-face communication and thus assumptions about communication styles need to be reexamined. The data analysis indicates that significant changes to the Arab culture are taking place and these changes are likely to have an impact on marketing practices in the region.     

Customers’ judgments and misjudgments of corporate responsibility communication: A cross‐country investigation of the effects on confidence and trust within the banking sector

Customers’ judgment of corporate responsibility (CR) communication and the effect on confidence and trust as interlinked paradigms are intriguing areas of investigation from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. This research aims to clarify the nature of effective CR communication toward customers by identifying situations of over‐ and undercommunication of CR that might cause misjudgments and therefore lower the level of confidence among customers. The study also provides insights to better explain the link between confidence and trust related to customers’ perceptions of CR communication and compares different judgments and misjudgments regarding the banking industries in Italy and the United Kingdom. The study adopts real and fictitious bank case studies to conduct focus groups investigations of 160 millennial customers’ perceptions of CR communication and how it affects their level of confidence. The findings highlight the role of trust in making independent judgments on CR communications. Some similarities and slight differences in the impact of CR communication on confidence emerge between the countries and greatly depend on the customers’ level of trust in real banks and the influence of the industry effect characterizing the banking sector. This study provides fertile ground for future research into the implementation of a more effective and balanced CR communication strategy to increase customers’ confidence and into the understanding of which communication drivers, apparently independent of CR, affect trust in the long term.     

Impediments to Adoption of Green Products: An ISM Analysis

During the last decades of the twentieth century, industry and business leaders have recognized the importance of incorporating environmental sustainability in their business practices. This has resulted in emergence of new concepts such as green marketing and green consumerism. Over the years, various studies have explored the concept of green consumer behavior and have listed out factors that work as either barriers or enablers to consumer adoption of environmentally sustainable products. The present study identifies such barriers from the available body of literature and tries to construct a model using ISM (Interpretive Structural Modeling) to show how these different barriers interact and affect the consumer decision making regarding green products.     

A comparative analysis of patients’ rights: an international perspective

Consumer rights are used as a framework comparing the patients’ rights of selected countries. Patients’ right documents of geographically dispersed countries, regional coalitions and international organizations were selected for analysis and comparison reflecting health and consumer policy. The content of patients’ rights policies, including populations addressed, basic consumer rights, dignity and privacy or confidentiality were analysed. The inclusion of consumer responsibilities and enforcement of patients’ rights was evaluated. Countries used comprehensive laws and charters to address patients’ rights. The consumer rights most often noted in the patients’ rights analysed were the rights to information, choice and redress. Five countries lacked inclusion of consumer responsibilities and the responsibility for enforcement. Suggestions for action on the part of family and consumer educators and scientists were offered.     

基于市场营销角度下房地产市场宏观调控政策的分析

房地产市场是我国经济的重要组成部分,自1978年来,国家针对房地产业出台了多项政策,从调控目的分为紧缩政策、中性政策和扩张政策。市场营销从买方角度考虑市场营销策略和相关政策,市场由人口、需求和购买力三要素构成。本文从三要素角度分析宏观调控政策的目的和效果。     

Timing is money: managing the floor in sales interaction at street-market stalls

Abstract

This article considers ‘pricing’, that is, offers and requests for the price of sales items, as a communicative practice deployed by vendors and customers during sales interaction on street markets. It examines the organisation of sales interaction by pursuing the question of how and when market participants, vendors and customers alike, embed offers and requests for price information within their interaction. The analysis suggests that pricing is deployed as a technique to manage the ‘floor’ and the interaction at the stall. For example, offers for items are being tailored to customers’ display of interest and commitment to particular items, and requests for price information are deployed in ways that challenge anticipated offers, that is, offers that are about to be made by a vendor. The data, field observation and video-recording have been gathered at market stalls in London and Berlin.     

A dynamic market conceptualization for entrepreneurial marketing: the co-creation of opportunities

The entrepreneurial marketing domain should consider opportunity co-creation as a foundational construct for advancing the discipline. This paper integrates emerging views in entrepreneurship with an evolving, service-dominant logic of marketing to develop a market conceptualization for exploring uncertainty in dynamic social and economic environments. With this market conceptualization, opportunities are continually co-created through the development and communication of value propositions, the derivation and determination of value, and the (re)formation of markets. Emerging research around the process of opportunity co-creation is used to create an initial definition and theoretical considerations.     

How to achieve true integration: the impact of integrated marketing communication on the client/agency relationship

ABSTRACT

Reports from the advertising industry suggest that the pressure to create effective integrated campaigns across the ever-increasing mix of paid, owned and earned media is putting an enormous strain on client/agency relationships. This research identifies the main challenges that an Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) approach places on this relationship and thereby advances the IMC literature by examining the practical challenges of implementation. Six key issues, developed from academic and industry sources, are presented to advertising experts, through a Delphi study, to stimulate debate and identify areas of agreement. The findings are brought together in a model which presents three main areas that need to be addressed, along with specific recommendations. These topics include the need for clients to provide stronger leadership in defining agency roles and responsibilities, more transparent remuneration systems to encourage teamwork across agencies as well as individual input and an increased emphasis on the strategic contribution from agencies.     

Making healthy eating messages more effective: combining integrated marketing communication with the behaviour ecological model

Encouraging healthy living involves a complex set of factors that interact with each other. Effective social communication strategies and conceptual models are needed in order to plan and maintain a desired level of societal change. More understanding is needed as to how different levels of society are affected by social communication messages. This paper examines how a social marketing strategy should be targeted in order to maximize societal change. In this paper the Multi‐levelled/Multimedia Model of Social Change is presented. This amalgamates integrated marketing communication principles and the Behavioural Ecological Model. It provides a basis for understanding how consistent messages and methods of communication affect long‐term behavioural or attitudinal change at the individual and societal levels.     

Understanding consumers’ perception of clothing quality: a multidimensional approach

The purpose of this study was to explore how consumers evaluate clothing quality. The researchers used a questionnaire based on responses from previous clothing quality research. It included statements to assess consumers’ use of informational cues to evaluate clothing quality and their expectations of high‐quality garments. A total of 146 students completed the questionnaire. An analysis of the data indicated that 75% of the informational cues and 36% of the expectations of a high‐quality garment were used by the respondents when considering the quality of a garment. The results of this study support the multidimensional nature of consumers’ perception of clothing quality using both informational cues and consumers’ expectations of high‐quality garments.     

Gender differences in Egyptian consumers’ green purchase behaviour: the effects of environmental knowledge,concern and attitude

This study investigates the influence of three cognitive and attitudinal factors on gender differences in green purchase behaviour. Using a large sample size (n = 1093), a survey has been developed and administered across Egypt. The findings from the multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) confirm the influence of consumers’ ecological knowledge, concern and attitude on gender differences in green purchase behaviour. Consistent with previous studies, this study found that women appeared to be less aware of environmental issues compared with men. However, contrary to other studies conducted in the West, men showed more environmental concern and more positive outlook towards green purchase compared with women. The study discusses how the present findings may help policy makers and marketers alike to fine‐tune their environmental and marketing programmes.     

Making a market for alternatives: marketing devices and the qualification of a vegan milk substitute

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to describe, conceptualise and critically discuss how and with what consequences marketing is used to construct a mass market for vegan substitutes. Drawing on the concepts of the marketing device and qualification, it shows how Oatly – a Swedish company making oat-based products – enrols three sets of marketing devices, i.e. digital media, packaging and stores, to simultaneously ‘alternativise’ and ‘convenienise’ its range of vegan products. The result is the material and discursive construction of a range of vegan products that is qualified as different enough from conventional dairy products to be an attractive alternative, but similar enough to fit into existing practices of shopping for food, cooking and eating. By qualifying products along multiple registers, Oatly constructs ‘plastic’ products, which can be consumed, for various reasons, by various groups of consumers thus enacting a multi-niche market for its products.     

Once upon a market dreary: the prescient marketing principles of Edgar Allan Poe

ABSTRACT

An American icon, Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) is famed for his fiendish tales of fear and trembling, and premature burial. He is less well known as a businessperson, let alone a marketing thought leader. Poe, though, was not only an entrepreneurially inclined self-promoter of genius, but he practised prescient marketing principles that are pertinent to present circumstances. In a world where dark tourism, dead celebrities and disinterred brands loom large, Poe’s principal principles – perversity, poetry, plagiary, plasticity – are prior portents of marketing precepts. Written in an appropriately literary style, this paper shows that dead men do foretell tales. Of markets dreary.     

Action at the exhibit face: video and the analysis of social interaction in museums and galleries

ABSTRACT

Whilst we can observe a considerable increase in importance of arts and museum marketing, research of people’s engagement with art in exhibitions is relatively rare. This neglect of people’s action and interaction in exhibitions is somewhat surprising considering that it is in exhibitions where museums are in direct contact with their audience. This article begins with a review of the emergence of video-based research in the social sciences before turning to the use of video for the study of visitor behaviour in exhibitions. It contributes to recent debates on experiential and sensory marketing by examining three video-recorded fragments of interactions at exhibits in museums. The analysis of the fragments suggests that people’s experience of exhibits arises in social interaction with others. The article ends with a discussion of the theoretical and methodological contribution of video-based research in museums and of implications of such research for those involved in the management and design of museums and other experiential environments.     

The role of interdependent self-construal in consumers’ susceptibility to retail salespersons’ influence: A hierarchical approach

Based on a sample of 300 consumers, this paper develops and tests a hierarchical model that examines the effect of interdependent self-construal on consumers’ susceptibility to salespersons’ influence. Structural equation modeling shows that the relationship between the two constructs is mediated by several situational factors via two prediction paths. Along one path, interdependent self-construal positively affects consumers’ susceptibility to interpersonal influence, which is positively connected to consumers’ susceptibility to salespersons’ influence through the mediation of consumers’ susceptibility to store atmosphere influence. Along the other path, interdependent self-construal is positively correlated with public self-consciousness, which is then positively associated with consumers’ susceptibility to salespersons’ influence. Discussions on theoretical, practical and future research implications are provided.