Retailer Categorization: How Store-Format Price Image Influences Expected Prices and Consumer Choices

Prior research indicates that consumers may base their retail decisions (e.g., store choice, purchase quantity) on price image, which has been defined as consumer perceptions “of the aggregate price level of a retailer” (Hamilton and Chernev 2013, p. 2). The present research shows that consumers associate different price images not only with specific retailers, but more broadly with various store formats — such as grocery stores, convenience stores, and specialty stores. Six studies provide evidence that store-format price image exerts influence on consumer price expectations and store choice decisions, and that these retailer categorization effects are distinct from the effects of retailer price image.     

Validating the search,experience, and credence product classification framework

Prior research identifies the influential factors for patronage intentions as product classes, retailer attributes, and risk perceptions. The Internet's ability to offer easy information search, therefore to reduce certain types of risk for products mandates evaluation of a new product classification framework called Search, Experience, and Credence. To test the nomological validity of the SEC-framework, this study investigates whether the SEC-products influence the (1) level of importance consumers place on retailer attributes, (2) level and types of risks consumers perceive, and (3) consumer patronage intentions for Internet and physical stores. The relationships between the (4) importance consumers place on retailer attributes and their risk perceptions, and (5) risk perceptions and patronage intentions for Internet and physical stores are investigated. The findings indicate while the importance of retailer attributes is equally significant across the four product classes, the SEC-products influence consumer risk perceptions and purchase-intentions for online and physical-stores. The relationship between important retailer attributes and risk perceptions is also significant.     

Consumer acceptance of a revolutionary technology-driven product: The role of adoption in the industrial design development

Understanding how consumers adopt a state of the art product is important for the development and marketing of innovative products. The purpose of this study is to examine factors that affect consumer intentions to use a revolutionary technology-driven product (RTP). The research integrates two innovation adoption models, the Unified Technology Acceptance and Utilization Theory (UTAUT) and the Task-Technology Fit (TTF) model with two antecedents of consumer characteristics: consumer innovativeness and perceived value of a new product. The study examines consumer responses to an unfamiliar product, the TEASER which is a conceptual digital cookbook that offers taste sampling, thereby providing an online food-tasting experience. Consumers who are prone to innovativeness and who perceive value in a RTP’s aesthetics are able to discern the conditions that support their intent to use such a product. The resulting model expands the UTAUT and TTF theories by showing that UTAUT variables mediate between the variables of TTF and adoption intentions. These results support the need for nonlinear industrial development processes involving consumers.     

仿冒品重复消费的动力机制

仿冒品现象已成为商业社会中备受关注的问题,而消费者的重复消费是它盛行的重要形态之一。本文建立消费者的仿冒品满意度整合模型,来明确仿冒品被重复消费的缘由与机制。通过调查和分析得到了以下主要结论:第一,消费者的产品涉入度、奢侈品消费动机、品牌消费认同和诚信意识对于仿冒品的绩效期望和绩效感知分别有较为显著的影响;第二,仿冒品的绩效期望和绩效感知分别对于它的满意度和重复消费有较为显著的正向影响。这些表明,仿冒品的重复性消费以消费者的专业性和诚实性为基础,并受到较高的消费预期和真实的用后感驱动。这些都为知名品牌战略制衡仿冒品提出了严峻挑战。     

Two-Tier Store Brands: The Benefic Impact of a Value Brand on Perceptions of a Premium Brand

A recent trend in the retail industry is the emergence of multi-tier store brands. In the current article, we contrast consumers’ expectations in a retailing context in which a single store brand is present to one in which two store brands are offered in the same category. We propose that when a retailer offers a single store brand, consumers expect it to be of lower quality even when it is described as a premium brand. On the other hand, quality perception of a premium store brand increases in the presence of a value store brand. Importantly, quality perceptions of a value store brand are not affected by the presence of a premium store brand. In two studies we find support for our hypotheses showing the benefic impact of a value store brand on quality perceptions of a premium store brand.     

Shopping values of clothing retailers perceived by consumers of different social classes

With the advent of diverse forms of retailing, competition among retailers is becoming more intense. Due to this phenomenon, retailers now require marketing strategies that can differentiate themselves from other retailers. However, there is a lack of research on what kind of shopping values consumers perceive from the retailers they visit. This paper analyzes dimensions of shopping values consumers perceive and variations in perceived shopping values according to the types of clothing retailers, be it a department store, discount store, or internet shopping mall. More specifically, the paper analyzes the moderating effect of consumers’ different social class in perceiving the shopping values of each retailer. The results show that shopping value consists of five major constructs: experiential, diversional, reliable, efficient, and self-expressive shopping values. We also found that consumers perceive more experiential, diversional, and reliable shopping values in department stores and internet shopping malls than in discount stores, and self-expressive shopping value is highly perceived in department stores. However, consumers’ social class can moderate the perception of shopping values for department stores and internet shopping malls, but not for discount stores. Discount store shopping is likely to provide consistent shopping values to consumers of all classes. Based on these findings, managerial implications are then presented.     

Internal reference price response across store formats

Reference price models have a long tradition in marketing and consumer research. Pricing strategies can utilize consumer response to gains and losses relative to internal reference prices, which are price expectations developed from past-observed prices. Consequently, many previous studies have been devoted to analyzing differences in internal reference price response across product categories and consumer characteristics. However, knowledge about internal reference price response across different store formats is missing. Our study aims to fill this research gap. To do so, we estimate a reference price model for the same set of brands and the same sample of consumers across two store formats (discount chain vs. supermarket chain). The prices for the brands in our model are similar across store formats. Results from our proposed model show that the same consumers are loss-averse at the discount chain while gain-seeking at the supermarket chain. Predicted by previous literature, we attribute the difference in internal reference price response to the different price image of the store formats. Overall, our research contributes to the reference price literature and provides important implications for pricing strategies at stores with different price image.     

Consumer perceptions of higher and lower-level designed store environments

The role and influence of esthetics in the consumption of store environments remains poorly understood. Little is known about how esthetics propose substantial or adjunctive roles in consumers’ store experiences. The aim of this paper is to examine consumer perceptions of store design-architecture in high and low-level design contexts. Building on the esthetics, and environmental psychology literatures, our findings confirm consumers’ determinations of perceptual differences in the esthetic content contained in presented store environmental stimuli. Latent means comparisons confirm consumers’ perceptions of the presence of a high-level design in one fast-fashion store with a low-level design of a second store of the same retailer using a Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The results demonstrate the reliability and validity of the proposed constructs in confirming the presence of higher and low-levels of design. This research, thus, expands on the extant number of store specification and response constructs and prospectively opens up new lines of store environments research.     

消费者创新性的结构测量及对创新性行为的影响

现有文献比较全面地揭示了消费者创新性与新产品创新性行为之间的多重关系,并探讨了这些关系产生的条件和机制。但绝大多数的理论和经验研究都将消费者创新性视为一个单维构念来进行操作性界定和测量,很少有研究去探索其内在结构并在此基础上检验每个维度与新产品创新性行为之间的关系。文章旨在探讨消费者创新性的结构维度并在此基础上观察不同类型的消费者创新性对创新性行为的影响。结论表明,消费者创新性是一个包括感知创新性和认知创新性的双维构念;作为整体的消费者创新性与新产品采用行为并没有显著的相关性,只有认知创新性才与新产品的采用行为正向相关,而感知创新性只与新产品的创新性信息搜寻正向相关。上述结论为消费者创新性提供了一个新的认识,也为今后学者从该角度来研究有关消费者创新性的其他问题提供了变量测量的工具,而且还为新产品的营销实践提供了新的管理启示。     

Re-incorporating usage situation in choice models: a base for future developments

Abstract

Understanding the consumer’s tendency to adopt new products is an ever-present essential for successful marketing campaigns. This paper presents the findings from two empirical studies that investigate the relationship between consumer innovativeness, price-prestige sensitivity, and need for emotion. A questionnaire survey was used to collect data in both studies from a sample of 668 respondents in two cities in England. The findings show that consumer innovativeness is determined by an individual’s sensitivity to price and their need for emotion. While innovative consumers are sensitive in relating price to prestige, this dispositional relationship varies across products. Furthermore, the findings suggest that enjoyment, which facilitates emotional openness and receptivity, influences innovative consumers to take the emotional route, besides the price-prestige route, to the adoption of new products. These findings have a number of important implications for marketers, particularly for the success of marketing campaigns targeted at innovative consumers who find enjoyment in using new products and are prestigiously sensitive to price.     

Store attributes leading customer satisfaction with unplanned purchases

Understanding which specific factors of retail stores’ offering affect unplanned buyers’ satisfaction may be of great interest to store managers as they could set ad hoc strategies to target these consumers and establish long-term, profitable relationships with them. Satisfied unplanned buyers could indeed return to the store where they purchased their unplanned item(s) and/or positively talk about it with other customers. Nevertheless, we still know very little about such factors. To close this gap, this research gathered survey data on consumers’ store satisfaction and perceptions of store attributes in Spain during two time periods: in 2008, when the crisis was barely noticed by Spanish consumers, and five years later, when consumers were experiencing this economic situation. The results obtained evidence how grocery retailers can respond to customers’ awareness of the crisis by providing some managerial recommendations for bolstering satisfaction in consumer segments with diverse levels of unplanned buying behavior.     

Managerial bias in anticipated images of competing shopping areas

Several dimensions of consumer retail patronage decisions that affect the firm's marketing program are investigated. In particular, the focus of the research extends previous research in the area to investigate the images held by consumers of shopping malls rather than individual stores. Second, the ability of store managers to accurately predict the image held by consumers both of their own shopping area and of a competitor's shopping area is investigated. This is designed to evaluate the ability of managers to predict consumer perceptions irrespective of their own beliefs. Finally, differences in the perceptions of two potential market segments are compared. Manager ability to differentiate between segments is noted. The implications for marketing programming decisions and the contribution the research makes to the body of literature on image measurement are discussed.     

The Impact of Store-Price Signals on Consumer Search and Store Evaluation

Always low price (ALP) and low price guarantee (LPG) are store-price signals that retailers frequently use to induce favorable store-price image and discourage consumers from comparing prices across stores. Although both policies signal low prices, only LPG is an obligatory promise to beat rival stores’ prices. Results of two shopping simulations show that when consumer search costs are relatively low, ALP may effectively discourage consumer search whereas LPG may trigger more search. Paradoxically, consumers tend to evaluate ALP stores less favorably (as having lower integrity and higher self-serving intention) than LPG stores even when both signals appear to be credible. These findings suggest that LPG is a superior tactic for creating a favorable store image while ALP is more effective for discouraging consumer search. The results also indicate that consumers visit fewer stores when the LPG is not a credible signal of lowest market price than when it is credible. This is because consumers are inclined to either claim discounts or refunds at the non-credible LPG store or to purchase at the competing store with a lower price rather than continue searching.     

Consumer Data Analysis and Its Managerial Application for the Grocery Industry

Consumer data is collected to understand the heterogeneity of consumer behavior and store competition in grocery shopping. Marketing research techniques are used to analyze consumers’ decision processes and their preference models. Initial modeling results are aggregated to search for substantial clustering patters. The demographic profiles are also examined for clustering interpretations. The derived research results can assist grocery industry to better understand its customers and the competition within the industry. Also, Consumers’ perceptions of competing stores are collected to create perceptual maps. Strategic analysis is conducted by studying the relative positions of competing stores.     

Price image and the sugrophobia effect on luxury retail purchase intention

Consumer shopping behavior in luxury retail stores continues to be a subject of interest among marketing researchers. Such a phenomenon has led us to explore how price image and sugrophobia, a psychological feeling of being taken advantage of, would influence consumers' future behavioural intention in the context of luxury retail store. Informed by a survey of 400 consumers, this study adopts the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S–O-R) model to examine how price image triggers consumer perceptions (i.e., perceived value, trust and attitude) and results in behavioral intention. Sugrophobia is included in the S–O-R model to assess its moderating effect. Data analysis using SEM-PLS demonstrates that a retailer's price image has a positive effect on consumers' perceived value, trust, attitude, and future behavioral intention. Sugrophobia, in turn, is found to weaken the relationship between price image and consumer perceptions. The study thus highlights the relevance of sugrophobia among risk-averse consumers and the necessity to manage sugrophobic consumers effectively in the context of a luxury retail store. Implications of the study are discussed.     

When Do Online Consumers Shop in an Offline Store: The Moderating Effects of Product Characteristics

This study serves as an initial attempt to demonstrate empirically how online consumers react to the offline channel extensions (i.e., opening physical stores) of e-tailers. Specifically, we examine how the attributes of offline channels influence consumer intentions to switch to offline channels and how they also lead to incremental demands on online channels. We investigate how these effects vary across highly complex utilitarian and hedonic products. The results of the study indicate that although store openings encourage online consumers to shop there when purchasing highly complex utilitarian products, the addition of offline stores results counterintuitively in incremental patronage of the online channels when consumers shop for highly complex hedonic products. This study validates the guiding role of product characteristics in designing offline channels for e-tailers and suggests that incorporating product type and complexity into the design is likely to contribute to the development of stores tailored to specific consumer segments.     

Modeling innovative points of sales through virtual and immersive technologies

This study examines the benefits of virtual and augmented reality for retailing in order to propose a theoretical framework for the development of innovative and efficient stores. The purpose is to investigate the relevance of advanced technologies in the points of sale from user’s standpoint for deeply understanding their influence on consumer’s perception. The study gathers data from 150 respondents for investigating the influence on consumers in terms of ease of use, enjoyment and store perception. To achieve this goal, the research focuses on Structural Equation Model (SEM) approach to map the correlations among variables.The results illustrate consumer’s response towards the introduction of virtual and immersive technologies in traditional points of sales. Specifically, they are prompted to use these stores, which became more attractive and appealing.Managerial and marketing implications are also theoretically discussed, showing how an immersive store might represent the starting point for further advances in retailing.     

The relevance of shopper logistics for consumers of store-based retail formats

This paper discusses and empirically evaluates the relevance of shopping-related logistics for consumers of store-based retail formats. Based on a literature review a conceptual model was developed and subsequently tested using a survey of more than six hundred consumers in the grocery retail sector. Respondents were those primarily responsible for grocery shopping in their households located in a highly concentrated European urban retail market. Variance based structural equation modelling reveals that shopper logistics has a major impact on the convenience of store-based shopping and partly influence consumers' perceptions of shopping related costs. Nevertheless, shopper logistics does not affect consumer behaviour in terms of the share of visits of a store. These results are moderated by age, hedonic shopping orientation, shopping frequency, average spending per trip and store format preference. We conclude that shopper logistics is relevant for consumers of grocery stores but its relevance varies between different shopper groups.     

Antecedents of Green Brand Equity: An Integrated Approach

A steady demand for green products from concerned consumers has led companies to introduce new product lines that match or exceed consumer environmental concerns. Nonetheless, not all the organizations were able to achieve significant returns on their investments in green products. These failures are generally attributed towards companies’ inability to overcome consumer scepticism towards the performance of functional and green attributes of their brands to generate a positive green image and green value in consumers mind. Therefore, the question arises that does the success in promoting green brand image and value depend on consumer existing perceptions about the brand quality and credibility? This study analyzes the influence of brand perceive quality and credibility on consumer perceptions towards a brand green image, green value and green equity. A theoretical model with hypothesized relationships is developed and tested to answer these research questions. Data have been collected from the consumers of electrical and electronic goods. The hypothesized relationships were tested with the help of structural equation modeling procedure. The results suggest that brand perceived quality and its overall credibility does have a significant influence on generating a greener image, green perceive value and green brand equity.     

Little Retailers and Friends Target Big Retailers in the U.S., China,Japan, and Germany

Abstract

Wal-Mart isn't the only large retailer facing new obstacles to their operational policies and expansion plans, and the United States (U.S.) isn't the only country where resistance is growing to big chain store operations. Some consumers, unions, special interest groups, and governmental entities are erecting roadblocks for a number of large retailers in the U.S., China, Japan, and Germany. They're busily attacking retail brands using consumer images and perceptions of large stores as a fulcrum to portray the retailing whale as a shark. Some competitors even go so far as to say the problem isn't that the big stores want some of their business, the problem is that they want allof it.