品牌标识的隐性设计线索对消费者品牌创造性感知的影响

从品牌标识的隐性设计线索特征视角切入，基于图底反转原理和溢出效用，本文研究旨在探究品牌标识的隐性设计线索对消费者品牌创造性感知的作用机理。三个实验研究结果表明：品牌标识的隐性设计线索比显性设计线索更能够增加消费者品牌创造性感知，且此效用成立的条件为：消费者自主发现隐性设计线索。同时，消费者的感知有趣性中介了此效用。此外，产品视觉审美集中度正向强化了品牌标识的隐性设计线索对品牌创造性感知的影响作用。     

Trade dress: The increasing importance of an ancient yet new form of intellectual property protection

Trade dress is a means of identifying and differentiating the product of a vendor by visual (and very occasionally auditory) cues of a form other than written language. The use of trade dress certainly goes back into pre-Roman times, and was very likely used well before then. Trade dress remains important in societies both highly literate and substantially illiterate, and in some respects has increased in importance in both.     

A Content Analysis of Bonus Pack Promotions

Bonus packs created by manufacturers have been characterized by scholars as special factory packs offering the consumer extra product for the same price or at no additional cost. However, this portrayal may fail to fully capture what consumers actually encounter in stores during and following a bonus pack promotion. Indeed, little is known about the types of products that manufacturers promote as bonus packs and how offers for them are specified, how retailers price them, and also what happens when the offers are discontinued. To address these shortcomings, a content analysis is conducted. The results illustrate a richness to bonus pack promotions that previous views of the topic have not described.     

The Effect of Social Cues on Sniping Behavior in Internet Auctions: Field Evidence and a Lab Experiment

This research explores how social cues presented in an online auction affect sniping behavior. Sniping is a strategy of placing a bid on an item in the very ending stages of an auction with a pre-determined ending time in an attempt to win the auction. Such a strategy conceals the intentions of the bidder until the last moments of the auction and minimizes the possibility of other opposing bidders submitting higher bids due to the short period of time left to respond. The research includes two field studies and a lab experiment indicating that sniping appears to be influenced by social factors, that is, when there are a greater number of bidders in the auction or the auction site provides social information about the bidders, the relative use of sniping increases. This research supports the perspective that bidders rely on others' bidding behavior and characteristics as an indication of the true value of the item on sale, and is one of the first studies in the literature which takes this perspective.     

Identifying an Advertisement Presenter's Tribe

ABSTRACT

In African countries it is generally important to identify another person's tribe when meeting that person for the first time. A similar process of identification also seems to take place when a consumer sees a presenter in an advertisement. This paper identifies the cues that are used in tribal identification, demonstrates that multiple cues are employed, and shows that nonvisual cues are generally more important than visual ones. It also finds that audience members notice a presenter's tribe more frequently in advertisements appearing on television than in those appearing in print or outdoor media. The managerial implications of these findings are discussed.     

The Contingent Effects of Semantic Price Cues

This research endeavors to understand the contingent effects of semantic price cues while taking into consideration several important contextual factors. These factors include where the customer encounters the semantic cue (in-store, at-home, online), whether the consumers’ shopping goal is hedonic or utilitarian in nature, the impact of shopping alone or with a companion, as well as the consumer's motivation to process the product information. Findings indicate that a within-store cue (compared to a between store cue) enhances evaluations when the shopping in a store with a utilitarian goal, when shopping alone, and when their motivation to process is low. A meta-analysis of the results demonstrates the robustness of the differential impacts of these semantic cues.     

The bright side of disorganization: When surprise generates low-price signals

The research problem of this paper attempts to understand the effects of disorganized versus organized shelves on search information. Contemporary retail studies have tended to discover how the organization of displays can evoke increased consumer attention. Thus, the purpose is to examine how disorganization cues shelf displays foster surprise through information search and the implications of that process for visualizing low-price signals. In three experiments carried out using eye-tracking devices and face reader techniques (two in the laboratory and one in the field), empirical evidence is presented that disorganization cues can generate an increase in information search generated by cognitive processing, increased emotional surprise manifested levels via schema discrepancy, and perception of low-price provoked by the attempt to reduce the risk of choice.     

Consumer Quality Perception in Traditional Food: Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese

Abstract

The paper aims to classify the quality cues and attributes of grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, an Italian traditional food cheese, exploring if they affect consumers’ quality perceptions and expectations. Analysis is based on a questionnaire administered in hypermarkets where grated Parmigiano Reggiano is sold. A factor analysis, using varimax rotation, and a cluster analysis, were performed, using the Stata 12 software package. The clusters used were: geographical origin and packaging (cluster 1); price, brand and quality certification (cluster 2); all sensory attributes (cluster 3); and a combination of sensory attributes with price, brand, and quality certification (cluster 4). This is the first study to examine the quality cues and attributes affecting quality perception and expectations of cheese for grated Parmigiano Reggiano from a consumer perspective. It is also the first to classify cheese attributes following a quality approach, encompassing previously studied sensory and other attributes.     

Visual cues during shoppers’ journeys: An exploratory paper

The visual cues shoppers view at the point of purchase during the shopping process is vital to product selection and sales. We aimed to identify the intrinsic and extrinsic visual cues or touchpoints customers use to select a product (live plant) in retail stores. Eye-tracking technology (ETT) has enabled market researchers to conduct cost- and time-efficient studies. Few studies have been conducted in a retail setting to pinpoint how shoppers attend to visual cues in situ. Using ETT gave researchers insight into the cognitive processes leading to purchase. We recruited four retail greenhouses in Michigan to collaborate on the study, and researchers invited customers from the store’s email list to participate. Researchers used eye-tracking glasses to record eye movement during a <12-min shopping trip to purchase a $10 plant. We analyzed 150 useful videos to identify attention to marketing and non-marketing cues at the point of purchase (e.g., reading a sign, product interaction, cell phone use). Time spent in specific store areas (e.g., annuals, perennials, shrubs, etc.) was measured. For 67 shoppers who purchased an annual plant, we analyzed which cues and touchpoints influenced the shopping time spent. Results showed that the most frequently accessed cue/touchpoint was intrinsic: product interaction (looking at or touching a plant). Participants read, on average, 6.7 signs with price and 4.5 signs without price. Conversely, only 34% interacted with employees, and 19.4% used their cell phones. Building on this exploratory study, future research could investigate signage elements attracting attention and motivations for employee interaction and cell phone use.     

Comparing online reviews of hyper-local restaurants using deductive content analysis

This study explored consumer-generated online reviews of six hyper-local restaurants in UK and US. A deductive content analysis was carried out involving intrinsic and extrinsic cues of locally grown food. Overall quality, taste, price, region of origin, and menu information were found to be important variables of hyper-local restaurants’ online reviews. Although there were substantially more reviews about price in the UK-based hyper-local restaurants, consumers were found to be more critical of price in the US restaurants. In the UK hyper-local restaurants, a need to provide great selections and variety in the menu offerings was noticed, whereas the US counterparts showcased a need for more creativity in addition to offering a great selection of food and drinks. Region of origin (local) is more important and positive to consumers in the UK restaurants. Contrary to popular beliefs, health benefit and to some extent freshness were not found to be important variables.