Here Today,Gone Tomorrow? Mapping and modeling the pop-up retail customer journey

Pop-up retail and customer journey mapping are widely adopted in the retail industry, yet they have received modest coverage within academic literature to date. Through a qualitative field study of five marketplace-based pop-ups (MBPUs), this research defines and identifies differences and similarities between marketplace-based pop-ups (MBPUs) and brand-based pop-ups (BBPUs), seeks to understand how marketplace-based pop-ups fit within the customer journey and experience, and explores how touchpoint ownership and influence illuminates the understanding of the marketplace-based pop-up customer journey. Further, this research extends an existing conceptual customer journey framework to visually map and model the purchase stages, touchpoint categories and types of marketplace-based pop-up customer journeys. As a result, this research presents and discusses three emerging themes (here today gone tomorrow; high-touch low-tech; and ownership and influence) to further the understanding of MBPUs. Pop-ups are more than a single encounter; they are a complex customer journey process, whereby the customer travels through pre-purchase, purchase and post-purchase stages, and across multiple touchpoints.     

The demand for and the supply of distribution services: A basis for the analysis of customer satisfaction in retailing

This paper brings together two bodies of literature. One of them is a literature on the special role of the consumer in retailing. The other one is the literature on customer satisfaction. This joining of literatures is accomplished by identifying distribution services as outputs of retail firms and fixed inputs into the production functions of consumers and relaxing the standard assumption that the demand for these services is always equal to the supply of these services. The result is a new conceptual framework for the analysis of customer satisfaction in retailing. This framework extends the basic ideas on customer satisfaction developed for manufacturing in a homogeneous single product setting to the heterogeneous multi-product setting relevant for many retailers. The paper illustrates one approach to the implementation of this framework with data for a set of supermarkets in Pamplona, Spain, that measure distribution services by asking consumers questions explicitly identifying these services. The five main categories of distribution services identified by the conceptual framework and measured in the data are economically important and statistically robust determinants of customer satisfaction with supermarkets. These results are obtained controlling for other variables typical of the customer satisfaction literature and measuring customer satisfaction in a manner consistent with that literature. The results are robust to corrections for sample selection and alternative estimation methods. Perhaps our most interesting novel result is that the effect of the determinants of customer satisfaction on future purchase intentions in the supermarket case is different when measured directly in a one stage process than when measured indirectly in a two stage process through the attributes/satisfaction/ purchase intentions chain.

顾客购后行为与顾客满意的关系及顾客满意度评价

顾客购后行为是顾客购买决策过程中的重要环节,也是顾客满意的输出变量。以情感理论为依据,分析研究了顾客购后行为与顾客满意的关系,并针对顾客满意评价中存在的问题,从逆向角度提出以顾客购后行为评价顾客满意度的思路     

When the customer has left the store: An examination of the potential for satisfaction rub-off effects and purchase versus no purchase implications

Two lacunae in the relationship marketing literature are examined in this paper: (1) effects of satisfaction stemming from one particular store visit on the customer׳s relation to other stores (the existing literature typically focuses on the customer׳s relation to one satisfaction-creating store), and (2) the extent to which the impact of customer satisfaction on future intentions is moderated by what happens during the satisfaction-creating visit in terms of purchase versus no purchase (the existing literature typically assumes that the customer subject to satisfaction has purchased something, despite the fact that the reality of retailing consists of many customers leaving stores without purchases).     

Evidence Supporting the Importance of Brands in Marketing Computer Products

ABSTRACT

For convenience store (c-store) management to be truly customer-focused, they must listen to their customers and provide the products that meet customers' needs. This study investigates one aspect of c-store customer satisfaction, the product mix. The purpose of this paper is to investigate c-store customers' perceptions of product offerings to expand the c-store's product mix and in turn increase customer satisfaction. Fourteen products were examined. Of the fourteen, three were rated very likely to be purchased: postal services, home style meals, and a salad bar. Differences in preference were found between gender and marital status. Men and single customers had higher purchase intentions for the home style meals than women and married customers. Suggestions for future research are provided.     

Paradoxical side effects of green advertising: how purchasing green products may instigate licensing effects for consumers with a weak environmental identity

Abstract

Research into green advertising has mainly investigated how green appeals can enhance product attitudes, sales, and brand image. But what happens after people have purchased a ‘green’ product advertised in a green ad? In two experiments, we show that purchasing a green product may have paradoxical post-purchase effects, such that it may lower intentions to engage in subsequent environmentally friendly behaviour (a so-called licensing effect). Importantly, our results show that these post-purchase effects are moderated by environmental identity: only people with a weak environmental identity show these paradoxical post-purchase licensing effects, people with a strong environmental identity are more likely to continue behaving in an environmentally friendly way.     

Modeling the relationship between firm and user generated content and the stages of the marketing funnel

While research has successfully linked social media to separate customer metrics, an in-depth conceptual and empirical understanding of how social media affects the stages of the marketing funnel is currently lacking. We draw on extant theories of consumer information processing and source credibility to conceptually link and contrast the relationships between firm generated content (FGC) dimensions of neutral valence, positive valence and vividness, user generated content (UGC) dimensions of volume and valence and the marketing funnel stages of awareness, consideration, purchase intent and satisfaction. Using daily aggregate brand-level data for 19 brands across seven industries, our analysis shows that UGC dimensions have a stronger relationship with awareness and satisfaction while FGC dimensions are more effective for consideration and purchase intent. Specifically, we observe that FGC vividness has the strongest relationship with consideration and purchase intent, while UGC valence dominates UGC volume for these stages. Our results also show that brands with higher corporate reputation have stronger relationships between dimensions of FGC and the marketing funnel stages. Findings by consumption category show that UGC and FGC dimensions have larger positive relationships with awareness for durables and non-durables, and with consideration, purchase intent, and satisfaction for services. Thus, overall, our study offers critical managerial insights into social media marketing regarding how to leverage both FGC and UGC in managing the marketing funnel and brand reputation.     

Methods of Pre-testing Advertising

Copy-testing methods must be both valid and informative if they are to assist in the selection and revision of advertising content. Current methods often fail to fulfil one or both of these requirements. Tests are likely to be valid when they measure purchase behaviour in natural settings using completed advertisements. Such market tests are valuable for choosing between alternative copy but at this stage they are often made too late to be of help in modifying advertisement content. Some tests based on responses to the advertisement appear to be informative but fail to predict purchase or purchase intention. Theories of advertising effect are reviewed. Whether advertisements work informatively, through persuasion or through post-purchase reinforcement, it is likely that intention to buy will indicate advertising effectiveness better than other subjective criteria will. A method of belief analysis is proposed, based on attitude-behaviour theory. In this procedure, intention to buy is used to predict purchase, and measures of beliefs about purchase are used to reveal the likely determinants of purchase intention. Experimental tests show which purchase-related beliefs change when potential consumers are exposed to product information via storyboards, videotapes, group discussion, product presentation or completed commercials. This method identifies the relevant factors most closely related to buying intention and measures their potential for change.     

Pre- and post-purchase stage in impulse buying: The role of mood and satisfaction

The objective of this study is to investigate the influence of impulse buying tendency and pre-purchase mood on impulse buying. The study further considers the effect of impulse buying on post-purchase mood. In this context, this research examines how pre-purchase mood affects post-purchase mood, with customer satisfaction as a mediating variable. The results reveal that consumer impulse buying tendency and pre-purchase mood encourage impulse buying positively. In addition, it is found that impulse buying has no influence on post-purchase mood. Moreover, satisfaction has a partial mediator role between pre-purchase mood and post-purchase mood.     

The investigation on dimensions of e-satisfaction for online shoes retailing

Purpose—Online retailing has become a standard component in companies' multi-channel structure. This trend also involves an increasing number of experience attribute dominated products, which traditionally rely on brick-and-mortar retailers. These manufacturers have started to open their own online retail stores. This study identifies the key determinants of e-satisfaction at different stages of shoes online shopping process.Design/methodology/approach—We collect consumers' reviews about their online shopping experiences from online review websites. We use both qualitative and quantitative approaches to analyze the dataset, and investigate the complete process of consumers' e-tailing experiences.Findings—this research identifies the two key factors driving e-satisfaction of purchasing experience attribute dominated products online: product selection and customer service. In particular, our findings show that product selection is critical for e-satisfaction in the pre-purchase stage, and that customer service is more important in the post-purchase stage. Lastly, the study finds that manufacturers' websites often receive more negative reviews because of their poor service recovery strategies in the post-purchase period.Research limitations/implications—This study emphasizes the importance of adopting a dynamic approach by considering various stages of the consumer's online shopping experience. This study focuses on one specific experience good; the shoe industry.Practical implications—The results of this study are invaluable to firms interested in providing experience attribute dominated products online. Our findings indicate that product selection and especially post-purchase service are critical for a successful e-tailing.Originality/value—This paper emphasizes the importance of taking a dynamic view to investigate consumer's e-tailing experience. We adopt both qualitative and quantitative approaches in our study.     

Strategies to offset dissatisfactory product performance: The role of post-purchase marketing

This research examines the role of post-purchase recovery initiatives in offsetting the negative effect of a dissatisfactory product experience. Experiment 1 explores the effect of counterfactual thinking, a mental simulation process of reflecting upon past events and generating alternative possible outcomes, on product evaluations after an individual experiences a negative purchase outcome. Experiment 2 builds on these findings and shows how customer surveys can be used as tactical tools to boost post-purchase product evaluations. The results indicate that post-purchase marketing efforts, such as customer surveys, can engage consumers in counterfactual thinking and positively affect their product evaluations.     

Formation of Reputation in Business Markets

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This study adopts a relational perspective on reputation. We investigate how relationship characteristics impact a customer’s judgment of supplier reputation. We include characteristics at both the interfirm and interpersonal levels, and we additionally link these characteristics to interfirm trust in order to explore similarities and differences between reputation and interfirm trust.

Methodology/approach: A survey was conducted among firms in the Norwegian offshore oil and gas industry. We assessed the measurement model and tested the hypotheses by applying LISREL.

Findings: The results show that the customer’s dependence on the supplier, common knowledge, and interpersonal trust are positively related to reputation, while opportunism is negatively related to reputation. Reputation is positively linked to interfirm trust, and both reputation and interfirm trust impact the customer’s satisfaction with the supplier.

Research implications: This study sheds light on the role of relational mechanisms in reputation formation. It suggests that reputation primarily consists of cognitive components, while interfirm trust consists of more affective components. Reputation is an important factor in developing interfirm trust.

Practical implications: This study underscores the importance of a firm’s core relationships to customers for developing its reputation. Managers need to carefully develop their relationships to customers in such a way that these relationships are consistent with and confirm the reputation they want to build.

Originality/value: The study supports the view that relational characteristics play important roles in the formation of reputation in business markets.     

Pre‐purchase and post‐purchase satisfaction and fashion involvement of female tennis wear consumers

This study examined the relationship among pre‐purchase and post‐purchase satisfaction and fashion involvement of women who participated in tennis. As women's activities in sports, including tennis, are growing, it is necessary to investigate their clothing needs in order to meet consumers’ needs. A final sample consisted of 124 women who attended a Cortec United States Tennis Association Women's Pro Tournament. The questionnaires were personally distributed and collected during the tournament. The theoretical base for this study was the Engel, Blackwell, and Miniard model on consumer decision making. There was a positive significant relationship between pre‐purchase satisfaction and post‐purchase satisfaction (P < 0.01). There was a positive significant relationship between pre‐purchase satisfaction and fashion involvement (P < 0.001). Also, there was a positive significant relationship between post‐purchase satisfaction and fashion involvement (P < 0.001). Comfort was identified as the most important clothing attribute and fit the second most important for women to achieve satisfaction before and after purchasing tennis apparel. Seventy‐two percent of the women indicated the need for improved fit of tennis wear. Women of all ages reported garment length as a problem for each garment type. Two major reasons for not purchasing tennis clothing were high prices and inappropriate sizes.     

A Comparison of Alternative Measures of Service Quality

Abstract

This paper examines two alternative methods of operationalizing perceived service quality with respect to their ability to explain variation in customer satisfaction. A comparison of (1) gap analysis (expectations-performance perceptions) and (2) performance-based analysis suggests that the latter may represent the best approach to measuring service quality because of its ability to explain variation in customer satisfaction. Implications for managers and future research are discussed.     

“Regretting your brand-self?” The moderating role of consumer-brand identification on consumer responses to purchase regret

Extending the study of consumer-brand relationships in the post-purchase stages of consumer decision making and in situations involving unfavorable comparisons with foregone brands, this research investigates the role of consumer-brand identification on consumer responses to purchase regret. Drawing on regret theory and consumer-brand relationship literature, the authors argue that consumer-brand identification immunizes the brand from the negative consequences of purchase regret through the amplification of consumers' cognitive regret regulation and the attenuation of consumers' behavioral regret coping. An empirical study using scenario manipulation of regret for participants' favorite brands provides support to the protective role of consumer-brand identification. The results indicate that consumer-brand identification attenuates the negative effects of regret on satisfaction and behavioral intentions and strengthens the positive impact of satisfaction on brand repurchase/recommendation intent. The findings enrich regret and consumer-brand relationship theories and provide managerial insights for effective branding strategy development under conditions of intense competitive pressure.     

Value and Satisfaction Evaluations During a Service Relationship

Abstract

The research used a sample of credit union customers to determine (a) the relative importance of core and peripheral service attributes on customer evaluations of service value and customer satisfaction, and (b) how the relative importance of these criteria change over the life of the service relationship. For the overall sample, peripheral service attributes accounted for over three-fourths of the variance for service value and customer satisfaction. Dividing the sample into three sub-samples based on age of the customer's relationship with the credit union, peripheral service attributes drove evaluations of service value and customer satisfaction for the first stage of the relationship (ten years or less) and the middle stage of the relationship (eleven to nineteen years). Once the relationship aged to twenty or more years, core attributes drove evaluations of service value and customer satisfaction. Findings indicate that relationship strategies for the credit union may need to be customized based on the amount of time customers have had a relationship with a service firm.     

The Effects of Relationship Marketing on Share of Business: A Synthesis and Comparison of Models

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The article synthesizes the extensive empirical work on relationship marketing (RM) and compares the various conceptualizations to give a better understanding of the relational factors (i.e., characteristics of the business relationship) that improve a seller’s objective performance (i.e., share of business) in a business-to-business (B2B) services context. These conceptualizations, taken from the literature, link relational antecedents (i.e., communication, domain expertise, relational value, and mutual goals) to relational mediators (i.e., trust, satisfaction, commitment, relationship quality) to explore how they in turn affect a seller’s share of business.

Methodology/approach: All 4 models derived from the literature review were assessed using a dataset drawn from a survey of 948 client firm representatives of a Portuguese hotel chain in a B2B services context.

Findings: The best of the models in terms of model fit and prediction of share of business shows that only customer commitment directly drives a seller’s share of business, and simultaneous interrelated changes in customer trust and satisfaction, as well as customer perceptions of relational value, drive customer commitment, and so exert indirect effects on performance. The model that proposes that a seller’s performance is strengthened by simultaneous interrelated improvements in customer trust, satisfaction, and commitment (i.e., with these three mediators being conceptualized as a single, combined, higher-order mediator, termed relationship quality [RQ]) shows inferior fit. No combination of mediators (satisfaction, trust, or commitment) improves the seller’s objective performance over and above their individual effects (i.e., there are no synergistic effects).

Research implications: The literature review suggested four ways of modeling RM antecedents, mediators, and their effect on performance. Complex second-order constructs such as RQ lack explanatory power when predicting outcomes and mask the effects of individual relational mediators. Correct conceptualization is important, as conclusions vary drastically even with the same set of relational mediators and same dataset.

Practical implications: B2B service providers’ investments in RM will lead to improved share of business only if customer commitment is high or there is at least the potential to improve it. This requires an understanding of how valuable

the customer believes the relationship to be, and how the customer rates the relationship with the firm in terms of satisfaction and trust. A customer segmentation approach to relationship building and maintenance is advocated and detailed suggestions are put forward.

Originality/value/contribution: Apart from the work by Palmatier, the relationships between RM antecedents and mediators have not yet been examined simultaneously and findings are fragmented. The article provides a synthesis of this expansive literature. It contrasts different interplays between RM mediators, including their interrelationships as a higher-order construct, and explores possible synergy effects. Unlike previous work, this study focused on an objective measure of seller performance (i.e., share of business), whereas previous studies have tended to examine subjective measures, especially within the B2B context. Furthermore, four full models were assessed here, each of which included the antecedents to RM mediators and their links to objective performance.     

Customer Satisfaction,Service Quality and Perceived Value: An Integrative Model

The present study examines the relationships among customer satisfaction, service quality and perceived value. These variables are increasingly recognised as being sources of competitive advantage. However, little empirical research has been conducted to examine these variables simultaneously and their relationships with post-purchase behaviour. The present study was therefore designed to develop an understanding of the relationships among these variables and their influence on postpurchase behaviour. An integrative model was developed and tested using data collected from customers in the restaurant industry. The results reveal that customer satisfaction and perceived value significantly influence post-purchase behaviour. Implications of the findings and areas for future research are discussed.     

Barriers of food delivery applications: A perspective from innovation resistance theory using mixed method

IntroductionFood delivery applications (FDAs) have altered the way customers order and consume food. This was compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, which imposed restrictions on people's mobility. In this study, the authors have tried to determine which barriers affect consumers' emotions and feelings, leading to satisfaction, repeat visit, and WOM recommendations.Methodology: The Innovation Resistance Theory has been used to conduct the study. The Mixed Model is also framed to address the barriers faced by FDA users. This study also identifies key barriers of FDA (Value Barrier, Image Barrier, and Environment Barrier) and also studies their effect on consumer emotions and feelings in addition to the impact on repeat purchase behaviour, customer satisfaction and word of mouth recommendation. The data is collected from 392 respondents.FindingsThe findings demonstrate that apart from the value barrier, all the other barriers have negative and significant impacts on consumers’ feelings and emotions. It further supports the mediation effect amongst consumer feelings and emotions, satisfaction, repeat purchase, and WOM recommended. The moderating effect of transaction cost has been shown with different associations.ImplicationsThe service providers should make sure that all transactions are safe and secure and that food is delivered on time. They should also have good ways for customers to get in touch with them, so they will get orders from them.OriginalityThe focus of the study is on the link between satisfaction, repeat purchases, and word-of-mouth recommendations for FDA, which hasn't been looked into in any previous studies.     

The Use of Logistic Regression Analysis to Evaluate Customer Satisfaction with a Telephone Hotline

Abstract

This article describes a method used to evaluate customer satisfaction with a telephone Hotline that, at the time of the study, received more than 200,000 calls annually. The statistical analysis, which is based on responses to a customer survey, specifies three logistic regression models as a set of recursive equations estimated in a two-stage process. The first stage analysis estimates two equations designed to measure service quality characteristics that contribute to customer satisfaction. The second stage analysis estimates the likelihood that customers were satisfied with their Hotline experience, as a function of the service quality characteristics and other factors. The results of the analysis provided several practical areas lor improving customer satisfaction with the Hotline.