Examining the role of store design on consumers’ cross-sectional perceptions of retail brand loyalty

This paper compares new and established store design prototypes of the same retailer to examine the role of consumers’ cross-sectional perceptions of retail brand loyalty. In-store surveys were administered to capture consumers’ store-level perceptions towards a new store prototype and an older established prototype of the same fast fashion retailer. The data was subjected to multi-group analyzes with structural equations modeling. The findings suggest that store novelty and complexity promote both store design pleasure and retail brand loyalty outcomes. The different store designs do not, however, account for differences in brand loyalty perceptions at the overall retailer level when multi-group comparisons of both store designs are made. Consumers of newer store designs are found to possess a heightened sensitivity to price perceptions. Managerial implications of the effects of store novelty and complexity on retail brand loyalty are also presented.     

Does the digitalization of retailing disrupt consumers’ attachment to retail places?

This study breaks new ground in the marketing domain by extending the concept of place attachment to the study of the online retail environment. We provide empirical evidence that consumers can establish strong attachments not only with traditional offline places but also with online retail stores. Moreover, we assessed how distinct dimensions of the place affect the formation of consumers’ attachment and their behavioral loyalty. Our findings show that while consumers who feel a strong sense of attachment toward the place engage in spreading positive word-of-mouth regardless of the environment, their attachment to the store does not prevent them from switching to another provider, especially in the online environment.     

An empirical examination of the effects of design elements of email newsletters on consumers’ email responses and their purchase

In this research, we empirically explore the effects of various design elements of email newsletters on consumers' email responses and their purchases. We capture the consumers' email responses using three metrics, namely email open, email click, and email reopen. We operationalize consumers' purchases as their spending on product items that are featured in email newsletters. Using a novel email marketing database, first, we model the influence of design elements of email newsletter on consumers' email responses at the individual consumer level. The email design elements constitute several email attributes, situational factors, and integrated marketing communication. Second, we quantify the effects of these three email responses, open, click, and reopen, on consumers' purchases. Our empirical results suggest a significant influence of email attributes, situational factors, and marketing communications on consumers' email responses. Furthermore, among open, click, and reopen, we find clicks tend to have the highest impact on consumers’ purchase, followed by email reopening and opening. However, email newsletters with higher opening probability are more effective in influencing purchases than those email newsletters with higher reopening probability. Furthermore, consumers who indulge in all three email responses, namely opening, clicking, and reopening, tend to purchase the most. Results from our study offer several critical insights for email marketing strategy helping managers improving the effectiveness of email campaigns by careful consideration for the design elements of email newsletters.     

The impact of retailers’ sustainability and price on consumers’ responses in different cultural contexts

Consumers want sustainability, but at what price? With growing demands for environmental and social sustainability, retailers aim to understand how consumers might react to adaptations in retail practices. This research examines consumers’ perceptions towards retailers’ environmental and social sustainability practices and the moderating effect of price in different cultural contexts. Quantitative research methodology using scenario-based experiments was employed. Two experiments were conducted using research participants from the US (a more individualist country) and Turkey (a more collectivist country) and measured one dimension of culture, individualism versus collectivism. The results reveal that high prices negatively moderate consumers’ response to retailers’ sustainability efforts. Even though there is no significant interaction between either type of sustainability and price on purchase intention, high sustainability along with a low-price strategy leads to an increase in consumers’ commitment, satisfaction, and loyalty. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that high prices have a more negative effect on consumers’ responses in a collectivist country. This study highlights the importance of price in both individualist and collectivist cultures and provides a better understanding of a neglected dimension of sustainability, social sustainability. Managers need to be aware of the increasing demand from consumers for environmentally and socially sustainable practices but need to recognize that consumers may not be willing to pay more for these products. Companies need to formulate business strategies based on low priced-sustainable products and the cultural context of the country in which they operate.     

The impact of retail out-of-stock options on preferences: The role of consumers’ desire for assimilation versus differentiation

This study tested the hypothesis that retail customers’ drive to assimilation or differentiation moderates the effect on their initial preference for a particular product of their discovery in the store of a previously unconsidered comparable alternative, which happens to be presently out of stock. The results revealed that new awareness of alternative options has an impact on customers’ preferences, even if they are unavailable when the choice is being made. Participants who were more concerned with differentiation exhibited a stronger preference for the option originally under consideration if they were told that the alternative was out of stock due to heavy demand rather than short supply. By comparison, those more concerned with assimilation had a weaker preference for the initial product when they learnt that its unavailability was said to be due to heavy demand, not supply shortfall. The article concludes with theoretical implications and areas for future research.     

How does the added new online channel impact the supporting advertising expenditure?

This research addresses the strategic effect of a newly added online channel on a manufacturer’s supportive advertising expenditure once a manufacturer opts to open an online channel to compete with its retailer. We first study the manufacturer–traditional retailer supply chain and consider three different scenarios: (1) product is less compatible with the online channel than with the traditional channel; (2) product is more compatible with the online channel than with the traditional channel; (3) product has the same compatibility with the online channel as with the traditional channel. Our results show that the added online channel significantly impacts the manufacturer’s investment in supportive advertising. Depending on the different product categories, the impact of the newly added online channel on the supportive advertising expenditure also will be different. Furthermore, we extend our model to study the manufacturer–online retailer supply chain and investigate the effect of that added online channel on the manufacturer’s supportive advertising to the online retailer. Based on our results, the manufacturer can utilize our findings to improve its decision-making when it plans to open an online channel to improve its product distribution.     

How does face influence the purchase of imitative new products? Moderating roles of product design characteristics

Face plays a profound role in consumption, but the question of how it impacts the purchase of imitative new products remains unanswered in the current literature. Imitative new products, which are legitimate innovations bearing similarities to existing products, are prevalent in many markets. This study investigates how two dimensions of face consciousness—the desire to gain face and the fear of losing face—influence consumers' purchase intentions regarding imitative new products by considering three product design characteristics (new product imitation locus, new product imitation scope, and product hedonism) as boundary conditions. We find through experiments carried out with adult Chinese consumers that the desire to gain face strengthens, but the fear of losing face weakens purchase intention. Moreover, the positive effects of the desire to gain face are weakened by imitation locus (form vs. function imitation) but enhanced by imitation scope (either form or function imitation vs. both form and function imitation); whereas the negative effects of the fear of losing face are strengthened by imitation locus but weakened by imitation scope. Product hedonism enhances the positive effects of the desire to gain face and augments the negative effects of the fear of losing face. This study thus contributes to the face literature by differentiating the roles of two dimensions of face consciousness in affecting consumption of imitative new products. In addition, this study contributes two important constructs—new product imitation locus and new product imitation scope—to the literature on imitative new products.     

How store attributes impact shoppers’ loyalty: do different national cultures follow the same loyalty building process?

This paper takes a first step toward verifying the robustness of a comprehensive loyalty building model across different national cultures, according to Hofstede’s distinction between individualist and collectivist countries. To this end, we test a two-stage model. After collecting data from 12 countries with different cultural traits, we test the two models in two macro groups: individualist and collectivist countries. The study’s results show that the intensity of some core loyalty model paths – particularly the relationships between store loyalty and its main drivers (perceived value and customer satisfaction) – are contingent on the country’s culture. In particular, the impact of customer satisfaction on store loyalty intention is greater in collectivist countries than in individualist countries. By contrast, the impact of perceived value on store loyalty is greater in individualist than in collectivist countries. Moreover, the cultural dimension moderates the impact of the stores’ environment and promotions on satisfaction. By contrast, some other paths show robustness to national culture.     

How does uncertainty impact opportunity development in internationalization?

The features of the internationalization of emerging market multinational companies (EMNCs) create a laboratory for extending theory. In this paper, we argue that a high level of asymmetry between prior knowledge and a non-incremental commitment, such as an acquisition, lies at the core of understanding these types of internationalization processes. Our proposed theoretical view is that while some uncertainties in opportunity development are known to the firms and can be managed by available knowledge, disruptive commitments can result in complexes of unstable and unilineal dynamics that bring about unexpected – and hence unforeseeable – uncertainties. These uncertainties may be a source of future unintended consequences that will have an impact on the firm as the internationalization process unfolds. This view is used for analysis of a longitudinal case study concerning the acquisition of a Swedish firm, Vargön Alloys, by the Turkish corporation Yildirim Group, focusing on the opportunity discovery and exploitation period between 2008 and 2013. By dividing uncertainty into two types (foreseeable and unforeseeable) and analysing the hidden problems that emerged after the sudden fusion of the two networks, the study nuances understanding of the emergent and non-orderly nature of the internationalization process as it unfolds. From a process point of view, the study may aid deeper understanding of complications when discovering and exploiting opportunities.     

The rise of the grocerant: Patrons’ in-store dining experiences and consumption behaviors at grocery retail stores

Grocerants (grocery retail store + restaurant) represent a rising retail sector in the foodservice industry. The grocerant business model transforms a space of everyday mundanity (grocery retail shopping) into one of experiential value, offering consumers a social space to linger, dine, and seek nourishment all within the same commercial premise. To this end, grocerants represent an experientially driven consumption segment, a fertile context worthy of exploration yet understudied. Informed theoretically by the brand experience model, this study explored the role of grocerant patrons’ product experiences, in conjunction with the variables of need for uniqueness, product satisfaction, product involvement, price-quality schema, and behavioral intentions. A quantitative approach and a field survey method were employed, and analyses confirmed the effectiveness of the higher-order structure of product experiences (sensory, affective, behavioral, intellectual, and escapism). In addition, satisfaction, involvement, and need for uniqueness were confirmed as contributors to building favorable behavioral intentions. The link between involvement and intention was also influenced significantly by price-quality schema, and satisfaction and involvement were accounted as critical mediators. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.     

Tie the knot: building stronger consumers’ attachment toward a brand

Extant research has promoted the importance and seeking to establish a deeper understanding of brand loyalty. However, it still remains elusive and uncertain. A study with more than 1,500 CEOs worldwide believes that creating a bond with consumers and continuing to learn how to strengthen the bond are essential for realizing strategies and delivering on shareholder expectations. Not surprisingly, firms and researchers are seeking ways to build a stronger connection with consumers, because such attachment acts as a key requisite in a firm’s success. Consequently, understanding how marketers can intensify the attachment is important. This article offers a framework for building stronger consumers’ attachment and testing it based on a survey of 432 participants. Four factors are deemed to be important: ideal self-congruence, sensory experience, responsiveness, and CSR beliefs. Attachment influences loyalty and resilience to negative information. Additionally, attachment fully mediates ideal self-congruence and responsiveness to loyalty, as well as ideal self-congruence and sensory experience to resilience to negative information.     

How luxury retail will change forever – The role of atmospherics in the digital era

This article expands the seminal works of Jean-Charles Chebat on retail atmospherics to propose an alternative perspective on consumer behavior in a multi-channel luxury retail context. Building upon Klaus's (2020) work exploring the drivers for online luxury consumption, the research highlights which aspects of retail atmospherics are influencing the overall luxury retail customer experience. We discuss the implications this has for luxury retail management in detail and propose a complementary view on how the luxury CX will drive a distinct luxury retail design.     

An exploration of consumers’ experiences in physical stores: comparing consumers’ and retailers’ perspectives in past and present time

Abstract

In this paper, we explore consumers’ in-store experiences and their components, from both a consumer and retailer perspective. This is a replication of a study we performed in 2006 and thus we also examine how the role of the physical store has changed over the last decade. We use the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) to improve our understanding of consumers’ in-store experiences. Moreover, we conduct in-depth interviews with Swedish retailers to achieve an understanding of how retailers use aspects of the store environment to enhance the consumer experience. Interestingly, our results suggest that consumers’ in-store experiences to a large extent are created by the same aspects today as ten years ago (e.g. personnel, layout, atmosphere). Furthermore, while retailers today emphasize the importance of fulfilling new and more advanced consumer demands, they often still accentuate the weight and use of traditional values (e.g. personnel and layout) ahead of advanced technology.     

Assessing the impact of a retailer's relationship efforts on consumers’ attitudes and behavior

This study focuses at the impact of different relationship efforts made by a retailer (direct mail, preferential treatment, and tangible rewards) on key relationship marketing outcomes (trust, relationship commitment, and behavioral loyalty). A cross-sectional study in a retail clothing setting was conducted based on two consumer samples drawn from Belgium and the Netherlands. SEM results indicate that retailers undertaking relationship efforts to loyal consumers can positively affect these consumers’ attitudes and behavior. Consequently, managers and employees of retail companies need to be trained, motivated, and rewarded for making relationship efforts to regular customers.     

Attributes of background music and consumers’ responses to TV commercials

This study extends and crystallizes the literature on the effect of background music in the TV advertising setting by focusing on differential effects of attributes of background music on consumers’ attitudes toward TV advertising based on their involvement. The familiarity of background music was more likely to influence attitudes towards advertisement, brand attitudes and purchase intentions in the low-involvement condition, whereas the product fit of background music was more likely to do so in the high-involvement condition. This indicates that effective attributes of background music can be varied according to consumer involvement.     

Partnerships that go places: How to successfully market products from vendor partners at retail stores from the vendors’ perspective

This study constructed a model using multiple attribute decision making (MADM) to evaluate the successful marketing of products from vendor partners at an on-campus training store. We used the 5Ps of marketing (people, product, price, promotion, and place) as the research framework and applied the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) to calculate the weight of each evaluation criterion. A gap analysis was performed on each evaluation criterion, using the modified VlseKriterijumska Optimizcija I Kaompromisno Resenje (modified VIKOR) to identify the important factors that students at an on-campus training store should prioritize for improvement when formulating marketing strategies from vendor partners. The results indicatae that when collaborating with the on-campus training store, vendor partners placed the greatest emphasis on promotion and the least on people. The results indicatae that when collaborating with the on-campus training store, vendor partners placed the greatest emphasis on promotion and the least on people. The evaluation dimensions were ranked according to their weights in descending order as follows: promotion(0.279), product(0.239), price(0.179), place(0.157), and people(0.143). Based on the overall weights of all evaluation criteria featured in present study, vendor partners placed the top five greatest emphasis on product quality and safety assurance(0.088), social media marketing(0.078), price promotion activities(0.071), product uniqueness(0.069), as well as brand advertising and promotion(0.066). The current research provides practical and appropriate strategies for planning successfully product marketing strategies from vendor partners, and further helping vendor partners increase product exposure and attract consumers to purchase their products at the on-campus training store. The findings may help vendor partners increase and improve product exposure and attract consumers to purchase their products.     

How retail entrepreneurs perceive the link between surveillance,feeling of security,and competitiveness of the retail store? A structural model approach

This study seeks to create a comprehensive understanding of the ways in which retail entrepreneurs perceive the link between surveillance and customers’ and employees’ sense of security at the store level. This study also analyzes the link between customers’ and employees’ sense of the security and store's competitiveness from the viewpoint of retail entrepreneurs. The present study utilizes elements of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) in its theoretical approach. The population for the study consisted of 946 grocery store K-retail entrepreneurs. The data collection was carried out through an Internet survey in February and March 2009. A total of 161 grocery store retailers filled in the questionnaire, yielding a response rate of 17%. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The study revealed that formal surveillance has a negative impact on customers’ feelings of security from the retailers’ point of view. In contrast to formal surveillance, informal surveillance had positive impacts on customers’ and employees’ feelings of security. Retail entrepreneurs perceived that both customers’ and employees’ feeling of security had a positive impact on the store's competitiveness.     

How competent are consumers? The case of the energy sector in France

This paper discussed the notion of value co‐creation and the concept of customer competence as suggested by this notion. This led us to consider the competent customer as a social construction related to managerial representations. In order to examine this issue, a longitudinal exploratory research based on participant observation and in‐depth interviews with employees of a French energy supplier was conducted to explore whether customers are perceived as competent or incompetent market actors. The data analysis revealed four categories illustrating customers' profiles coping with the new situation of the ‘Utility X’ group in the energy sector. ‘Utility X’ employees define their customers according to four profiles: myopic, ignorant, uncreative and organizer of company resources. Even if the marketing studies that share the Service‐Dominant Logic point‐of‐view suggest that the customer would be competent at all times, our findings showed that customer competencies are in fact socially constructed and emerge partially from managerial representations. Therefore, the adoption by companies of a marketing philosophy (‘market with’ philosophy), in which the customer and supply chain partners are collaborators in the entire marketing process, seems only possible if they recognize customers' competencies and identify situations when customers do not activate their competencies or do not have the resources that enable them to develop their competencies.     

How consumers’ perceptions differ towards the design features of mobile live streaming shopping platform: A mixed-method investigation of respondents from Taobao Live

Mobile Live Streaming Shopping (MLSS) has become the most rapidly growing e-commerce business. However, there is a dearth of theoretical concern on the MLSS platform designing issue - the key factor affecting business success. Based on the axiomatic design theory, a systematic view of design features of MLSS platform is given, and a three-layer model including thirteen design features is built. The perceived differences of consumers across design features and individual characteristics, as well as the prioritization strategies of MLSS platform are derived with a mixed-method schema. The study provides fine-grained insights for enhancing the differentiated consumer experience by optimizing and improving the design of MLSS platforms.     

Cross-cultural examination of the effects of promotional framing on consumers’ responses: A comparison of China and Pakistan

Although extensive studies have focused on the impact of different types of sales promotions on consumers’ responses, few studies examined the effects of online sales promotional framing on consumers’ responses from cross-cultural perspective. Therefore, this study explored how cross-cultural differences moderated the effects of buy one get one free and buy two get fifty percent off promotion on consumer responses across China (lower uncertainty avoidance) and Pakistan (higher uncertainty avoidance). Based on the promotional framing effect theory, an empirical investigation across these two countries revealed that people with higher uncertainty avoidance (vs. lower uncertainty avoidance) prefer buy one get one free to buy two get fifty percent off promotion. Buy one get one free will lead to higher consumer perceived quality and purchase intention than buy two get fifty percent off promotion in both Pakistan and China, while the impact of buy one get one free and buy two get fifty percent off on perceived risk, perceived quality, perceived value and purchase intention are significantly larger in Pakistan than in China. In addition, the study verified the negative perceived risk-perceived value link, positive perceived quality-perceived value link and positive perceived value-purchase intention link from cross-cultural investigated data. The study provides new insights into the effects of online sales promotions on consumers’ responses considering cultural differences. Our findings have implications for multinational corporate managers to design appropriate online sales promotions strategies.