What Drives Household Choice of Organic Products in Grocery Stores?

This paper studies how households choose organic products on a given store visit. We develop a three-stage purchase incidence/brand choice/purchase quantity model for organic products. Shared random effects parameters link the three stages of the model. We empirically quantify the effects of category variables, marketing mix, and demographic variables on the purchase of organic products using a unique household panel dataset that includes actual organic purchase data from two markets, by over 4,500 households in 25 stores for the period between January 2004 and June 2009. First, we find that the purchase of organic products is greater among the high income, college educated, and older families as well as among consumers holding high-level occupations. Second, households tend not to purchase organic products when buying in concentrated categories. Third, on average, households tend to buy organic store brands more than the organic national brands. Promotions of organic brands (feature ad and display) are less likely to drive households to buy organic brands and so does the organic brand's distribution breadth. Finally, price has an inverted U-shaped effect. We discuss the implications of these results for retailers, manufacturers and researchers.     

United Mileage Plus Reward You Free Ticket to United Destination of Your Choice

United Mileage Plus is one of the best frequent flyer programs. With over 45 million enrolled members, United Mileage Plus has been voted the number one frequent flyer program by readers of Business Traveler magazine for nine years running.     

Seize the Opportunity and Make Efforts to Increase Zhejiang's Export of Mechanical and Electrical Products

Zhejiang's machine-building industryhas made sustained efforts to increase itsexports through the combination ofindustry and trade. In the past decade,Zhejiang's export volume of mechanicaland electrical products has increased over 10times, becoming the leading exports fromthe province. Zhejiang has thereforebecome an important province exportingmachinery in China.     

Application of Expectation Confirmation Theory to Consumers’ Impulsive Purchase Behavior for Products Promoted by Showgirls in Exhibits

Vendors and agencies rely on showgirls to promote their products or services. However, customers’ time and money available, cost savings, and increasing utilitarian motivation are their basic concerns. The model extended the expectancy confirmation theory (ECT) constructs (cost saving, utilitarian motivation, time available, money available, and impulsive purchase) to investigate customer impulsive purchases of products promoted by showgirls in exhibits. The study successfully found the precursors of impulsive purchase products promoted by showgirls in the exhibits with 445 data with Amos 18.0. Beyond the current impulsive purchase issue, the reasons for customers’ purchase without thinking include, in descending order: interaction with showgirls, promotions, the desire of purchase, and sensation seeking. Practical implications are presented, along with suggestions for future studies.     

Do Vendor Cues Influence Purchase Intention of Online Shoppers? An Empirical Study Using S-O-R Framework

The purpose of the current research is to understand the influence of vendor cues like brand reputation. Brand familiarity and offline presence on trust and attitude of online shoppers and consequently on online purchase intention. Data was collected through a web based survey. The findings of the study reported that vendor offline cues have a strong and positive impact on the online purchase intentions of the shoppers. Further, this study also contributed by proving that the trust has a strong relationship with purchase intention as compare to attitude.     

If You Blog,Will They Follow? Using Online Media to Set the Agenda for Consumer Concerns on “Greenwashed” Environmental Claims

Agenda-setting theory is used to investigate if consumers' online opinions on “greenwashed” advertisements (misleading green advertisements) are influenced by the agenda set by online newspaper articles and environmental nongovernmental organization (NGO) blogs. Leximancer is initially used to obtain attributes and identify themes from four different online stakeholder discussions on greenwashing. Content analysis and cross-lagged correlations are further used to verify if blogs and news articles set the substantive attribute salience in the consumer discussions over a 12-month period (January–December 2009). We found two significant themes in the various stakeholder discussions on greenwashing: marketing communication credibility and impact on natural environment. Results also indicate a bidirectional agenda-setting relationship between consumers and other stakeholders from the same country.     

How Much Do We Say? Using Informativeness of Negotiation Text Records for Early Prediction of Negotiation Outcomes

Business negotiations represent a form of communication where informativeness, i.e., the amount of provided information, depends on context and situation. In this study, we hypothesize that relations exist between language signals of informativeness and the success or failure of negotiations. We support our hypothesis through linguistic and statistical analysis which acquires language patterns from records of electronic text-based negotiations. Empirical results of machine learning experiments show that the acquired patterns are useful for early prediction of negotiation outcomes.     

Will You Help Me Please? The Effects of Race,Gender and Manner of Dress on Retail Service

This research attempts to determine if a customers visible physical characteristics influence retail service delivery. The results of this study suggest that black and male customers wait significantly longer than white and female customers at retail customer service counters. In addition, females are more likely to experience a positive transaction outcome than males.     

Eliciting Consumer Preferences for Certified Animal‐Friendly Foods: Can Elements of the Theory of Planned Behavior Improve Choice Experiment Analysis?

Models used in neoclassical economics assume human behavior to be purely rational. On the other hand, models adopted in social and behavioral psychology are founded on the “black box” of human cognition. In view of these observations, this paper aims at bridging this gap by introducing psychological constructs in the well‐established microeconomic framework of choice behavior based on random utility theory. In particular, it combines constructs developed employing Ajzen's theory of planned behavior with Lancaster's theory of consumer demand for product characteristics to explain stated preferences over certified animal‐friendly foods (AFF). To reach this objective, a Web survey was administered in the largest five EU‐25 countries: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Findings identify some salient cross‐cultural differences between northern and southern Europe and suggest that psychological constructs developed using the Ajzen model are useful in explaining heterogeneity of preferences. Implications for policymakers and marketers involved with certified AFF are discussed.     

Helping You to Waste Less? Consumer Acceptance of Food Marketing Offers Targeted to Food-Related Lifestyle Segments of Consumers

ABSTRACT

Consumer households and consumer behavior have been identified as the major cause of food waste in the supply chain. Food marketing might offer products and services that help consumers to reduce their food waste or reduce the consumer-related food waste at the consumer–retailer interface. However, such strategies require consumer acceptance and targeting the right customers. Through an online survey of 800 Danish consumers and a measure of food-related lifestyle, four clusters of consumer segments are identified. The segments are compared with regard to their acceptance of a number of actions consumers can take to reduce food waste or their acceptance of food marketing services they would need to pay for. Acceptance differs with food involvement and the role of the price criterion, as well as with gender, education and age. The findings show how food marketing can help consumers to reduce food waste, through actions targeted to specific segments of consumers characterized by food-related lifestyle differences.     

Leapfrogging to Sustainable Consumption? An Explorative Survey of Consumption Habits and Orientations in Southern Brazil

In current political and scientific debates on sustainable consumption, the low- and middle-income classes of emerging countries are gaining attention. One common feature of such debates is the idea that these emerging consumer classes could be motivated to “leapfrog” directly to environmentally and socially aware consumption patterns and, thereby, avoid adopting the resource-intensive consumption styles of populations in industrialized countries. To be able to adapt sustainable product development or sustainable communication strategies to the needs of low- and medium-income classes, it is necessary to know more about the basic consumption orientations, current consumption habits, and future consumption aspirations of these societal groups. In order to contribute towards filling that knowledge gap, an exploratory survey was conducted, taking the example of emerging low- and middle-income classes in a Southern Brazilian city. The survey identified five different consumer types: the Home-Centered Traditionals, the Indifferent, the Up-to-date Privileged, the Wanna-be Materialists, and the Quality of Life-Oriented Postmaterialists. The paper outlines some ideas concerning how these types can be addressed with target-group-specific products and services as well as differentiated sustainability communication strategies. We conclude, however, that “leapfrogging” of Brazilian low- and middle-income classes towards sustainable consumption is not a very likely option. There are certain consumption orientations that sustainability strategies can link to, but these trends are not likely to compensate the general tendencies towards a resource-intensive lifestyle following the model of the industrialized countries.     

You’re dead to me,but should you be? Using a retail database to classify American malls by occupancy and sales and an extended analysis of dead and dying malls

ABSTRACT

The study uses a shopping center database to classify malls by occupancy and sales. A factor analysis is conducted and reduces the large number of variables to a smaller number of mall constructs. The constructs are used to predict mall group membership by occupancy and sales. The results indicate that population and income are important variables towards mall occupancy and sales. An analysis of dead malls follows in order to produce more novel information for the growing interest in dead and dying malls. It is found through a second discriminant analysis that the prototypical characteristics of dead malls include; smaller in size, less population and lower income market areas. There were varying effects of renovation dates, competition and market age. Overall, the study benefited from examining dead malls more closely and provides more groundwork for future dead mall studies.     

Food for Thought: How Will the Nutrition Labeling of Quick Service Restaurant Menu Items Influence Consumers’ Product Evaluations, Purchase Intentions, and Choices?

Within the context of quick service restaurant meals, three studies (a consumer diary study, web-based experiment, and longitudinal experiment) examine how accurately consumers estimate calorie, fat, and sodium content and explore how objective nutrition information may influence product evaluations, perceptions, and purchase intentions. The results indicate that many consumers have little understanding of the calorie, fat, and sodium levels of many typical quick service meals, and this is especially true for less healthful meals. Consistent with rationale drawn from the expectancy-disconfirmation paradigm, results demonstrate that menu-based nutrition information provision negatively influences consumers’ responses when that information is less favorable than expected. Findings suggest that the relationship between actual and expected nutrition levels drives responses, rather than the disclosure of information per se. Since these relationships can vary both within and between restaurants, results suggest that the effects of mandated nutrition information disclosure may not be uniform across the industry.     

Can Consumers Forgo the Need to Touch Products? An Investigation of Nonhaptic Situational Factors in an Online Context

Touch is an important source of information for consumers, and there is much to learn about its role in an online purchase decision context where the ability to touch products is not (at least currently) possible. The present investigation examines three nonhaptic situation‐specific factors that moderate the relationship between haptic motivation and consumer responses. The results indicate that positive mood, price promotions, and level of situation‐specific product expertise are influential, yielding greater purchase intentions and product judgment confidence when touch is not available. Additionally, the findings of the investigation suggest that imagining a Web site is comparable to actually viewing a Web site. Several implications for consumer behavior research and online marketers are discussed.     

The Impact of Cause Branding on Consumer Reactions to Products: Does Product/Cause 'Fit' Really Matter?

This paper examines the issue of 'fit' between causes, companies, products and brands in the field of Cause Related Marketing (CRM). The linking of charitable causes and commercial ventures via their branded identities has become very widespread in the last ten years. The literature states that obtaining a good 'fit', in terms of the positioning and objectives of both product and charity, is very important to the success of CRM initiatives. However, there is no empirical support for this common assertion. This paper describes an experiment that was designed to test the assumption that 'fit' is important. The results of the experiment indicate that the degree of 'fit' between products and causes does have a significant effect on consumers' evaluations of products that carry a cause 'brand identity' as part of a CRM campaign. The results also indicate that cause cues in low involvement purchase situations create their impact by disrupting existing decision heuristics, rather than by the creation of new heuristics of assessment. This finding has implications for commercial managers when they are assessing the 'fit' and potential benefits of CRM associations.     

What Did You Do to My Brand? The Moderating Effect of Brand Nostalgia on Consumer Responses to Changes in a Brand

Previous research on consumer nostalgia has concluded that nostalgic feelings primarily have a positive effect on consumers, boosting positive feelings and affective responses. However, evidence suggests that consumers who hold nostalgic feelings toward a specific brand sometimes respond negatively to updated or modified versions of the brand. This research tests the moderating effect of consumers’ brand nostalgia on their responses to changes to a brand. Across four studies, the authors find that consumers who are nostalgic toward a specific brand exhibit a positive bias toward the original version of the brand that leads them to perceive the brand as having changed more than do less nostalgic consumers. Further, when the change to the brand is perceived to be large, individuals who are highly nostalgic for a brand show a significantly sharper decrease in reported attitude and behavioral intentions toward the changed brand than do their less nostalgic counterparts. This effect is in opposition to the positive effects of a general tendency toward nostalgia proneness. These results are replicated across multiple product categories and both manipulated and real changes, and the effect is found to be mediated by the consumer's biased perception of how much the brand has changed.     

Do We Follow the Leader or the Masses? Antecedents of the Willingness to Pay Extra for Eco‐Products

This paper reports on an experiment that tests for the existence of peer effects in consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for sustainable products. More specifically, we investigate whether the premium for an eco‐labeled laundry detergent is sensitive to receiving information about the premium paid by other members of one's social group. The information manipulations in the experiment test for two distinct types of social influence, i.e., conformist and payoff‐biased transmission. We find strong empirical evidence for a conformist transmission. Participants informed about the positive premium paid by the majority of their peers reported a higher premium than individuals not receiving any information. This result shows that previous studies on the WTP for sustainable products, which explain premiums by attitudinal measures and sociodemographic traits, unwarrantedly provide an under‐socialized account. The inclusion of social influence variables significantly increases the explanatory power of the model.