Identifying Innovators in Consumer Service Markets

This article describes the use of a short, valid, reliable self-report scale to measure consumer innovativeness in a service industry context, thereby identifying the potential earliest buyers in a specific service-market category. Suitable for mail questionnaire or personal interview, this six-item, Likert-type scale enables marketers and researchers to identify these important consumers prior to introducing any specific service innovation. This study used a survey of 185 adult men and women to demonstrate how the scale performs by giving valuable insights into the travel services market     

The Internet and International Consumer Markets

ABSTRACT

The Internet provides consumers around the world with a new mechanism for expanding and enhancing the information used to evaluate products and a new channel for making purchases. The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of this new information environment for global markets. The critical role that information access plays in shaping global markets is examined. Implications for research on consumers in global markets are drawn.     

Price Differences in Consumer Goods in Retail Markets

Abstract

This study analyses the effects that competition causes on the dispersion of prices in the mass market products. Therefore, a model is proposed that integrates the vertical, spatial and market environment factors that make up the competitive structure of the retail trade distribution sector. The results obtained, after processing a database of more than 19,000 records, indicate that various indicators of these three levels of competition exercise a decisive influence on determining the final prices of the analysed products. Likewise, the research allows verifying that there are significant differences in the effect caused by the analysed factors on the dispersion of prices, thereby depending on the considered product category (packaged goods versus fresh food).     

Street Markets Influencing Urban Consumer Behavior in Mexico

Street markets in the urban setting form the bottom of the pyramid market structure, which caters to consumers of semi-urban settlements. Consumers favor these markets for farm-fresh agricultural products and low-priced consumer goods. This study empirically investigates the role of street markets in urban sociodemographic clusters in the shift of consumer behavior against large shopping malls and supermarkets. Data were gathered from 490 respondents engaged in buying products at 373 vending stalls across 14 street market locations in Mexico City. Data were collected on 31 variables and analyzed using structural equation model. The study also addresses street markets as change agents of consumer behavior in the context of marketplace ambience, vending patterns, ethnic values, and interactive customer relations. The conventional shopping wisdom of customers, competitive gains, and socio-cultural advantages are also addressed based on an empirical survey. The study revealed that shopping behavior is largely motivated by the physical factors such as location of marketplace, distance, and vending stall type within the street market. Findings also indicate that consumers possess a strong conviction that street markets offer fresh products of farm and animal origin as well as ethnic food irrespective of hygiene standard.     

中国当前消费品市场的价格波动及其运行机制

2005年以来,中国消费品市场在内外经济环境全面拉动之下,需求、供给和销售状况保持了稳步快速的发展势头。在供求总体大致平衡的市场格局下,我国居民消费价格指数(CPI)仅比去年同期上涨了1.8%,远低于2004年4%的增幅。纵观当前中国消费品市场的价格波动,平静中蕴含了一些异乎往常的特点和运行机制。本文分析了当前中国消费品市场价格波动的主要特点,考察了价格止涨回调的动力机制、价格变动的传导机制和价格下滑的制约机制,并在预测推动CPI下滑和上升的因素基础上,提出了近期的价格政策建议。     

Global Markets,the Global Consumer and International Retailing

This paper discusses the standardisation/differentiation debate within the context of the much neglected retail sector, and explores the contribution that such factors as consumer homogeneity and the creation of trading blocs make to this debate. These issues are reviewed within the framework of the required conditions for successful standardisation; that global market segments and global economies of scale exist, and that a distrubution infrastructure is available to realise these potential economies of scale world-wide. Retail companies can derive economies from sourcing, distribution and many aspects of marketing both within and across trading blocs, and should therefore begin to identify, in a more focussed manner, their new position within the international marketplace.     

基于市场层级思维拓展农村消费品市场的思考

农村消费品市场不是城市消费品市场的延伸,而是一个相对独立的市场。农村市场有其自身特点,不能参照城市市场标准来指导农村消费品市场的开拓。拓展农村消费品市场,既要在营销层面进行微观思考,更要在战略层面进行研究分析。政府应厘清并把握农村消费市场的特点,着眼于满足农村消费者的需求;要以县城市场作为农村消费品市场的起点,发挥县城市场对农村市场的示范引领作用;强化集镇辐射力,辐射周边行政村,形成销售网络,构建农村消费中心,从而将开拓农村市场落到实处。     

Effective Paths for Consumer Empowerment and Protection in Retail Energy Markets

Consumer empowerment and protection are frequently discussed in contemporary energy policy debates. The process of consumer empowerment through information and consumer education has great potential, yet consumer switching as the concomitant outcome of this process remains low. Additional protection for vulnerable consumers is called for. This article is centred on the path to achieving consumer empowerment and protection. In particular, it stresses that empowerment should be viewed as a long-term process. Regulators should not focus on the mere outcome of switching and adopt remedies aimed at changing consumer behaviour in the short term. The discussion highlights how attempts to protect vulnerable consumers through an ancillary application of competition law distort the competitive process and should be avoided. Personal vulnerabilities, such as low income, can be better tackled with targeted social policy measures, whereas instances of vulnerabilities pertaining to the market context, such as difficulties in assessing different energy offers, are better phased out through the market mechanism.     

The Importance of Consumer Authorities for the Production and Maintenance of Trust and Social Capital in Consumer Markets

Journal of Consumer Policy - Trust is a valuable resource that varies between countries. This paper suggests that consumers’ trust in retailers and service providers, facilitating...     

Informationally Imperfect Consumer Markets: Empirical Findings and Policy Implications

A local consumer market is informationally imperfect and welfare-reducing to the extent that it is characterized by extensive price dispersion unexplained by utility-conferring properties of the product. This article reports a study to ascertain the extent of informational imperfections for 17 representative products in Syracuse, New York. Except for food, most products exhibited extensive and welfare-reducing price dispersion. The article also reports on a pilot investigation of consumers' perceptions, finding them to be mostly inaccurate (except for food) and typically underestimated. The study findings suggest that consumers are both victims of and contributors to informationally imperfect markets. The paper concludes with a discussion of policy implications.     

Consumer Perceptions and Reality of Cheating by Sellers in Food Markets in Ukraine

Abstract

In developing markets the degree of regulation of weights and measures is often at a low level. In such an environment consumers frequently believe themselves to be the victims of unscrupulous sellers. Markets in the Ukraine fit such a pattern. In an effort to assess the costs of cheating, two studies were undertaken. First, consumers were surveyed to assess their perceptions and defenses against cheating. Second, purchases were made in the market to assess the actual degree of cheating. In general, consumers believe that they are almost always cheated and have no recourse. However, based on purchases, on average, sellers do not cheat consumers.     

Changing Consumer Preferences in Emerging Markets: Food Market Challenges in Central Mexico

As incomes in emerging markets grow, consumers’ ability to break from former food consumption patterns and introduce new foods or conveniences grows as well. While this general principle is widely accepted, the path of such introductions is not identical worldwide. In this study, we explore how consumers in an advanced emerging market have identified with their current food options, including open-air markets v. supermarkets, and simple v. processed alternatives. Using focus groups, we find that Mexican consumers have strong ties to traditions in food preparation while also showing interest in modern food conveniences. Using product adoption theory, we show that consumers exhibit expected traits of innovation resistance, social contagion influence, and consumption innovativeness, but with specific local variation, including problems with trust, expectations of government action (paternalismo), and considerable definitional confusion. Foreign marketers wishing to access the growing Mexican market should account for these differences from broader product adoption theory.     

Service Markets: The Effects of Competition Policy and Consumer Protection

This article outlines the current status of Competition Policy (Monopolies and Mergers; Anti-Competitive Practices; Restrictive Trade Practices) and Consumer Protection (Legislation; Consumer Protection Agencies; Voluntary Codes of Practice) in services markets. The relative neglect of services markets until recently is reflected in the fragmented and patchwork systems, mechanisms and agencies available in this important sector of the economy and further developments are likely.     

Informative Brand Advertising and Pricing Strategies in Internet Markets with Heterogeneous Consumer Search

The use of information intermediaries has been shown to undermine the effect of brand in online markets. In this paper, the effect of consumer search on the relationship between brand advertising and pricing strategies is analysed. Price data are taken from the leading UK motor insurance comparison website, with the advantage that prices can be related to the search characteristics of consumers and to the advertising expenditure of firms. The paper finds that more-advertised firms have lower price rankings at the comparison site, indicating that advertising is informative in this market. The main result is that consumer search weakens the relationship between advertising and pricing. An implication is that increased usage of price comparison sites will make informative brand advertising less important.     

The Utility of the Relationship Metaphor in Consumer Markets: A Critical Evaluation

The popularity currently enjoyed by relationship marketing obscures a host of problems relating to the apparent domain extension into consumer markets. Such problems are argued to include: the lack of an accepted definition; fragmented and limited theory development; a boundary-less domain and a limited understanding of exchange relationships (Buttle, 1996; Gummesson, 1997; Wilson, 1995). This paper contends that the root of these difficulties lies in the process of metaphoric transfer (Hunt and Menon, 1995). As such there is a need to review the role of metaphor within academic research generally, and to investigate the extent to which the metaphor of interpersonal relationships remains apposite within the domain of consumer markets. In attempting to address this issue, the paper appraises the process of metaphoric transfer, evaluates the utility of the interpersonal relationship metaphor in the context of mass consumer markets and highlights a number of important implications for theory development in this field. Finally, the paper offers some directions for further research.     

Consumer Analysis in Ethnic Live Seafood Markets in the Northeast Region of the United States

During September through November of 2006, in-store intercept surveys of consumers who buy live seafood in retail markets in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania revealed that the average live seafood consumer makes 6.2 visits per month, spends $14.80 per visit on live seafood, travels 7.8 miles mainly by car, and is purchasing for 3.7 people in his or her household. Consumers value physical appearance of the product over price, generally have no preference for either “Product of the USA” or imported, and generally have no preference for either wild-caught or farm-raised. Many had no preference whether their fish was alive or dead before leaving the store, but if the fish is to be slaughtered in-store, preferred to have their fish gutted or filleted. Consumers generally prefer to purchase live seafood during the winter months and on either a Friday or Saturday.     

Understanding Corporate Social Responsibility and Product Perceptions in Consumer Markets: A Cross-cultural Evaluation

The concept of corporate social responsibility is becoming integral to effective corporate brand management. This study adopts a multidimensional and cross-country perspective of the concept and analyses consumer perceptions of behaviour of four leading consumer products manufacturers. Data was collected from consumers in two countries – Spain and the UK. The study analyses consumers’ degree of interest in corporate responsibility and its impact on their perception about the company. The findings here suggest a weak impact of company-specific communication on consumers’ perception. The implications of this study are relevant to companies for strengthening their social responsibility associations with the consumers. Dr. Jaywant Singh is Senior Lecturer at Kingston University, London where he teaches consumer behaviour and international marketing. His research interests include customer loyalty, product variants, new brands, corporate social responsibility, and consumer panel data. He received his PhD in marketing in 2004. Dr. Maria de Mar Garcia de los Salmones is Lecturer at University of Cantabria (Spain). Her current research interests include corporate social responsibility, brand image and consumer behaviour. She received her PhD in business administration in 2002. Dr. Ignacio Rodriguez de Bosque is Professor of Marketing at the University of Cantabria (Spain). His current research interests include Business Communication, relationship marketing and distribution channels. He has published in several international journals such as Tourism, Management, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services and Industrial Marketing Management.     

中国城乡居民日常耐用品消费市场的实证比较——基于彩电、冰箱、洗衣机消费数据的协整检验

本文根据1990年到2006年城乡居民中低档日常耐用品的消费数据,运用协整理论,对城乡居民中低档日常耐用品的消费与其可支配收入之间的关系进行了实证比较分析.结果发现,城镇居民对日常耐用品的消费与其收入之间不存在长期均衡关系,农村居民对日常耐用品的消费与其收入之间存在长期均衡关系,因而农村仍存在消费彩电、冰箱、洗衣机等中低档日常耐用品的市场潜力,利用"家电下乡"活动开拓农村市场、扩大内需是有效的.但由于收入风险和消费环境的影响,要使这一政策更加有效,还需要采取相应的配套措施.     

Factors Influencing Consumer Acceptance of Mobile Marketing: A Two-Country Study of Youth Markets

The purpose of this study is to examine factors affecting consumers' acceptance of mobile marketing across two global markets. Drawing upon technology acceptance and uses and gratifications theories, we develop and estimate a conceptual model of the influences of antecedent factors (including risk acceptance related to the mobile platform and personal attachment related to mobile devices) on behavioral intent related to mobile marketing practice. We further propose that the above relationships are mediated by activities that consumers engage in such as downloading, forwarding content and registering with firms. Focusing on youth consumers, we empirically test the model using data collected in both an established (U.S.) and an emerging market (Pakistan). Findings across these two markets reflect cross-market similarities and differences related to consumer acceptance factors. We draw implications from these findings related to both theory and practice.