Acquiring customers through online marketplaces? The effect of marketplace sales on sales in a retailer's own channels

Online retailers are increasingly using third-party online marketplaces (e.g., Amazon, Taobao) as an alternative sales channel to their website. While cross-channel sales elasticities have been established for many sales channel combinations (e.g., adding bricks to clicks), we lack an understanding of whether the use of third-party marketplaces grows or cannibalizes a retailer's sales. Practitioners argue that firms can build their e-commerce business through acquiring customers by selling on the marketplace. Indeed, a marketplace could complement a retailer's offering (e.g., acquiring new customer segments), although inventory effects might mitigate this complementarity. Alternatively, cannibalization might occur from losing customers from one's website to the online marketplace. The present research investigates which of the two opposing forces prevails using a time series of category sales data from one of the largest global marketplace sellers. The authors use vector autoregressive modeling to show that marketplace sales increase sales on a retailer's website (0.014% for every 1% in marketplace sales). This effect is strongest for categories with large choice and low product prices. Acquiring customers through the marketplace might be cheaper than through other sources (estimated at 24% of initial sales). However, online retailers should be aware that this strategy strengthens the marketplace and may have potential negative long-term consequences (e.g., through marketplace control of the customer relationship).     

Do brands’ social media marketing activities matter? A moderation analysis

Considering the increased interest in the role that a brand's social media marketing activities (SMMA) play in providing better experiences, the current study examines associations among SMMA, brand experience, purchase intention, and attitude towards the brand. This study also assesses the customer generation (Millennials vs. Non-Millenials) and customer engagement level (high vs. low) as moderators in the SMMA-brand experience link. 413 responses were collected from individuals who follow a brand on social media and employed structural equation modelling for the analysis purpose. The results suggest an essential role of SMMA in driving brand experience, purchase intention, and attitude towards the brand. Results also establish that the SMMA-brand experience link varies across consumer generation (Millennials vs. Non-Millenials) and customer engagement level (high vs. low) with the brand's SMMA. These results aid marketers in realizing the role of consumers' generation and their engagement level relating to SMMA-brand experience relationship. The study concludes with implications, limitations, and future research avenues.     

Do you punish or forgive socially responsible companies? A cross-country analysis of boycott campaigns

This study empirically investigates how companies' social contribution affects boycott intention by considering the role of brand strength. We use a dataset from two politically and historically conflicting countries, South Korea and Japan, at two points in time. A structural equation model is employed to test the hypotheses. Our findings reveal the pivotal role of companies’ social contribution in mitigating boycott intention through enhanced brand strength. The results, which are unexpected, show that the direct and negative link of social contribution to boycott intention is stronger for South Korea than for Japan. By elaborating the mediating role of brand strength, this study contributes to the literature by examining the differential impacts of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices on consumer boycotts in the context of a cross-country difference. Additionally, one managerial implication of this study is that global companies should appropriately respond to public expectations of being socially responsible actors while associating CSR practices with brand strength through creative communications.     

Advertising’s sequence of effects on consumer mindset and sales: A comparison across brands and product categories

Advertising has the power to influence how consumers experience, think, and feel about brands, but the sequence of these mindset effects may differ by brand and category. This paper analyzes how the mindset factors of cognition, affect, and experience mediate advertising effects on sales, using data from 178 fast-moving consumer good brands in 18 categories over seven years. The authors compare the models proposed in the literature and conclude that the concept of sequentiality in advertising effects holds up well. Importantly, the sequence varies across brands, with the affect → cognition → experience (ACE) sequence being the most common. Brand differentiation and the hedonic versus utilitarian nature of the product category moderate the incidence of the ACE sequence: this sequence is even more likely for utilitarian products and less differentiated brands. For managers, the results show that the last mindset factor in the sequence is the most important in driving sales, with cognition being most responsive to advertising among the mindset factors. Moreover, in utilitarian categories, highly differentiated brands can expect about seven times higher advertising responsiveness of affect than less differentiated brands.     

Why do boycotts sometimes increase sales? Consumer activism in the age of political polarization

In this article, we argue that the occurrence, trajectory, and impact of consumer activism are in large part driven by the political environment in which firms operate, particularly by their country’s level of polarization and the political makeup of their core customer base. In environments characterized by low levels of political polarization, companies are embroiled in a relatively small number of political controversies, and as a result are rarely the target of consumer activism. Conversely, in highly polarized environments, people’s political sensibilities are easily offended, which leads to a relatively large number of political controversies. These controversies tend to arise along party lines, meaning they elicit a consumer boycott exclusively from one side of the political spectrum. Such partisan boycotts lead people on the other side of the political spectrum to rally around the company at the center of the controversy and to purchase more of its products. Whether a company’s sales end up decreasing or increasing depends on the nature of the issue at the heart of the controversy as well as on the political beliefs of its core customer base. We conclude by describing how companies can successfully navigate this complex interplay between political polarization, consumer activism, and customers’ political preferences.     

Away from home: How young Chinese consumers travel with global brands?

This interpretive study investigates how a group of young Chinese students consume global brands of American origins, in China and in the UK. More specifically, this research examines how meanings attached to global food brands travel abroad with consumers and investigates the relationship between brand consistency and brand meanings across national boundaries. Findings from a thematic analysis of focus group interviews conducted over a nine-month period, reveal that some brand meanings are context and culture specific (contextual meanings) while other meanings travel with consumers across borders (core meanings). Theoretically, this study shows how global brands provide a platform of structural meanings, ideas and practices that are global and globalising in themselves, allowing a degree of fluidity and adaptation in relation to the local context of consumption.     

Do brands make consumers happy?- A masstige theory perspective

Happiness has been topic of research since ancient times. This study explores the theory of consumer happiness grounded in the tenets of mass prestige (Masstige), self-consciousness and social ideal self by linking it with brand-induced happiness (Brand Happiness). The relationship is explored in light of self-consciousness and social ideal self by taking them as moderators. Data was collected from a European country using a standard questionnaire measuring brand happiness, masstige, self-consciousness and social ideal self from 346 respondents for three mobile phone brands from America, South Korea and China – iPhone, Samsung and Huawei. Exploratory Factor Analysis, Structural Equation Modelling, and Moderation Analysis revealed that the consumption of masstige brands lead to brand happiness. This relationship is moderated by self-consciousness, whereas social ideal self is not moderating the relationship. The study also revealed that only iPhone is a masstige brand. Implications of the findings and managerial applications along with theoretical contributions are discussed.     

Do low involved brands have better consumer perception due to product placement in emerging markets?

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of the product placement in the film on purchase intention, attitude and change in perception. For this study, we selected recently released film and interviewed the film goers after he came out of the theatre through intercept technique. The products have improved brand recall, perception, and brand recommendation, ‘feeling’ towards brands, association and purchase intentions which are our dependent variables in our study. Brand image, country image, value for money and culture affects these dependent variables as per our present study. Low involved products get more mileage from product placement. The effect of product placement in low and high involved brand is explained for the first time through application alternative hierarchy’s theory of Ray et al., Theory of Hovland et al. and Gestalt theory of familiarity. Our paper bridges the gap between theory and practice by suggesting improvement in product placement in non –traditional media like film.     

Now what? Evaluating the sales effects of introducing an online store

This study creates a framework for evaluating the sales impact of adding an online channel to an existing network of physical stores. Using a unique database consisting of pooled customer data from a Swedish retailer's online and offline stores, it investigates the purchase behavior of customers before and after the introduction of an online channel. The data overcome a crucial obstacle present in previous studies in that they permit matching of individual-level customer data for both online and offline behavior. The results show significant and substantial effects of online channel introduction on customer acquisition as well as on cannibalization of physical stores.     

Do cultural orientations moderate the effect of online review features on review helpfulness? A case study of online movie reviews

The perceived helpfulness of online product reviews plays a critical role in consumers’ decisions in e-commerce. In this context, based on the literature on information processing and cultural effects, this study explored the role of review features in the perceived helpfulness of online movie reviews. A cross-cultural investigation (i.e., China cf. the United States (US)) was employed to identify high-vs. low-context cultural orientation and uncertain avoidance orientation as moderators. The results reveal that review length, timeliness, title sentiment, and emotional expressions are significant predictors of helpfulness for consumer reviews in China and the US. In addition, cultural differences between the two countries, that is, high-vs. low-context culture and uncertainty avoidance, moderated the relationships between review length, timeliness, title sentiments, and review helpfulness.     

Should a small-sized store have both online and offline channels? An efficiency analysis of the O2O platform strategy

The emergence of online-to-offline (O2O) has been changing the business environment of the retail industry and making businesses more competitive. Since the relationship between O2O and productivity is of interest, this study examines whether adoption of the O2O platform is effective in improving the efficiency of small-sized online stores. A two-stage approach consisting of stochastic frontier analysis and meta-frontier analysis is applied to estimate and compare the efficiencies between firms using the O2O platform and firms using other methods. Based on stochastic frontier analysis and meta-frontier analysis, our findings show that adopting the O2O platform is an innovative and competitive strategy for small-sized online stores.     

What characterizes Chinese consumer behavior? A cross-industry analysis of the Chinese diaspora in Japan

In order to profit from China??s enormous business opportunities, international firms need to know Chinese consumer preferences. To learn more about intrinsic Chinese consumer preferences and their distinction from other Asian consumer preferences, this study analyzes differences in the formation of customer satisfaction, repurchase intent, and word-of-mouth intent between Chinese-born and locally born consumers in Japan. Verifying culture-based hypotheses, cross-industry analyses show that Chinese-born consumers pay less attention to the public brand image and risk-related switching costs, but more attention to quality expectations, perceived value, experienced usefulness, and financial switching costs than Japanese consumers. Marketing strategies should account for these preference structures.     

Flagship stores for FMCG national brands: Do they improve brand cognitions and create favorable consumer reactions?

National brands have begun to engage in direct distribution, displaying the brand in its own biotope. Such operation of flagship stores is one means of forward verticalization. From samples of visitors to two flagship stores of fast-moving consumer goods brands, this study analyzes the effects of the flagship store visit on brand experience, brand equity, brand attachment, and loyalty. In the low-involvement FMCG context, flagship stores are useful for reinforcing brand experience. However, flagship store-fueled brand experience does not necessarily lead to favorable consumer reactions; its effect on future purchases is mediated by both brand equity and brand attachment.     

The role of open innovation in emerging economies: Do companies profit from the scientific knowledge of others?

Our contribution lies in explaining why inter-firm variations in the strategic decision to actively seek and acquire external scientific knowledge impact not only financial performance but also the effects of firms’ own R&D. We further demonstrate that the performance implications of using external knowledge and technologies vary considerably depending on their source (domestic or foreign). Knowledge sourcing from domestic organizations has negligible consequences for financial performance and an adverse effect on firms’ own R&D. By contrast, knowledge acquisition from foreign countries results in superior performance and assists firms in unlocking their innovation potential.     

Do consumers who conduct online research also post online reviews? A model of the relationship between online research and review posting behavior

The purpose of the research is to investigate whether consumers who conduct online product research also more likely to post online product reviews. An information theory-based classification algorithm is used to estimate the likelihood of a consumer posting an online review conditional on having conducted online product research. Data from a nationally representative probability sample of American internet users are used to estimate the model. The results indicate that the characteristics of consumers who have a greater propensity to conduct online product research but a lower tendency to post online product reviews differ substantially from those who are more likely to post online product reviews but less likely to conduct online product research. The research is important because the degree to which consumers who conduct online product research are similar to those who post online product reviews can be used to track the effectiveness of online word-of-mouth marketing campaigns.     

What distinguishes passive recipients from active decliners of sales flyers?

While sales flyer ad spending in Denmark has increased over the last decade, the proportion of consumers declining to receive such flyers has been ever-increasing. To address this paradox, attitudinal and behavioural factors distinguishing passive recipients from active decliners of sales flyers are examined. The results reveal that decliners compared to receivers are less price conscious and that they perceive flyers as more inconvenient and less useful. Although decliners generally use other media less for deal searching than receivers, they are more inclined to search for grocery deals on the Internet. To reach the decliners, retailers could focus on the possibilities of the Internet, but to stop the trend of escalating numbers of decliners, retailers will have to address the perceived inconvenience and uselessness of sales flyers.     

Measuring the impact of online reviews on consumer purchase decisions – A scale development study

Consumers' exposure to online reviews influences their online retail shopping behavior. They search for reviews while evaluating products for purchase decisions. Past studies have indicated that online reviews affect the credibility and trust of the sellers and the products they sell on online platforms. Keeping this in view, the current paper aims to develop and validate a scale to understand the impact of online reviews on consumer purchase decisions. Data were collected from 431 young online shoppers for this research. The initial exploratory factor analysis (EFA) results helped identify four factors, viz. source credibility, volume, language and comprehension, and relevance which constitute the scale. The scale was validated by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The study's findings fill the gap of having a standardized scale that online retailers can use as indicators to assist consumers in their online decision-making. The discussions and implications support consumers' susceptibility to online reviews, an essential source for product and brand information in facilitating online consumers' purchase decisions.     

Do global factors impact BRICS stock markets? A quantile regression approach

This paper examines the dependence structure between the emerging stock markets of the BRICS countries and influential global factors. Using the quantile regression approach, our results for the period from September 1997 to September 2013 show that the BRICS stock markets exhibit dependence with the global stock and commodity markets (S&P index, oil, and gold) as well as changes in the U.S. stock market uncertainty (CBOE Volatility Index). This dependence structure is often asymmetric and affected by the onset of the recent global financial crisis. By contrast, the U.S. economic policy uncertainty has no impact on the BRICS stock markets.     

Is self-knowledge the ultimate prize? A quantitative analysis of participation choice in online ideation crowdsourcing contests

Online crowdsourcing contests are a nascent but rapidly growing method among marketers and retailers to generate and solicit creative ideas. In two studies – a dynamic model with scraped data from a well-known crowdsourcing platform using Python (study 1) and a survey among real participants in online contests with conjoint analysis (study 2) – we explore how multiple design parameters influence participation in online contests. Our empirical results support the notion that both extrinsically (i.e., prize money) and intrinsically (i.e., feedback) motivating parameters can generate value for participants (i.e., expected utility). Comparatively, however, we find evidence that intrinsically motivating design parameters that provide self-relevant feedback (i.e., feedback from organizer) can be more impactful than extrinsically motivating design parameters (i.e., award size). We also show novel time-dependent effects: as a contest nears its end, important design parameters shift in their effects on participation rates— their role over time is non-monotonic. In particular, the effect of award size becomes non-significant, but feedback remains impactful. Our findings contribute to the crowdsourcing literature, especially regarding how self-knowledge (e.g., self-efficacy) affects utility and consumer co-creation through contest participation over time; the findings also can help retail managers and marketers enhance participation in idea contests.