Buy Australian Made

The Australian Federal Government introduced in 1994 the Trade Practices Amendment (Origin Labelling) Bill in the House of Representatives, Parliament of Australia, to establish a scheme to govern representations about the origin of consumer goods. This amendment to the Trade Practices Act (1974) applies only to Australian products, and provides two labelling alternatives, that is Product of Australia (no imported components and processing has been done completely in Australia) and Made in Australia (with some imported components). The Origin Labelling Bill 1994 is currently pending in the Senate, Parliament of Australia, for various reasons.Apart from the investigation into legal matters, a major aim of the research to be reported here was to question the impact of country of origin on the consumers' buying decision process, and in particular the impact of the Australian Made logo on sales of consumer goods. This logo is provided by the Advance Australia Foundation as a part of the Buy Australian Made campaign, started in 1986 to reduce the Australian import penetration.A Townsville-based consumer survey, conducted as a part of the research, showed that price, quality, and value for money were the over-riding factors in purchasing decisions. The survey sampled 647 interviewed consumers, and included an experiment in which business shirts and tea bags were used to determine reactions to country of manufacture information. It was found, for example, that the addition of a logo to a shirt had no positive influence on the Australian shirt's propensity to be selected as the preferred shirt when compared to the imported shirts.     

Consumer values,the theory of planned behaviour and online grocery shopping

Taking a hierarchical value‐attitude‐behaviour approach, this study empirically tests relations of consumer personal values, attitude, social norm, perceived behavioural control (PBC) and willingness to buy groceries online. The study distinguishes three groups of consumers: consumers who have not yet bought anything on the Internet; consumers who have bought something on the Internet – but not groceries; and consumers who have bought something on the Internet – including groceries. Data were collected from an online survey of Swedish consumers (n = 1058) using self‐administered questionnaires. The findings suggest that consumers may link personal values to attitude towards online grocery buying – but also that this relation may be moderated by whether the consumer previously has carried out an online purchase or an online grocery purchase.     

Consumer ethnocentricity and preferences for wool products by country of origin and manufacture

Labelling on apparel products usually focuses on the country where manufacturing takes place, rather than where the raw materials were obtained. A choice experiment of consumers in three southern US states was conducted to determine preferences and marginal willingness to pay (mWTP) for wool blend sweaters based on fibre origin and country of manufacture. Fibre origin choices were Australia, US and US State, with the latter to investigate consumer interest in local over simply domestic. Manufacturing had two possibilities, US and China. Survey questions were used to determine an average consumer ethnocentric tendency (CET) score for each consumer, and a median split was used to place each into a High or Low CET group. Nested logit models were analysed for both groups, and mWTP estimates were computed from the coefficients. Both CET groups were willing to pay significant premiums for State‐produced wool over US wool, and for US wool over Australian wool. However, the Low CET group exhibited lower premiums for fibre origins than their High CET counterparts. Ethnocentric consumers, unlike Low CET consumers, were additionally willing to pay significant premiums for wool blend sweaters knitted in the US vs. those knitted in China. Results suggest that labelling fibre by State or by US origin may allow producers to obtain substantial premiums for their apparel products. Promotion of domestic manufacturing though may only be effective for a smaller set of consumers.     

Consumer savvy: conceptualisation and measurement

The notion of savvy consumers increasingly appears in the e-marketing and e-management literatures, usually in discussions about the importance of consumer-centricity. A synthesis of the literature identifies six broad characteristics of these savvy consumers: they are enabled by competencies in relation to technological sophistication, interpersonal networking, online networking and marketing/advertising literacy, and they are empowered by consumer self-efficacy and by their expectations of firms. This understanding of consumers is formalised by developing a SAVVY scale. Standard scale development procedures are applied using a sample from an online panel of consumers. As part of the process of validating the new scale, comparisons are made with related, established scales – focusing on measures of consumer advantage (persuasion knowledge and market mavens) and consumer disadvantage (confusion arising from over-choice and vulnerability at the shopping interface). Our findings show the value of formal, empirically-grounded measures of consumer savvy, something that has been absent from many previous commentaries on the characteristics of savvy new consumers.     

Consumer Self‐Confidence in Searching for Information

Consumer behavior is often driven by the extent to which consumers feel confident regarding their decisions, which frequently hinge, especially in high‐stakes situations, on their information search. This article examines a multidimensional self‐confidence concept to explore how consumer self‐confidence influences information search. Findings of a mail survey document that high‐confidence consumers engage in more intensive search activities and that demographic patterns shape consumer self‐confidence scores. The findings empirically support a multidimensional measurement of self‐confidence to predict search behavior and suggest avenues to enhance the self‐confidence needed to produce positive marketplace experiences.     

Consumer Network Wales

The Welsh Consumer Council launched its online interactive consumer network in July 2001 with the aim of linking up individual consumers across the country, stimulating discussion and debate on consumer issues and strengthening the voice of consumers in Wales. By October 2002, the network had recruited 300 members. The Council aims to reach a membership of 1000 by 2004. As well as individual consumers, the network has recruited 34 voluntary and community organisations that are committed to working with the Council to ensure that disadvantaged consumers without home Internet access can participate in the network At the heart of the network is a bilingual discussion area within the Council's one‐stop consumer information website where members can post their views, comments and observations on any consumer issue that concerns them. Over the past year, lively discussions have developed on subjects as diverse as IT and electronic communications, customer call centres, recycling, money‐making schemes and energy saving in the home. Early in 2002, the network began to run regular online surveys on topical consumer issues. The first survey asked about members’ experiences of returning goods and their knowledge of consumer rights. The second asked about members’ attitudes to recycling and reducing waste. Both surveys received a high level of response and provided valuable and up to date information on the experiences and views of consumers from all parts of Wales on these important issues. The continuing expansion of the consumer network is central to the Council work in helping to foster a consumer movement in Wales which is informed, responsible, demanding and assertive.     

Consumer perceptions of risk and uncertainty and the implications for behaviour towards innovative retail services: The case of Internet Banking

Research on the consumer perceptions of innovative offerings has tended to focus on products as opposed to services. Perceived risk has generally not been awarded a major role while uncertainty, which is viewed here as distinct from risk, has for the most part been disregarded. The study reported in this paper strives to identify some of the major risks and uncertainties associated with a new service, Internet Banking, during the early stages of its market development. The empirical research involved a qualitative study of a small sample of consumers and a survey of both adopters and non-adopters of Internet Banking. The survey employed a traditional research instrument, which involved the presentation of pre-identified risks and uncertainties. It was possible to identify several major ‘risks’ as well as ‘uncertainties’. We raise questions about whether or not the anxieties and concerns identified by such a process of consumer research are true reflections of the major influences affecting consumer behaviour towards new retail services. The adoption of a ‘perceived risk’ stance as against one founded on the view that consumers may lack certainty about outcomes and consequences has implications for both theory and practice.     

Online shoppers in Australia: dealing with problems

Although the Internet is a convenient platform to conduct commercial transactions, consumers are disadvantaged in the online marketplace due to insufficient information about goods and services as well as business and transaction process, lack of access to redress and several other problems. The number of complaints regarding online transactions increased in Australia from 2001 to 2005, and the number of Internet‐fraud related complaints reported to Consumer Sentinel (USA ) also increased from 2003 to 2006. This, in turn, has undermined consumer trust and impeded the growth of e‐retailing as well as added to the fear among e‐consumers of falling prey to online fraud. In spite of this, the nature and effectiveness of e‐consumer protection has not been adequately studied, notwithstanding extensive research into other aspects of e‐retailing. This article examines (i) the level of awareness of the respondents in the survey in Australia of the current policy framework for addressing consumer protection about online shopping in terms of redress; and (ii) the behaviour of the two groups of respondents in this survey who have and have not encountered problems with online purchases. The findings suggest that most respondents are not aware of the following issues, namely (i) which organizations are involved in e‐consumer protection; (ii) government regulations and guidelines; (iii) industry codes of conduct; (iv) self‐regulatory approaches adopted by business; and (v) the activities of consumer associations to protect consumers in the online marketplace. The findings also show that most respondents would seek redress if they were unhappy with their online purchases and if they knew how to proceed, and that most of them would settle disputes directly with e‐retailers. Also, online shoppers who had encountered problems were more likely to continue purchasing via the Internet than online shoppers who had not encountered any problems. This suggests that respondents find that the benefits offered by e‐retailing outweigh the risks associated with it.     

The Effects of Consumer Education on Consumer Search

This paper reports the results of an empirical investigation of the relationship between selected consumer and marketplace characteristics—focusing on participation in consumer education activities—and consumers’ prepurchase information search behavior. A need exists for further study of the counteractive effects that consumer education is likely to have with respect to preferences for search and to the efficiency with which consumers conduct search.     

Consumer confusion from own brand lookalikes: An exploratory investigation

Lookalikes are a new generation of own brand products that have similar packaging and labelling characteristics to leading branded products. Their current success and proliferation (in Britain) has raised ethical and legal issues about whether they confuse consumers. A set of factors that foster or inhibit consumer confusion adapted from a framework on consumer confusion, were tested on a sample of 50 shoppers at the end of their shopping visit. No incidents of consumers having falsely bought a lookalike product were identified. However, low‐price products subject to impulse buying were found to be more likely to confuse shoppers. Additionally, elderly and impulsive shoppers appear to be more susceptible to confusion. Thus, effective brand identification or confusion‐protection strategies are more important for the above sets of products and shoppers. However, future research should concentrate on what extent consumers infer “misleading” that the original brand attributes are similar to the lookalike brand attributes and how this is linked to their choice.     

Competent consumers? Consumer competence profiles in Norway

Consumer competence is increasingly important in today’s commercialized society. This paper refers to some main findings from a national representative survey on consumer competences and practices in Norway. To be a competent consumer, it is decisive to be informed about products and to be familiar with how markets function. In this paper, consumers’ self‐reported efforts to keep themselves informed about specific markets is treated as an indicator of consumer competence. First, the results indicate that Norwegian consumers’ competence, according to their own judgement, is rather mediocre. Second, different groups of consumers seem to have different consumer competence profiles. Accordingly, we find that some consumers are price‐conscious in their daily purchases, others are price‐conscious when they make their yearly dispositions in the financial markets, while a third group is community‐oriented and active in the environmentally friendly and ethical product markets. Third, the analysis indicates that consumer competence is an important indicator of how market‐rational and reflective consumers’ choices and practices are.     

Consumer Market Beliefs About Retailing

This study emprically examines the subject of general beliefs that consumers have about retailing. Results from a survey of 485 consumers about the degree of consumer endorsement for sixteeen market beliefs are reported and discussed in terms of implications for retailing management.     

Consumer Power: A Comparison of the Old Economy and the Internet Economy

From the very beginning of the Internet, a decisive shift from supplier power to consumer power was predicted by several authors and is still maintained in recent literature. Although the Internet has grown rapidly within the last years and electronic markets have evolved, a theoretical framework for consumer power on the Internet still cannot be identified. Few authors have taken efforts to apply common concepts of power theory to the characteristics of the Internet. Based on the concept of French and Raven, this paper analyses consumer power in traditional markets and then compares it to the situation on the Internet. This comparison shows that the Internet enables consumers (a) to overcome most information asymmetries that characterize traditional consumer markets and thus obtain high levels of market transparency, (b) to easily band together against companies and impose sanctions via exit and voice, and (c) to take on a more active role in the value chain and influence products and prices according to individual preferences. A broad literature review reveals that empirical findings confirm these hypotheses to a great extent. The authors conclude by summarizing the results and drawing implications from two different angles, namely from a marketing and a consumer policy perspective.     

Consumer ethnocentrism when foreign products are better

In recent years, there has been a great deal of research exploring the concept of consumer ethnocentrism, although little has been done in Eastern Bloc countries. In these countries, foreign brands are often clearly superior to domestic alternatives. This study applied the CETSCALE in a survey of 218 Polish consumers with respect to attitudes and beliefs for one domestic and two foreign gas station brands. The findings suggest that, in a situation where foreign brands are superior to domestic ones, consumer ethnocentrism is displayed in more positive perceptions of the domestic brand, with little or no effect on perceptions of foreign brands. Moreover, the effect of consumer ethnocentrism on evaluations of different types of product qualities (search vs. experience) is explored. The results support the prediction that consumer ethnocentrism has greater impact on evaluations of experience qualities than on search qualities. Managerial implications and future research directions are suggested. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Consumer debt in Australia: why banks will not turn their backs on profit

Five years into the 21st century and consumer debt levels in Australia are still escalating. Simultaneously, there is concern that an increasing number of consumers may be unable to meet their future financial commitments and also mounting alarm at the relative ease with which the majority of consumers can access additional credit facilities. At the same time, credit providers are avidly seeking greater profits by enticing consumers to borrow more and more. Against this background, the issue of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the Australian consumer credit industry is discussed. The application of strategic stakeholder management theory to the activities of a specific class of lender – banks – is then discussed. The aim is to better understand why the contemporary demands of CSR will not lead banks to undertake a more vigilant approach to consumer lending advocated by consumer groups who, witnessing the impact of the growing level of consumer indebtedness on a number of consumers, are calling for more responsible lending practices. The opportunity to contribute to debate aimed at alleviating the risk of growing consumer indebtedness is highlighted. The paper concludes with an acknowledgement that, without intervention, factors such as competition in the free market for consumer credit, the demands of shareholders for profits, and consumers’ own folly in demanding immediate gratification and readily accepting additional credit as a means of financing their consumption, ensure that consumer debt levels will continue to rise.     

旅游业搜索引擎营销策略研究

在当今"眼球经济"时代,相对于互联网的海量信息,消费者的注意力是相当有限的。企业吸引被信息湮没的潜在消费者的注意力已成为其竞争力的重要来源,搜索引擎营销也随之体现出巨大的商业价值。同时,互联网用户对搜索引擎的依赖程度不断加深,使得搜索引擎营销越来越受到企业的重视,也使得旅游业对互联网的依存度逐渐提高。     

Consumer Mindfulness and Marketing Implications

The aim of this study was to examine the role of mindfulness in consumer behavior and service marketing in Australia and Malaysia. Two studies were conducted; first to identify and characterize consumers on the basis of mindfulness, and to obtain data on the dimensions of relationship quality and consumer loyalty from the groups. Results from a standard analysis of data confirmed five of the six hypotheses tested. There are significant differences in the three dimensions of relationship quality (i.e., trust, satisfaction, and commitment), and in two of three dimensions of consumer loyalty (namely, attitudinal and behavioral loyalty) between the two consumer groups—high and low mindful consumers. There is no significant difference in consumer switching restraint between the groups. These findings lead to research and managerial implications that conclude the paper.     

Demographic Characteristics of Canadian Consumer Complainers

A survey of over 17,000 Canadian consumers who had written a letter of complaint to one of several government or consumer service agencies in 1972 found that the average consumer complainer is a middle aged, well educated, affluent, managerial-professional man or woman. The study also found that 49 percent of complaint letters are written by only 24 percent consumer of complainers and that consumers who write several letters of complaint are also well educated, affluent, and have managerial/professional occupations. These findings suggest that care must be taken in using consumer complaint data to identify the nature and severity of consumer problems in the marketplace or as a foundation for government policy and programs.     

Revised CSI and Australian consumers: incorporating ‘innovation’ and ‘automobile purchases’

The first objective of this study was to identify Australian consumers' decision-making styles for automobile purchases. Second, adding an innovation consciousness scale to the original consumer styles inventory (CSI) to assess Australian consumers' car purchase behaviour. Based on a sample of 214 respondents from Australian automobile consumers, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on Sproles and Kendall's (1986) CSI adapted for automobile purchases. As such, the validity of the CSI in the context of high-involvement purchases was tested. The results found that only two factors, ‘brand’ and ‘habitual consciousness’, of the original model were retained and other factors such as ‘investigation process’, ‘information search’, ‘value within budget’ and ‘innovation consciousness’ factors were confirmed for automobile purchase decision-making styles. ‘Innovation consciousness’ was proven to be one of the most reliable and valuable scales for automobile purchase decision-making styles in relation to Australian consumers. The paper also discusses suitable marketing strategies for automobile consumers in Australia. The current research should prove valuable not only to academic researchers but also to automobile companies/managers. The findings will also provide insight into how automobile companies could position themselves with respect to their marketing strategies in Australia.