Retailer Categorization: How Store-Format Price Image Influences Expected Prices and Consumer Choices

Prior research indicates that consumers may base their retail decisions (e.g., store choice, purchase quantity) on price image, which has been defined as consumer perceptions “of the aggregate price level of a retailer” (Hamilton and Chernev 2013, p. 2). The present research shows that consumers associate different price images not only with specific retailers, but more broadly with various store formats — such as grocery stores, convenience stores, and specialty stores. Six studies provide evidence that store-format price image exerts influence on consumer price expectations and store choice decisions, and that these retailer categorization effects are distinct from the effects of retailer price image.     

Consumer Response to Line Extensions: Trial and Cannibalisation Effects

Cannibalisation and trial are both potential consequences of line extension strategies with, normally, the former to be controlled and the latter encouraged. Both stem from the familiarity of the parent brand, the main driver of line extension strategy. For a brand manager, considering the launch of a new line, these two effects create tensions; how can trial be maximised whilst parental share loss is minimised? We examine these two effects in different line extensions in the UK and Germany to understand how trial and cannibalisation interact to affect the success of a line extension. Our empirical research analyses the purchase patterns of buyers of a new line, before and after the launch of the extension, and compares these with the level of cannibalisation. Our aim is to understand the dynamics of consumer response to the new line. The household panel data analysis of fmcg purchases shows that line extension buyers are disproportionate purchasers of the parent brand, both before and after the launch. However these measures of cross-purchase correlate only weakly with the level of cannibalisation (rho = .42 before, .43 after). Whilst a line extension clearly encourages purchase of the new line by purchasers of the existing parent, this leads to additional portfolio purchasing as often as substitution. This provides some proof of the efficacy of line extension strategies in expanding brand sales.     

How the Temporal Framing of Energy Savings Influences Consumer Product Evaluations and Choice

Consumer interest in behavior that is good for the environment is increasing, but actual behavior consistent with this objective has not risen accordingly. This may in part be due to consumers not realizing that their environmentally protective behaviors may have tangible future benefits for them. These studies examine the influence of message frames and a consumer's propensity to think about the future for products that have future benefits. More specifically, these studies examine how consumers respond to temporal frames of savings on product packaging for energy efficient products. Two studies suggest that the temporal framing of savings can influence product choice, purchase intentions, attitudes, and perceptions of savings. The results indicate that future‐oriented consumers are likely to have more positive evaluations when savings are framed in the distant future compared to the near future. In addition, there is a mediating effect of perception of savings. These experiments provide information of interest to marketers and researchers regarding the influence of temporal frames and a consumer's temporal orientation on products that have future benefits.     

Shopping Orientation and Mindsets: How Motivation Influences Consumer Information Processing During Shopping

This research examines the cognitive procedures that underlie experiential versus task‐focused shopping orientations. The authors propose that consumers with a task‐focused shopping orientation and consumers with an experiential shopping orientation apply different cognitive procedures during shopping. Studies 1, 2, and 3 show that consumers with a task‐focused shopping orientation are more likely to activate the cognitive procedures of an implemental mindset, whereas consumers with an experiential shopping orientation are more likely to activate the cognitive procedures of a deliberative mindset. Study 4 demonstrates a fit effect between activated cognitive procedures and shopping orientation. Activating a mindset that matches the shopping orientation increases the monetary value that consumers assign to a product. The studies extend previous research by linking shopping orientations to mindsets and by providing evidence for mindset fit. The findings suggest that marketers and retailers will benefit from addressing experiential and task‐focused shoppers via the mindsets that underlie their shopping orientation.     

The Effect of Consumer Multifactorial Gender and Biological Sex on the Evaluation of Cross‐Gender Brand Extensions

Introducing cross‐gender brand extensions—masculine or feminine brands that extend to the opposite gender—is a growing trend on the marketplace, though not always a successful one. This research examines the effect of consumer multifactorial gender and biological sex on consumers’ evaluation of cross‐gender brand extensions. The influence of gender role attitudes is demonstrated: consumers with traditional gender attitudes are significantly more reluctant to accept these extensions than consumers with more liberal attitudes. Hence the extensions have a negative impact on the subsequent attitude of the former group toward the parent brand, contrary to their effect on more egalitarian consumers. No significant impact of the consumer's biological sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation is identified. The theoretical and managerial implications of these findings for the development of cross‐gender brand extensions are discussed.     

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.     

Perception of Naturalness of Food Packaging and Its Role in Consumer Product Evaluation

The aim of this article is to understand the concept of food “naturalness,” as it is perceived by the consumer via the packaging. The research is based on a qualitative study from which three types of experimental packaging were constructed (emotional, functional, and mixed) and a quantitative study carried out on 163 French consumers. The research identified two dimensions of food naturalness and related them to credibility, attractiveness, quality, and purchase intention, with differences according to the three types of packaging tested. The highlighting of their role in the perception of the naturalness of a food product should help managers to avoid overexposure of the concept.     

Ethical Decision-Making by Consumers: The Roles of Product Harm and Consumer Vulnerability

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the effects of perceptions of product harm and consumer vulnerability on ethical evaluations of target marketing strategies. We first established whether subjects are able to accurately judge the harmfulness of a product through labeling alone, and whether they could differentiate consumers who were more or less vulnerable. The results suggest that without the presence of a prime, subjects who depended on implicit memory or guess were able to detect differences in “sin” and “non-sin” products and consumer vulnerability, but were far less likely to be able to distinguish among high and low levels of product harm and consumer vulnerability. The inability to accurately identify high and low levels of product harm and consumer vulnerability impacted their perceptions of the ethicality of target marketing strategies, such that only four out of 18 target marketing strategies were judged as unethical. Thus, our findings contradict previous research that found subjects judged many more of the integrated strategies as unethical [Smith and Cooper-Martin, J Market 61(1997) 1]. Our results suggest that assessing ethical evaluations of strategies varying in product harm, and consumer vulnerability may only be relevant if consumers can accurately identify product harm.     

The Hungarian Cocktail of Competition Law and Consumer Protection: Should It Be Dissolved?

Hungary, a candidate country expecting to join the EU in 2004, has to approximate its laws and economic policies to those of the EU. However, it is not certain whether the Brussels standards will always improve national rules.This article will discuss one possible case. It concerns the special Hungarian legislation on competition law and certain consumer protection rules in the Competition Act of 1990 and the amended Act of 1996. The inclusion of rules governing consumer interests in the Acts greatly contributed to the recognition and the enforcement of consumer interests in Hungary.Nevertheless, the European Commission and the OECD increasingly argue that the Hungarian Office of Economic Competition should pass its competence in consumer related cases to another institution and instead pay more attention to more prominent fields of competition law such as horizontal agreements and mergers.This article will contest this argument. Although it is an understandable approach, there are several reasons why it should be carefully reconsidered. These include the position of consumers, which is still weak, the general system of consumer protection in Hungary, and the strong standing of the Office for Economic Competition. The comprehensive nature of the Hungarian Competition Act of 1996 is one of the cases in which the European guidelines should be considered with caution in order to determine whether their implementation would improve or damage a system that already functions well.     

品牌熟悉度和赞助方式对消费者响应的影响

文章通过研究了赞助事件中品牌熟悉度与赞助方式对消费者品牌态度与购买意愿的影响,得出以下结论：首先,与不赞助相比,品牌单独赞助时,消费者对低熟悉度赞助品牌的态度和购买意愿会显著提高,但对高熟悉度赞助品牌的态度和购买意愿则没有显著变化。其次,与单独赞助相比,当两个品牌共同赞助某一事件时,消费者对低熟悉度品牌的态度和购买意愿会显著降低;而对高熟悉度品牌的态度和购买意愿则没有显著影响。最后,文章为企业营销人员制定赞助策略提出一些有益的营销启示。     

The Endogenous African Business: Why and How It Is Different,Why It Is Emerging Now and Why It Matters

ABSTRACT

Africa is currently undergoing a transition that is unprecedented in its history. For the first time, the demand of urban populations pulls business development, thus creating economies with higher levels of specialization than before. This essay highlights the phenomenon of the endogenous African businesses that are arising in this process. These businesses tap into the natural resources and the social, economic, and cultural systems that build upon them. These resources and systems make the African business environment different from business environments in other parts of the world. Furthermore, the endogenous businesses have access to knowledge on how to manage modern businesses in the formal sector of the economy. In combination with African resources and systems, such knowledge enables them to create and sustain and competitive advantage in modern dynamic marketplaces. Endogenous African businesses are important because they have the potential to fuel economic growth, to revitalize rural areas, to contribute to food security and healthy diets, and to provide role models of which Africans can be proud. Hence, these businesses deserve our attention in the next two decades of scholarly research and education on African business.     

The Evolution of Consumer Product Safety Policy and Regulation in India

Consumer product safety in India is undergoing a series of structural reforms, encompassing general consumer protection and specific product safety regulation. This article critically examines the state of consumer product safety as it has developed since the adoption of the original Consumer Protection Act 1986 and Bureau of Indian Standards Act 1986 and on that basis puts forward a first reasoned analysis of the major reforms currently under discussion (the Consumer Protection Bill 2015) or recently passed but not yet implemented (the Bureau of Indian Standards Act 2016). The analysis is framed against the backdrop of a preliminary discussion of the constitutional architecture of India, which is in itself a source of complication in the development of coherent consumer policies. The picture emerging from this article shows that, while progress is being made, the field of consumer product safety in India is a difficult work in progress where policy and regulatory developments are hard to achieve incrementally, and structural reform come at the cost of fundamental choices the feasibility of which might prove difficult.     

Consumer Perceptions of a Potential Fresh Ground Beef and Poultry Product

Abstract

Consumer concerns with the consumption of fat and cholesterol have encouraged many to seek alternatives to regular ground beef. A sample of Louisiana households was surveyed by mail to examine the willingness of consumers to purchase a blended fresh ground beef and poultry product relative to alternative ground products. Multinomial logit analysis was used to analyze the data. The important variables in the Yes versus No purchase decision for the blended product were: beef is one of the household's two most popular fresh meats, the household had consumed hamburger during the last month, the respondent had mixed the two products in the home, age, single adult head, and Caucasian. Gender, children in the household, education, presence of a homemaker, and family income were less important variables.     

Calling It Out: The Impact of National Identity on Consumer Response to Ads With a Patriotic Theme

This study examined how ethnic minorities negotiate between ethnic and national identities and respond to ads that intend to appeal to consumers through patriotism. Specifically, this study proposed that activating ethnic minorities' national identity through a prime would affect their evaluation of ads with a patriotic theme. Further, this effect among ethnic minorities would be different from that among the majority. Findings from this study suggest that (1) Caucasian Americans (the majority group) responded more favorably to ads with a patriotic theme than did Asian Americans (ethnic minorities); (2) both Caucasian and Asian Americans became more positive in their ad evaluations when their American national identity was made momentarily salient through a national identity prime; and (3) the effect of national identity activation on evaluation of ads was greater among Asian Americans than among Caucasian Americans.     

Assessing the Dimensions of Product Variety on Performance: The Value of Product Line and Pack Size

This article studies the impacts of product variety along two dimensions: product‐line variety and pack‐size variety. Previous research has often found that increased product variety is associated with increased sales. Interestingly, we find that this is not always the case, once the negative impact of product variety on fill rates is introduced. Specifically, product‐line variety has a positive total effect on sales, but pack‐size variety has a negative total effect on sales. We also investigate potential nonlinear impacts (with decreasing marginal effects) of product‐line and pack‐size variety, and find the result to be one of diminishing returns.     

Extrinsic Cues and Consumer Judgments of Food Product Introductions: The Case of Pangasius in Norway

In this article, the authors explore how the extrinsic cues corporate social responsibility, endorsement, and country of origin affect consumer evaluations of product quality, value, and expected product popularity for frozen Pangasius filets, a farmed fish product just recently introduced into the Norwegian market. The effects of these three variables are tested on purchase intentions. By means of a 2?×?2?×?2 factorial experiment in combination with survey data, the authors find that the three extrinsic cues under study had different effects on the evaluative variables. Furthermore, these variables all had positive and significant effects on purchase intentions. Hence, the general conclusion is that importers of new food products like Pangasius can benefit from focusing on extrinsic cues when the intrinsic cues are hard to evaluate or are unknown. Through the indirect effect on purchase intentions, extrinsic cues play an important role when consumers judge unfamiliar and new products.     

品牌仪式的“见”之效应：品牌仪式如何影响消费者信任

受新冠肺炎疫情的影响,大多消费者只能在线观看企业通过互联网实施的品牌仪式,然而以往研究更多揭示的是消费者直接参与的仪式效应,鲜有消费者不直接参与的仪式研究。基于社会交换理论,文章运用实验法探讨了当消费者见到但不实际参与品牌仪式时,品牌仪式对消费者信任的影响机制,即品牌仪式的“见”之效应。结果表明：作为视觉材料呈现的品牌仪式（对比随机动作）也能激活消费者的仪式感知,增加消费者对品牌的信任。原因在于当消费者从品牌仪式的互动体验中获取相应的积极情感资源（心流体验）后,会更倾向与品牌建立信任关系。此外,消费者品牌关系规范会调节品牌仪式对消费者信任的影响,对于共享型关系中的消费者,品牌仪式通过增强消费者心流体验,进而增加消费者对品牌的信任,但对于交易型关系中的消费者,该效应消失。     

Recalls and the Remediation of Hazardous or Defective Consumer Products: The Experiences of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

There have been many analyses of the nation's safety, health, and environmental programs, but relatively few studies of consumer protection programs. The present study attempts to add to the literature in this area by examining, through early 1982, the recall programs for hazardous or defective consumer products of two federal agencies: the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The analysis focuses on an evaluation of existing recall methods and their success in repairing hazardous products or in removing them from the marketplace. A review of several indicators of “success” suggests that a large gap exists between the set of all such hazardous products and the subset identified as hazardous and effectively acted upon by the two agencies. Some suggestions for closing this gap are noted and discussed.