Strategies to offset dissatisfactory product performance: The role of post-purchase marketing

This research examines the role of post-purchase recovery initiatives in offsetting the negative effect of a dissatisfactory product experience. Experiment 1 explores the effect of counterfactual thinking, a mental simulation process of reflecting upon past events and generating alternative possible outcomes, on product evaluations after an individual experiences a negative purchase outcome. Experiment 2 builds on these findings and shows how customer surveys can be used as tactical tools to boost post-purchase product evaluations. The results indicate that post-purchase marketing efforts, such as customer surveys, can engage consumers in counterfactual thinking and positively affect their product evaluations.     

Configural paths to successful product innovation

This study offers an integrated framework involving antecedent paths to successful product innovation. The study explores conditional models leading to high product-innovation performance using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Based on relevant literature, this study categorizes relevant antecedents including organization-related, project-related, process-related, product-related, and market-related categories, and the newness of product innovation, into causal recipes. To assess the applicability of this conceptual model, researchers collected data from R&D managers and members of high-tech firms in Taiwan. The study includes dividing sampled firms into three groups according to the extent of within-firm agreement on responses by executives to questions about antecedents (in surveys that they answered independently). The findings include model routes to high product-innovation performance for each group. The findings indicate that no one simple antecedent is sufficient or necessary for high performance; no one path is necessary for high performance. However, there is only one avenue to successful product innovation for low-agreement cases. This study also finds some common rules behind these paths across groups. The strategy implication is to think through alternative paths and not key success factors for achieving high product-innovation performance.     

扩展保证产品定价策略分析

对产品保证与扩展保证进行了对比分析,揭示了产品扩展保证的特征和价值。从保证成本、市场需求、营销目标等多个角度剖析了扩展保证定价影响因素,基于扩展保证的多重功效,综合考虑扩展保证销售目标、需求者风险特征等的不同,详细分析了不同情形下扩展保证的定价策略。     

Strategies to detect and reduce counterfeiting activity

While at one time counterfeit products were largely restricted to watches, designer apparel, and movies, today counterfeiting is a major problem in such diverse product categories as pharmaceuticals, automotive parts, and computer software. There are four distinct types of counterfeits: knockoffs, counterfeits that are reverse engineered from genuine goods, goods produced by outsourced suppliers on “third shifts,” and goods that do not meet a manufacturer's standards but are not properly labeled as seconds or destroyed. The quality of some counterfeits is so good that some major retailers have unknowingly purchased counterfeits. But while there are new forms of counterfeit goods, there are also new strategies for combating counterfeiting. This article describes how to detect and reduce counterfeiting activity, via a plan which consists of four steps: (1) developing early warning signals of counterfeiting; (2) budgeting to monitor, deter, and remove counterfeits; (3) using demand-side strategies to deter counterfeiting; and (4) using supply-side strategies to deter counterfeiting.     

Managing product safety of imported Chinese goods

While recent recalls and scares have focused greatly on Chinese manufactured toys and foodstuffs, the issue of product safety extends to a wide variety of Chinese-produced goods. The supply chain in China is characterized by cost pressures and quality fade, multiple levels of outsourcing often involving small producers, a large number of counterfeit goods, Chinese cleverness at evading detection, and poor product safety surveillance by both the Chinese and U.S. governments. While some of these characteristics are present in other developing economies, few countries—save China—face all of these issues. To best counteract these forces, companies which outsource goods from China need a well-defined strategy to improve product safety. This strategy should encompass the practices of developing an organizational unit responsible for product safety, securing greater control over raw material sourcing in China, using extreme care in choosing Chinese subcontractors, conducting continuous product testing by multiple parties, being especially vigilant for counterfeits, and improving product traceability. Toward the end of ensuring items which meet quality standards, product safety auditing allows firms to assess their management of product safety of Chinese-made goods.     

The different roles of product originality and usefulness in generating word-of-mouth

This paper explores how the dimensions of new products, specifically, the originality and usefulness of the products, influence word-of-mouth (WOM). In four studies, using lab and field setups, we find that originality and usefulness have different effects on WOM. We show that consumers spread more WOM about original products, but the valence of what they say depends on the usefulness of the product. Therefore, originality enhances the effect of usefulness such that consumers spread relatively more and more positively valenced WOM about original and useful products compared to less original but equally useful products. Conversely, consumers spread more and more negatively valenced WOM about original products that are not useful compared to less original products with the same level of low usefulness. The results indicate that product originality should be managed carefully when developing and positioning new products. Although originality increases buzz, it might lead to negatively valenced WOM when the usefulness of the product is perceived to be low.     

How to reduce perceived risk when buying online: The interactions between intangibility,product knowledge,brand familiarity,privacy and security concerns

This paper studies how product intangibility and its moderators affect perceived risk in an online shopping setting. The moderators studied were brand familiarity, product knowledge, privacy concerns and security concerns. Student samples performed online experimental tests, wherein product intangibility was manipulated. The findings indicate that both mental intangibility and physical intangibility increased perceived risk. Mental tangibility had more impact over perceived risk than physical tangibility. This study is the first to show how intangibility, product knowledge, brand familiarity, privacy and security concerns interact and affect perceived risk. Previous studies did not have the opportunity to observe the interactions of these relevant dimensions, thus not identifying which one would have a stronger effect over the perceived risk of buying online. In short, we found that when interacting with intangibility security and privacy concerns increase perceived risk to the same degree. On the other hand, product knowledge reduces the perceived risk more than brand familiarity.     

植入式广告在广播中的运用

植入式广告在影视和网络游戏中渐入佳境,而在广播中尚待开发,有关广播的植入式广告的理论探讨还是空白。本文针对植入式广告在广播中的运用进行了探讨,并提出实务过程中需要注意和解决的问题。     

Using product design strategically to create deeper consumer connections

Historically, product design has most often been considered a process for creating functional differentiation through added features, superior performance, and so forth. However, with the advent of more design-oriented companies, such as Apple, Dyson, and others, design is increasingly being seen as an important strategic tool in creating preference and deeper emotional value for the consumer. In this research, we show how different design elements may be used strategically to create two very different outcome chains from a consumer's perspective. This work shows that certain design elements are more likely to create functional product differentiation and transactional consumer outcomes, while other design strategies tap a more emotional form of value creation. As we show, an emotional focus in value creation is more likely to create desired and powerful outcomes such as loyalty, joy of use, and even passion. Given current business trends towards relationship-based customer management, this emphasis on emotional value creation through product design is particularly relevant. In order to make these ideas actionable, we offer specific product design strategies that managers can use to enhance the transactional and relational value of their customer relationships.     

Competitive product lines with quality constraints

Competing firms often use product lines to screen different types of customers. Examples include, in general markets, product lines that screen the purchasing ability or preference for quality; in credit markets, product lines that screen the risk of the projects with different collateral; in insurance markets, product lines that screen the risk of accident with different coverage; and in labor markets, wage schedules that screen the employees’ abilities with different education levels. In some of these markets there can be some natural quality constraints: a maximum available quality in general markets, no negative collateral in credit markets; coverage not above 100% in insurance markets; minimum education level in labor markets. We present sufficient conditions for the existence of a pure strategies equilibrium (in such markets) under differentiation and a continuous distribution of customer types. We show that the equilibrium exists if there is a sufficiently high degree of differentiation among firms. Furthermore, we show that this equilibrium involves, under certain general conditions, pooling of customer types at the top and at the bottom of the distribution of customer types. The middle types may still be screened by the firms.

Using product sampling to augment the perceived quality of store brands

Two experiments test the ability of in-store sampling to enhance a store brand's perceived quality (Study 1) and whether such an outcome is contingent on quality level (Study 2). Study 1 revealed for two distinct grocery products that the perceived quality of store brands benefited significantly when participants tried these brands prior to judging their quality, but that no such benefit accrued to national brands. Study 2 found that sampling enhanced quality perceptions of a store brand only when the brand was of high (vs. low) quality. Implications for retailers’ store brand practices are discussed and suggestions for additional research are offered.     

Managing price expectations through product overlap

How should a retailer think about the decision to carry, price, and promote products that overlap with another store when such overlap is predicted to intensify price competition and drive down product prices? The existing research suggests that retailers should look to carry an ever-increasing percentage of unique or non-overlapping products [J. Marketing 61 (1997) 38; Marketing Sci. 19 (2000) 83], thereby eliminating the ability to compare prices across stores.We challenge this recommendation, arguing that overlapping products allow one type of retailer—the higher end retailer—to signal the fairness of its prices and foster a more favorable price image than might otherwise exist. In a laboratory study, we show that, for higher end stores, the existence of overlapping products can significantly increase perceptions of pricing fairness and subsequent store choice, even when those overlapping products are no cheaper in the focal store than in a competing store.     

Can product cycles explain skill upgrading?

Since the late 1970s, both developed and developing countries have experienced skill upgrading; that is, a rise in skilled labor's share of employment and payroll. In this paper, I examine the extent to which skill upgrading can be explained by product cycles, that is, by U.S. innovation and the subsequent relocation of production to U.S. trading partners. The following conclusions obtain. (i) Product-cycle trade is strongly and positively correlated with skill upgrading in a large panel of industries and countries. (ii) No such correlation is apparent for conventional trade measures that do not differentiate between product-cycle goods and non-product-cycle goods. (iii) Product-cycle trade is at least as important as other previously identified domestic sources of skill upgrading such as capital deepening.     

Interactive effects of country of origin and product category on product evaluations

This research examined the effects of country of origin and product category on product evaluations for 21 countries and 18 products. As hypothesized, product evaluations were highest for highly-developed countries, followed by newly-industrialized, newly-marketizing, and developing-country groups. Further, the product-category and country-of-origin effects interacted such that, depending upon the country group, different product categories received more, equal, or less favorable evaluations compared to other product categories. Several variables and processes underlying these effects are identified and integrated into a conceptual model.     

Consumer ethnocentrism,product necessity and quality perceptions of Russian consumers

Retail buyers in Russia have indicated that some customers have expressed a desire to purchase domestically produced products over imports. Consumer ethnocentrism has been proposed as a measure to provide retail buyers with the information necessary to market to these consumers. The purpose of this research is to determine if perceived product quality of products differs based on country of origin, product necessity and consumer ethnocentric tendency. A repeated measures ANOVA test indicates that perceived quality differs by necessity, by product, by country. A consumer ethnocentrism effect on the overall model, however, was not significant. We conclude that Russian consumers do perceive differences in product quality based on country of origin and product necessity, but that consumer ethnocentrism does not have an effect on perceived product quality.     

Trade barriers and trade flows with product heterogeneity: An application to US motion picture exports

We extend Melitz (2003) to allow for both global and bilateral fixed export costs. If global (bilateral) export costs dominate, the average sales ratio (import sales per product variety/domestic sales per variety), decreases (increases) in variable (fixed) trade barriers, due to adjustment along the intensive (extensive) margin of trade. Using novel data on bilateral US movie exports we find that (i) variation in box-office revenues per movie is much larger than in the number of movies exported, and (ii) the average sales ratio decreases in geographic and linguistic distance. These findings suggest that global fixed export costs dominate.     

Using social and economic incentives to discourage Chinese suppliers from product adulteration

The American public raised serious concerns about product safety in 2007, when the number of product recalls broke a new record. Following a temporary drop in 2008, both the number and retail value of recalled units have been increasing, despite various efforts exerted by government agencies and private companies to combat this trend. Currently, many countries—including China itself—are expressing serious concern over adulterated or unsafe food made or sold in China. What are the underlying reasons for some Chinese suppliers to adulterate product? When law enforcement is still weak in China, what can western manufacturers do to reduce the risk of product adulteration? To develop effective deterrence mechanisms, we first identify four underlying factors that create incentives for some Chinese suppliers to produce unsafe products. Then we propose ideas to discourage Chinese suppliers from producing adulterated products based on two underlying strategies: (1) creating economic incentives through contingent payments, and (2) creating a social incentive by threatening public exposure through the power of the Internet and social networking sites.     

How product usage influences consumer satisfaction

This paper reports on an empirical investigation of the effect of product usage on consumer satisfaction in the context of consumer durables. It conceptualizes three dimensions of usage-usage frequency, usage function and usage situation-and examines the impact of these usage dimensions on satisfaction. Results of a field survey using five consumer durables suggest that the usage dimensions influence satisfaction through corresponding dimensions of usage disconfirmation, independent of the effect of performance disconfirmation on satisfaction. The specific dimensions of usage disconfirmation which influence satisfaction vary by product.     

Placing snacks in children's movies: cognitive,evaluative, and conative effects of product placements with character product interaction

ABSTRACT

Type of placement integration has been shown to influence placement effects in adults. However, no studies have explored the role of character product interaction (CPI) for product placement effects on children. We also lack knowledge about the moderating role of age in this context. We therefore exposed N = 363 children aged 6–15 years to a movie containing no placement, a static placement, or a CPI placement. The presence of placements affected cognitive and conative brand outcomes. However, children's product memory and consumption were higher for CPI placements compared to static placements. As a relevant implication for product placement research, we found that brand outcomes were independent of the children's ages and prior movie familiarity. This suggests that children's developmental stage concerning age does not mitigate product placement effects. Implications for educators and consumer advocates are discussed.     

IPTV(网络电视)广告类型和产品类型的广告效果

在本研究中,从IPTV作为一种新媒体的角度,根据不同的IPTV广告类型和产品类型存在的效果差异进行探索。为此,依据广告类型和产品类型的不同分别进行了4个实验调查,IPTV广告效果测定了广告态度、广告点击意向、产品购买意向。首先,由于IPTV广告种类的不同,使广告效果的差异表现在广告态度和点击意向上;第二,根据产品类型的不同,IPTV广告效果也出现了差异。在广告态度和点击意向及购买意向存在差异的同时,IPTV广告中探索研究比经验型研究显示出更有效的反应;第三,由于广告类型和产品类型的不同,相互作用效果在购买意向上表现了出来。这些为广告中利用IPTV的媒体两面性提供了依据;其次,倡议在广告实行战略中开发能预期对消费者起到积极广告效果的带有图标和字幕的网幅广告;再次,在IPTV广告的制作方面,为探索性的IPTV广告能够诱发更有效的广告效果提供了理论性的依据。