Different Effects of Utilitarian and Hedonic Benefits of Retail Food Packaging on Perceived Product Quality and Purchase Intention

Since consumers primarily make in-store purchase decisions, firms use product packaging to attract potential consumers. Ever-increasing market competition in many food product industries has further fueled this phenomenon in firms. However, the question of how retail food packaging affects consumer processes has received very little attention. This study investigates the benefits of food packaging on consumer responses to hedonic products by comparing different benefits (i.e., utilitarian and hedonic) of food packaging to understand which one has more impact on consumers’ perceived quality and purchase intention. The results show that both utilitarian and hedonic benefits of retail food packaging are critical predictors of consumer evaluations but play different important roles in determining customers’ reactions. Utilitarian benefits of food packaging impact perceived quality more than hedonic benefits do. Compared to utilitarian benefits, hedonic benefits of retail food packaging have more impact on consumer purchase intention.     

The Interest of Consumers in Ecological Product Information Is Growing – Evidence From Two German Surveys

In a German survey from 1989, consumers showed less interest in information about ecologically relevant product attributes than could be expected after several years of vivacious discussion in the mass media about ecological problems associated with consumer products and consumer behaviour. However, a replication of the study in 1998 showed a considerable increase of consumer interest in such information. In particular, there is evidence that in comparison to common product quality information, on average consumers rate the relative importance of ecological product information higher, that consumers want product testing agencies to take into account more aspects of products that are related to ecology, that more consumers would prefer reliable standardized ecological information obtainable at the point of purchase, e.g., in the form of eco-labels, and that consumers view an increasing number of products as potentially affected by ecological risks. Finally, the results show that at least for some products, the scope of perceived ecological risks seems to have increased and that consumers generally are becoming concerned with harmful effects of the production and distribution of a product in addition to the effects caused by usage.     

Optimal retail sales strategies for old and new products in monopoly and horizontal competition scenarios

Advances in technology have made product updates more frequent and allowed consumers to choose different versions of the same product based on their preferences. It is crucial for retailers to understand how to formulate optimal sales strategies based on those different consumer preferences. To this end, we develop game models that consider the heterogeneity of consumer preferences under both monopoly and horizontal competition scenarios and perform the sensitivity analysis to examine the impact of consumer proportions and consumer preferences on retailers’ sales strategies. The results show that (i) regardless of competition or monopoly status, the original retailer can always maximize profit by setting prices based on the market share of traditional consumers, as long as the retailer sells both new and old versions of the product; (ii) the greater the competitive advantage of the competitor, the more advantageous the hybrid sales mode; (iii) if the price of the old product is below a certain threshold, there will be a positive profit for the original retailer when selling both the old and new products; and (iv) when consumer acceptance of competing retailers is lower, entering the retail market is not a good choice for competing retailers.     

The potential impact of artificial shopping agents in e-commerce markets

This article deals with a possible future of e-commerce, not with how consumers or marketers currently shop on the Internet. In the future, artificial shopping agents may change e-commerce markets by significantly extending the search and evaluation capabilities of consumers. These agents have the potential to change current market relationships because they work on behalf of individual consumers, rather than offer advice to consumers on behalf of retailers. Additionally two types of shopping agents are possible, one of which may result in different patterns of choice than at present. The prospect of consumers relying on artificial agents for shopping decisions has raised concerns about negative impacts on both consumer welfare and the stability of markets. The article evaluates these concerns and concludes that major dislocations in consumer choice patterns are unlikely in the short run, but increasingly possible in the long run.     

Group Action in the Baltic States

The article is based on a study which aimed at examining the existence and use of group actions in consumer issues in the Baltic states. It was part of a larger research project in which the same questions were studied in all Central and Eastern European countries. Besides group actions in courts, administrative group actions were also studied.A starting point for the study was an overview of substantive consumer protection legislation in the Baltic states. In spite of the fact that there has been a rapid development in this field during recent years, the main finding was that many substantive law elements of consumers' collective interests, which in the EU Member States are often protected by different kinds of group actions, are as yet not regulated at all in the Baltic states or not regulated in a sufficiently detailed way in the Baltic states.The study showed that several kinds of group action exist in these countries. Firstly, there are administrative group actions for injunction. They are applied mainly in cases concerning product information, product safety, and unfair competition. Secondly, a group action by a consumer organisation for injunction in a court is, in principle, possible in Estonia and Lithuania, but not in Latvia. So far, no case law exists, however. A genuine group action for compensation is not possible in the Baltic countries, but a consumer organization may represent an individual consumer or a specified group of consumers in a court and may claim compensation on their behalf. The study showed that administrative group actions are a functioning part of the present consumer protection system in these countries, whereas court actions so far exist only on paper. It also showed that in the Baltic states, procedural means are in some matters better developed than substantive consumer law, whereas in many western countries, the exact opposite is the case. The article concludes with some recommendations as to how the Baltic states could develop their consumer protection legislation.     

以和谐流通促建和谐社会

本文认为,和谐流通即流通与经济社会发展需要相适应,能促进经济又好又快发展;与全体人民物质文化需要相适应,能保证各阶层消费群体特别是普通老百姓的需要得以满足;能促使公平竞争的市场环境得以建立,使所有市场参与者的合法利益得到保障;能鼓励健康消费,抑制不良消费,有利于人的身心健康和全面发展;以不损害消费者、企业和国家利益为基本原则,能确保消费安全,促进经济社会的可持续发展。文章提出,促进和谐流通,应从“主体管理”走向“社会管理,”建立覆盖全社会的流通管理和协调机制;坚持用法规与政策的手段抑制流通领域中的垄断与不公平竞争现象,维护经济社会的协调发展;强化舆论监督、行业自律和商德教育,不断提升流通企业经营者持续发展的战略意识和诚信经商的伦理道德水平;采取切实措施改变流通领域人才结构,提高流通现代化水平,促使流通效率提高和成本下降。     

中国新奢侈品营销策略研究

目前,中国正成为世界上重要而且快速增长的新奢侈品消费市场。新奢侈品消费已经显示出消费群体以中产阶层为主、消费形式网络化、情感体验型消费、消费由一线城市向二三线城市扩张等特征。基于新奢侈品利用新的消费者心理,将高质量商品消费大众化,将消费的物品提升为一种新的体验和享乐的趋势,中国应根据自身独特环境来选择适合的营销策略,采取突出品牌个性,加快整合多种传播渠道,实施差异化品牌传播与体验式营销,发展品牌战略联盟等措施。优化产品营销规划,正确引导消费者进行理性选择,推动消费升级。并在全球市场竞争中立于不败之地。     

Verbraucherpolitik als gewerkschaftliche Aufgabe

Trade unions and consumer policy. In the first part of his essay, the author discusses the position of the DGB (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund), the largest and most important of the West German trade unions, in the field of consumer policy. Consumer policy has been part of the statute of the DGB since 1971. Trade unions in West Germany regard themselves as consumer organisations because their members are consumers as well as employees, and consumer policy is understood to be part of the general economic policy of the unions. In 1975, the congress of the DGB accepted a programme of consumer policy. The programme demands that consumers rank equal with producers in the market. This goal should be reached by price competition (as a dominant factor of competition), by transparency (Markttransparenz) of prices and quality, and by the appointment of an ombudsman as a legal caretaker of consumer interests. The DGB rejects new consumer organisations, because in its view the trade unions constitute a well organised consumer institution. There is some cooperation, however, with the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Verbraucher, the chief German organisation for consumer affairs. The author disagrees with legal writers who deny trade unions a right of claim against unfair competition and against unfair standard contract clauses, according to para. 13 of the German Unfair Competition Act. In the second part of his essay, the author analyses the legitimation of trade union consumer policy. The discussion concerns the question of whether or not employees are the only consumers who are in need of protection, and if there is a conflict between their interests as employees and as consumers. The author suggests that legal consumer protection should shield only individual persons as buyers (not small firms, for example). Furthermore, consumer interests should be defined from the perspective of the consumer who is anemployee. A consumer who is at the same time an employer, does not need protection because he can compensate for the disadvantages sustained in his consumer role by exploiting his position as an employer. Conversely, the employee-consumer has the weaker position in both of his roles. Another important question is whether or not there is a conflict between a high standard of consumer protection and a high level of wages. The author cites some economists who suggest that this conflict may be resolved, and that the real conflict is not between consumers and employees, but between those two on the one side and business on the other. The author draws the conclusion that there exists a theoretical legitimation for trade unions to represent the consumer interest. There is a wide gap, however, between the programmes of the trade unions and their policy as evidenced by their everyday activities. The hope is expressed that this gap will become narrower.     

论旅行社提高顾客价值的途径

面对激烈的市场竞争,旅行社越来越难以实行产品差别化策略,而顾客价值成为旅行社的核心竞争优势。旅行社应当在质量、成本、关系、实效四个方面进行顾客价值提升定位,并在顾客价值创造、顾客关系管理方面实施顾客价值管理战略,将顾客价值管理系统化、长期化。     

Some consequences of the single market for European and Danish consumer policy

In this paper, the future of consumer policy within the context of the European single market will be estimated. As the scope of the EC for consumer action is mainly economic, a broader social approach will be used as the theoretical framework. Within such an approach, consumer problems and consumer policy will be characterized, and three paradigms describing the social and political influence of consumers will be discussed as possible guidelines for consumer action. In the light of these guidelines and available published knowledge of the single market, consumer policy at Community level and in Denmark will be analysed.     

EC Competition Law After Modernisation: More than Ever in the Interest of Consumers

In this paper it is argued that even though the consumer cannot (anymore) be reduced to a homo oeconomicus, competition law is the cornerstone of consumer law and that the decentralised application of EC competition law since 1 May 2004 (pursuant to Regulation 1/2003) gives new opportunities for an effective application of the EC competition rules to the benefit of consumers. While the EC Treaty (and the future Constitution for Europe) aim to protect consumers in the framework of the internal market programme, as well as on the basis of a genuine consumer protection policy, it is submitted that an effective competition policy remains crucial for consumers in a market economy. Consumer interests are generally diffuse and therefore difficult to protect via legal procedures. Nevertheless a further development of remedies which are already available in Community law (nullity of restrictive agreements, claims for damages, actions for a cease and desist order, and so on) will contribute to an increased application of the competition rules in the interest of consumers.     

Consumer Law and Policy in Ghana

This paper presents a picture of the landscape of consumer law and policy in Ghana and reviews the scope of protection of consumer interests with specific regard to product safety and liability, consumer sales, and telecommunication services. It assesses the legislative and policy framework on consumer contracts, product safety, and unfair commercial practices; discusses the role of national agencies in enforcing safety standards; and highlights some critical consumer issues in telecommunications service delivery. The paper examines the regulatory framework on other consumer issues such as advertising, labelling, and marketing of consumer products; terms and conditions of consumer contracts; and after sales services including the enforcement of guarantees, warranties, refund, and return policies. The paper also discusses the extent of external influence on the development of consumer law and policy in Ghana and reviews the level of interaction with other legal systems and supranational bodies in the three focal areas. The contribution also explores areas of Ghana’s consumer protection framework which could benefit from guidance from the EU transnational model on consumer protection and makes recommendations for the enhancement of the emerging legislative and policy regime on consumer protection in Ghana.     

The structural weaknesses of the consumer movement

The international consumer market in the western industrial nations is largely the product of the affluent post-war period. It has grown out of a concern that the legal principle of caveat emptor is inadequate to protect the consumer in the modern, complex marketplace by consumer education and protection, improved consumer information and a general concern for the consumer and physical environments. Consumer groups are typically seen to be self-help groups for the educated middle classes with little concern for the disadvantaged consumer, and there is no evidence that they have seriously challenged the dominance of producers and distributors. Two contrasting approaches to the structural analysis of consumer groups in the political systems of western industrial nations are considered, the pluralist approach and the conflict approach. It is argued that the analysis of power in the marketplace demonstrates that there is substantial producer dominance in the marketplace. The paper concludes by identifying five structural weaknesses of the consumer movement: negligible communication between consumers; the inability to mobilize; the rejection of effective (but politically radical) forms of action; the acceptance of existing market arrangements; and the provision of ideological support for these arrangements.     

Consumer acceptance of irradiated food: A study of symbolic adoption

Previous research reveals mixed signals regarding the potential for consumer acceptance of irradiated food. Consumer acceptance seems to depend upon the nature and amount of information provided about irradiation. Survey research finds that only about 20–30% of respondents initially express favourable opinions of irradiation with some cautionary signals concerning consumer suspicion of the process and its benefits to the public. Some laboratory experiments and market tests, on the other hand, indicate a willingness of the consumer to accept a high quality, government-approved product, especially when irradiation is placed within the context of alternative pest and bacteria control treatments. However, these studies fail to provide the consumer with negative information about irradiation. This study examines the relative impact of social persuasion and both favourable and unfavourable information on consumer acceptance of food irradiation. The study takes the approach that consumer acceptance is a social process, wherein acceptance becomes subject to societal approval through word-of-mouth conversations. Previous literature suggests that social persuasion, particularly negative social persuasion, should outweigh favourable information on consumer acceptance of a new technology. This proposition is supported by the results of our study, which indicates that responses that were initially favourable to irradiation, especially those opinions formed in the absence of unfavourable information, should be interpreted with caution. The study supports previous research, therefore, suggesting that industry and governmental agencies would benefit from close inspection of societal attitudes towards the food irradiation process.     

Zielsetzungen und Instrumentarien der europäischen Verbraucherrechtspolitik: Eine Analyse von Entwicklungen im Bereich des Zivilrechts

Objectives and instruments of European consumer policy: An analysis of developments in the area of civil law. The paper discusses the relationships and conflicts between the objectives pursued by European consumer policy and the means which are at its disposal. As a first step, the theoretical assumptions of this policy are analysed by an evaluation of the EC Programme for a Consumer Protection and Information Policy of 1975 and of the draft directives on product liability, on misleading and unfair competition, on doorstep sales, and on correspondence courses. It is suggested that the European approach toward consumer protection largely corresponds to the policies prevailing at the national level: Consumer protection is seen as a supplement to the traditional market and competition policy which used to be restricted to regulating competition between producers or suppliers of goods and services, whereas the new policy focuses on the relations between producers and consumers. Nevertheless, consumer policy adheres to the basic presumptions of market economy. It presupposes that the demands of the consumer have to be articulated and satisfied via market processes. It therefore primarily relies on regulations directed against misleading advertising, on protecting justified expectations as to the quality of goods or services by providing redress for losses sustained, and by endeavours aimed at securing a more rational behaviour of the individual consumer. The most important means to promote this policy on the European level are the directives which aim at consonance among national laws (Art. 100 EC Treaty). This is indicative of a market orientation of consumer policy in so far as the harmonization of law is seen as a device for overcoming discriminating effects or distortions of competition created by the differences among national laws thereby furthering a better functioning of the Common Market (Art. 3 h EC Treaty). This accordance of consumer policy and harmonization policy does not rest on firm ground, however. In consumer policy it becomes more and more obvious that the efforts to protect the interests of the consumer lead to further interventionist activities. This process also reveals the need for systematic adjustments or consultations between consumer policy and other fields of politics. A harmonization policy which is primarily centered on breaking down trade barriers and on overcoming discriminating effects of competition cannot respond to the needs and problems of such interventionist activities. Therefore, the harmonization of consumer law should be conceived as a process of formulating broader policies directed at a congruous development of the economic sphere and at an improvement of the living conditions in the Common Market (cf. Art. 2 and the preamble of the EC Treaty). Legal techniques which might be adopted to support such an orientation are (a) in the EC directives to lay down minimum standards for the national legislation, (b) to use a conflict-of-laws approach which would allow to respect and try to coordinate legitimate interests in the application of national consumer policies, and (c) the development of special rules responding to the international aspects of the exchange between producers and consumers. At present, however, European policy gives hardly any attention to the chances and problems of such an approach requiring a complicated coordination of the various legal techniques.     

基于价格竞争理论的旅行社产品创新策略研究

目前,国内旅行社产品低价竞争状况严重。旅行社产品在产品同质化的情况下,价格必然成为影响旅游消费者购买偏好的决定性因素,只有施行差异化竞争战略才能有效规避低价竞争;同时旅行社必须充分了解并有效把握市场需求,在产品中不断添加创新元素,创造性的以新产品引导消费,通过品牌识别和服务创新巩固旅行社产品差异化,才能不断强化旅行社产品的排他性,持久增强旅行社企业的竞争优势。     

Consumer Class Actions: Are They a Solution for Enforcing Consumer Rights? The Israeli Model

Class actions were introduced into the Israeli legal system in order to overcome the difficulties in the enforcement of consumer laws. Despite extensive consumer legislation during the 1980s, consumer laws were not enforced until the mid 1990s. Only since the incorporation of class action procedures in the Consumer Protection Law in 1994 have consumer actions become more common. The introduction of class actions under the Consumer Protection Law (CPL) led to a revival of consumer protection law. As a result, legal discourse in the field of consumer law has completely changed. Nonetheless, even after 1994 more than 90% of class action applications were dismissed at the early stages. This paper analyses the reasons for the poor results of this procedure, and suggests reform by amending the CPL. The conclusion presented in this paper is that consumer class actions have great potential, but that their correct implementation depends on a better understanding of the purpose of consumer legislation.     

产权市场发展与资本市场建设

本文认为,产权市场是中国特色的资本市场,市场环境还不够理想,存在一些问题:一是国有产权交易的时候,产权不够清晰;二是中国企业信用与个人诚信不能令人满意;三是中介机构素质不高;四是职业经理人阶层尚未形成;五是缺乏金融支持;六是法制环境不完善等。文章提出,中国产权市场基本设计思路是在现有环境下如何能够最大限度地既保证国有产权的有效流转又防止国有资产的流失,这就必须遵循公开和竞争的基本原则,努力建设一个多层次的资本市场。     

完善我国的反垄断立法

在我国 ,作为竞争法主要组成部分的反垄断法尚未颁布实施。为了适应WTO的新情况 ,我国反垄断立法应明确规定其规制的垄断行为 ,其内容包括 :行政性垄断行为、经济性垄断行为和行业性垄断行为 ;规定反垄断法的立法模式、法律责任及其主管机关     

Der österreichische Entwurf eines Konsumentenschutzgesetzes

The report gives information about origins, aims, and contents of the Austrian bill for a Consumer Protection Act which has been submitted to the National Council (Nationalrat) of the Austrian Parliament and will be heard in the Justice Committee (Justizausschuß). The bill aims at a far-reaching protection for the consumer in the field of contract law, excluding, however, product liability and certain specific contracts (such as travelling and correspondence courses). The main points of the bill are as follows:

1. The consumer will be protected in instances of doorstep contracts by granting a cooling-off period of one week. Certain clauses in contracts to the detriment of the consumer will be void, for instance, clauses which limit the validity of oral representations, and clauses in standard form contracts which the consumer did not have reason to expect (überraschende Klauseln). The judge will be accorded the right to lower penalties stipulated in contracts. The right of the consumer to get the contract annulled will be strenghtened in cases oflaesio enormis (i.e., where the stipulated price exceeds the true value by more than one half).
2. The consumer will be protected against unfair contents in standard form contracts. The bill foresees two legal means of protection. (a) A general clause to be introduced into the Austrian Civil Code (Art. 879 § 3) will void all stipulations in standard form contracts, which unfairly deprive the consumer of his rights, and which have not freely and reasonably been consented to by the consumer because they were contained in standard forms of the other party or because this party exploited its superiority when putting them into the contract. In addition, the bill voids specific clauses, not only in standard form contracts but also in individual contracts (e.g., exemption clauses with regard to warranties or breach of contract). (b) The bill institutes a collective action which enables certain associations (workers' chambers — Arbeiterkammern, chambers of commerce — Wirtschaftskammern, trade unions, the Association for Consumer Information — der Verein für Konsumenteninformation) to bring action against anybody using illegal standard form contracts.
3. The bill contains provision for forbidding certain unreasonable clauses regarding, e. g., bills of exchange, the use of wage claims as security, and jurisdiction clauses.
4. The bill will incorporate the Instalment Sales Act (Ratengesetz) into the new Consumer Protection Act, thereby extending its sphere of application to most transactions between businessmen and consumers.