Unlocking competitiveness through scent names: A data-driven approach

Naming a product’s scent is a key decision. The same scent can be interpreted differently when different names are assigned to it. Thus, choosing the right scent name can increase competitiveness by successfully appealing to desired consumer segments. We propose that such decisions should be data driven (i.e., on the basis of competitors’ offerings and consumers’ preferences) and provide guidelines on how to assign scent names to products in home care and personal care product categories, focusing on capturing market segments. Based on a large web-based dataset of scented products across multiple brands and categories, this article is the first to construct a typology of scent names empirically: unscented, concrete, abstract, and proprietary. After examining firms’ assortments of scented products with different names across 12 categories and comparing them with consumers’ preferences concerning such assortments, we identify major gaps. Overall, consumers demand far more unscented products and products with abstract names than currently offered; however, preferences for products with proprietary names are mostly aligned. Strategic recommendations center on naming scented products to better align supply and demand in the scented product market and capture new market opportunities.     

The Cake Looks Yummy on the Shelf up There: The Interactive Effect of Retail Shelf Position and Consumers’ Personal Sense of Power on Indulgent Choice

This paper advances our understanding of consumer responses to retail product displays by examining the interplay between the vertical shelf position of choice options and consumers’ personal sense of power in determining their preference for indulgent options. Six experiments show that when consumers choose from assortments placed on a low shelf position, requiring them to lower their heads, those higher (vs. lower) in personal power are more likely to choose an indulgent option over its prudent counterpart. In contrast, when choosing from assortments placed on a high shelf position, requiring consumers to raise their heads, those lower (vs. higher) in personal power are more likely to choose an indulgent option. This effect hinges on a mismatch (vs. match) between consumers’ personal sense of power and that triggered by the products’ retail shelf position, increasing affective discomfort and guiding consumers, thus, towards indulgent choices.     

Buyer-Seller Exchange Situations

Abstract

From having focused almost entirely on exchange transactions in consumer goods markets, in the 1970s, academics expanded their analysis to include relational exchanges-in particular business-to-business markets and service markets. The contextual changes of the 1990s (i.e., the explosion of IT and the Internet) resulted in the introduction of relationship marketing as an alternative marketing approach in consumer goods markets introducing the notion of a shift in exchange paradigms. However, in the late 1990s, a number of authors on service marketing (e.g., Liljander & Strandvik, 1995), on business-to-business marketing (e.g., Anderson & Narus, 1999) and on contemporary marketing practices (e.g., Brodie, Coviello, Brookes & Little, 1997) supported the thesis that in many markets the process that actually takes place is one of co-existence of transactional exchanges and relational exchanges. Based on the “pluralistic approach” (Pels, Coviello & Brodie, 1999, 2000), this paper develops four cases that seek to exemplify the different exchange situations that may occur in a given marketplace.     

Impact of retail environment extraordinariness on customer self-concept

This research examines the effect of extraordinary retail environments on consumer self-concept. Two between-subjects experiments manipulate the extraordinariness of the retail environment and evaluate participants' self-concept in the environment. In both experiments, high-extraordinariness retail environments elicit a more atypical working self-concept than low-extraordinariness environments. Content analysis of participants' working self-concept in the two environments offers insight into the cognitive processes underlying the effect. The article discusses managerial and theoretical implications of the research.     

Olfaction and the retail environment: examining the influence of ambient scent

This article concerns the ability of smell to assist the development and communication of retail brand image. It presents a number of propositions regarding ambient smell and the retail environment derived from the literature—including the potential for novel ambient aromas to act as a distinctive element in a retailer’s marketing mix. Empirical testing is achieved through a ‘natural experiment’ in a large electrical store using fragranced and unfragranced conditions. An environmental psychology base was used to develop an in-store questionnaire, supported by direct measurement of customer dwell times and subsequent interviews. In total, 329 questionnaires were returned and 429 customer groups were timed in the two departments where the experiment occurred. Significant differences in consumer perceptions of the store’s environmental attributes were identified, despite the fact that less than 10% of respondents questioned were aware of the use of in-store fragrances. The qualitative interviews provided some initial confirmation for the more complex propositions concerning the memory of scents.     

Sales associate's appearance: Links to consumers’ emotions, store image, and purchases

Within the context of S–O–R framework, we examined whether consumers linked aspects of sales associate's appearance to their emotions, to the store's image, and to their purchases. Data was collected from undergraduates (n=65). Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire immediately after completing a shopping trip for apparel, shoes, or accessories in a specialty or department store. Participants noted being influenced by associate's appearance as reflected in their appearance-oriented comments and their evaluative comments. Associate appearance cues referenced by participants varied depending on whether participants were asked about their emotions, store image, or their purchases.     

Going digital? The impact of social media marketing on retail website traffic,orders and sales

Given the rapid proliferation of digital technology, social media has become a key digital marketing strategy to promote business products, with the ultimate aim of maximising profits. Yet, empirical evidence on the impact of social media as a marketing tool remains underexplored. Using unique data over a 12-month period from a major online retailer, this paper examines the impact of daily social media activity on daily business outcomes: website traffic, orders and sales. Key findings reveal that social media leads to increased web traffic, but it does not produce a significant rise in product orders and sale income. Though, larger social media campaigns tend to result in significantly higher number of orders and sale income, and Facebook emerges as the most effective channel. Our results also reveal that the effectiveness of social media marketing varies across products depending on their complexity, cost and brand status. Taken together, these results offer a better understanding of the ways social media marketing impact businesses and provide intelligence on how to allocate resources to develop marketing campaigns.     

Retail ‘Quality Assurance’ Labels as a Strategic Marketing Communication Mechanism for Fresh Meat

Approximately 40 quality assurance labels are in operation throughout the UK, namely for meat, salmon, milk, cereals, eggs, fruit and vegetables. Fresh meat quality labels are the most prevalent, thus requiring consumers to recognize and learn not only about the many nationally organized quality labels, but also the in-house retail labels. This paper identifies the meat purchasing behaviour of consumers and their perceptions, attitudes and knowledge towards the main quality assurance labels. Results indicate consumers' purchase preferences to be more influenced by quality labels co-ordinated by producer-led organizations, and that recognition and knowledge of retail labels are low in comparison. This raises questions regarding the relevance and communication strategies of in-house retail ‘quality assurances’ to consumers.