Consumer responses to the depth and minimum claimed savings of “Scratch and Save (SAS)” promotions

This study examines consumers' responses to advertisements employing “Scratch and Save” (SAS) type promotions, which are emerging store‐level promotional tools. Due to SAS promotions' “gambling” characteristics, they offer the possibility of high savings levels, however, they also confront the consumer with uncertainty about the value of the discount at the point of purchase. Particular attention is paid to the depth of the claimed savings, and its effect on regular price believability and consumers' expected savings, as well as perceived value and shopping intentions. The depth of the advertised SAS promotions was observed to not affect consumer believability of the regular price in SAS advertisements. In addition, the disjunction effect is made applicable through showing that the minimum claimed saving information enhances the level of savings expectation. The results also report the positive impact of expected savings on offer value and, in turn, shopping intentions. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Substantive False Advertising Standards: Discretion and Misinformation by the FTC

This article concerns the FTC's discretionary answering of the three substantive questions which a potentially false and/or deceptive advertisement face. These questions concern: 1) the intelligence level of the consumer, 2) the standard to be used when evaluating the “promises” of the advertisement and 3) the method used to determine the “truth” of the ad's “promises.” After viewing the discretionary nature of the answers to each of the substantive questions in the light of case law and/or FTC decisions, it is concluded that a “marketing oriented” FTC which among other things not only acknowledges but actively solicits grass root “consumer surveys” would better serve the public interest. These surveys would be performed by independent and non-partisan research firms to resolve the substantive questions asked would best serve the true public (consumer) interest.     

Consumers' perceptions of promotional framing of price

This article focuses on consumer perceptions of transaction value when presented with deals that are equivalent on a unit‐cost basis but worded differently. Through an experimental design setting, it examines the effect of three such frames: one, stated in terms of a straight price promotion (“50% off”), the second, as an extra‐product or volume promotion (“buy one, get one free”), and a third as a “mixed” promotion (“buy two, get 50% off”). Four typical supermarket categories are considered which permit the investigation of the effect of two category‐based moderating factors: stock‐up characteristic and price level. Results show that the nature of framing appears to differentially affect consumer perceptions of value from “equivalent” deals. Also, perceptions of deal value from price versus extra‐product promotions are moderated by the stock‐up characteristic of the category. However, consumers' internal reference prices remain unaffected across one‐time price and extra‐product promotions. These findings provide some understanding of the role of deal framing on consumers' responses, and offer implications for industry practitioners interested in communicating the maximum value in their deals. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Icing on the cake or gilding the lily? The impact of high-modified model images on purchase intention

Marketers had high expectations for modified model images in E-commerce, however, the social movements against photoshopped models suggested the high-modified model images may be harmful to consumers which leads to a contradictory phenomenon. So far, the link between high-modified model image and consumers' behavior is not clearly understood. Drawing on a selective accessibility model (SAM), this study investigates the influence of high-modified model images on consumers' purchase intention by introducing the concept of misrepresentation and identifying consumer trust as a mediator. Based on five experiments, we demonstrate that over-modified model images decrease consumers’ perceived authenticity referring to “misrepresentation”, and further lower their purchase intention. By comparing the level of misrepresentation, the results suggest that high-modified model images decrease purchase intention. Moreover, this negative relationship between misrepresentation of modified model images and purchase intention is mediated by consumer trust. Hence, this study makes a step toward explaining how high-modified model images impacts the behaviors of consumers, shedding new light on the application of image modification in online advertising.     

The modernization of fresh food retailing in China: The role of consumers

Since 2002, the Chinese government has initiated the “Wet Market Transforming into Food Supermarket (WMTFS)” program that aims to transform the traditional fresh food retailing system into a more efficient system that adopts a supermarket operation mode. However, after years of effort, the process of implementing the WMTFS program has been painfully slow. In addition to several supply side factors, this paper focuses on the consumer demand side using survey data in three large Chinese cities to identify the factors affecting consumers' decisions to buy fresh food from traditional vs modern retail formats. It further explores regional differences in consumers' shopping behavior. We find that freshness, accessibility, and whether buyers can bargain are influencing factors and the effects of socioeconomic factors such as income and storage facility are very limited. In addition, we find regional difference exists in consumers' retail format preferences. We suggested that managers of fresh food supermarket should enhance product freshness and safety in the future. Meanwhile, since traditional retail formats are still preferred by many consumers, the policy-makers should give a further thinking on the specific way of transformation.     

Home and away: Why do consumers shy away from reporting negative experiences in the peer‐to‐peer realms?

This study investigates how customers use their construct of “home” in evaluating their experience in peer‐to‐peer rented accommodation, as opposed to traditional hotels. The literature has paid considerable attention to people's perceptions of destinations, but almost none to their perceptions of “home” and its complexities whilst visiting a destination. We examine the relationships between the concepts of “home” or “here” represented in peer‐to‐peer accommodation and the construct of “away” or “there” represented in traditional hotels. A mixed‐method approach determines the existence of bias in reporting behavior. Our findings indicate that there is a consistent review gap between institutional actors and peer‐to‐peer actors. Also, consumers of peer‐to‐peer accommodation prefer not to engage in negative reporting if a bond with the host is developed. This perception of a home shapes consumers' relationship with the host and leads to reporting bias. This study provides clear theoretical insights to advance our knowledge about the underlying motives behind reporting behavior of negative experiences. Furthermore, it offers practical implications for both institutional and peer‐to‐peer contexts.     

Conceptualization and Exploration of Attitude toward Advertising Disclosures and Its Impact on Perceptions of Manipulative Intent

Significant research has been conducted in an effort to understand how varying elements of disclosures (e.g., size, placement, complexity) in advertisements impact consumers' abilities to understand and recall the disclosed message. Although it is important to research the effectiveness of disclosures, advertisers may have additional concerns if the mere presence of a disclosure impacts consumers' perceptions of the company, advertisement, or brand. Little research currently exists examining the notion of consumers' attitudes toward advertising disclosures or how they might impact the effectiveness of the disclosed message, attitude toward a given communication, or overall evaluation of the brand. We introduce the concept of attitude toward advertising disclosures and develop a scale to measure consumers' attitudes toward disclosed messages. The resultant 14‐item, multidimensional scale is then used to demonstrate how attitude toward advertising disclosures plays a moderating role in influencing consumers' perceptions of manipulative intent.     

Factors Influencing Consumer Purchasing Decision Toward Malang Meatballs At East Java,Indonesia

The study examined factors influencing consumers' purchasing behaviour in relation to Malang meatballs as a representative ethnic food in East Java, Indonesia. Multistage area sampling was used to randomly select 400 households from the Malang area (200 urban and 200 rural) as consumer respondents. Respondents were interviewed using a structured questionnaire by the researcher and enumerators. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyse consumers' purchasing behaviour toward Malang meatballs. This study can contribute to a better understanding of consumers' preferences toward Malang meatballs, an animal protein-based food, that has a unique taste. Consumers preferred Malang meatballs compared to street foods (i.e., “soto,” “tahu campur,” and fried noodles). Younger consumers concerned about freshness and a “halal food” may select Malang meatballs. The availability of Malang meatballs can increase consumers' purchasing action toward this product. Also, surrounding cold air temperature influenced consumers in selecting this food.     

Disentangling the impact of temperature on consumers' attitudes toward nostalgic advertising

Although the effect of temperature on consumers is ubiquitous, little is known about how temperature affects consumers' attitudes toward nostalgic advertising. Drawing on embodied cognition theory, this study explores the effect of temperature on consumers' attitudes toward nostalgic advertising through the mediator of the affective system. Based on two experiments involving personal and historical nostalgic advertising, our results show that when exposed to comfortable temperature, consumers follow the “assimilative effect” of temperature; warm temperatures trigger more positive attitudes toward nostalgic advertising when compared with cool temperatures. However, when exposed to uncomfortable temperatures, consumers follow the “complementary effect” of temperatures; cold temperatures lead to more positive attitudes toward nostalgic advertising than hot temperatures. Furthermore, the affective system plays a mediating role between temperature and consumers' attitudes toward nostalgic advertising. This study contributes to the literature on temperature in marketing and provides a practical guide for companies to implement nostalgic advertising strategies.     

Consumer perception of packaging: An eye‐tracking study of gluten‐free cookies

The growing interest in gluten‐free products makes it crucial to understand the mechanism of consumers' perception of gluten‐free claims. Due to the limited research measuring the influence of the type (verbal/nonverbal), number and location of gluten‐free statements on product labels on visual attention and consumers' purchase decisions, the main aim of this research was to evaluate the perception of gluten‐free claims and the Crossed Grain symbol on cookie packages of both consumers who are on a gluten‐free diet and those who are not. To that end, a questionnaire survey (600 respondents) and an eye‐tracking study (67 respondents) were carried out. The results showed that the respondents are aware of the basic rules of gluten‐free products' labelling, but 32% of those on the diet claimed that the products were not labelled properly. The analysis proved (p < .05) the significant relation between the number of gluten‐free claims and consumers' purchase intention. The respondents paid more attention to verbal gluten‐free claims than to nonverbal ones on packaging (p < .05). In the case of the Crossed Grain symbol, addition of verbal statement strengthened the information and decreased the respondents' level of uncertainty about a given product, which is important, especially for people newly adopting the diet. No difference in the visual attention to gluten‐free statements between the followers and non‐followers of the diet was found (p > .05), which allowed us to conclude that the perception of gluten‐free claims is an automatic process. These results suggest that designing product labels by considering the information architecture concerning gluten may help strengthen consumers' attitudes towards gluten‐free products and impact buying behaviour.     

Green Demarketing in Advertisements: Comparing “Buy Green” and “Buy Less” Appeals in Product and Institutional Advertising Contexts

This research compares consumer response to traditional green advertising appeals to that of less conventional, “green demarketing” (GD) appeals—messages by for-profit companies encouraging reduced category consumption for the sake of the environment. Rather than encouraging greener consumption, modern environmentalism calls for decreased consumption overall, a trend reflected in recent advertising campaigns (e.g., Patagonia's “Don't Buy This Jacket”). Despite its potential impact and unconventionality, research on GD in general is sparse, and no empirical research has examined consumer response to GD appeals relative to traditional green appeals. In three experiments, we find that, in the context of product advertising, consumers' attitudes for green ads are more favorable than those for GD ads, mediated by greater inferences of genuine environmental concern. However, we find the reverse pattern in the context of institutional ads. Further, an “anti-consumption amplifier” message embedded in the ad—espousing the potential harm of overconsumption—further boosts favorable consumer attitudes for the GD institutional ad relative to its traditional green counterpart. Importantly, we assess all effects while controlling for consumers' individual levels of green consumerism, such that implications may be applied more generally rather than to a specific segment of green consumers.     

Fairness perceptions of retail price increases by foreign and domestic brands: The roles of ethnocentric beliefs,profit stickiness,and contextual information

Although consumers do not usually take kindly to price increases, their perceptions of fairness of price increases are contingent on relevant factors. This study investigates consumers' perceptions of the fairness of retail price increase by a domestic versus a foreign brand, as moderated by consumers' ethnocentricity, bias toward inferring a profit motive from a price increase (i.e., “profit stickiness”), and relevant contextual information. Over the course of two sets of experiments, the authors find that ethnocentricity does not necessarily lead to the intuitively expected favorable (unfavorable) bias toward (against) a domestic (foreign) brand's decision to raise prices, subject to profit stickiness and contextual information. These findings have implications for theory, practice, and further research.     

Consumers' perceptions of food packaging: an exploratory investigation in Potchefstroom,South Africa

Consumers form perceptions of various food products through their comprehension of the visual stimuli on food packaging that attract their attention. These perceptions directly affect their purchasing decision at the point of purchase, which emphasizes the importance of attention‐capturing packaging attributes. However, little research is available regarding consumers' perceptions of food packaging, especially in the South African context. This study aimed to explore a sample of South African consumers' perceptions of food packaging and how these perceptions were formed through the perceptual process. A qualitative, exploratory study was conducted by means of 25 semi‐structured interviews and through the use of ambiguous mock packaging as a projective technique. Participants were questioned regarding their general perceptions of food packaging. The attention‐capturing ability of packaging as well as consumers' interpretation of this packaging after exposure to the mock packaging was also discussed. Findings from the study indicated that participants mainly based their perception of food packaging on its functional (being purposive, recyclable and informative) and physical attributes (being attractive, of high quality and hygienic). This study also indicated that information and visual attributes of packaging are important to gain consumers' attention in‐store. Participants' comprehension of packaging included general associations of specific food products with certain types of packaging, such as associations with quality and shelf life. Negative associations with packaging mostly entailed difficulty to handle the product, poor quality of the product and environmental problems. This study identifies those product attributes that participants regarded as the most important stimuli for forming positive perceptions regarding food packaging. It is important for manufacturers to pay attention to the information on perceptions that was gained in this study, as it might help them to create packaging that better fulfil consumer needs. These findings could also be applied in a larger study of a quantitative nature, which will ultimately result in more positive consumer shopping experiences and consumer satisfaction regarding food packaging.     

Consumer Brand Hate: Steam rolling whatever I see

This study aims to investigate negative consumer‐brand relationships by developing a “Brand Hate” concept. A hierarchical Brand Hate model is theoretically discussed in light of the psychology and consumer behavior literatures. In Study‐I the Brand Hate concept was tested with two different types of consumer brand haters, true haters, and regular haters. The study found that in the study's proposed multidimensional Brand Hate hierarchy true haters display “Boiling Brand Hate” while regular haters reveal “Seething Brand Hate.” Two additional studies were developed to examine the relationship between consumer personality traits and Brand Hate, exploring which types of consumers are more prone to feel hatred toward targeted brands. Study‐II's findings revealed a relationship between consumers who are high in personality traits of “conscientiousness” and those who Brand Hate. Study‐III's findings indicated that “self‐confident” and “competitive” consumers might also be more prone to feel hatred toward those brands that perform poorly and unethically.     

How a “China-made” label influences Chinese Youth's product evaluation: The priming effect of patriotic and nationalistic news

This study is to verify whether and how a “China-made” label can influence online consumers' product evaluation as adding labels to highlight products' attributes has become an acquainted measure online by e-tailers/firms to attract online consumers' attentions. For this purpose, we conduct a 2 (label of “China-made” vs. no label) x 3 (patriotism priming vs. nationalism priming vs. no priming) between-subject factorial design to verify hypotheses. The results reveal that when consumers' nationalism is primed, the label significantly enhances the product evaluation by increasing the perceived social value of the product. Priming consumers’ patriotism, on the other hand, does not play a moderating role for this effect. A follow-up study confirms such effects for both low involvement and high involvement products. Therefore, e-tailers/firms that own China-made brands/products are advised to signal the “Chinese identity” of their products to online consumers under the current circumstance when nationalism and domestic brands are rising in China. The results also indicate that although products produced in a developing country are marked with a negative country of origin effect, marketers can turn it into a strength in marketing in certain conditions.     

Resisting immigrant myths: everyday consumer practices of Asian immigrants in America

Projective, depth interviews with U.S. Asian immigrants revealed their ambivalence toward the U.S. commercial sector's colonial-era representations of Asian people. These commercial representations provide polarized depictions of Asian immigrants as either threatening aliens or as model citizens. These portrayals reflect “racialized otherness,” or racial stereotyping that represent Asian immigrants as inferior. Our findings indicate that Chinese immigrants strategically use everyday consumption related to foodways to resist the reverberation of American immigrant myths. In some instances, immigrants’ consumption practices instantiate a regional Asian identity. In other instances, however, immigrants’ consumption practices reflect a separation from the past and an acceptance of a new although not exclusively American way of life. Notwithstanding immigrant consumers' resistance practices, the findings call for future research into immigrant consumers' reactions to visual representations of race, ethnicity, and gender.     

Cutting Through the Online Review Jungle — Investigating Selective eWOM Processing

Consumers frequently rely on online reviews, a prominent form of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), before making a purchase decision. However, consumers are usually confronted with hundreds of reviews for a single product or service, as well as rich information cues on online review websites (review texts, helpfulness ratings, author information, etc.). In turn, consumers face more information cues on online review websites than they can or want to process, and are likely to proceed selectively. This paper investigates selective processing of such eWOM information cues. Results of Study 1, an exploratory study using verbal protocols, confirm that consumers display selective eWOM processing patterns and are able to articulate them. Study 2 develops and applies a measurement instrument to capture these patterns. A subsequent cluster analysis on members of a large-scale online panel (N = 2,295) indicates five prominent eWOM processing types, termed “The Efficients”, “The Meticulous”, “The Quality-Evaluators”, “The Cautious Critics”, and “The Swift Pessimists”. Insights of this research can help firms to better understand consumers' eWOM processing and improve the user-friendliness of online review websites.     

Effects of Lightness‐Location Congruency on Consumers’ Purchase Decision‐Making

A considerable body of psychological and neuroscientific research has demonstrated the existence of robust sensory correspondences between various features, attributes, or dimensions of experience in different sensory modalities. Despite findings indicating the importance of sensory correspondences to human information processing, research on purchase decision‐making has not to date focused sufficiently on this phenomenon. The present study examines how the lightness of packaging colors, and the location of products on a display shelf interact to affect consumers’ purchase decision‐making via perceived visual heaviness. As predicted, a display with light (dark) colored products positioned in the upper (lower) shelf positions increases shoppers’ perceptual fluency and facilitates their visual search, thus leading to the suggestion that “light” (heavy) locations are most appropriate for light (dark) colored products. Moreover, the lightness‐location congruent display is shown to influence people's choice behavior positively as well. This research also demonstrates that when consumers consider the lightness (in terms of their weight) of the products, they are more likely to choose light (vs. dark) colored products located in the upper shelf positions. These results therefore demonstrate that consumers’ purchase decision‐making may be promoted by in‐store environments designed to be congruent with their sensory correspondences.     

An Examination of Participation in Homebuyer Education and Counseling Services

Homebuyer education and counseling aims to help potential homebuyers understand benefits and risks of homeownership, choose a home and an appropriate mortgage, and build the financial know‐how needed for sustainable homeownership and financial health. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD's) First‐Time Homebuyer Education and Counseling Demonstration found that women and individuals with greater education were generally more likely to participate in services. Enrollees referred to in‐person services are more likely to participate if they are early in the homebuying process or if they planned to purchase a home without a coborrower. They may perceive benefits of services to outweigh the costs of scheduling, traveling to, and attending in‐person services. Enrollees offered remote services (phone, online) are more likely to participate if they are “better off,” having higher mortgage literacy and credit scores. Results may inform agencies' messaging, outreach, and approach to providing services and meeting consumers' needs, federal policy, and interpretation of future impact estimates.