The Importance of Fashion: The Chinese and U.S. Gen Y Perspective

ABSTRACT

A cross-cultural study is conducted to examine the perceptions, needs, preferences, influences and fashion buying habits of Generation Y consumers in both China and the United States. Chinese consumers appear to be more fashion-conscious in that the majority of their luxury purchases are fashion products. In this increasingly globalized world, it is important for a fashion marketer to determine if one strategy can be used to reach all Generation Y consumers or if separate strategies are necessary. Specifically, this study examines fashion leadership, need for uniqueness, and attention to social comparison information to determine if there are differences between these two cohorts and how best to reach them.     

The Internet and Its Relationship to Buyer Behavior Theory

ABSTRACT

The Internet is the newest, most-rapidly changing and fastest-growing buying medium existing today. Its markets are increasing in number and complexity, more nearly reflecting the population in general. A valuable academic model for Internet marketers to consider when developing a business plan is an early buyer behavior model developed by Phillip Kotler, his Input-Output Model. Internet marketers should investigate outside influences on the potential buyer (Kotler's Inputs), means of reaching the prospect effectively (channels), the buyer's frame of mind (processor), and the choices available (outputs). Current “e-tail” examples are given for each of the four components in Kotler's model. Consulting companies that can assist marketers in attracting buyers have found the following techniques helpful: developing or fine tuning Internet sites, developing site-partnering strategies and online focus groups, as well as providing programs that watch prospects as they peruse a site.     

The Impact of Consumers’ Need for Uniqueness and Nationality on Generation Y's Retail Patronage Behaviors: Investigating American and Taiwanese Consumers

ABSTRACT

Generation Y (Gen Y) consumers are now one of the most influential buying segments in U.S. history. This article empirically assesses the extent to which American Gen Y consumers and same-aged Taiwanese consumers’ need for uniqueness serves as a meaningful discriminant across retail patronage behaviors for branded apparel products. Results indicate a great deal of similarity between the two cultures’ need for uniqueness. Empirical findings reveal that consumers’ need for uniqueness does influence retail patronage behaviors. The implications of the similarities and differences between American Gen Y consumers and their Taiwanese counterparts serve as potential managerial mechanisms for building and sustaining retail patronage in a globalization era.     

Antecedents and Consequences of Buying Center Leadership: An Emergent Perspective

ABSTRACT

This paper provides a new model of buying center leadership. It draws upon the theory of emergent leadership to explore the potential for a relatively low-ranked member of a buying center to rise in stature and emerge as the group's de facto leader. It provides a theoretically-based analysis of the antecedents to such a role including communications, negotiating skills, power, and procedural control. It also reviews how these elements may be used to provide the group with two essential leadership functions–relational support and task support. It then examines how these functions, in turn, provide the individual with enhanced influence within the buying center. In this way, this paper provides a new conceptual framework for understanding buying center behavior.     

Interfirm strategic integration in retailer buying groups: antecedents and consequences on the retailer's economic satisfaction

Abstract

Independent small retailers have shown a growing trend toward joining buying groups as a means to compete against large distribution chains. The retailer's strategic integration of the relationship with the buying group (RSI), i.e., the retailer's recognition of this relationship as a strategic asset, is the focal theoretical construct of this study. With a sample of retailers of home appliances that are integrated in a buying group, the empirical test of two alternative models about the antecedents and consequences of RSI has confirmed that the concept plays an important and significant mediational role in explaining the effects of environment and relational characteristics on the retailer's satisfaction with the buying group. The author discusses the theoretical implications of the results obtained and explores consequences for decision makers.     

The Big Five dyad congruence and compulsive buying: A case of service encounters

This research examines how the Big Five personality congruence between buyers and sellers influences compulsive buying in a dyadic service encounter. We gathered 904 buyer-seller data and computed personality congruence using the difference score technique. The study findings manifested that buyer-seller congruence in agreeableness and openness increases compulsive buying behavior, whereas buyer-seller congruence in neuroticism decreases this behavior. Further analysis showed that pleasure enhancement dampens the negative impact of neurotic congruence on compulsive buying. In contrast, stimulation enhancement strengthens the positive influence of open-minded congruence on compulsive buying. Conclusively, compulsive buyers exhibit varying buying behaviors based on their personality congruence (incongruence) with their corresponding sellers'. Hence, marketing managers should create similar (dissimilar) buyer-seller pairs to boost firms' sales.     

Panic buying in the COVID-19 pandemic: A multi-country examination

The global crisis of COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged the world economy and healthcare, igniting much fear, panic, and uncertainty among billions of people. As lockdowns being implemented in many places, panic buying has emerged as a reliable feature of the Coronavirus outbreak. Therefore, it is of urgent needs to examine consumers' panic buying behaviors during COVID-19 to gain a better understanding of the phenomenon and to provide managerial insights for policy-makers and marketers alike. In this study, under the theoretical guidelines of the Stimuli-Organism-Response model and the Competitive Arousal model, we investigate how in the panic situation created by the pandemic, external stimuli such as Limited Quantity Scarcity (LQS) and Limited Time Scarcity (LTS) affect the emotional arousal among people, which in turn influences consumers’ impulsive and obsessive buying behaviors. This study is conducted in a multi-country setting including the U.S., China, India, and Pakistan. Online surveys were conducted during the peak time of pandemic. Our findings show that LQS and LTS significantly increase perceived arousal in consumers, which further leads to more impulsive and obsessive buying. In addition, our results also reveal that excessive social media use intensifies the relationship between scarcity messages and perceived arousal whereas the urge to buy impulsively moderates the relationship between perceived arousal and behavioral outcomes in all selected countries except for India. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed in details.     

Creativity identity in Colombia: the advertising creatives’ perspective

ABSTRACT

This exploratory paper analyses the way in which context influences advertising creativity practices. To establish the role of context, this paper utilized both Social Identity theory and Systems Model of Creativity. Twenty four in-depth interviews with top creative directors of the main advertising agencies in Colombia (Latin America) were collected. Findings suggest the Colombian creative identity is under construction. This identity is influenced by the broader Colombian social context including the unique business characteristics of the country's communications industry, the level of economic hardship experienced by the population, and the actual social conflict lived situation. These findings extend the Systems Model of Creativity to include social hardships and industry level characteristics. Several practical implications not only in relation to Colombia, but also the broader global advertising industry are presented.     

Understanding Programmatic Creative: The Role of AI

In this article, we expand the concept of programmatic advertising to include programmatic creative as a vital component. While artificial intelligence (AI) has already automated the media buying process, the advertising creative process still requires extensive human efforts. Such discrepancy calls for AI to transform the advertising creative process. We provide a framework for understanding and investigating programmatic creative by drawing evidence from the advertising industry in China. We specifically discuss how big data and machine learning algorithms underpin programmatic advertising. We argue that AI will integrate programmatic buying and programmatic creative in the future. We also discuss the technological, regulatory, and legal challenges faced by programmatic creative. We argue that new theories and methods are needed to conduct research in this area and provide guidance for the advertising industry.     

Students' Online Shopping Behavior: A Dual-Country Perspective

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the online purchase behavior of a key segment of the population, the “Net Generation” undergraduate college-aged student, from two of the countries with the greatest potential for e-marketing opportunity, the United States and Ireland. In addition to identifying college students' Internet activities, this research provides useful comparative information concerning how frequently students from each country interactively shop online, how much they spend, what they buy, as well as answer the question whether students from the two countries under study approach the Buyer Decision Process differently in their use of the Internet. The results provide useful guidance to electronic marketers.     

Managing for Excellence in the Food and Beverages Industry

Abstract

In order to understand how to manage for excellence in the food and beverages industry, one must recognize some key principles that are utilized by top companies in this industry. The following article will provide detail examples of three top organizations to let the readers realize the strategies used by each company and what makes them superior than other competitors. The first example is about Nestlé's excellent achievement on market research and successful story about “Wellness strategy”. The second example shows how Coca-Cola produces the world's best known product and implements “Total Quality Management” and “Just-In-Time” system. The third example reveals the success secrets of McDonald's franchise kingdom and “three-legged-stool” relationship with its franchisees and suppliers. To be the top leader in the food and beverage industry, we suggest learning these skills.     

Buying Behavior of Western European Food Retailers

Abstract

The aim of this study has been to analyze important aspects of buying behavior of food retailers, i.e., trade buyers' evaluation of product and vendor attributes, based on a number of background variables, when choosing a new supplier of an already well-known product category. The study encompassed the retailers' buying behavior for pork, fish and cheese products. By conducting a conjoint analysis in sixteen Western European countries (15 'old' EU Countries (except Luxemburg), plus Norway and Austria), it is demonstrated that the traditional four Ps are losing ground to some previously neglected attributes, and that it is possible to generalise retailers' buying behavior for different food products across countries, retail organizations, and buyers.     

The Impact of Power-Distance Belief on Consumers’ Preference for Status Brands

ABSTRACT

We tested the impact of power-distance belief (accepting and expecting power disparity) on consumers’ preference for status brands (brands such as Rolex or Louis Vuitton, which are associated with social status). Our correlational and causal results show that consumers with high power-distance belief tend to have a stronger preference for status brands than those with low power-distance belief. Notably, buying status belief (a belief that buying status brands can enhance one's social status) moderates this effect. Further, this two-way interaction is stronger for people with a relatively lower, rather than higher, self-worth state.     

Measuring retail performance in an omni-channel world

Abstract

Driven by global advances in technology and changes in consumer buying behavior, brick-and-mortar retailers are being forced to become omni-channel retailers. This calls for new metrics for evaluating retail performance. We examine the challenges facing the retail industry, the metrics that traditional brick-and-mortar stores have used as well as the new metrics that retail industry experts are suggesting for online retailing. A conceptual framework for omni-channel retailers is suggested.     

Critical elements of supplier development The buying-firm perspective

Supplier development is defined as any effort of a buying firm with its supplier to increase the performance and/or capabilities of the supplier and meet the buying firm's supply needs. From the buying firm's perspective, effective two-way communication, top management involvement, teams, and purchasing a relatively large percentage of the supplier's output are critical to the supplier development effort. This article (1) discusses the importance of supplier development, (2) reviews literature to identify potential critical elements of supplier development, and (3) reports the results of an analysis of survey data from US buying firms that explored these critical elements.     

The influence of a lockdown on consumption: An exploratory study on generation Z's consumers

The health crisis due to the recent pandemic influenced our lives and, consequently, our consumption. Despite prior investigations on exogenous crises and their effects on consumption, no studies to date have examined consumers' coping strategies to health crises that require social distancing and, more particularly, responses to such crises by focusing on Generation Z. The present study fills this gap by exploring how consumption evolved during a lockdown as a consequence of these consumers' attempts to cope with the crisis. Through a qualitative approach based on grounded theory and projective techniques, findings shed light on new meanings of resilience and nostalgia, which seem to characterize Generation Z's consumers' desires during a lockdown. Importantly, we introduce the concept of responsible hedonic consumption, which stems from Generation Z consumers' desire to search for experiences that are pleasant but also compatible with personal and societal wellbeing.     

Consumers un-tethered: A three-market empirical study of consumers' mobile marketing acceptance

This study examines factors influencing consumers' acceptance of mobile marketing across three influential markets, namely U.S., China, and Europe. The authors develop an integrative conceptual model on consumers' attitudes and behaviors toward mobile marketing. The authors incorporate three individual-level characteristics, namely personal attachment, innovativeness, and risk avoidance and investigate how permission-based acceptance influences the relationship between consumers' attitude and mobile marketing activity. Focusing on Generation Y consumers, the model is empirically tested with data from U.S., China, and Europe. The findings illustrate several cross-market differences and similarities regarding the relationships between individual-level characteristics, attitude, and mobile marketing activity. Research and managerial implications of these findings are discussed.     

Mobile Phone Service Providers Shift to No-Contract Plans: Implications on Customer Retention

ABSTRACT

Findings indicate that, regardless of the flexibility and cost saving advantages of no-contract mobile phone service plans for customers, a majority of younger customers in the United States continue to patronize contract-based plans. Conversely, the data show that older customers tend to appreciate the flexibility and financial savings that come with buying no-contract plans. Also, the study finds that the customer's decision to finance the cost of a mobile device with the provider is independent of the customer's age. The article discusses theoretical and practical implications.     

音乐营销的秘密

在企业发展过程中,创新的思维和策略才能获得长远的发展。因此,营销人员需要运用与时俱进的营销手段以确保满足消费者不断变化的需求。随着经济的发展、科技的进步和消费者生活水平的提高,消费者的购买行为开始发生变化,他(她)们的购买行为不仅仅受到产品本身的影响,还受到购买环境的影响。随之,突破传统营销手段的音乐营销逐渐进入营销人员的视线。一些研究发现,购买环境中的音乐因素对消费者购买行为的影响更胜于产品本身。这篇论文首先介绍了音乐的三个特性:一致性、广泛性和情感性;其次介绍了音乐营销的作用;最后对全文进行了总结。     

Purchase Attributes of Wine Consumers with Low Involvement

Abstract

The past decade has seen a dramatic increase in wine consumption. With this increase comes the need to understand how consumers choose wine. Wine consumers have different types of experiences and expectations, and a one bottle fits all method of catering to wine consumers is not an appropriate marketing strategy. Consumer segmentation based upon involvement with wine is critical to understanding buying behaviors. This study used factor analysis and logistic regression to identify the wine novice and what marketing cues they use to purchase wine. The results identified key marketing cues wine novices use to purchase wine and revealed yet another involvement category: the emerging wine learner.