Profiling consumers of own brands and national brands using human personality

Traditional methods of market segmentation based on demographic variables have shown mixed results in differentiating between those who are more likely to buy own brand products and those who prefer national brands. Taking advantage of the emerging convergence in human personality research on the Big Five dimensions, we focus on the potential of human personality as a method of identifying different customer segments. Two types of own brands are considered, those labelled with the retailer's corporate name and those labelled with a name independent of the retailer. Two product categories are included, cola as an example of a low-involvement product and cosmetics as an example of a high-involvement product. The personality profiles of buyers of these and the leading national brands in each category are compared. Stepwise regression is used to identify those aspects of shopper personality that predict purchase rates of all products. Individuals who are more ‘open to experience’ report higher purchases of corporately named products, while individuals who are more ‘extrovert’ report higher purchases of national brands. Those reporting higher rates of purchase for own brands with independent names tend to be more ‘agreeable’ and ‘extrovert’. The positioning of the three types of brands against the 5 dimensions of human personality is illustrated using correspondence analysis. The clear potential to use human personality to segment and profile markets for own brands and national brands is discussed.     

Determinants of Store Brand Share

Private labels or store brands have witnessed considerable growth in the last few decades, especially in grocery products. However, market shares of store brand vary considerably across categories, markets, and countries. A natural question of interest to academics and practitioners is what factors influence store brand market shares. Drawing on a utility framework, we develop 21 consumer, manufacturer, retailer, and product-market characteristics that can influence store brand share. We test the empirical generalizability of the effect of these determinants through a meta-analysis of data from 54 individual and aggregate market studies. Twenty of the 21 determinants show significant, empirically generalizable effects. We discuss the key findings, their implications, and directions for future empirical research.     

好口碑就有好印象吗?社交媒体中奢侈品牌口碑社会属性的负面效应

社交媒体中奢侈品牌口碑的社会属性较为凸显,口碑发布者的先赋地位会影响消费者对奢侈品牌的态度。先赋地位是指个体依赖于性别、原生家庭等先天资源所获得的社会地位。本研究从社会比较的视角,探究口碑发布者先赋地位逆转口碑效价法则的机理和边界,揭示出好口碑却带来坏印象的负面效应。研究结果表明,当口碑发布者具有先赋社会地位时,其正面口碑反而引发口碑接收者的恶意妒忌情绪,使接收者产生负面品牌态度。而且,当口碑接收者有较低社会流动性感知,或口碑内容具有较高品牌显著性时,口碑发布者先赋地位的负面效应更为凸显。本研究改变了社交媒体情境强化口碑效价法则的片面认知,在实践中有助于更深层次地理解社会阶层分化感知对消费者态度的影响,并为奢侈品牌的社交媒体营销提供管理建议。     

基于竞争分析框架的FDI溢出效应与挤出效应探究

FDI的溢出效应和挤出效应一直是学界争论的焦点。选取2008年我国31个省市区39个工业行业的面板数据,利用外资企业与内资企业的竞争分析框架,分析发现：外资企业对我国内资企业存在正向溢出效应,但并不是其发展的主要因素;内外资企业之间的市场共同度、资源相似度越高,则溢出效应就越低,挤出效应越大,且溢出效应可能小于挤出效应。因此,我国企业还需要加强技术创新,以提高资本利用率和劳动生产率;要摒弃模仿式战略,走差异化道路;也要合理地引导FDI的地域行业分布,以形成外资与内资企业适度竞争、相互学习的良性环境。     

Country of origin: A competitive advantage?

Country of origin has been identified in the literature as an important cue that might be used by global marketers to influence consumers' valuation of the brand. Its effect on consumer perceptions, affect and behavioral intentions has been widely documented, based on consumer surveys and laboratory experiments. Despite this empirical evidence, we argue that country of origin is only one extrinsic cue among many extrinsic and intrinsic cues available to the consumer in a real purchase situation. Furthermore, in real life, consumers are likely to engage in some level of information search, which would further dilute the country of origin effect in the marketplace. Based on these arguments, we conclude that country of origin might not necessarily lead to a competitive (dis)advantage in terms of a price premium or discount. For a sample of products, we show that the objective product quality varies significantly by country of origin, and that these differences are consistent with extant research on country of origin effects on consumers' perceptions. After controlling for quality differences across brands, we demonstrate that marketers from different countries charge prices that are justified by differences in product quality. Price premiums or discounts are therefore explained by differences in product quality rather than the image effect produced by the country of origin cue.     

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.     

The Retailer's Perspective on the Link Between Logistical Resources and Perceived Customer Loyalty to Manufacturer Brands

The objective of this study was to investigate the relationships between logistics and brand‐related resources, and assess their impact on the retailer's perceptions of customer loyalty to manufacturer brands. On the basis of theoretical underpinnings of the resource‐based view, this study explores the relationships among four main variables: (1) variety of collaborative logistics technologies shared between retailers and manufacturers, (2) manufacturer's logistics operations quality provided to retailers, (3) retailer's brand differentiation orientation, and (4) retailer's perceptions of customers loyalty to manufacturer brands. An online survey was conducted on 313 senior marketing and supply chain managers from retailer firms. The results of the structural equation analysis support a mediated relationship between logistical resources and perceived loyalty to manufacturer brands. The retailers believe that shared logistics technologies enable manufacturers and retailers to offer higher levels of availability and visibility of preferred brands to their end‐user customers. In turn, the end‐users become more confident with their decisions to repurchase the same brand offerings.     

农村零售区域评价、商店态度与消费者购物地选择

以山东省农村居民为调查对象,探讨了零售区域评价、商店态度与消费者购物地选择之间的关系。通过问卷调查,利用因子分析及多元线性回归分析验证了研究假设。实证分析结果表明,零售区域评价对商店态度产生显著影响,而商店态度是影响农村居民购物地选择决策的关键因素。     

走出“中国制造”的困惑

全球制造业出现了由发达国家向发展中国家转移的趋势,中国制造业可以凭借劳动力资源丰富的优势加速发展。但是目前“中国制造”是以低价格、低成本优势进入了国际市场,参与国际分工,从长远的观点看,不利于中国经济的可持续发展。因此,“中国制造”要摆脱困境,在作好委托生产的同时,要打造自己的品牌,提升“中国制造”的档次。