The Perfect Fit: The Moderating Role of Selling Cues on Hedonic and Utilitarian Product Types

With the need among retailers to create effective promotional campaigns, scarcity, and popularity cues are increasingly used. Drawing from regulatory focus and popularity versus scarcity cues literature, this research explores the impact of popularity versus scarcity cues and product types on consumer perceptions of risk, product uniqueness, and purchase intentions. Results from three studies provide primary insights: (1) A utilitarian product aligns with prevention goals and hence the popularity cue will enhance consumers’ purchase intentions, and (2) a hedonic product aligns with promotion goals and hence the scarcity cue will enhance consumers’ purchase intentions. Further, we theorize that perceived risk and perceived product uniqueness will act as psychological mechanisms. We discuss theoretical contributions and strategic insights for retailers and marketers that the findings indicate.     

Positive uncertainty: the benefit of the doubt in advertising

Positive uncertainty refers to uncertainty surrounding an anticipated positive outcome. It provides consumers with the opportunity to imagine and speculate on a product's or experience's potentially positive characteristics. Research has shown that when uncertainty is associated with something positive, consumers may prefer uncertainty to certainty. In a between-subjects experimental design with a large US (n = 446) and Japanese sample (n = 453), the present study demonstrates that positive uncertainty increases consumers’ positive feelings when they evaluate a product, particularly for high-involvement products that allow consumers to imagine and speculate about potentially positive product benefits. Unexpectedly, the study findings are consistent across the two different markets, which vary substantially in terms of consumers’ level of uncertainty avoidance. Specifically, results show that future-framed advertisements are effective in generating positive uncertainty and that positive uncertainty generates positive attitudes, both in countries scoring high (Japan) and low (USA) on uncertainty avoidance.     

“Retail is detail! Give consumers a gift rather than a bundle”: Promotion framing and consumer product returns

Retailers often use the promotion strategy of offering supplementary products (e.g., free gift, bundle) to attract consumers and increase sales. Despite the growing literature on the promotions that are differently framed but offer economically identical values, little research has examined the link between promotion framing and consumer product returns. The current article sheds light on this relationship, hypothesizing that a free gift promotion would be superior to a bundle promotion in reducing consumer product returns. The findings suggest that a gift‐framed promotion leads to a lower product return intention than an economically equivalent bundle promotion, because consumers tend to perceive more loss from giving up the gift‐framed (vs. bundle‐framed) deal. Further, this study examines a moderating role of brand familiarity (familiar vs. unfamiliar) and shows that the merits of free gift framing on product return intention via perceived loss are amplified (attenuated) when the promoted brand is familiar (unfamiliar). Overall, the investigations of this study imply that it is better to frame a promotion as a “free gift” than a “bundle” to increase perceived loss in returning the purchase and thus to decrease consumer product returns. This strategic intervention works especially when the gift is offered by familiar brands.     

Out-of-stock,sold out,or unavailable? Framing a product outage in online retailing

Terms, such as “out-of-stock,” “sold out,” and “unavailable” are commonly used by retailers to communicate a product or brand outage. Although these terms are technically equivalent, prior research on product outage and product scarcity suggest that they may be interpreted and processed differently by consumers. The present research investigated whether the manner in which a product outage was framed elicited different consumer behavioral intentions, attributions, and perceptions in the context of online retailing. Data were collected by means of an online experiment. The experiment incorporated a hypothetical scenario approach in which research participants were asked to react to a particular combination of treatment and blocking factors. Results demonstrated that ceteris paribus, framing a product or brand outage as “sold out” produces fewer negative product and website reactions than does framing it as “out-of-stock” or “unavailable.”     

Consumers’ Sensorical Product Evaluation and Perception

The aim of the research was to determine consumer perceptions of meat products regarding their origin and the potential impact of their origin on the sensory evaluation of other meat properties. Data were collected during the experiment. By testing the correlation model with multiple analyses of variance for repeated measures, it was determined that there was a statistically significant correlation between the factors. The important contribution of the research is the surveyed issue and the approach to researching the impact of product origin on scientific field of marketing and field of consumer behavior. The research represents a deeper investigation of impact of country-of-origin (COO) on consumer perceptions. An integrated approach to the research of the impact of meat origin was chosen to form interlinks between meat origin and its other sensorical properties.     

A COOL Effect: The Direct and Indirect Impact of Country-of-Origin Disclosures on Purchase Intentions for Retail Food Products

Retailers recently became required to provide specific country-of-origin information for muscle cuts of beef, chicken, pork, lamb, and goat. Drawing from the consumer inference and activation theory literatures, hypotheses are offered regarding how consumers use country-of-origin labeling (COOL) to draw inferences related to specific product attributes and how these inferences, in turn, lead to differences in mediation effects for purchase intentions. Results from a pilot study and two experiments reveal that consumers are more likely to purchase meat when it is identified as a U.S. product. Furthermore, the relative strength of the mediating effects of perceived food safety, taste, and freshness differs as expected. The authors show how the direct and indirect effects of the country-of-origin disclosure are attenuated by the presentation of objective information about the meat processing systems of competing countries. Given the recently mandated COOL disclosures, results have important implications for food retailers, members of the supply chain, and consumers.     

Assessing satisfaction with core and secondary attributes

This research assesses visitor satisfaction with the core and secondary attributes of a tourist destination, using two conventional methods, stated and derived importance. The article shows the importance of core attributes are recoverable equally well, regardless of the method. Importance of secondary attributes, however, vary depending on the estimation method. This difference is systematic. Researchers should use derived methods for assessing satisfaction with secondary attributes. The data are from surveys from visitors to Latin America.     

贵州农业的县域供应链发展

第一产业在县域经济的发展中起着重要作用,本文将贵州县域经济按经济强县、一般县和扶贫开发工作重点县进行分组,对国民生产总值与第一产业产值之间的关系运用计量经济学理论进行了实证分析,并由此得出贵州传统农业整体发展的潜力已经不大,必须要有新的思路,因地制宜,发展现代农业。     

The distinctive agenda of service failure recovery in e-tailing: Criticality of logistical / non-logistical service failure typologies and e-tailing ethics

What is so different about executing service failure recovery in an online environment as in e-tailing?Answering this, the present research points out to the need of considering e-tailing's natural propensity to foster multiple avenues of service failures which are either logistical or non-logistical in nature. Furthermore, given the distant location of the product, e-tailer, and the buyer, e-tailing is posed with risks of ethical transgressions. Therefore, by contextualizing on an Indian e-tailing scenario, we explore how service failure recovery in this challenging setting could be shaped. Justice building failure mitigation strategies such as response speed and compensation emerge to improve recovery efforts, however, apology seems to not work well in establishing justice to drive service failure recovery. Interestingly, an e-tailer's watchfulness toward the strengthening of its online ethics synergistically redeems recovery satisfaction, customer forgiveness, and positive word-of-mouth for the grieving consumer. This synergy can further mitigate the adverse impacts of service failure severity on recovery outcomes. Yet, a consumer having faced a severe service failure instance can have reservations in spreading positive word-of-mouth despite forgiving. Lastly, when considering logistical vs. non-logistical service failure typologies, the synergistic influence of e-tailing ethics and justice over recovery satisfaction becomes very strong in the case of non-logistical service failures.     

Beyond classical van Westendorp: Assessing price sensitivity for variants of algae-based meat substitutes

Food product innovations are characterized by high flop rates. In an early development stage, manifold product formulations seem feasible. To determine the most promising product option, market research can help, but is frequently considered too costly and complex. We assess the applicability of the van Westendorp approach, an inexpensive and simple method, for guiding early product design and pricing decisions for novel foods. Findings from a between-subject experiment for meat substitutes consisting of different shares of micro-algae indicate that micro-algae, while a cost driver, has little effect on price preferences. Implications for novel food product design, market research, and retailing are discussed.