Journal of Consumer Marketing

Rotfeld, Herbert Jack

doi: 10.1108/07363760510595931pmid: N/A

Purpose – To show how marketing is accused of having all sorts of powers to control consumers and segmentation itself is often accused of abusing consumers, and yet there are many times when marketing people who should know better unethically abuse consumer targets’ naïve willingness to believe all sorts of nonsense.Design/methodology/approach – Points out the potential unethical nature of marketing practices that could take advantage of consumers’ inability to know or understand the truth of the matter.Findings – A growing number of books and articles describe the limits of human understanding, or how there are many things people believe that are not true. For some people, ignorance is simply a point of view. Yet it is patently unethical when marketing people take materials they know are false and sell to people not able to know better.Practical implications – Marketing is not inherently unethical, but the worst of practices make all others look bad. At best, many marketing decision makers are too often amoral, and do not even consider the morality of what they do. This describes a distinction of clearly immoral approaches to marketing practice.Originality/value – Stating the difference between simply meeting consumer needs and abusing consumers.

Jin, Byoungho; Gu Suh, Yong

doi: 10.1108/07363760510589226pmid: N/A

Purpose – Despite proven strategic significance and wide acceptance of private label products (PB), our understanding of PB in international markets is limited. The purposes of this study are to propose a model that integrates four consumer characteristic variables (price consciousness, value consciousness, perceived price variation, and consumer innovativeness) toward PB attitude and purchase intention, and to test the model in two product categories, grocery and home appliances, in a South Korean discount store context.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 168 usable data (87 for food and 81 for home appliances were collected using mall intercept method from female shoppers at one Korean discount store in Seoul, Korea.Findings – The findings revealed that, depending on the product category, contribution of the factors varies. Among four consumer characteristics, only three in each category exhibited direct and indirect association with PB purchase intention. Perceived quality variability in a food category and price consciousness in a home appliance category did not show any relationship with PB purchase intention nor with PB attitude. In both product categories, only two variables, value consciousness and consumer innovativeness, predicted PB attitude. Overall, consumer innovativeness was the strongest factor predicting Korean shoppers’ PB attitude.Originality/value – Important theoretical contributions of this study are finding the relative importance of the variables on PB attitude and purchase intention, and differing roles of consumer variables by product characteristics. Further significance of this study lies in understanding the differing impact of consumer perceptual variables in predicting PB attitude and purchase intention simultaneously. Managerial implications of these results were discussed.

Capizzi, Michael T.; Ferguson, Rick

doi: 10.1108/07363760510589235pmid: N/A

Purpose – As loyalty marketing programs have reached a state of maturity, the aim of this paper is to outline the key loyalty‐marketing trends for the twenty‐first century that can serve as guideposts as marketers create, expand and revamp their loyalty and customer relationship management (CRM) strategies.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses data and statistics from numerous loyalty‐marketing programs to support its conclusions.Findings – Five key loyalty‐marketing trends are identified and explored in detail: ubiquity; technology enables but imagination wins; coalition lite; customer analytics; and the Wow! factorPractical implications – The challenge for marketers is to reinvigorate the market with new strategies, tactics, and technologies backed by imagination, innovation and sound program design. The five key loyalty‐marketing trends for the twenty‐first century identified in this paper can serve as guideposts as marketers create, expand and revamp their loyalty and CRM strategies in the new century.Originality/value – Provides a view point based on the authors' opinion or interpretation of the key loyalty‐marketing trends for the twenty‐first century.

Hassan, Salah S.; Craft, Stephen H.

doi: 10.1108/07363760510589244pmid: N/A

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically the relationship between positioning strategies and bases of segmentation in international markets.Design/methodology/approach – A principal component analysis was conducted to determine the major macro‐ as well as micro‐bases of segmentation that are linked with strategic positioning decision options. Further, a regression analysis was used to examine the effect of each of the segmentation bases on the different strategic positioning options used by segmentation managers.Findings – This study suggests the combined use of both macro‐ and micro‐bases of segmentation in order to leverage similar strategic positioning across global markets. However, micro‐bases of segmentation are suggested for firms seeking differential positioning strategies.Research limitations/implications – The conceptual and empirical findings of this study pave the way for embarking on promising and relevant future research that is needed to substantiate and enrich the academic understanding and managerial practice of linking global segmentation with strategic positioning decisions. Future research should focus on the use of hybrid segmentation strategies; its logical design; implementation issues; and its evaluation mechanism.Practical implications – This study provides specific empirical evidence of the relationship between strategic use of segmentation bases and strategic positioning. An effective use of the proposed framework will have various strategic marketing implications for firms; including cost efficiencies, opportunities to transfer products globally, expansion opportunities of current operation, and development of more effective brand management decisions.Originality/value – The proposed global strategic segmentation and positioning matrix is a new tool that guides managers to position their brands effectively in world markets.

Dimara, Efthalia; Skuras, Dimitris

doi: 10.1108/07363760510589253pmid: N/A

Purpose – The purpose of this work is to examine the range of information consumers seek on labels of quality products and construct an indicative check‐list of various types of informational labeling as well as to examine whether quality of information demanded segregates the market‐creating segments to be targeted by firms.Design/methodology/approach – An extensive interdisciplinary literature review based on findings in marketing, economics, geography and sociology reveals the often neglected range of factors forcing consumers to place importance on regionally denominated food and drink. The European Union (EU) has responded to growing consumer trends towards regional and traditional food and established special schemes regulating the production of such food and drink. A survey of 640 consumers of quality wine carried out within the framework of an EU‐funded program provides the empirical material of this work.Findings – The study records the range of informational labeling sought by consumers as well as critical factors influencing their consuming behavior. Informational labeling linking product to place ranks top among a wide set of information sought on labels. A Poisson count data model reveals that consumers’ willingness to acquire information from labels is influenced by various socio‐economic characteristics and, in general, high demand for information is associated with higher expenditures for wine.Originality/value – Informational labeling is a significant step for place revalorization and cultural relocalization and provides significant prospects to enterprises marketing local culture. Research should be extended to the examination of other products and the comparative assessment of the findings.

Coyles, Stephanie; Gokey, Timothy C.

doi: 10.1108/07363760510700041pmid: N/A

Purpose – Every company knows that it costs far less to hold on to a customer than to acquire a new one. That is why customer retention has become the Holy Grail in industries from airlines to wireless. Yet defecting customers are far less of a problem than customers who change their buying patterns. Today's typical metrics of customer satisfaction and defection do not tell a company how susceptible its customers are to changing their spending patterns. This article seeks to investigate this problem.Design/methodology/approach – The investigation was carried out through a two‐year study of the attitudes of 1,200 households toward companies in 16 industries.Findings – McKinsey found that focusing on smaller changes in customer spending can have as much as ten times more value than concentrating on defections alone.Originality/value – This is important for those companies that wish to retain their customers.