Purchasing through Social Platforms with Buy Buttons: Academic and Practical Considerations

Social commerce sales are considerably increasing in recent years. Social platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, and WeChat) play a strategic role in world economy. However, social platforms ran into several burning issues: low ad conversion rates, social platform users’ free-riding behaviors, etc. Although buy buttons, a clickable navigation element leading users from a social platform to an e-commerce platform, could be a solution for such issues, the outcomes of using buy buttons did not reach many professionals’ expectation. This thesis studied four issues related to social shopping with buy buttons. First, as it is undetermined whether a social platform should roll out the buy-button feature or not, it is necessary to study whether the presence of buy button is associated with better outcomes (e.g. users’ higher willingness to purchase through the social platform) or not. Second, as social commerce is a remote shopping mode in which buyers and sellers cannot have face-to-face interactions, high risk and low trust could be two crucial barriers of social commerce. Hence, it is needed to study how risk- and trust-related factors influence users’ direct purchasing behavior. Third, considering that social commerce could be risky, this thesis wants to examine whether the presence of safe shopping measures (vs. an unsafe shopping scenario) can improve the performance of social shopping or not. Finally, social commerce involves a purchase path from a social platform to an e-commerce platform. There are many pain points (e.g., re-entering billing and shipping information) in the purchase path. Meanwhile, as social shopping risks and pain points in the purchase path could be caused by a same factor, the silos between social platforms and e-commerce platforms. It is interesting to study how safe shopping measures and integrated path-to-purchase (users can complete a purchase without leaving the social platform; vs. separated path-to-purchase in which users have to leave the social platform and go to the e-commerce platform to complete a purchase) jointly influence users. In order to answer these questions, three essays have been included in this thesis. Several online surveys were conducted. The between-subjects experimental design and the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique were used. The results showed that the presence of buy button was related to better outcomes. It found that risk- and trust-related factors significantly influenced users’ direct purchasing behavior. Both the safe shopping measures and the integrated path-to-purchase design can generate better outcomes of using a buy button in social shopping. In most circumstances, users showed more positive reactions when the safe shopping measures or the integrated path-to-purchase was present. However, no significant interaction effects between the safe shopping measures (vs. an unsafe shopping scenario) and the integrated path-to-purchase (vs. the separated path-to-purchase) were found. The theoretical contributions have been discussed in contrast to previous literature. This thesis has added academic value by offering new insights for previously established variable relationships in a different research context and studying variable relationships that have not been examined in previously relevant studies. From a practical viewpoint, as buy buttons inject e-commerce capabilities into social platforms, this thesis implies that socially focused platforms could reap benefits from social commerce by rolling out a buy-button feature. It is recommended that social platforms wanting to roll out buy buttons take safe shopping measures and create a seamless shopping experience for users.Tesis Univ. Granada.China Scholarship Council grant number: 201606170055National Natural Science Foundation of China grant number: 7170206

Evolutionary approach to farming decision making on extensive rangelands

In more than 25 years, a simplistic model of farm decision making has been used to support agricultural policy, research and extension without considering socio­economic and environmental sustainability. The basic assumptions of policy development were based on an “average farmer” and the marginal value of money completely ignoring the marginal social value. This research claims the need of a more holistic “model” of decision making at farm level, where i) behaviour diversity is recognised in farmers' populations and ii) the dynamic and evolutionary interrelationships between the farm, the farmer, the family and trusted people as a unit of resource allocation, are considered.The objectives of this work are to: i) improve the understanding of the decision making process at farm level ii) develop decision concepts for research and extension agencies and policy makers and iii) demonstrate that rural peoples’ knowledge plays an important role in development.A selective review of the main approaches and of descriptive models used to analyse decision making, a survey and a case study analysis is undertaken in order to develop: i) a conceptual background for classifying decision making units into different behavioural Types and ii) to develop a general “model” of the structure of the farm decision making unit’s “natural” decision support system actually used by farmers. Multivariate techniques were used to establish and validate the classification. Several implications for policy makers, information generators and data transmitters underlying the study were identified

An Empirical Investigation Of Information Technology Mediated Customer Services In China

Information technology mediated customer service is a reality of the 21st century. More and more companies have moved their customer services from in store and in person to online through computer or mobile devices. Using 208 respondents collected from two Chinese universities, this paper investigates customer preference over two service delivery model (either in store or online) on five type of purchasing (retail, eating-out, banking, travel and entertainment) and their perception difference in customer service quality between those two delivery model. Results show that a majority of Chinese students prefer in store and in person for eating out. For ordering tickets for travel and entertainment, they prefer computer/mobile device. For retail purchasing and banking, less than half of the students prefer in person services. In general, the results show that ordering through computer/mobile devices has become more popular in China and has received higher rating for most of customer service quality except security compared to ordering in store. In addition, it is found that there exist a gender difference in purchasing preference and perception in service delivery quality in China

What is the next chapter in the organized food retail industry in Portugal, up to 2030, and what are the strategic options that should be considered for strategy formulation? - Evolving supply chain management: internet of things

This project focus on the analysis of the organized food retail industry in Portugal, up to 2030. For this purpose, four scenarios were created using two critical uncertainties-shoppers’ e-commerce usage and producers’ direct-to-consumer adoption-and recommendations were developed. Moreover, the applications and impact that Internet of Things can have in supply chain management were considered for analysis, as this technology is evolving and already disrupting the way the supply chain operates. It is concluded that the key break throughs are on processes optimization, control of operations, communication across the whole supply chain and the information extracted throughout the full process

The new economy: essays in network economics and two-sided markets

Following the Introduction, which surveys existing literature on the technology advances and regulation in telecommunications and on two-sided markets, we address specific issues on the industries of the New Economy, featured by the existence of network effects. We seek to explore how each one of these industries work, identify potential market failures and find new solutions at the economic regulation level promoting social welfare. In Chapter 1 we analyze a regulatory issue on access prices and investments in the telecommunications market. The existing literature on access prices and investment has pointed out that networks underinvest under a regime of mandatory access provision with a fixed access price per end-user. We propose a new access pricing rule, the indexation approach, i.e., the access price, per end-user, that network i pays to network j is function of the investment levels set by both networks. We show that the indexation can enhance economic efficiency beyond what is achieved with a fixed access price. In particular, access price indexation can simultaneously induce lower retail prices and higher investment and social welfare as compared to a fixed access pricing or a regulatory holidays regime. Furthermore, we provide sufficient conditions under which the indexation can implement the socially optimal investment or the Ramsey solution, which would be impossible to obtain under fixed access pricing. Our results contradict the notion that investment efficiency must be sacrificed for gains in pricing efficiency. In Chapter 2 we investigate the effect of regulations that limit advertising airtime on advertising quality and on social welfare. We show, first, that advertising time regulation may reduce the average quality of advertising broadcast on TV networks. Second, an advertising cap may reduce media platforms and firms' profits, while the net effect on viewers (subscribers) welfare is ambiguous because the ad quality reduction resulting from a regulatory cap o¤sets the subscribers direct gain from watching fewer ads. We find that if subscribers are sufficiently sensitive to ad quality, i.e., the ad quality reduction outweighs the direct effect of the cap, a cap may reduce social welfare. The welfare results suggest that a regulatory authority that is trying to increase welfare via regulation of the volume of advertising on TV might necessitate to also regulate advertising quality or, if regulating quality proves impractical, take the effect of advertising quality into consideration. 3 In Chapter 3 we investigate the rules that govern Electronic Payment Networks (EPNs). In EPNs the No-Surcharge Rule (NSR) requires that merchants charge at most the same amount for a payment card transaction as for cash. In this chapter, we analyze a three- party model (consumers, merchants, and a proprietary EPN) with endogenous transaction volumes and heterogenous merchants' transactional benefits of accepting cards to assess the welfare impacts of the NSR. We show that, if merchants are local monopolists and the network externalities from merchants to cardholders are sufficiently strong, with the exception of the EPN, all agents will be worse o¤ with the NSR, and therefore the NSR is socially undesirable. The positive role of the NSR in terms of improvement of retail price efficiency for cardholders is also highlighted

The contribution of 360 deals to the recorded music industry

The present dissertation reflects on the contribution of 360 deals to the recorded music industry. This contractual form has been arising in order to easily recoup the investments provided by record labels to the artist and to explore other new revenue streams. The framework of the study is supported by the current state of the industry and an overview of the previous research concerning the recorded music market. Record labels have been struggling for the past years with the decrease of recorded music sales. The digital era has allowed a massification on music consumption, as the Internet has provided easier access to music, whether through new legal platforms but also through illegal downloading. A qualitative approach was carried out in order to comprehend the new concepts and challenges faced by the recorded companies. Six personal interviews with music executives were conducted, according to a structured guide elaborated, based on the literature review. Combining this data, some previous propositions were made in order to explain the current state of the industry and how 360 deals are being implemented in the industry, namely in Portugal, and its benefits and implications. This thesis shows exploratory directions, such as: the 360 deals are playing an important role on monetizing the investments from record labels, as the industry does not have to rely exclusively in recorded music sales anymore, participating active or passively on other income sources provided by this contractual form and, at the same time, diminishing the risk attached to the investment made.A presente dissertação reflecte a contribuição dos contratos 360 para a indústria discográfica. Esta modalidade contratual possibilita que os investimentos providenciados pelas editoras discográficas aos seus artistas sejam mais facilmente recuperados, bem como para que seja possível a exploração de outras fontes de receita. O âmbito deste estudo é fundamentado através do estado actual da indústria discográfica, bem como por investigação feita acerca deste mercado. As editoras discográficas têm enfrentado grandes dificuldades devido à diminuição da venda de música. A era digital permitiu que o consumo de música se massificasse, dado que a Internet garantiu um acesso mais fácil à música, seja através de novas plataformas legais, mas também através de descarga ilegal. Foi feita uma abordagem de estudo qualitativa, de forma a compreender estes novos conceitos e desafios enfrentados pela indústria discográfica. Foram feitas seis entrevistas a profissionais da área da música, de acordo com um guião estruturado, elaborado a partir da revisão de literatura. Combinando esta informação, foram definidas proposições de forma a explicar o estado actual da indústria e perceber de que forma os contratos 360 estão a ser implementados, nomeadamente em Portugal, bem como as suas vantagens e limitações. Esta tese demonstra que os contratos 360 têm um papel importante na monetização dos investimentos feitos pelas editoras discográficas, não tendo a indústria de depender exclusivamente da venda de música gravada. Assim, esta modalidade contractual permite que a editora participe activa ou passivamente noutras fontes de receita, diminuindo o risco associado ao investimento feito

Mass Exclusivity Assessing whether it brings value to luxury brands

Mass Exclusivity is a strategy that most luxury brands are putting into place to increase popularity and revenues. The brand usually creates brand extensions targeting middle-class consumer, such as Millennials. The purpose of this dissertation is to evaluate if this strategy is boosting the value of luxury brands in Portugal. To answer this question, we performed an exploratory qualitative study. Following a quantitive study about Louis Vuitton, which was a questionnaire to confirm our hypotheses. This last study included an adaptation of the Multidimensional Brand Equity (MBE) and Overall Brand Equity (OBE) scales from Yoo and Donthu (2001), and the Masstige Index Measure scale from Paul (2019). The mass exclusivity strategy is not damaging this particular brand. Moreover, it is increasing value because it is generating more awareness (through influencer marketing) and attainability among potential Millennial clients. However, luxury brands still have lower brand loyalty between Millennials. Therefore it is necessary to increase this feature among possible consumers. We have also found that although the socio-economic status is important, it is not a determining factor when this generation chooses to purchase a luxury brand product. This dissertation emphasises the relevance of the connection between brand and buyer, and how middle-class people are an excellent target for luxury brands to explore.Exclusividade para as massas é uma estratégia que a maioria das marcas de luxo está a adotar para aumentar a sua popularidade e as suas receitas. Geralmente são criadas extensões de marca voltadas para consumidores de classe média, como a geração Millennial. O objetivo desta dissertação é avaliar se esta estratégia está a aumentar o valor das marcas de luxo em Portugal. Para responder à nossa questão de dissertação, realizámos um estudo exploratório qualitativo e um estudo quantitativo sobre a marca Louis Vuitton, que consistiu num questionário para confirmar as nossas hipóteses. Este último estudo incluiu uma adaptação das escalas de Marca Multi-dimensionais de Equidade de marca (MBE) e Equidade Global de Marca (OBE) de Yoo e Donthu (2001) e a escala Índice de Masstige de Paul (2019). Concluímos que esta estratégia não está a danificar a marca, pelo contrário, aumenta o seu valor, pois cria uma maior percepção (através do marketing de influência) e mais acessibilidade aos potenciais clientes da geração Millennial. No entanto, as marcas de luxo ainda têm uma percentagem baixa de lealdade por parte dos Millennials, sendo assim, é necessário aumentar a lealdade com os seus possíveis consumidores. Também constatámos que, apesar de o estatuto sócio-económico da marca ser importante, não é um factor determinante quando esta geração escolhe comprar um produto de uma marca de luxo. Esta dissertação enfatiza a relevância da conexão entre marca e comprador e como os indivíduos da classe média são um excelente alvo para as marcas de luxo explorarem

Purchasing food becomes omnichannel: understanding food shopper segments and lifestyles

Global consumption trends and technological disruption is creating the path towards an omnichannel approach in food B2C selling. Food companies have seen an unprecedented evolution in this context, that is challenging their marketing strategies. This thesis tackles this problem by developing a segmentation study in France, employing Latent Class Analysis, based on the use of multiple touchpoints across the food purchase process, aiming to identify customer profiles, channel allocation, and psychographic characteristics related to food consumption. Three segments were identified: Early Omnichannel Adopters, Curious Conservatives, and Uninterested Traditional shoppers. The findings reveal key differences in their adoption of online and mobile touchpoints across the purchase stages, in their expertise purchasing food online, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in channel allocation. A Multinomial logistic regression was then performed to determine psychodemographic differences between the segments and allowing to characterize their food-related lifestyles. The insights developed in this research confirms the utility of LCA analysis to segment customers considering different food purchase phases and multiple touchpoints, using the most recent programming language software, and integrating specific covariates relevant to food shoppers. Food marketers can find valuable to implement a similar approach to reinvent strategies

Health Crises and Media Discourses in Sub-Saharan Africa

This is an open access book which brings together leading scholars and critical discourses on political, economic, legal, technological, socio-cultural and systemic changes and continuities intersecting media and health crises in Sub-Saharan Africa. The volume extensively discusses COVID-19 but it also covers other epidemics, such as malaria, HIV/AIDS as well as “silent” health crises such as mental health---simmering across the subcontinent. The chapters fill knowledge gaps, highlight innovations, unpack the complexities surrounding the media ecosystem in times of health crises. They explore, among other issues, the politics of public health communication; infodemics; existential threats to media viability; draconian legislations; threats to journalists/journalism; COVID-related entrepreneurship, marginalization, and more. This is a timely resource for academics, advocacy groups, media practitioners and policy makers working on crises and media reporting, not just in Africa but anywhere in the global South