Generation Gap and the Impact of the Web on Goods Quality Perceptions

This study explores how age and general online shopping experience affect consumer perceptions on product quality uncertainty. Using the survey data collected from 549 consumers, we investigated how they perceive the uncertainty of product quality on six search, experience and credence goods. The ANOVA results show that age and the Web shopping experience of consumers are significant factors. A generation gap is indeed seen for all but one experience good. Web shopping experience is not a significant factor for search goods but is for experience and credence goods. There is an interaction effect between age and Web shopping experience for one credence good. Implications of these results are discussed

Demand for Organic Salmon in the European Union

This paper provides an analysis of the market potential for organic salmon, primarily in the European Union. There has been a substantial growth in the demand for organic food products in industrialised countries in the course of the past decade. Legislation for organic production is now being extended to aquaculture, and limited quantities of certified organic salmon have been marketed in the European Union. We examine the experience gained in other organic food markets, and draw some conclusions from these markets with relevance to salmon. Organic salmon fills a dietary need among organic consumers, but at the same time it has some characteristics which may present obstacles to successful marketing. We analysed price premiums for organic salmon compared to conventional salmon. Positive price premiums were found, but it is hard to predict how they will evolve when the supply of organic salmon is expanded. Experience from other organic foods that are supplied in large volumes suggests that it may be possible to obtain price premiums even with substantially higher production

Analysis of the impact of length of stay on the quality of service experience, satisfaction and loyalty

Although length of stay is a relevant variable in destination management, little research has been produced connecting it with tourists' post-consumption behaviour. This research compares the post-consumption behaviour of same-day visitors with overnight tourists in a sample of 398 domestic vacationers at two Mediterranean heritage-and-beach destinations. Although economic research on length of stay posits that there are destination benefits in longer stays, same-day visitors score higher in most of the post-consumption variables under study. Significant differences arise in hedonic aspects of the tourist experience and destination loyalty. Thus, we propose that length of stay can be used as a segmentation variable. Furthermore, destination management organisations need to consider length of stay when designing tourism policies. The tourist product and communication strategies might be adapted to different vacation durations

High spatial resolution analysis of ferromanganese concretions by LA-ICP-MS†

A procedure was developed for the determination of element distributions in cross-sections of ferromanganese concretions using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). The effects of carrier flow rates, rf forward power, ablation energy, ablation spot size, repetition rate and number of shots per point on analyte intensity were studied. It is shown that different carrier gas flow rates are required in order to obtain maximum sensitivities for different groups of elements, thus complicating the optimisation of ICP parameters. On the contrary, LA parameters have very similar effects on almost all elements studied, thus providing a common optimum parameter set for the entire mass range. However, for selected LA parameters, the use of compromise conditions was necessary in order to compensate for relatively slow data acquisition by ICP-MS and maintain high spatial resolution without sacrificing the multielemental capabilities of the technique. Possible variations in ablation efficiency were corrected for mathematically using the sum of Fe and Mn intensities. Quantification by external calibration against matrix-matched standards was successfully used for more than 50 elements. These standards, in the form of pressed pellets (no binder), were prepared in-house using ferromanganese concentrates from a deep-sea nodule reference material as well as from shallow-marine concretions varying in size and having different proportions of three major phases: aluminosilicates, Fe- and Mn-oxyhydroxides. Element concentrations in each standard were determined by means of conventional solution nebulisation ICP-MS following acid digestion. Examples of selected inter-element correlations in distribution patterns along the cross-section of a concretion are given

Projected and perceived image of Spain as a tourist destination for British Travellers

This paper discusses the concept of tourist destination image, and in particular the relationship between the perceived and projected image of Spain in the British market. The projected image was obtained through an analysis of the principal sources of secondary information on the promotion of Spain, while the perceived image was obtained from a study carried out among 120 British tourists. Evaluation of destination attributes and positioning of Spanish tourist areas provided useful results of the perceived image. Some differences were noted between the projected and the perceived image of Spain. The paper concludes by recommending a consumer-focused orientation in marketing strategies

Consumer view on personalized advertising: Overview of self-reported benefits and concerns

In today’s digital world, activities that were once private or shared with a group of selected others are open to public scrutiny as we leave our digital footprint when we visit websites and submit information to online services (Acquisti, Brandimarte, and Loewenstein 2015). As a result, advertisers have access to a wide range of data about consumers: demographic data, information on their interests, location, and more (Smit, Van Noort, and Voorveld 2014). Such data is commonly used by advertisers for personalization, which has been defined as the strategic creation, modification, and adaptation of content and distribution to optimize the fit with personal characteristics, interests, preferences, communication styles, and behaviors (Bol et al. 2018)

Crude protein level in post-weaned lambs diet did not affect productive and meat quality parameters

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