Product assortment and customer mobility

Customers mobility is dependent on the sophistication of their needs: sophisticated customers need to travel more to fulfill their needs. In this paper, we provide more detailed evidence of this phenomenon, providing an empirical validation of the Central Place Theory. For each customer, we detect what is her favorite shop, where she purchases most products. We can study the relationship between the favorite shop and the closest one, by recording the influence of the shop’s size and the customer’s sophistication in the discordance cases, i.e. the cases in which the favorite shop is not the closest one. We show that larger shops are able to retain most of their closest customers and they are able to catch large portions of customers from smaller shops around them. We connect this observation with the shop’s larger sophistication, and not with its other characteristics, as the phenomenon is especially noticeable when customers want to satisfy their sophisticated needs. This is a confirmation of the recent extensions of the Central Place Theory, where the original assumptions of homogeneity in customer purchase power and needs are challenged. Different types of shops have also different survival logics. The largest shops get closed if they are unable to catch customers from the smaller shops, while medium size shops get closed if they cannot retain their closest customers. All analysis are performed on a large real-world dataset recording all purchases from millions of customers across the west coast of Italy.</p

Consumer decision-making for functional foods: Insights from a Qualitative Study

Purpose This study examines functional foods, a relatively recent development in the food industry, from the perspective of consumer decision-making. It deals specifically with consumers’ attitudinal dispositions towards such products and seeks an overall comprehension of the elements of decision-making factors that precede their purchase. Design/ Methodology This exploratory work methodologically utilises several elements of a grounded theoretical approach, in-depth interviews with consumers (and food industry experts) and, more importantly, the constant comparative method of analysis. Findings The analysis indicates that three levels of decision-making processing form consumers’ final functional food choices in either affirmative or negative ways. At the abstract level, consumers position functional foods within their food system. A ‘benefit negotiation’ process acts as the central route of decision-making. Finally, during the ‘appraising’ stage a representation of each functional food is built. This representation should not be perceived as a rigid one as it can be influenced by personal characteristics, marketing activities and, more importantly, monetary considerations. Originality/Value The paper proposes a decision-making framework that takes choice issues into consideration. It builds on (connecting and challenging) some of the existing consumer literature on functional foods. The findings indicate the dynamic nature of consumers’ decision-making which is shaped by motivational and other personal factors. The study identifies the concept of perceived efficacy of such foods, a concept discussed widely in previous literature, as a subordinate aspect when compared to consumers’ consumption motivation, perceived importance and perceptions of pricing. The paper discusses the implications for theory, research and practice

Consumer decision-making for functional foods: Insights from a Qualitative Study

Purpose This study examines functional foods, a relatively recent development in the food industry, from the perspective of consumer decision-making. It deals specifically with consumers’ attitudinal dispositions towards such products and seeks an overall comprehension of the elements of decision-making factors that precede their purchase. Design/ Methodology This exploratory work methodologically utilises several elements of a grounded theoretical approach, in-depth interviews with consumers (and food industry experts) and, more importantly, the constant comparative method of analysis. Findings The analysis indicates that three levels of decision-making processing form consumers’ final functional food choices in either affirmative or negative ways. At the abstract level, consumers position functional foods within their food system. A ‘benefit negotiation’ process acts as the central route of decision-making. Finally, during the ‘appraising’ stage a representation of each functional food is built. This representation should not be perceived as a rigid one as it can be influenced by personal characteristics, marketing activities and, more importantly, monetary considerations. Originality/Value The paper proposes a decision-making framework that takes choice issues into consideration. It builds on (connecting and challenging) some of the existing consumer literature on functional foods. The findings indicate the dynamic nature of consumers’ decision-making which is shaped by motivational and other personal factors. The study identifies the concept of perceived efficacy of such foods, a concept discussed widely in previous literature, as a subordinate aspect when compared to consumers’ consumption motivation, perceived importance and perceptions of pricing. The paper discusses the implications for theory, research and practice