Assessing brand image through communalitites and asymmetries brand-to-attribute and attribute-to-brand associations.

Brand image is a key component of customer-based brand equity, and refers to the associations a consumer holds in memory. Such associations are often directional; one should distinguish between brand-to-attribute and attribute-to-brand associations. Information on these associations arise from two ways of collecting data respectively: brand-by-brand evaluations of all attributes and attribute-by-attribute evaluations of all brands. In this paper, the authors present a methodological approach, namely correspondence analysis of matched matrices, to assess the communalitites as well as asymmetries between brand-to-attribute and attribute-to-brand associations. The methodology results in perceptual maps visualizing brand image. The approach is illustrated in an empirical market research project in which two samples of consumers evaluated ten brands of deodorants and eleven attributes

Accurately measuring willingness to pay for consumer goods:a meta-analysis of the hypothetical bias

Consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) is highly relevant to managers and academics, and the various direct and indirect methods used to measure it vary in their accuracy, defined as how closely the hypothetically measured WTP (HWTP) matches consumers' real WTP (RWTP). The difference between HWTP and RWTP is the "hypothetical bias." A prevalent assumption in marketing science is that indirect methods measure WTP more accurately than do direct methods. With a meta-analysis of 77 studies reported in 47 papers and resulting in 115 effect sizes, we test that assumption by assessing the hypothetical bias. The total sample consists of 24,347 included observations for HWTP and 20,656 for RWTP. Moving beyond extant meta-analyses in marketing, we introduce an effect size metric (i.e., response ratio) and a novel analysis method (i.e., multivariate mixed linear model) to analyze the stochastically dependent effect sizes. Our findings are relevant for academic researchers and managers. First, on average, the hypothetical bias is 21%, and this study provides a reference point for the expected magnitude of the hypothetical bias. Second, the deviation primarily depends on the use of a direct or indirect method for measuring HWTP. In contrast with conventional wisdom, indirect methods actually overestimate RWTP significantly stronger than direct methods. Third, the hypothetical bias is greater for higher valued products, specialty goods (cf. other product types), and within-subject designs (cf. between-subject designs), thus a stronger downward adjustment of HWTP values is necessary to reflect consumers' RWTP

Generating global brand equity through corporate social responsibility to key stakeholders

In this paper we argue that corporate social responsibility (CSR) to various stakeholders (customers, shareholders, employees, suppliers, and community) has a positive effect on global brand equity (BE). In addition, policies aimed at satisfying community interests help reinforce credibility to social responsible polices with other stakeholders. We test these theoretical contentions using panel data comprised of 57 global brands originating from 10 countries (USA, Japan, South Korea, France, UK, Italy, Germany, Finland, Switzerland and the Netherlands) for the period 2002 to 2008. Our findings show that CSR to each of the stakeholder groups has a positive impact on global BE. In addition, global brands that follow local social responsibility policies over communities obtain strong positive benefits in terms of the generation of BE, as it enhances the positive effects of CSR to other stakeholders, particularly to customers. Therefore, for managers of global brands it is particularly productive for generating brand value to combine global strategies with the satisfaction of the interests of local communitiesGlobal Brands, Brand Equity, Corporate Social Responsibility, Stakeholders

Generating global brand equity through corporate social responsibility to key stakeholders

In this paper we argue that corporate social responsibility (CSR) to various stakeholders (customers, shareholders, employees, suppliers, and community) has a positive effect on global brand equity (BE). In addition, policies aimed at satisfying community interests help reinforce credibility to social responsible polices with other stakeholders. We test these theoretical contentions using panel data comprised of 57 global brands originating from 10 countries (USA, Japan, South Korea, France, UK, Italy, Germany, Finland, Switzerland and the Netherlands) for the period 2002 to 2008. Our findings show that CSR to each of the stakeholder groups has a positive impact on global BE. In addition, global brands that follow local social responsibility policies over communities obtain strong positive benefits in terms of the generation of BE, as it enhances the positive effects of CSR to other stakeholders, particularly to customers. Therefore, for managers of global brands it is particularly productive for generating brand value to combine global strategies with the satisfaction of the interests of local communities.Global Brands, Brand Equity, Corporate Social Responsibility, Stakeholders.

Effects of Likeability Dynamics on Consumers' Intention to Share Online Video Advertisements

Understanding how consumer evaluations of online advertisements affect their intention to share advertising content online is essential for successful viral advertising. This article examines consumer decisions whether or not to share video advertisements, in particular the role of their moment-to-moment likeability of the online ad. The study uses a theoretical memory-based framework of temporal sequence effects and unique data for 120 advertisements and more than 43,000 consumer evaluations. The authors find that high likeability at the beginning and the end of a video advertisement is important, though consistent with the memory-based framework, the ending effect is greater. A linear trend in likeability does not influence viral potential, but variance in likeability evaluations (the rollercoaster effect) has positive effects on an advertisement's virality. The moment-to-moment effects are mediated by the overall liking for an online video advertisement. Interestingly, the beginning, end and peak effects influence the viral potential even after controlling for the overall liking. The difference of the peak moment becomes important only when controlling for the overall liking, whereas the direct peak and the rollercoaster effects are suppressed by the overall liking. (C) 2016 Direct Marketing Educational Foundation, Inc., dba Marketing EDGE. All rights reserved

Evaluating the impact of VAT-free promotion:the role of loyalty program membership and category characteristics

This study examines the impact of value-added tax (VAT)-free promotions on sales performance. VAT-free promotions are a recently adopted form of price promotions where consumers are exempted from paying the VAT amount across almost all products in the assortment during a limited number of days. They are typically organized once per year and surrounded by a large amount of media attention from the involved retailer. To test the effects of this promotion on store and category sales, and investigate the differences between loyalty program (LP) members and non-LP members, the authors use scanner data from a Dutch durable goods retailer across a range of categories. The results show that VAT-free promotions positively impact store performance. Moreover, the findings indicate that more non-LP members are attracted to the store and that they increase the amount they spend in the store. While LP members also spend more in the store, this increase in shopping basket size does not compensate for the significant drop in the number of LP members that visit the store, leading to an overall decrease in sales coming from LP members during VAT-free days. We furthermore find that the positive effect of VAT-free promotions for non-LP members (rather than LP members) generalizes across all investigated categories. Our results provide key insights for retailers and direct marketers with regard to the effectiveness of VAT-free promotions in order to strategically segment the customer base

When Offline Stores Reduce Online Returns

Among the dark sides of contemporary multi-channel retailing are the vast amounts of product returns, especially in the online channel. High product returns not only put pressure on the retailers' profitability, but also come at high societal and environmental costs. A central question then is whether multi-channel retailers can use their offline stores to help reduce product returns in the online channel without harming online sales. In an empirical study, we address this issue using data from a large Dutch shoe retailer. We develop a novel spatial model to estimate the influence of proximate retail stores on customers' online shopping behavior, while controlling for spatial and customer heterogeneity. Results demonstrate that an increased offline channel presence indeed reduces online returns, depending on the product's risk profile, without significantly lowering online sales. Offline stores can thus be an effective and appealing way for retailers to mitigate the negative impact of online shopping related to product returns

Synergistic and cannibalization effects in a partnership loyalty program

The implicit promise of a partnership in a loyalty program (LP) is that the partners will gain new customers and the LP will reinforce the loyalty to focal partners. Although customers may be encouraged to cross-purchase from partners (which may create positive synergies), they can also switch among partners without forfeiting rewards (which may lead to the cannibalization of sales among partners). To explore these cross-partner effects, we analyze the evolution of customer purchases in a partnership LP across 33 partners from 16 industry sectors. We find that cannibalizations arise more frequently than synergies among partners, contributing to a “rich-get-richer” effect for high-penetration partners; e.g., 10% increase in transactions at department stores reduce transactions at apparel partners (by.04% for new transactions and by 1.18% for recurring customers); but in turn, they attract positive synergies from apparel (.11% increase in transactions by new customers and.37% for recurring transactions)

Challenges at the marketing–operations interface in omni-channel retail environments

To compete in today’s omni-channel business context, it is essential for firms to co-ordinate their activities across channels and across different stages of the customer journey and the product flow. This requires firms to adopt an integrative approach, addressing each omni-channel design decision from a dual demand-side (marketing) and supply-side (operations) perspective. However, both in practice and in academic research, such an integrative approach is still in an immature stage. In this article, a framework is developed with the following key decision areas: (i) assortment & inventory, (ii) distribution & delivery and (iii) returns. These affect both the customer journey and the product flow. As a consequence of the resulting interdependencies between the firm’s functions, addressing the issues that arise in the three decision areas requires an integrated marketing and operations perspective. For each of the areas, the key decisions that affect or involve both the customer journey and product flow are identified first. Next, for each decision, the marketing and operational goals and the tensions that arise when these goals are not perfectly aligned are described. The opportunities for relieving these tensions are also discussed and possible directions for future research aimed at addressing these tensions and opportunities are presented.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Advancing research on loyalty programs:a future research agenda

Artículo de publicación ISIDespite the growing literature on loyalty program (LP) research, many questions remain underexplored. Driven by advancements in information technology, marketing analytics, and consumer interface platforms (e.g., mobile devices), there have been many recent developments in LP practices around the world. They impose new challenges and create exciting opportunities for future LP research. The main objective of this paper is to identify missing links in the literature and to craft a future research agenda to advance LP research and practice. Our discussion focuses on three key areas: (1) LP designs, (2) Assessment of LP performance, and (3) Emerging trends and the impact of new technologies. We highlight several gaps in the literature and outline research opportunities in each area