Editorial

Citation

Leventhal, R.C. (2014), "Editorial", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 31 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCM-01-2014-0818

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Consumer Marketing, Volume 31, Issue 2

As marketers, we are all aware of the fact that the consumer faces a daunting task of trying to determine which product to buy and use in terms of brand perceptions, prior brand experiences, brand loyalty, and brand availability. But tangential to the consumer’s beliefs and attitudes, we also have to consider the extraneous forces which are constantly influencing the individual’s ability to make a purchase decision. This becomes quite a challenge when you are engaging in a global marketing strategy whereby you are facing different cultures and complex marketplaces.

Hulten and Vanyushyn examine the concept of impulse buying that may be triggered by unconscious memories of advertising having reached the consumer through a variety of promotional channels, and the fact is that impulse buying is a common behavior around the world. The authors found that positive perceptions of direct mail marketing and TV commercials increase the likelihood of shoppers’ responding positively to in-store promotions. Retailers need to design their in-store promotions in ways that help shoppers to recall messages communicated through other tools. In addition, a salesperson’s approach to customer interactions should be adjusted to fit the specific preferences of male and female shoppers.

Flurry, Swimberghe and Parker address the gap and establishes the likely existence of brand community among adolescents. Their research further explores the characteristics which may differentiate children who are more likely to become involved in brand communities and examines what impact their involvement may have on adolescents’ psychological well-being. Adolescent high in brand community involvement are found to display noteworthy differences in attitudes, values and marketplace behaviors.

Bock, Eastman and McKAy examine a relationship existed between economic perceptions during the economic downturn that took place in the US and consumers’ motivation to consumer for status, and if this relationship was moderated by education level.

The authors suggest that marketers, targeting consumers with a preference for luxury goods in the current economy, aim for a more educated consumer who sees their economic welfare as improving. Consumers who feel they are recovering economically from the recent economic downturn that took place in the US (especially those with higher education levels) may be more likely to be “status conscious” consumers.

Akhter examines the effects of Internet self-efficacy and internet involvement on privacy concern and the effect of privacy concern on the frequency of online transaction. This study also examines the direct effect of Internet self-efficacy and Internet involvement on the frequency of online transactions. The negative impact of privacy concern shows why businesses should take measure to protect privacy of consumers and assure them that the information they provide is protected and secure.

Walsh examines whether words related to healthy eating can facilitate self-control among individuals. The author found that priming health related words has no impact on preference when consumers are seeking food. Marketers of healthy food products should place their products at the beginning of a consumer shopping experiences when resources are most available. The decision to associate a brand with health-related claims must be strategically coordinated with retail location decisions to maximize the effect on consumer choice. From a public policy perspective, this may also affect grocery store layouts. For example, it may be argued that removing temptations near the entrance of a grocery store might allow consumers to conserve their effort, which may result in healthier choices.

Raggio, Leone and Black investigate whether brands impact consumer evaluations other than a consistent halo and the degree to which consumers use both overall brand information, along with detailed attribute specific information to construct their evaluations. The ability to decompose consumer brand benefit beliefs into overall brand and detailed attribute specific resources provides marketing managers with insights into which latent mental sources consumers use to construct their brand beliefs. This methodology provides useful descriptive and diagnostic measures concerning the sources of suspicious, interesting, or worrisome consumer brand beliefs as well as a means to determine if their branding, positioning and/or messaging is having the desired impact on consumer evaluations so that they can make and evaluate required changes.

Gueslaga and Pitta compare Chile and the US in terms of managers’ perceptions of service quality across a variety of industries. Despite the increasing influence that the US has on Chilean consumption of goods (as well as other Latin American countries), cultural differences between the two countries impede a convergence in the consumption and management of services. The authors compare Chilean and US managers’ perceptions of service quality in terms of the relative importance of service quality dimensions and the degree of formalization of service quality standards. The authors indicate that cultural differences within and among countries are clearly important to global marketers. Companies that operate in countries that are characterized by having a more collective and uncertainty avoidant culture should have more formal standards for service quality than those operating in a more individualistic and less uncertainty avoidant cultures. There is no substitute for focused research in creating, delivering and assessing the quality of the services that are delivered for each culture.

Richard C. Leventhal