Editorial

Citation

Leventhal, R.C. (2007), "Editorial", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 24 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/jcm.2007.07724daa.001

Editorial

As we learn about consumers, it becomes more apparent that without the right type of information that we ascertain about how consumer’s act/react in the marketplace, then the chances of success in the marketing of a product and/or of a service may be diminished. Over the years we have developed many models of how consumers process the types of information that they receive on a daily basis from various sources. Information overload has reached epic proportions, as it concerns how many times a consumer is “touched” by marketers on a daily basis. Advances in technology have allowed us to communicate with the consumer in ways that keep on evolving. But in our efforts to influence the consumer, do we really know and understand what the consumer wants to hear, or learn, from a company? This is an important concept to that we should give more attention to.

Søndergaard and Harmsen present a conceptual model for the identification of relevant market information combined with considerations on effective internal use of the information. This information should feed into the process of making decisions in product development.

Reisenwitz and Iyer examine the relationship between two age cohorts within the baby boomers based on various behavioral variables. The authors found that with the exception of cognitive age, there were no significant differences between the “younger” and “older” baby boomers regarding a large number of important behavioral variables. They suggest that marketers use caution when applying the widely accepted age segmentation strategy of splitting baby boomers into “younger” and “older” boomers.

Qian, Razzaque and Keng investigate the gift-giving behavior of consumers on the Peoples’ Republic of China during Chinese New Year and the influence exerted by Chinese cultural values on such behavior. The author’s report that Chinese cultural value as a whole as well as most of the components investigated in this study had positive effects on the various gift-giving behaviors. Furthermore, the “face” component affects only the importance attached to the gift giving, the amount given and the choice of brand.

Zineldin and Philipson study if there is an actual “paradigm shift” as it relates to the American School of the 4Ps (i.e. transactional marketing) as it compares to a more relationship oriented type of marketing that occurs in both European and Scandinavian countries. Data were collected through interviews with companies in Scandinavia and the results were quite surprising.

Ruiz Mafé and Sanz Blas analyze the key drivers of teleshopping adoption as it takes place in Spain. Their research indicates that attitude towards teleshopping and teleshopping genre exposure are the main predictors of teleshopping behavior while consumer attitude towards teleshopping and previous experience as user of non-store channels (such as catalogs and television) are the most relevant factors influencing future teleshopping intention.

In this issue you will also find our other interesting and informational sections, Misplaced marketing, Book reviews and Computer currency.

Richard C. Leventhal