Editorial

Citation

Leventhal, R.C. (2007), "Editorial", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 24 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/jcm.2007.07724gaa.001

Editorial

In an ideal world, it would be wonderful if we, as marketers, would be able to create a specific marketing strategy that would not only appeal to our [target] consumer, but would also guarantee that said consumer would have a positive attitude, not only towards our marketing efforts, but our product[s] as well. Although we have made great strides in our attempts to better understand the consumer, the path toward consumer satisfaction is still full of obstacles that prevent us from achieving total success in terms of both [consumer] satisfaction and loyalty. What once might have been considered to be just another part of the overall marketing effort, is now becoming an important element in our marketing arsenal.

Fugate examines a relatively new phenomenon, neuromarketing, and attempts to explain the process in layman’s terms and presents some of the findings in anecdotal form. The author considers the fact that traditional, inferential assumptions about consumer behavior might be less powerful and explanatory than once believed. Combining neural activity images with conventional tools may produce more effective marketing practices. Neuromarketing may have the capability of fundamentally changing how marketers design, promote, price and package products.

Anatolevena investigates the influence of corporate brand on attitudinal and behavioral consumer loyalty. The author has found that corporate values, corporate brand personality and functional consumer benefits are the most critical and consistent predictors of both attitudinal and behavioral loyalty. Thus, in developing a sustainable competitive advantage, an organization must move beyond the conventional marketing mix to incorporate corporate-level intangibles such as their core values and corporate activities.

Reisenwitz, Iyer, Kuhlmeier and Eastman compares seniors’ use of the internet with earlier studies and then examines the role of nostalgia proneness, innovativeness and risk aversion on seniors’ use and purchase online. Results showed that those seniors with higher levels of nostalgia proneness used the internet less, accessed the internet less frequently, purchased fewer items online and were more uncomfortable using the internet. However, these seniors were not less satisfied than those seniors with lower levels of nostalgia proneness. The results of this study suggest that the mature consumer market is becoming an increasingly more viable segment for internet marketers to consider.

Laukkanes, Sinkkonen, Kivijarvi and Laukkanen investigate a relatively new phenomenon, resistance amongst mature consumers as it concerns mobile banking. The empirical findings indicate that the value barrier is the most important barrier to mobile banking adoption among both mature and younger consumers. However, aging appears to be related especially to the risk and image barriers. The authors present strategies to overcome resistance to innovations like mobile banking.

Huppertz examines the effects of actions recommended by researchers for firms to encourage complaint voicing, and tests the proposition that complaining by dissatisfied consumers would increase if only firms would make such actions easier for the consumer. Not having this policy in place may have a definite impact upon an organization’s overall success/failure in the marketplace.

In addition to the articles previously mentioned, please take the time to review other valuable insights that you will find in Misplaced Marketing, Book Review and Computer Currency sections.

Richard C. Leventhal