Editorial

Citation

Leventhal, R.C. (2010), "Editorial", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 27 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/jcm.2010.07727eaa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Consumer Marketing, Volume 27, Issue 5

So much change has occurred to societies in the global marketplace as we have entered the twenty-first century, that it is very difficult to try to understand how said changes have affected the consumer in terms of being able to select what the consumer perceives to be the “right” product and/or service. With the development and application of various forms of technology, information (as it pertains to this complex situation) is readily available and can be used to provide guidance in helping to point marketers in the right direction. Yet to fully understand what motivates/affects the global consumer, we have to constantly probe those factors that will have an impact upon the consumer market.

Kmlolu, Nasr and Nasr seek to discover consumer segments with different behavioral profiles in the Turkish mobile phone market. The authors believe that high-tech products such as mobile phones are becoming indispensable in people’s lives, thus leading to a high-involvement decision-making process. It is crucial for marketers of such products to understand (behaviorally) different consumer segments that show significant variations in their decision-making criteria for such products and approach them accordingly.

Maher, Clark and Maher introduce the concept of admiration for members of other countries as an emotion related to people’s perceptions of, and preferences for, products that originate from the admired country. The longitudinal effects of animosity are also examined. The effects of animosity on the preference for foreign products attenuate over time. Admiration is positively related to a preference for a product from an admired country over a product from another country. Admiration was found to be positively related to Japanese product judgments.

Gofman, Moskowitz, Bevolo and Mets attempt to understand the perceptions of consumers of the future High End products in the USA. The authors identified five dimensions of High End offering, with each dimension having a unique set of four factors (elements). The authors also engaged in a quantitative survey based on Rule Developing Experimentation (modified conjoint analysis) to discover the driving forces behind a consumer’s perceptions of high end. The pattern-based consumer mind-set segmentation creates actionable directions for corporations answering today’s big question: “How can brands migrate from being cost-driven commodities to higher margins and profits?” The authors believe the answer is in the high end.

Park, Zhou and Yu investigate whether the Chinese consumers’ innate innovativeness is associated with their shopping styles. Specifically, the relationship between two types of innovativeness – sensory and cognitive – and consumer shopping style are examined. In China, marketing communications and brand management should be based on the shopping styles of these different types of innovative consumers. Furthermore, since the youth market in China represents an enormous opportunity for marketers, the results of their study will provide valuable insights into this key market.

Karakaya and Barnes study the impact of customer care experiences voiced online on consumer choice of rand or company when purchasing products and services by including the level of usage of these sites, and consumer opinions about whether or not their comments would make a difference in the actions of companies. This research focuses on the customer care experience rather than product quality or value provided by companies as discussed by consumers on a variety of web-sites, thus extending previous works on product quality and value.

Hamzaoui Essoussi and Linton consider the price premium that consumer’s state they are willing to pay for products with reused or recycled content. The effect of the impact of product category on consumer’s willingness to pay premium prices is also addressed. A technique for understanding consumer willingness-to-pay is provided and insights into differences are offered between products in terms of willingness-to-pay for greener products. Marketing practitioners can employ this technique to determine the price range and indirectly the profitability of a version of their product based on recycled or reused content.

The case study examines the current and future outlook of smartphones and how they will transform the loyalty marketing landscape. The case also provides tangible tips and tools to utilize in the real world marketing plans.

You will also find an insightful Marketing developments section and our Book review section in this issue.

Richard C. Leventhal