The Ultimate Bond

Being introduced in India in 1956 as an easy –to-use white glue for carpenters in replacement of Saresh (fat-based adhesives), the ULTIBOND company started its journey and never looked back. As The ULTIBOND Company was well known to recognize the need of their product and convert it into a marvelous opportunity, the company started manufacturing AI glue products for students as well as for professional and educational institutes. In order to shift end-users from natural glues and other synthetic adhesives available at the time, AI glue embarked on a bold marketing game plan. Instead of selling through stores, AI glue approached carpenters directly. This direct marketing initiative was one of the most successful strategies employed by the company and helped the brand gain a strong foothold in the white glue market. By 1965, the brand was big enough to develop its own manufacturing plant in Maharashtra. Primarily the company decided to enter into the retail market with a packaging of 33 grams collapsible tube in early 1970’s, later came up with many other unique packaging styles to cater the need and requirements of different segments of its customer base.

The Mediating Role of Brand Engagement and Store Image on Relationship between Brand Identification and Purchase Intention: a Study of Omani Retail Market

Based on the convergence of social-identity and theory of reasoned action (TORA), the purpose of this research is to investigate the mediating effect of brand engagement and store image on the relationship between consumer brand identification and purchase intention. The study empirically investigates a theoretical framework developed from literature evidence using partial-least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling (SEM) to test hypotheses. A structured questionnaire, measuring items on a Likert seven scale, was used to collect data from 344 participants among shoppers of famous retail chains in Muscat. The results indicated that store-brand identification (SBI) alone is a weak predictor of purchase intention (PI). The results revealed that brand engagement (BE) and store image (SI) fully mediate the relationship between SBI and PI. Intrinsically, the study serves to enhance the insight into customers’ attitudes towards private-labeled store brands with a focus on the Omani retail market. The findings contribute a valuable insight on retail marketing strategies, and an interpretation into branding literature related to retail marketing and provide an understanding of marketing strategies and guidance for retail store management in Oman both at a strategic and tactical level.

ANALYSIS OF THE USE OF MOBILE APPLICATIONS BY FOREIGN AND UKRAINIAN PHARMACIES WITHIN THE CONCEPT OF HOLISTIC MARKETING

digitalization of the pharmaceutical sector requires the use of modern marketing approaches to provide pharmacies with quality and safe pharmaceutical care within the holistic concept of marketing management. A promising direction of digital transformation of the retail market of medicines is the introduction of special mobile applications in the activities of pharmacies, which become a safe and accessible platform for the sale of medicines to the population. The main purpose of the study is to exercise the analysis of the features of pharmaceutical services provision using mobile applications to foreign and Ukrainian pharmacy chains. The study is based on the use of content analysis, analysis of electronic resources, system, and logical analysis, as well as of the modeling method. As the objects of the study, American pharmacy chains CVS Pharmacy and Walgreens, British Boots, and Lloyds Pharmacy were selected, as well as 10 pharmacy chains in Ukraine in terms of turnover in January-October 2020. It is revealed that the leading world leaders in the retail market of medicines have been using this digital tool in their marketing activities for a long time. Unlike domestic pharmacies, applications of foreign pharmacies additionally provide such services as online registration for testing and vaccination against COVID-19, additional opportunities for the visually impaired, drug disposal, and others. Among the studied Ukrainian pharmacy chains by market share, only a half have mobile applications with various functions, among the most developed mobile applications are “Like” from LLC “Apteka-Magnolia” (“Pharmacy-Magnolia”), "Pharmacy 911" and “Apteka Dobroho Dnia” (“Good Afternoon Pharmacy”). An integrated model of a mobile application of a modern pharmacy has been developed, aimed at effective interaction of all necessary functions to provide the population with high-quality, convenient, and available pharmaceutical care. Promising areas of further research are the justification of the feasibility of using certain functions of mobile applications, as well as other digital tools, such as pharmacy websites, social media pages within the concept of holistic marketing. The results of the study conducted may be useful to specialists in the pharmaceutical industry for use in practical pharmacy.

Impact of quality decisions on information sharing with supplier encroachment

This study examines a retailer's decision to share market demand information in a supply chain wherein a supplier sells a product with a certain level of quality to a retailer, who then resells it to the end consumer. It also considers whether a supplier should establish a direct selling channel by incurring a fixed entry cost to compete with the retail channel. Although conventional wisdom indicates that a retailer may voluntarily disclose information under ex-ante supplier encroachment, our results show how and why a retailer may share information with the supplier who encroaches on the retail market with a decision on quality. Specifically, our findings reveal that information sharing is beneficial to the retailer when the quality cost coefficient is low and entry cost is relatively low, even under encroachment by the supplier. Moreover, the retailer may prefer to disclose demand information to the supplier if the quality cost coefficient is low, even when the entry cost is high, under non-encroachment. Interestingly, we found that the supplier prefers to encroach if the retailer shares demand information when the entry cost is moderate. Further, we found that the retailer has a higher incentive to share information under supplier encroachment compared with non-encroachment. These results are in sharp contrast with the extant literature.