INNOVATION IN RETAIL

This paper proposes an investigation of the trend concerning both to innovation in the field of retail trade and involvement of technology in streamlining the purchasing process, starting from the example given by Amazon- that is, implementing artificial intelligence and sensor-based systems in cashless stores, Amazon Go. The purpose of this scientific approach is to understand the influence of technological developments within the retail field and to analyze the current state of innovation in this industry for a possible shaping of the future buying experience.

CORRELATION OF COVID-19 IN THE ONLINE PURCHASING PROCESS

The paper establishes the central point for researching factors that influence buying decisions in the online purchasing process. The benefits of e-commerce for both buyers and sellers place it as the default method of shopping in the near future. Through empirical research, e-commerce growth is being established as rapidly rising through recent years, which has been accelerated by specific factors introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Data shows that e-commerce is dependent on several different factors during normal circumstances, which also include the level of development of the country as one of the main precursors. The beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic influenced greatly the importance of these established factors for online purchasing, rendering many of them obsolete. The paper structures the research to outline the most relevant factors influencing online purchasing decisions pre-pandemic and during pandemic times, and to draw relevant conclusions and recommendations for future practical implementations of e-commerce models. Research shows that new factors need to be introduce in these types of abnormal times, as the nature of the pandemic made non-contact interactions the norm in the past year. By introducing the six stages of pandemic behavior, online retailers can better understand the factors influencing online purchasing process in pandemic times. Finally, specific recommendations can be made to improve the e-commerce acceptance both at industry and company levels.

Improving A/B Testing on the Basis of Possibilistic Reward Methods: A Numerical Analysis

A/B testing is used in digital contexts both to offer a more personalized service and to optimize the e-commerce purchasing process. A personalized service provides customers with the fastest possible access to the contents that they are most likely to use. An optimized e-commerce purchasing process reduces customer effort during online purchasing and assures that the largest possible number of customers place their order. The most widespread A/B testing method is to implement the equivalent of RCT (randomized controlled trials). Recently, however, some companies and solutions have addressed this experimentation process as a multi-armed bandit (MAB). This is known in the A/B testing market as dynamic traffic distribution. A complementary technique used to optimize the performance of A/B testing is to improve the experiment stopping criterion. In this paper, we propose an adaptation of A/B testing to account for possibilistic reward (PR) methods, together with the definition of a new stopping criterion also based on PR methods to be used for both classical A/B testing and A/B testing based on MAB algorithms. A comparative numerical analysis based on the simulation of real scenarios is used to analyze the performance of the proposed adaptations in both Bernoulli and non-Bernoulli environments. In this analysis, we show that the possibilistic reward method PR3 produced the lowest mean cumulative regret in non-Bernoulli environments, which proved to have a high confidence level and be highly stable as demonstrated by low standard deviation measures. PR3 behaves exactly the same as Thompson sampling in Bernoulli environments. The conclusion is that PR3 can be used efficiently in both environments in combination with the value remaining stopping criterion in Bernoulli environments and the PR3 bounds stopping criterion for non-Bernoulli environments.

Generational Differences of Consumers: A Study of Preferred Purchasing Channels

The development of the Internet and current technologies have contributed to significant progress in the consumer purchasing process. Nowadays, the decision is much easier and more intuitive. Companies are focusing on tracking the shopping path of customers who are exposed meet companies through many different channels and contact points, both online and offline (Baxendale et al. 2015). This means that consumers are not limited to online or offline channels, they obtain information from both sources. In the age of the Internet and the rapid development of technology, the purchasing process is becoming increasingly fragmented, blurring the boundaries between online and offline channels. The integration of these channels is therefore becoming key to ensuring a smooth and convenient purchasing process (Piotrowicz and Cuthbertson 2014). Given this fact, our goal was to examine which purchasing channels (single-channel or cross-channel) Slovak consumers prefer. This study focused on identifying differences between consumers in terms of generations X, Y and Z. Keywords: Consumer Behaviour, Shopping, Cross-Channel, Showrooming, Webrooming

RFID: A Fuzzy Linguistic Model to Manage Customers from the Perspective of Their Interactions with the Contact Center

In an increasingly globalized market, the relationship between the customer and the brand goes beyond the purchasing process. It is very important to understand the customer, to know their needs and to propose actions to increase the value of the brand for them. In the literature, there are several models capable of determining and segmenting customers according to variables dependent on the purchasing process. However, we have not found any study that applies to the business case of classifying customers according to their relationship with the contact centre. In this paper, we establish a working model that allows us to define the value of the customer in the process of interaction with the contact centre, so that we can propose actions both in the sales phase and during the post-sales service, so that the value and perception of the brand is increased. In this model, we propose using the value of recency, frequency, importance and duration of customer interactions with the post-sales service, thus obtaining a ranking, and grouping of customers to help establish personalized communication strategies. We have verified this model by presenting a business case applied to the telecom sector.

Complexity in the tourism and hospitality online purchasing process

This chapter examines the complexity of attributes affecting the online purchasing process in tourism and hospitality. Eight elements (i.e. marketing activities, perceived benefits, perceived risks, over-choice confusion, price issues, quality issues, consumer trust and intention to purchase) are identified as of principal importance. Based on a sample of 735 holidaymakers, the empirical findings stress the role of perceived benefits in e-marketing activities; the significance of perceived risks for price and quality issues; and the importance of over-choice confusion to e-shopping. The research employs Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), an innovative technique in tourism. QCA results are compared to regression highlighting the possible superiority of this non-linear mixed method against correlational analysis. The chapter progresses from fit to predictive validity, something that only a handful of studies have employed in tourism and hospitality, and generally in the service sector. It also discusses several theoretical, methodological and managerial implications, whilst it contributes in both, theoretical and methodological domains.

Examination of Consumer Purchase Decisions via Neuromarketing Methods: A Social Psychology Approach

The aim of the study is to determine the size and strength of consumers' attitudes towards brands and to observe the effect of marketing efforts on attitudes with the support of biometric data. Through this main purpose 406 people participated in the study to create a brand set, and 60 people participated in the experiment phase. The shopping processes were monitored via eye tracker, and the patterns based on groups were obtained. It has been found out that sales promotion tools and social impact are the influential factors in the purchasing process, which is positioned as the main proposal of the study. According to the comparison made between parents and individuals not having any children, it has been discovered that the gender factor is not influential in the purchasing process while the brand related experience of parents is very effective in the process.

Packaging as a Purchase Determinanton the Dietary Supplement Market in Poland

Unit packaging of dietary supplements - an inherent element of their manufacturing, without which they would be impossible to market — has numerous interlocking functions to fulfil, including the protective, transport, information, functional, ecological and marketing functions. The information function, however, is one of the priority functions of dietary supplement packaging. In the era of the continual development of online and self-service stores (including pharmacies), such packaging has become one of the key sources of information about dietary supplements’ features and properties, while also serving as a brand image creator and a carrier of promotional information. This raises the questions of whether and to what extent the unit packaging of dietary supplements influences the purchasing decisions of consumers, what features and elements of such packaging are crucial for consumers in the purchasing process, and what significance supplement packaging has in the purchasing process against the background of other purchasing determinants. Seeking to address these questions, herein we present selected results of an original study conducted in 2019 with a purposely selected sample of 468 dietary supplement consumers in Poland, whose main purpose was to identify the role and significance of packaging as a determinant of purchase in relation to three selected categories of dietary supplements..

Hotel Purchasing sebagai Fungsi Pengendalian Biaya dan Peningkatan Profit

Purchasing is a series of activities resulting in the selection and acquisition of desired commodities services. The purchasing function is extremely important. Any money that is saved during the purchasing process goes directly to the bottom line. Purchasing in the hospitality industries operation is a routine activity to purchase the good. Purchasing is an essential activity because controlling the cost of operation could be started from purchase. The wrong purchase causes inefficient operation, and the business could be lost. Managers of any business venture must understand the importance of controlling the purchasing function. Efficiently and effectiveness in purchasing should be saved cost for product. It could be to support generating profit in operation. The difficulty of generating a profit is only one of the reasons why the purchasing functions so pertinent. The purchasing could be efficient and effective if its activity base on 6 (six) objective of purchase, as follows: right product, the right price, right quality, right quantity, right time and the right supplier. Many managers in a business have an image that the profit only gets from generating sales, to increase the profit, the manager must be increase sales of the product. However, purchasing could be generating profit most easily and efficiently more than generating profit from sales. Generating profit in operation could be get from purchasing control. In this manner, the business could increase the power competitive by cost control from purchase

The Use of Mobile Phones and their Apps in Tourism Marketing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

<p>This study aims at identifying the importance of using smartphone apps in tourism marketing in Al-Kharj Governorate in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study used the descriptive and analytical approach in studying its hypotheses and achieving its objectives. It concluded that the majority of the study sample use smartphones and their tourism apps in the process of obtaining information and complete the purchasing process for the tourist trip.These apps are used to attract tourists as the best advertising method that attracts the targeted market. The study presented a set of recommendations, the most important of which is increasing cooperation between the authorities that supervise the tourism activity in the governorate when designing these apps and working to develop the technological infrastructure in line with the nature of development in the field of smartphones.</p>