Consumer Engagement through Conditional Promotions

This paper investigates consumers' response to conditional promotions (CP) offered in an offline retail store. Using qualitative research inquiry, we decipher the consumer decision-making process by finding the linkages between 'pre-cart' and the 'post-cart' add-on purchases. Thematic analysis of qualitative data (focus groups and personal interviews) resulted in four themes, i.e. 'Criticality of Product Utility,' 'Mode of Payments,' 'Loss Aversion by Consumers,' and 'Inability to Think Out-of-Box by the Consumers.' We add value to the existing marketing literature by finding the relationship between products purchased in 'pre-cart', i.e., without the knowledge of CP and 'post-cart', defined as add-on products added to the cart to avail the CP offer while purchasing in an offline retail store. Further, we find that consumers' willingness to avail CP varies with different relative distances from the target purchase cart value (high vs. low) and mode of payments (cash vs. digital). We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of the research.

EXPRESS: How Marketer Actions Influence Persuasion Knowledge: Meta-Analytic Evidence of a Non-Linear Relationship

Persuasion knowledge development leads to better coping with marketplace persuasion, better consumer decision-making, and adds to consumer well-being. While significant knowledge exists on the impact that individual factors (e.g., age) and cues (e.g., sponsorship disclosure messages) have on consumers’ persuasion knowledge development, little is known about the influence of marketer actions, such as advertising spending. This is surprising, as marketer activities provide a major source of information for consumers’ persuasion knowledge learning and practice and can theoretically either support or hinder persuasion knowledge development. We develop several explanations for various types of relationships between advertising spending and persuasion knowledge and test these relationships by means of a meta-analysis of the persuasion knowledge literature based on 140 papers with 162 distinctive datasets that address persuasion knowledge measurements. We find that increasing advertising spending also increases consumers’ persuasion knowledge. The relationship follows an inverted-U curve, and, at a certain level of advertising spending, persuasion knowledge begins to decrease. The findings have theoretical and societal implications and, depending on the level of advertising investment, policy implications with the ultimate aim of ensuring consumer well-being and protecting consumer groups with low levels of persuasion knowledge.

Revisiting Sproles and Kendall’s Consumer Styles Inventory (CSI) in the 21st Century: A Case of Australian Consumers Decision-Making Styles in the Context of High and Low-Involvement Purchases

There has been considerable research on the investigation of Consumer Decision-Making Styles (CDMS). However, research designs suggested to date mainly replicate the original study by Sproles and Kendall (1986) proposing eight mental characteristics, the Consumer Styles Inventory (CSI). The research aims to develop this approach further and apply the CSI to different product involvement (e.g., high and low) and compare the relationship between product involvement and consumer decision-making styles. Data were collected from 208 Australian respondents using a self-administered questionnaire. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on the CSI adapted for high and low involvement purchases. The generalisability of the CSI was tested within this context. Results found significant differences between the two product categories and demonstrated a relationship between products and CDMS and that CDMS are governed by consumers’ perceived product involvement. Furthermore, the original CSI can still be a valuable measure to low involvement purchases; however, it is questionable and requires further modification in relation to high involvement purchases. For instance, the addition of new factors such as “environmental sustainability”, “innovation consciousness”, “corporate social responsibility”, etc. with the original scale would help understand CDMS effectively. The findings of this research will expand the scientific literature on the relationship between product involvement and CDMS. Knowing that Australians are ‘rational’ and ‘quality conscious’ buyers, managers can employ CDMS to analyse consumers’ needs and develop segmented marketing messages and strategies.

Analysis of the Effect of Financial Literacy, Practicality and Consumer Lifestyle on the Use of Chip-Based Electronic Money Using SEM

Industry 4.0 trends have a significant influence on the acceleration of technology in Indonesia. The development of financial technology has shifted conventional transactions to electronic money as a means of payment with a digital system. Electronic money users in Indonesia continue to grow, while several factors affect consumer decision making to use electronic money. This study aims to analyze the effect of financial literacy, practicality, and consumer lifestyle on consumer interest in using chip-based electronic money. This research uses a quantitative approach with primary data obtained through questionnaires to chip-based electronic money users. The analytical method used is Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to verify the factors that determine the indicators of the findings of interest in the use of chip-based electronic money. The study results indicate that: (a) Financial literacy has a significant positive effect on interest in using chip-based electronic money by 14.6%; (b) Financial literacy has a significant positive effect on practicality in the use of chip-based electronic money by 51.8%; (c) Practicality in the use of chip-based electronic money has a significant positive effect on consumer lifestyles by 71.3%; (d) Practicality has a significant positive effect on the use of chip-based electronic money by 25%; and (e) Consumer lifestyle has a significant positive effect on the use of chip-based electronic money by 52.8%. The study results imply that it can be used as a consideration for making monetary policy in Indonesia, dealing with the rapid growth in the use of chip-based electronic money.

Theoretical Foundations of the First Purchase in Marketing

Consumer decision making as an important process in marketing sphere has been discussed in detail, but so far researchers as a rule have not focused the attention on how the purchase happens for the very first time. The current text is an attempt to develop the foundations and to make a conceptual framework of the first purchase in marketing and to outline its significance for current or future consumption, especially for the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). Together with a review of the extent to which the first purchase is considered and interpreted in the academic tradition in the field (and in practice), an attempt has been made to outline it as a phenomenon, since it can have significant benefits for better understanding consumer behavior and the further improvement of marketing communications. With this regard, it can be assumed that the first purchase is the initial step of acquiring consumer experience, which determines whether the product will continue to be purchased or not. Of course, all this is largely valid for the b2c (business to consumer) markets, for the products for individual and household consumption, and for the b2b (business to business) ones the particularities may differ significantly and need to be a subject of additional research efforts.

Self help books and their titles – a lexical and syntactical analysis

The article presents results of an analysis of titles of English self-help books as animportant phenomenon of pop culture. The focus was placed on the role of the title bothas a key factor for the consumer decision-making process and as a carrier of culturalthought or an element of culture. Individual titles of self-help publications were dividedaccording to, among others, their length, structural and semantic features. The lexicallayer was discussed with particular emphasis on the elements that stand out from theselected research material. A syntactic analysis was undertaken in order to identify themost common structures to determine whether there is a rule for titling self-help booksthat would ensure their commercial success. The article also mentions the problemof intertextual references and rhetorical procedures that make titles more attractiveand perform advertising functions. The subject under scrutiny spans several branchesof science, including psychology and sociology.