Cause-Related Marketing and Consumer Buying Behavior

The concept of cause-related marketing (CRM) has been in vogue since the past few decades and involves marketing activities carried out with the purpose ‘to be successful in addressing worthwhile social causes', through collaboration with charitable organizations that help to increase profitability along with bettering the society, in mutually beneficial ways. This implies a social dimension in this cause-related buying. While this is a good social initiative with many factors that influence consumer choice and purchase of cause-related products, there are also many challenges such as consumer skepticism, etc., which mar CRM's success and effectiveness. Through review of extant literature, this study purposes to examine factors and variables influencing CRM and the challenges impeding its effectiveness and suggests ways to overcome these. Furthermore, to gauge an understanding on its practical application, two case studies on CRM campaigns conducted in two different (developing and developed) markets are also discussed.

Tactile Sensations in E-Retailing

Previous research universally recognized the pivotal role of touch in consumer behavior and considered it as one of the critical factors limiting the adoption of online shopping. In fact, in digital environments, consumers can rely only on the product visual representation and/or written descriptions of its characteristics. Starting from this evidence, several authors have underlined how the provision of a description of a product's tactile characteristics may positively affect consumer behavior. However, previous contributions have devoted little attention to the differential influence of online sources of information on consumers' willingness to buy when a description of a product's tactile characteristics is provided. The research presented in this chapter aims to cover this gap, by demonstrating through two experimental studies that, when a description of the tactile characteristics of the product is provided, the information given by the users of a web-community increases consumer's willingness to buy the product.

Future Research Directions in Sensory Marketing

Although retail atmospherics has been an active field of study, further research is needed to address the role that sensory marketing plays in the retailing sector. This chapter presents a review of previous research and discusses the effect of visual, sound, and olfactory atmospherics on shopping outcomes. The interaction among these variables and their common impact on consumer behavior is also explored. The chapter expands and enriches the literature on retail atmospherics and discusses future research avenues. Further research will help retailers pay attention to the crucial role of sensory environment in shaping the customer experience and shopping behavior.

Consumer Emotions Research in Luxury Contexts in Emerging Economies

The main objective of this chapter is to focus on the emotional experience in luxury contexts in emerging economies. Consumer research literature currently lacks studies of consumer emotions in emerging economies, except for some relevant studies of emerging consumption in China. This chapter reports a systematic literature review of luxury and consumer emotions aiming at mapping the main trends of research on this topic. The results show that the predominant type of methodology in these studies is mainly quantitative versus qualitative and mixed. The studies consider various antecedents of emotions, environmental stimuli, such as familiarity with the brand, the physical aspect of the product, among others, and non-environmental stimuli such as quality of service, product quality, among others. The contexts of studies of consumer emotions are presented. Finally, the authors also identify the studies undertaken in emerging economies.

Food Retail in the Rural Periphery Using the Example of Germany

Using a mixed-method approach, the author documents processes of decline in food retail on the spatial meso-scale of a northern German federal state and investigates the attitudes and patterns of demand of households dealing with the loss of local retail. Cluster and discriminant analysis are used to identify five relevant sub-groups, all of which are characterised by an ongoing discourse concerning the local retail structures. The five sub-groups define their (dis)interest in local retail using very different spatial, temporal, and substantial criteria. These criteria are drawn upon by local retailers to develop strength and weakness profiles and identify learning potential in an attempt to use innovative forms of niche marketing to better attract non-users or minimal users. Expert interviews with village shopkeepers and local producers of fresh goods indicate which solutions are being implemented to secure the commercial success of rural local retail in the long term and to distinguish such retail from the offerings of ubiquitous chains of supermarkets and discounters.

Did You Read the Customer Reviews Before Shopping?

Online customer reviews are the most trustworthy source of information of consumers while determining the value of online retail platforms. They act to convince customers and serve the purpose of formation of trust and emotional attachment with the platform. This study reports the results of an experiment investigating the effects of online customer reviews on emotional attachment, trust, and repurchase intention while taking the previous emotional attachment strength into consideration. Results revealed that, depending on the previous attachment strength, both positive and negative reviews strongly affect emotional attachment. However, trust is only influenced by positive reviews. Besides, trust is a more durable construct compared to emotional attachment and is not subject to change easily. When the repurchase intention is investigated, only strongly attached consumers are affected by customer reviews.

Experiential Marketing

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of experiential marketing on experiential values of young customers and respectively on their satisfaction and word of mouth, intention to pay more and revisit. Primary data were gathered through questionnaires conducted with 489 respondents to examine young customers' experiences in well-known grocery retails in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Structural equation modelling using partial least square (PLS) method results were adequate in terms of reliability and validity. Empirical results revealed that some of strategic experiential modules and service quality perceptions of young customers have positive influences on customer experiences (functional and emotional). This research contributes to shed light on the role of shopping experiences of young retail consumers on experiential values, customer satisfaction, and post-purchase attitudes. It is anticipated that by filling this knowledge gap, strengthening retail-shopping strategies, which require an adjustment in the current business environment, can be developed.

Emotion Tracking

Previous literature has examined the significance of emotional consumer experiences increasingly pursued by consumers. However, the current knowledge of emotional responses in real-time and real-world consumption settings is still limited. Emotions have previously been measured with observation, self-report, and physiological methods. Digitalization and technological development have, however, advanced these methods as individuals now engage in various self-tracking practices. The chapter introduces emotion tracking as an additional means for measuring emotions. One application, the Emotion Tracker®, was tested by students (n=19) who tracked their emotions (n=617) related to various consumer experiences and reported their user experiences in research diaries. Emotion tracking facilitated real-time and real-world emotion measurement by partly combining the strengths and diminishing the weaknesses of traditional methods. The future of emotion measurement is likely to lie in the combination of subjective and objective self-tracking practices embedded in individuals' everyday lives.

Ambient Encounters in Retail “Discounters”

Cheap prices are the central positioning criterion of discount stores and the key variable explaining the intention to shop in discounters. Accordingly, discounters design their stores to maximize their efficiency. However, price may explain only a part of customer satisfaction. The purpose of this study is to delve into the environmental factors affecting discount retail store satisfaction. A conceptual model is empirically tested on the influence of discount store environmental attributes of customer satisfaction. Data are analyzed through partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) on a sample of 381 customers. Findings show that factors, different from low prices, influence satisfaction with discount stores. Despite customers seek for low prices, the store personnel positively influences customer satisfaction, followed by a convenient product assortment and an attractive product layout and a convenient store location. Discount store managers may use the store personnel as a way to differentiate from other retail competitors in a cost-service tradeoff.

The Role of Social Commerce Components on the Consumer Decision-Making Process

Rapid changes in commerce, technology, and consumer behaviour are leading businesses to shift their online activities. The popularity of social media pushed online merchants to integrate these platforms into their online presence, leading to the rise of social commerce. Consumers' interaction and participation online create a massive amount of information. The use of social commerce components facilitates the interaction of consumers by sharing their experiences and learning from others' experiences. In this chapter, the authors look at how this process has impacts throughout the consumer decision-making process when making a purchase and suggests directions for future research.