Understanding consumer responses to carbon footprint product labels: A multi-group analysis of online and offline shopping engagement in retail contexts

Purpose– Even though there has been anecdotal evidence regarding the use of ingratiation techniques in retail salesperson-shopper interactions, surprisingly, there has been limited research on the nature of these ingratiatory techniques and their impact on consumers’ perceptions and attitudes. The research reported here was conducted to determine the extent to which different ingratiation techniques that have been identified as techniques used in non-retailing domains are also used by retail salespersons in salesperson-shopper interactions. In addition, it sought to assess whether there are additional ingratiation techniques used by retail salespersons in salesperson-shopper interactions that have not been identified in existing ingratiation literature. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach– Two studies, drawing on research on ingratiation in other domains, were conducted in pursuit of realising the purpose. Study 1 was a survey involving a sample of 282 participants, which yielded 267 useable critical incident reports and 283 discrete examples of ingratiatory behaviours. Participants responded to various questions including a critical incident question. Cross-tabulations were, for the main part, used in assessing responses. A second survey involving 158 participants was undertaken as a verification study. This Study 2 yielded 144 useable responses.Findings– Based on a critical incident technique (CIT), other enhancement: compliment and praise was the ingratiation technique most frequently cited by participants in the first sample, with product-customer enhancement being second and favour-rendering third. The Study 2 confirmed other enhancement: compliment and praise and product-customer enhancement as the top two techniques. Four new categories of ingratiatory behaviours emerged in retail salesperson-shopper interactions, and many of the ingratiatory behaviours previously identified in non-retailing contexts also exist in this retailing context.Research limitations/implications– Both samples are US samples, and the method used was the CIT. Though the US samples are appropriate for this study, the study could be extended to other groups and across cultures, to see whether cultural differences in the use of, and consumer responses to, ingratiation techniques exist. The study also did not look at the retail salespeople’s perspectives regarding the use of these techniques. Hence further research should address dyadic interpretations of a single ingratiatory encounter; and efforts should also be made to assess how consumers respond to ingratiation in retailing.Practical implications– The studies result in a classification of the influence techniques used most often in retail settings in the USA. Retailers should be aware that customers may, therefore, expect certain kinds of influence tactics and may not respond in the same way when there is a departure from a “customary” influence tactic.Originality/value– Not much research has explored the different kinds of ingratiation techniques used in retail contexts; nor has the stream of research sought to categorise them.

PurposeDrawn from the concepts of processing fluency and mental imagery, the present study aims to fill the void by developing the mechanism underlying consumers' cognitive processing of visually appealing digital content in social media (i.e. Instagram) of retail brands.Design/methodology/approachData were gathered using a web-based survey method with consumers residing in the USA (N = 328). Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to investigate the proposed hypotheses. In addition, measurement invariance and multigroup analyses were conducted to test the moderation effect of need for cognition (NFC).FindingsThe results supported the pivotal role of mental imagery when consumers process visual messages in the context of a retail brand's Instagram. Both comprehension fluency and imagery fluency positively influence mental imagery, which in turn cultivates positive attitude towards the brand. The mediating role of mental imagery is confirmed. Furthermore, individuals' NFC interacts with imagery fluency but not with comprehension fluency such that high NFC strengthens the effect of imagery fluency on mental imagery. That is, when high-NFC consumers process information on Instagram, their perceptions of ease of generating imagery likely evoke visual representation of the brand's messages on Instagram in their minds.Practical implicationsThis research provides feasible ways for brands to increase the effectiveness of digital marketing communications in social media (e.g. optimising of the contextual features of visual information and employing interactive features such as filters of social media to enhance processing fluency).Originality/valueWithin the context of digital retailing, this study provides a new perspective of consumers' imagery processing to investigate the effectiveness of visual-focussed messages.

This study investigates the influence of haptic stimuli on the relationship between immersion and purchase intention, mediated by telepresence and esthetic emotions, within the retail context. Grounded in flow theory and the Stimulus–Organism–Response (SOR) framework, a controlled laboratory experiment involving 117 participants was conducted across two retail categories (apparel and footwear) to enhance external validity. Participants, selected based on shopping behavior and retail familiarity, were randomly assigned to an experimental or control group. Post-experimental data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed through multi-group analysis. Results demonstrate that haptic stimuli significantly reinforce the association between immersion and purchase intention by enhancing telepresence and esthetic emotions. Theoretically, the study extends understanding of how haptic technology shapes consumer experiences through sensory and emotional mechanisms. The findings offer actionable insights for marketers seeking to employ haptic interfaces to foster deeper engagement and strengthen purchase intentions.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is, first, to analyze the direct effects of the relationship chain “causal attributions and recovery efforts → satisfaction with service recovery → conventional and online word-of-mouth intentions” and, second, to study the moderating role of age in the relationship between satisfaction and subsequent word-of-mouth. Consumer assessment and behavior associated with service recovery is a topic of considerable interest for both academics and practitioners. Design/methodology/approach – From an empirical perspective, this paper uses a sample of 336 individuals who experienced service failure at a retail store to estimate a structural equation model. Additionally, a multigroup analysis allows testing the existence of a moderating effect of age on the hypothesized relations. Findings – Results allow to confirm the direct effects of causal attributions and recovery efforts on satisfaction with service recovery, and the impact of the latter, in turn, on conventional and online word-of-mouth intentions. Furthermore, the multigroup analysis reveals that age moderates the relationship between satisfaction and online word-of-mouth. Practical implications – In service recovery situations, retailers should concentrate their efforts at providing evidence of the failure as temporary and inevitable as well as offering material or economic compensation. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the identification of the most relevant variables influencing customer satisfaction with service recovery in a retail context. In addition to this, these results provide support to the importance of age on online word-of-mouth behavior.

Purpose Despite the growing number of cashierless stores, few studies have examined the factors that influence the success of such stores. This paper aims to identify the influence of store attributes in customers’ affective attitudes regarding cashierless stores and to understand how customers’ need for interaction and risk reduction affect the relationship between customer experiences and evaluation. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative research is conducted using a partial least squares structural equation model. Data was collected from 174 customers with cashierless store experience. Findings The results identify the influence of hedonic and utilitarian characteristics on affective attitudes and the impact of attitudes on behavioral intentions. Also, multigroup analysis reveals that hedonic features are stronger indicators of customer attitudes among those with a low need for interaction, whereas utilitarian attributes are more important among customers with a low need for risk reduction. Customers’ affective attitudes are stronger influences on behavioral intentions among members of customer groups with a low need for both interaction and risk reduction. Originality/value To add to the limited research in customers’ experience with unstaffed stores, this study provides useful insights to achieve sustainable growth in the retailing context. Managerial considerations suggest that operators of cashierless stores should design store environments to guarantee customers’ purchasing and recommendation intentions.

Relationship marketing is not equally effective in every country; this study investigates the potential moderating effects of individualism, long-term orientation (LTO), and consumer relationship proneness (CRP) on the links of relationship benefits with relational satisfaction, trust, and relationship commitment in a retail context. Multigroup analyses of a sample of 502 graduate students from the USA, France, and China revealed that consumers significantly differ in their perceptions of relational benefits, relationship proneness, trust, relational satisfaction, and commitment. Moreover, positive relationships of relational benefits with trust, relational satisfaction, and commitment are moderated by CRP and cultural factors (individualism and LTO). Therefore, personality traits and national culture both exert important influences on consumer attitudes toward relationship benefits and retail relationships. Both factors accordingly should be taken into consideration in segmentation decisions and when developing international marketing strategies. Managerial implications are discussed.

This study examined the influence of exterior store atmospherics upon college students’ responses to a university-branded merchandise store. The research was informed by Mehrabian and Russell’s (1974) Stimulus–Organism–Response (S–O–R) model, which proposes that consumers’ emotional responses to a physical store environment mediate how the environment shapes their patronage behaviors. An online survey with a 2 × 2 × 2 experimental design component was implemented to explore the influence of three aspects of exterior store atmospherics (i.e., landscaping, store greeter, and electronic kiosk) upon three dependent variables: consumer emotional state (pleasure/arousal), consumer liking of the store exterior, and patronage intentions. The sample included 336 college students. Analyses provide support for the S–O–R model and related research; collectively, findings are consistent with the premise that pleasure and liking of the storefront exterior shape patronage intentions at a university-branded merchandise store. The exterior store atmospherics manipulated in the present study, however, did not positively influence consumers’ emotional states or liking. This study examined the influence of understudied aspects of exterior store atmospherics on consumers’ emotional states and liking as well as their patronage intentions toward a university-branded merchandise store. Contrary to prior work, findings provide evidence that, in some retail contexts, store greeters may generate negative responses from consumers.

The pervasive impact of social media marketing on consumer behavior within the retail industry serves as the focal point of this comprehensive review. This paper aims to dissect the intricate relationship between social media marketing initiatives and their effects on consumer purchasing patterns, brand loyalty, and engagement. By collating and examining a broad spectrum of literature, including empirical studies, theoretical frameworks, and case analyses, this review endeavors to provide a holistic understanding of how social media platforms are reshaping consumer interactions with retail brands. Without adopting a primary research methodology, this review critically analyzes existing research findings to identify prevailing trends, effective strategies, and the resultant consumer responses to social media marketing in the retail context. The analysis delves into the mechanisms through which social media influences consumer perceptions, engagement practices, and ultimately, purchasing decisions. It highlights the transformative power of social media in marketing, emphasizing the shift towards more interactive, personalized, and consumer-driven communication strategies. Key insights reveal that social media marketing exerts a profound influence on consumer behavior, mediated by factors such as content authenticity, the extent of consumer engagement, and the strategic use of influencers and user-generated content. These elements are shown to enhance brand visibility, strengthen consumer-brand relationships, and influence purchasing behavior. The paper posits that social media marketing represents a critical element in the contemporary retail marketing mix, with significant implications for consumer behaviour. Retailers must leverage innovative social media strategies to engage consumers effectively. The review also suggests avenues for future research, particularly in the context of evolving social media trends and their impact on consumer behavior. This synthesis aims to equip practitioners and scholars with a nuanced understanding of the role of social media marketing in shaping consumer dynamics within the retail sector. Keywords: Social Media Marketing, Consumer Engagement, Brand Awareness, Content Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Personalization, Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

The advent of measures of implicit cognition provides marketing researchers with tools they can use to probe automatic processes that do not rely on conscious deliberation. Attempts by marketing researchers to probe unconscious or automatic processes underlying consumer attitudes and purchase decisions date back at least as far as the work of motivation researchers in the early to mid‐twentieth century. These newer methods, principally the Implicit Association Test, emerged from work of psychologists concerned with studying implicit attitudes toward the self and social issues. These measures have more recently been applied to marketing studies of implicit attitudes of consumers toward particular brands and products. This special issue of Psychology & Marketing features contributions in which contemporary researchers in the field review applications of implicit measurement to consumer cognition, consumer persuasion, and nonverbal communication in the retailing context. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The pervasive impact of social media marketing on consumer behavior within the retail industry serves as the focal point of this comprehensive review. This paper aims to dissect the intricate relationship between social media marketing initiatives and their effects on consumer purchasing patterns, brand loyalty, and engagement. By collating and examining a broad spectrum of literature, including empirical studies, theoretical frameworks, and case analyses, this review endeavors to provide a holistic understanding of how social media platforms are reshaping consumer interactions with retail brands. Without adopting a primary research methodology, this review critically analyzes existing research findings to identify prevailing trends, effective strategies, and the resultant consumer responses to social media marketing in the retail context. The analysis delves into the mechanisms through which social media influences consumer perceptions, engagement practices, and ultimately, purchasing decisions. It highlights the transformative power of social media in marketing, emphasizing the shift towards more interactive, personalized, and consumer-driven communication strategies. Key insights reveal that social media marketing exerts a profound influence on consumer behavior, mediated by factors such as content authenticity, the extent of consumer engagement, and the strategic use of influencers and user-generated content. These elements are shown to enhance brand visibility, strengthen consumer-brand relationships, and influence purchasing behavior. The paper posits that social media marketing represents a critical element in the contemporary retail marketing mix, with significant implications for consumer behavior. It calls for retailers to leverage innovative social media strategies to engage consumers effectively. The review also suggests avenues for future research, particularly in the context of evolving social media trends and their impact on consumer behavior. This synthesis aims to equip practitioners and scholars with a nuanced understanding of the role of social media marketing in shaping consumer dynamics within the retail sector. Keywords: Social Media Marketing, Consumer Engagement, Brand Awareness, Content Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Personalization, Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

During the past 15 years, one of the most important influences on business has been the rapid development of the Internet and e-business technology. In a relatively short space of time, the Internet, or more specifically, the world wide web, has evolved from being a novelty used purely as an entertainment and communication device by a handful of technology aficionados into a transforming concept that is now seen as an essential business tool (Simeon, 1999; Poon & Swatman, 1999; Aldridge et al., 1997; Herbig & Hale, 1997; Cotter, 2002). The design of e-commerce websites interface is thus receiving increasing managerial and research attention in online retail context. E-commerce websites are trying to increase their sales through a personalized merchandising mainly based on the theatralization of the interface. However, if online personalization has been extensively studied in information systems research, web users reactions to such personalization are not known yet (Ho, 2006). From a cognitive point of view, the simple fact of getting lost on a webpage for example, seems to be the consequence of user’s difficulties to manage simultaneously two cognitive activities: processing and locating (Tricot, 1995). Unfortunately, it changes the affective states and factors such as aesthetically pleasing color combinations can play an important role in generating positive affect, which may be particularly relevant for e-commerce website. Indeed, in this retail context, companies try to encourage users to associate a given brand with positive affective states. A few studies have been conducted on this topic. Norman (2002) worked on aesthetics and emotion in design, Eroglu et al., (2001, 2003) investigated the effects of atmospheric cues of the online store on shoppers’ emotional and cognitive states, showing that they affected their shopping outcomes. Nonetheless, none research can be found on the effects of colors on the memorization and buying intention, by considering the impact of affective states as a mediating variable of the “colorsmemorization/buying intention” link. Similar to traditional in store stimuli, online colors can provide information about the retailer (e.g., the quality or type or retailer, the target audience of the retailer) as well as influence shopper responses during the site visit (Eroglu et al., 2003). The consumers affective states can directly affect the website visit duration. It is 8

Synthesizing knowledge from psychology and marketing research, an understanding of nonverbal communication can help address when and how customers express their underlying feelings in retail interactions that are not evident in direct verbal expressions. Examining nonverbal behavior as an indirect measure of consumer response can enable retailers to better understand the needs of their customers. Nonverbal communication theory is used to develop a conceptual framework that builds on prior research on the situation, expressivity, social status, display rules, and their effects on customer expression. Lay wisdom suggests that customer expression should be revealing (e.g., “the eyes are the windows to the soul”). However, research reveals a myriad of situational factors that may lead customers to mask their true feelings. This paper offers nine theoretical propositions and summarizes research evidence related to these pro‐positions from various substantive domains for marketing research. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Digitization has fundamentally changed consumers’ experiences of shopping. Our chapter provides a survey of consumers’ decision-making and experiences within the context of omnichannel retailing. Consumers nowadays find a number of channels that provide them with many search, comparison, and purchase choices as retailers seek to utilize both online and offline purchase channels strategically. Consumers have benefitted in particular from the opportunities offered by the Internet’s bidirectional quality, i.e. facilitating communication between companies and consumers as well as between consumers. We identify changing patterns of consumer behavior which suggest consumers increasingly pursue integrative (rather than different) purchasing strategies between online and offline settings. We trace changes that have flowed from the growth of the digital age (including within the classical stages of consumer behavior: search, choice, acquisition/purchase, consumption and use, and disposal). Drivers for consumer motivation, satisfaction, and experiences in omnichannel environments are reviewed as well as new developments which include different ways of communicating with and reaching consumers, varying channels of distribution, different consumer responses to shopping, and different patterns of consumer purchasing depending on the product category. The simultaneous use of multiple channels, which interact with each other, provides the context for our discussion of the factors that affect consumers’ decision-making and purchasing online and offline and consumers’ digital purchasing strategies.

This paper investigates the impact of High-Profile Promotions (HPPs), specifically luxury beauty and aroma booths, on environmental sustainability. While most prior research on similar pop-up installations has focused on their commercial value, this study approaches the topic from an environmental sustainability perspective. It quantifies the environmental impact of HPPs, transitioning from qualitative assessments to quantitative analysis, and explores potential environmental protection strategies for brands when planning HPP events, particularly regarding the selection of construction materials. The methodology employed in this study integrates Life Cycle Assessment, Eco-Indicator 99 (EI 99), and Comparative Study approaches. This comprehensive analysis, exemplified through a case study of an internationally renowned aroma brand, investigates the full life cycle of an HPP event booth. The study meticulously deconstructs the components and materials involved, quantifying their environmental impacts using the EI99 index. These environmental impact assessments are subsequently compared to those of conventional massive buildings, enabling a robust evaluation of the relative sustainability and resource efficiency of the HPP structures. Through calculation and analysis, this study reveals that the daily carbon emissions of different HPP options were found to range from 162 to 1308 times that of a conventional massive building, and varying material choices can potentially reduce HPPs’ daily carbon emissions by approximately 73%. This underscores the critical role of material selection in mitigating environmental impact within the context of pop-up retail. Notably, furniture components, particularly cabinets, emerge as pivotal areas where carbon footprint reduction efforts can be most effectively concentrated. Finally, this research offers valuable insights and practical guidance for environmentally conscious brands in the design and implementation of pop-up retail strategies. By incorporating these findings, brands can align their operations with principles of sustainability and social responsibility, promoting a more balanced and sustainable impact on society.

Relating Consumer, Descriptive, and Laboratory Data to Better Understand Consumer Responses (Manual 30) addresses one of the most important topics in the area of consumer testing: how to better understand consumer responses. Eight chapters cover techniques used to interpret and further understand consumer responses through their relationship with other data, as well as the application of these techniques to practical industrial situations. Readers will gain an understanding of the benefits, requirements and applications of this methodology; knowledge of the techniques used in the approach; and the required information and examples to be able to apply these techniques. For sensory, product development and marketing/market research professionals who are involved in the interpretation of consumer data or in product formulation/reformulation work based on consumer responses.