Customer Attraction Research Articles

Managing Consumer Trust in Intercultural E-Commerce Transactions

The importance of consumer trust to the success of online business transactions is well documented. An analytical look at the typical online purchase indicates the level of trust required to complete a transaction is dependent on such factors as: the privacy information consumers must provide, the confidence levels consumers have in their suppliers, the perceived quality of the goods, the supplier’s delivery service, customer service options, and the security of the transaction. Consumers are justifiably concerned about the privacy of the personal data they must submit over the internet to complete an online purchase. They perceive security risks to the point they may not want to engage in online transactions. If suppliers can gain consumer confidence and demonstrate the quality of the offered goods via detailed product descriptions in their website content, they can overcome security-related fears and entice consumers to engage in online transactions. Suppliers have resorted to using product and vendor reviews to allow consumers to increase their level of trust in the transaction by vicariously adopting the experiences of previous customers. This practice is now an important part of online purchases and has helped raise consumer confidence. Consumer trust is found to be related to customer satisfaction. It takes a long time for new online customers to gain enough trust and satisfaction to evolve from a mode where they are learning how to conduct online transactions with the firm, to a collaborative mode focused on the relational components of the interactions with the firm that develop trust and lead to long-term business relationships. When customers have problems with online transactions, however, they can quickly become discouraged and distance themselves from the firm. It is imperative, therefore, to understand the customers’ interests and capabilities so a website interface can be developed around consumer profiles focused on anticipated online transactional skills and user preferences. Similarly, a comparison of online to traditional store front purchase transactions reveals the differing quality processes each approach entails, and allows web designers to address perceived risks new online consumers may experience. Finally, market globalization is also increasing the tendency of the world to act as one consumer market. When the buyer and seller are from different cultures, the messages and interactions between them can be misinterpreted. Consumers from different cultures may interpret website content and text differently than the message is intended to communicate. An analysis of how different cultures may affect online business transactions is included below to permit website designers to communicate using generic methods which have a lower probability of being misunderstood. Customer attraction and retention remains a complex, elusive, but very important topic for online businesses. By analyzing online purchases within the framework of transactional and relational components, we can identify the more important aspects of how to build consumer trust with respect to conducting online transactions. Trust is established by ensuring a customer’s online transactional experience is positive, secure, and is supplemented by high quality products and services. Firms must design their websites to overcome cultural barriers when parties to transactions are from different countries, and establish trust with intercultural consumers as well.

Dependency on suppliers as a peril in the acquisition of innovations? The role of buyer attractiveness in mitigating potential negative dependency effects in buyer–supplier relations

New product development occurs nowadays mostly in joint buyer–supplier projects, which require closer ties between the partners in order to mobilize their resources. One issue arising from this collaborative model is that the buyer tends to become more dependent on the supplier. Multiple cases of supplier obstructionism have been reported. To mitigate this dilemma, this paper analyzes the relevance of customer attractiveness as an enabler of collaboration. Testing this hypothesis on a sample of 218 buyer–supplier relationships, we show that dependency as such is not the issue in the presence of close ties. Buyers who are a preferred customer of their suppliers can accept the risk of becoming dependent on them. The managerial implications of this finding is that firms should apply a reverse marketing approach and thus attempt to become the preferred customers of their important suppliers. From a conceptual perspective, our findings indicate the need to consider dependency not as an isolated variable, but in conjunction with attractiveness.

Determination Of Customer Preferences For Benefits Provided By Sales Promotion At Shopping Centres In Lithuania

Abstract The intensifying competition forces organizations to search for various measures which could help in persuading consumer to buy a product. Consequently, the attention to customer attraction is growing enormously. One of marketing measures used for this purpose is sales promotion. However, many measures of this marketing tool used by the companies do not attract consumers and end in failure. The article is aimed to determine customer preferences for benefits provided by sales promotion at shopping centres in Lithuania. Based on the results of questionnaire research the main conclusion is that customers of shopping centres in Lithuania are mainly driven by the utilitarian benefits of sales promotion, and are not affected by hedonic ones.

Role for Internal Auditor to Cope with IT Risks and IT Infrastructure in Jordan Commercial Banks

This study aims to provide assurance to senior management on the adequacy of the controls to ensure the IT infrastructure was planned, managed and maintained to support efficient operations and analyze risk assessment and know the role of it auditors to deal with risks which threats attain strategic objectives. The study population consists of the internal auditors in Jordan commercial banks. the most results : Audits can focus on such major IT assets as ERP systems and help management to make rational decisions in investing in IT assets to attractive new customers and make core competences for company, technology infrastructures have continued to grow in size and complexity. Servers, storage area networks (SANs), and network attached storage (NAS) and Audit risk assessment Evaluation of risks related to the value drivers of the organization, covering strategic, financial, operational, and compliance objectives, Audit risk assessment Evaluation of risks related to the value drivers of the organization, covering strategic, financial, operational, and compliance objectives. and most recommendations are An audit to verify that IT management has developed an organizational structure and procedures to ensure a controlled and efficient environment for information process and risk assessment is the identification and analysis of relevant risks to the achievement of an organization's objectives, important to care risk assessment is the identification and analysis of relevant risks to the achievement of an organization's objectives.

Explanation of the Culture-Oriented Tourism Strategy in Fashaphouieh-Kolain Dehestan

Explanation of the Culture-Oriented Tourism Strategy in Fashaphouieh-Kolain Dehestan

A data mining approach for turning potential customers into real ones in basket purchase analysis

Today, in this highly competitive, quality-based world attracting customers is very important. In line with is always right slogan, customer relationship management is at the core of an organisation's strategy. It plays an important role in four aspects, including: customer identification, customer attraction, customer retention, and customer satisfaction. By customer's life cycle's analysis, commercial organisations have obtained increased customer value. Data mining and data warehousing tools and other customer relation management methods have provided new opportunities for businesses. This paper discusses the practical use of data mining in identification of potential customers and potential customers' criteria in the competitive business environment. It also presents the mechanism for identification of potential customers who have the potential to become real customers. After analysing customers' basket purchase, based on the identified parameters, a pattern emerges. By using the decision tree tool, we identify the main criteria and its several sub-criteria and determine their importance level. We determine their importance in order to analyse customers' basket purchase and turn potential customers into real ones. Based on the proposed model, we suggest that organisations increase their investment on the customers that have potential to turn into a loyal customer.

The Impact of Electronic Banking on the Reduction of New Customers’ Cost in Sirjan City Banks

The present study examined the impact of electronic banking on reducing the cost of new customers in Sirjan city banks. E-banking components in this research include: internet banking, mobile banking, telephone banking, point-of-sale (POS) terminals, automated teller machines (ATMs), and self-service kiosks. The statistical sample size includes 384 subjects who were determined from the active population of Sirjan city. Given that the study population was selected from different occupational groups and there was incongruity between the groups, multi-stage cluster sampling method has been used. Therefore, first, the population in different occupational classes is separated, then simple random sampling method was applied to determine the sample number in each class. To collect data in this research, was used. The questionnaire validity and reliability were obtained respectively, 0.91 and 0.79. In order to describe and analyze the collected data, spss software was used. Statistical analysis results showed that overall e-banking leads to an increase in customer attraction towards a commercial bank. Each of the components of electronic banking has a significant impact on attracting new customers in the bank. At the end, some recommendations have been presented for banks staff and managers to make an applied use of the research results. Keywords: Electronic Banking, Customer, Cost

Effects of Socio-Cultural Factors on Consumer Choice of Commercial Banks: A Case of Kenya Commercial Bank in Nakuru Town

Customer choice of bank is an important element of banking strategy in today’s increasingly competitive environment. Bank management must identify and improve upon factors that can increase customer retention. There are factors that influence customer choice of banks as customer still shift from one bank to another and since these factors are several and varied. Examples of such factors are the socio-cultural factors. This study aims to investigate the influence of socio-cultural factors on consumer choice of commercial banks in Nakuru Municipality. Nakuru municipality currently has an establishment of over twenty four banks; these banks have and continue to rely on the attrition of customers from other existing banks and also sourcing for new ones in the market. The research relied on the case of Kenya Commercial Bank in Nakuru municipality. This branch was chosen based on the fact that it has been in existence in Nakuru market for a period of over twenty years and now has a large customer base. In order to collect the required data the population of the study comprised of 396 respondents on whom questionnaires were administered. Systematic random sampling was employed where by each of the tenth customer on the queue was given a questionnaire to complete and return. The Questionnaire was piloted so as to improve its validity. The collected data was coded and analyzed by the aid of Statistical Package for Social Scientists and Microsoft excels computer software and presented in tables and a narrative summary. From the findings, consumer choice of a bank is affected by socio-cultural factors. Culture, sub culture, and group’s influence consumer choice of a bank with a low effect. Personality, lifestyle and family have a very low effect on consumer choice of a bank. Customer service, availability of loan and convenience also affect consumers’ choice. The study recommends that socio-cultural be considered in making decisions concerned with attraction and retention of customers.

Calculating the total value of supplier innovation

Supplier innovation can contribute to a company's success, not only through cost savings, but also through revenue improvements by means of a higher chargeable price or the attraction of more customers. Although the demonstration of the measurable benefits (cost and revenue effects) from supplier innovation has been suggested in the literature, no approach to determine the total value of a supplier innovation is available. For this purpose, total cost approaches and price setting approaches were examined to design the evaluation components within our proposed total value of suppler innovation approach. We demonstrate how cost effects can be identified by total cost analysis and revenue effects by means of a conjoint analysis and a choice simulator. The developed approach and its description serve as a practical procedure to assess the monetary profitability of supplier innovation and support managers in their decision making efforts. A case example about a smart phone manufacturer demonstrates the applicability of our proposed total value of suppler innovation approach.

Effect of a Hormone Containing Nitrobenzene in Combination with Fertilizers on Early Flower Induction of Ixora coccinea Hybrids under Outdoor and Shaded Conditions

Ixora or Jungle Geranium (Ixora coccinea) is an invaluable plant in tropical landscapes for its beautiful foliage, easiness of growing and fabulous flowers freely formed and artfully presented. Sri Lanka exports Ixora hybrids as planting materials after rooting the Ixora cuttings on a coir dust media. Exporting potted Ixora plants with flowers is more beneficial than that without flowers as flowers increase product quality and gain customer attraction. In commercial floriculture venture, flower induction at young age using plant growth regulators and fertilizers is a popular practice. An experiment was conducted to investigate the most effective combination of a plant growth regulator and fertilizers for early flower initiation of Ixora hybrids; Vulcanus, Chanmai, Nora grant and Kontiki under outdoor and shaded conditions. Six-month-aged healthy plants of Ixora hybrids grown in containers were treated with a flowering hormone containing Nitrobenzene in combination with two fertilizer types: F1 – Bloom special and F2 – Krista K 44. Flowering hormone was sprayed in four concentrations; H1= 0.075% (V/V), H2 = 0.100% (V/V), H3 = 0.125% (V/V) and H4 = 0.150% (V/V) once in two weeks. Both fertilizers were applied as a liquid spray in same concentration (1 g/L of water) once a week. All the cultural practices were similarly applied to the plants under two light levels (outdoor light ‘L1’and shaded conditions ‘L2’). There were 16 treatment combinations and control, each with five replicates. Each treatment combination consisted of three plants. The number of flower-initiated plants per treatment combination was recorded as a percentage for five weeks. Percentage values after five weeks of treatments were transformed into log values and used for the analysis of variance. All the hybrids except Vulcanus showed a significant flower induction compared to the control. Outdoor light and shaded conditions were not significantly different to each other showing the potentiality of early flower initiation of hybrids under shaded condition. However, no significant difference in flower induction was observed among four levels of the flowering hormone and the two types of fertilizers (p> 0.05) in all four Ixora hybrids despite differences among the hybrids. Therefore, it could be concluded that the least expensive combination of hormone and fertilizer type could play a profitable and a positive role in early flower induction of Ixora at an age of six months.

Dehanding in Improving Fruit Quality of Banana

The experiment was conducted at the Horticultural Research Station, Mondouri, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal, India during the years 2007–2010 to assess the effect of dehanding on physico-chemical properties and quality of banana (Musa AAA Cv. Grande Naine). Accordingly terminal/distal hand(s) were removed in 3 (three) different intensity viz. i) removal of 1 (one) hand, ii) removal of 2 (two) hands and iii) removal of 3 (three) hands at various time after bunch emergence i.e, i) immediately after opening of last hand, ii) one week after opening of last hand, iii) two weeks after opening of last hand and iv) three weeks after opening of last hand. In general, dehanding decreased bunch weight over control and the intensity of reduction increased with delayed dehanding after opening of last hand. But removal of three hands immediately after opening of last hand increased fruit weight, fruit length, fruit circumference and pulp weight to the maximum tune of 53.9, 34.5, 13.9 and 58.6% respectively over the control. Unlike fruit morphological characters, the biochemical composition of fruits was not influenced significantly by dehanding except with reducing sugar. Dehanding also shortened the crop cycle by 18 days. The results signified the relevance of dehanding in improving market appeal and customer attraction of banana.

Developing a Kano-Based Evaluation Model for Innovation Design

This research focuses on developing a psychology-based evaluation procedure for innovative design. The divergent thinking part of the main innovative design procedure which discussed in this paper is the extensive QFD developed by the author (Wu). The major performance of QFD is to identify the customers’ requirements and their priorities. Then, the proposed extensive QFD helps transform the high priority requirements into appropriate technical characteristics. According to the priorities of product characteristics, the prior engineering parameters will be identified to be the key performances to redesign. For identifying the requirements and achieving the attractive design, we introduce the Kano model to construct the evaluation model. The proposed Kano-based evaluation procedure is mainly used in two stages of the innovative design. First, the evaluation process was used in QFD stage to help identify attractive customers’ requirements, and the other was used in the extension stage to help assess concepts. The flowchart of proposed innovative design procedure with psychology-based evaluation has also been developed. A case study, exercise equipment design, is adopted to explain and verify feasibility of the proposed approach.

SME suppliers and the challenge of public procurement: Evidence revealed by a UK government online feedback facility

The UK public sector provides an important opportunity for firms to transact business with an attractive customer. However there is concern that public procurement processes place smaller firms at a disadvantage. The views of small firms are under-represented and this paper provides additional, new evidence in order to improve our understanding of their difficulties with public procurement. A UK Government online feedback facility has provided an original, extensive and rich source of material from SME suppliers. It reveals a public procurement process which SMEs perceive to be frustrating and biased against them. Many of the concerns have been reported previously; overly prescriptive qualification criteria, poorly written tender specifications and prohibitive resource requirements remain the most common barriers but the need to supply via a third party is emerging as a new concern. Contract size, contract length and supplier rationalization did not feature as much as expected. Overall, SMEs are concerned about public procurement practices and the competence of public procurement officers. Whilst the UK government is implementing a series of measures, targeted to address these concerns, further research is required to determine their scope and impact.

패션 점포 내 판매원과 다른 고객에 대한 신체적 매력과 자기이미지 일치 효과

This study investigates how the physical attractiveness of salespeople and other customers and self-image congruence influence customer perception and brand attitude. As a result of a pretest, four types of pictorial stimuli were developed: physical attractiveness of salespeople (high/low) <TEX>${\times}$</TEX> that of other customers (high/low). Stimuli were developed using Photoshop CS. A total of 550 samples in two experiments were used and all respondents were women in their 20s and 30s. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and SEM. The result of analysis shows that the physical attractiveness of salesperson had a significant impact on perceived quality, but that of other customers did not. However, self-image congruence with other customers shows a significant effect on perceived quality; however, salespeople did not. The impact of the perceived product quality on brand attitude is higher than perceived service quality. This study adds to fashion retailing literature by demonstrating that physical attractiveness and self-image congruence can influence a customers' perception of product or service quality and brand attitude. It provides interesting insight into how retailers can use social factors as a strategic tool in a retail setting.

Las &lt;em&gt;tabernae&lt;/em&gt; de &lt;em&gt;Pollentia&lt;/em&gt; (Mallorca). Materiales figurados como manifestaciones apotropaicas, de religiosidad, y de representación durante el siglo III

A series of figurative materials found in commercial blocks around the forum of Pollentia in the 3rd century phase are herein presented. These materials, mainly small bronze sculptures, show different representation strategies and attraction of customers, but also certain religious and superstitious attitudes, and are therefore important indicators of the daily life and beliefs of the masses that inhabit these establishments.

Understanding configurations of relational attractiveness of the customer firm using fuzzy set QCA

This study introduces the concept of relational attractiveness of the customer (RAC) which is defined as the attitude of the supplier towards the customer firm in order to maintain and/or to improve an existing business relationship. Social Exchange Theory explains relational exchanges in business markets and provides a configurational logic for RAC. Based on an empirical investigation of the RAC perception of senior managers from 617 supplier companies, this study explores conditions of relational customer attractiveness, including financial and non-financial benefits, costs, trust and dependency. Using a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), the study uncovers different configurations of these conditions that lead to high or low relational customer attractiveness. The results show that financial benefits are present in all configurations leading to high relational customer attractiveness, but other conditions also need to be present.

Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website

Businesses have traditionally operated under a brick-and-mortar strategy, paying little attention to the electronic retail channel. Now, though, increasing competitive pressures and Web technologies as an information source necessitate that managers adopt an integrated click-and-mortar strategy. With differing levels of success, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have invested in their own websites to promote their online presence. However, the recent power of information intermediaries makes it difficult for companies to attract consumers solely through their own webpages. As a result, companies are being forced to adapt their online strategies to increase customer attraction; a proper use of backlinks and infomediaries can accomplish this at relatively low cost. This article traces the emergence of infomediaries and backlinks and the mechanics of their operation, offering managers and practitioners guidance regarding how best to improve the impact of their online visibility.

Assessment of customer relationship development

The focus of this paper is customer relationship marketing and its new trends. The particular goal of the presented research study was to identify and analyse the indicators of customer relationship development in human resources recruitment / leasing companies. Nine indicators have been explored: mission statement concerning customer commitment, customer attraction, customer commitment, development of customer value, understanding customer needs, goals for customer satisfaction, after sales services, measurement of customer satisfaction, complaint management. The indicators were made sequentially operational in order to translate customer relationship development into specific activities designed to increase business performance. Based on a set of customer indicators four scientific hypotheses were tested. We proved that strong customer orientation has a positive impact on business performance. Out of nine indicators, seven of them have a strong impact on business outcomes. The research confirms that business performance increases with firm size and market density, and that introduction of quality management systems improves company performance. Finally, the appropriateness of the customer relationship indicators applied in human resources recruitment companies is discussed.

Investigating the factors affecting transit user loyalty

Public transit agencies are constantly looking for ways to increase their ridership. While many studies have attempted to identify the factors affecting new customer attraction, the issue of transit user loyalty has been far less researched. In addition to being a good indicator of a transit agency’s performance, customer loyalty provides several added benefits. Loyal customers are more likely to use the transit agency’s services and recommend them to potential new users. Furthermore, attracting users usually involves additional customer acquisition costs (e.g. marketing) not required in order to retain existing loyal users. This study used data provided by a mixed Stated Preference/Revealed Preference survey to identify some of the factors that affect customer loyalty in the context of public transit. Factors examined include service attributes, trip characteristics, as well as socioeconomic and psychological attributes of the individual. The findings suggest that service quality attributes play a critical role in transit user loyalty, while initiatives such as the provision of real-time information panels or making park and ride facilities available have a less determinant effect on the customers’ mode shifting decisions, irrespective of their emotional response to public transit.

Importance of Web Based Tools for Promotion of Movies

This paper gives a description of the empirical study investigating the impact of promotions using Web based tools by Indian Movie production houses. Evolution of movie promotion starting with use of traditional methods for the first movie to the near dependence on social media to promote the latest movies produced in India has been chronologically presented. Critical role of web based tools and their synchronization with other media tools in contemporary movie promotion has also been elaborated. As Indian film industry is witnessing impeccable advancements in areas like technology and marketing digitalization, this research shows the use of online tools for attracting consumers. The key research objective is to find out the ability of the production houses to attain maximum customer attraction through various online tools like Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and YouTube. Data has been collected both from primary and secondary sources. Regression analysis has been used to depict the relationship between likes, comments and shares with the number of campaigns. Given the huge contribution of movies to Indian economy, ever increasing competition in this industry and increasing popularity of Web based tools; this study aims to benefit multiple stakeholders including movie producers, individual investors and all other entities related to movie making business such as music companies, distributors, exhibitors and single screen owners.