Regional Brand Research Articles

An Qualitative Research on Regional Brand Image and Its Effect on Purchase Intention

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the origin image of selected regional brands and its effect on consumer’s purchase intention. It also seeks to examine the importance of regional brand and finally, define consumer preference for selected agricultural product, offering marketing strategies and practices for promoting regional brands of agricultural product.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: Taking a semi-structured focus group interview to provide the researcher with the opportunity to gain further understanding of the participants’ experiences in purchasing regional agricultural products. The length of the interviews is approximately 1.5 hours for each of the three groups of five people. The fifteen selected interviewees familiar with regional brands as well as agricultural product. Among them are brand managers, marketing executives, industry experts, retailers and consumers. A content analysis was conducted after interviews completed and transcribed.
 Findings: The major findings of this research show that the dimension of origin image include region's economic, humanistic, industrial, typical enterprise and product itself. It also has a significant impact on consumers’ purchase intention, especially for the regional brand of agricultural product. Interestingly, if origin is clearly indicated on the label, the sales of the agricultural products would be greater, but it plays the moderate role rather than key factor.
 Practical/Managerial Implications: This research suggests that regional brand image is important in the eyes of a potential consumer in that it could to some extent induce the consumer to purchase the agricultural product. The results of the research provide insights into regional branding strategies to better manage and design marketing practices and activities to increase consumer preferences.
 Originality/Value: This paper is of value to academic researcher, agricultural product retailer, brand manager and regional brand associations alike as it synthesis the factors of country-of-origin effect in the consumer purchasing process and the impact of country-of-origin as a agriculture marketing strategy.

Региональные аспекты продвижения вузов на международном рынке

The article addresses the issue of increasing the international competitiveness of regional universities and identifies the main impact factors from the perspective of the current internationalization and digitalization of the global academic space. The new approach relies on both social and digital marketing tools to streamline the relationship between universities and target audiences, including foreign ones. The international competitiveness of regional universities depends on the following aspects: internationalization strategy, international academic ratings, innovative research centers and their role in the local academic process, joint curriculum programs, high-quality teaching material, technical, social and cultural infrastructure, etc. The paper contains some recommendations for university management and regional authorities on how to develop the promotion system of regional universities. The proposed measures include cooperation with foreign partners from the countries of greatest economic and geopolitical interest. Another tool is an advanced promotion system for regional education services in the context of regional brand promotion strategy, including digital marketing. The new model of university management can increase the efficiency of international activities of the regional socio-economic system.

Leader's strategies for designing the promotional path of regional brand competitiveness in the context of economic globalization.

In the era of economic globalization, the competitiveness of products on a global scale is increasingly achieved through effective and sustainable strategies for brand development by the leaders. This paper conducts an empirical study on regional brand competitiveness (BC) influencing factors. A research model was proposed and tested by employing structural equation modeling. Data analysis was conducted using 214 valid questionnaires from two major producing areas in Jilin Province, China. Research results show that Brand Market (BM) and Government Guidance (GG) directly and positively impact the regional BC. Regional Resource (RR) and industrial development (ID) indirectly impact the regional BC through the mediating role of BM and GG. BM is the most important factor affecting the regional BC. Based on this, the path to improve the competitiveness of traditional agricultural products under economic globalization is determined, and targeted countermeasures and suggestions are formulated for the existing problems.

Intra- and Inter-Cultivar Variability of Lavandin (Lavandula × intermedia Emeric ex Loisel.) Landraces from the Island of Hvar, Croatia

Lavandin (Lavandula × intermedia Emeric ex Loisel.) was brought to the Island of Hvar (Croatia) in the 1920s, coinciding with the beginning of large-scale cultivation of lavandin in France. Although the cultivation of lavandin and the production of essential oils are of great importance worldwide, the genetic diversity of lavandin has been little studied. We performed an AFLP-based genetic analysis that included the landraces ‘Bila’ and ‘Budrovka’ and two lavandin cultivars from France ‘Grosso’ and ‘Abrialis’, as well as the parental species of the hybrid (L. angustifolia and L. latifolia). Distance-based cluster analysis revealed the existence of the third landrace, named ‘Budrovka Sveti Nikola’. This result was confirmed by the model-based cluster analyses implemented in STRUCTURE and BAPS, where the optimal number of clusters was three. ‘Budrovka’ clearly separated from all other samples, while ‘Bila’ and ‘Budrovka Sveti Nikola’ showed some degree of admixture, indicating ancestral polyclonality. The landrace ‘Bila’ showed higher polymorphism than ‘Budrovka’ and ‘Budrovka Sveti Nikola’. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed that genetic diversity (56.63%) was higher within landraces than among (43.37%). This research will provide a basis for conservation of the Island landraces and will help in the establishment of a high-quality regional brand.

The Relationship between Symbolic Agricultural Products and Agricultural Economic Development Based on Numerical Analysis

The development of geographically indicative (GI) agricultural products can effectively promote the development of local rural residents’ per capita net income (PCNI) and the gross output value of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery (GOV-AFAHF). This paper takes agricultural products with geographical indications in Anhui Province as the object of study and uses numerical analysis to analyze their application, geographical distribution, and various distribution in detail. By comparing it with the central region, this paper conducts an empirical study on its impact on agricultural economic development, analyzes its related variables and data, draws its effect on farmers’ PCNI, and on this basis puts forward some countermeasures. In order to make the agricultural products with GI in Anhui Province develop better, according to the results of comparative analysis and empirical analysis, it puts forward suggestions for regulating the development of management industry associations, implementing the regional branding strategy of GI agricultural products, and increasing the construction of rural infrastructure. In addition, the experiment shows that under the condition of controlling other influencing factors unchanged, for every 1% increase in GI agricultural products, the average increase of PCNI of rural residents is 0.08%, which further confirms the conclusion that GI agricultural products can promote the development of GOV-AFAHF.

The Identification and Applicability of Regional Brand-Driving Modes for Agricultural Products

The regional brand-driven construction of agricultural products has taken shape in China. At present, the status quo entails the homogenization of the brand-driven mode of construction, making it a serious phenomenon in China. In addition, the misalignment between the brand-driven mode and resource conditions in some areas not only causes a waste of resources but also leads to a lack of competitiveness and premium capacity for agricultural products within the brand, which cannot increase farmers’ income. This article constructs a theoretical model of the brand-driven mode and uses the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis method to identify effective brand-driven modes and explore their applicable environmental conditions. This research can provide theoretical guidance for the local development of regional brands of characteristic agricultural products. The results of the driving mode validity analysis show that the four brand-driven modes, resource-dependent, technology-induced, culture-driven, and industry-based, are the main construction paths for regional brands of agricultural products in China. Among them, the effectiveness of the resource-dependent and technology-induced modes is the highest, reaching 0.90 or more. The results of the applicability analysis show that the resource-dependent mode is suitable for farming areas with well-developed supporting policies and infrastructure and good economic development. In addition, the use of the technology-induced mode requires local farmers to have a high level of education and a high-quality base.

Rural Tourism Resource Research Based on Multisensor and Geographic Information Big Data

With the continuous improvement of living standards, the rapid development of tourism, and increasing maturity of traveler behavior, tourism has become an essential part of people’s daily life. Also, in recent years, with the continued development of economic and global integration, coordinated development has become a global trend. After more than 30 years of development and exploration, rural tourism in China is increasingly diversified. The accelerated development of a new socialist countryside and the integrated development of urban and rural areas provide important options for urban residents to escape from their habitual environment and seek leisure, comfort, and relaxation. Meanwhile, rural tourism development is based on certain resources and has a great coupling relationship with China’s urban and rural development. As a result, rural tourism has long become a hot issue for academic research. However, with the continuous promotion of rural revitalization, rural tourism in China has presented some serious problems such as resource overdraft. These issues have caused serious harm to China’s rural tourism resources and cultural heritage. On this basis, it is necessary to view rural tourism development from the perspective of coordinated regional development. Specifically, rural tourism resources should be characterized through a method of character selection to sort out rural development paths. At the same time, the development of regional tourism linkages for villages with shared source markets, dense location distribution, and similar landscape resources can effectively avoid regional homogeneous competition, form complementary advantages, and achieve sustainable development of regional economy, culture, and society. In addition, with the continuous development of information technology and computer technology in recent years, the construction of digital countryside has been completed. In other words, the conditions are in place to establish a rural tourism resource information platform that combines tourism information database and geospatial framework. The establishment of rural tourism resources information system will meet the information requirements of tourists and tourism management departments and lay the foundation of information technology for the development of rural tourism. Therefore, this study combines multisensor and geographic information big data technology to explore rural tourism resources. After that, based on the analysis of the evaluation results, specific regional overall linkage development strategies are proposed in four aspects: coordinating regional resources, optimizing resource allocation, integrating spatial types, and establishing regional brands. This can provide an effective strategic support for the diversified development direction of rural tourism.

Ceftriaxone Injectables: An In vitro Evaluation of Antimicrobial Activity and Comparative Efficacy

Aims: The objective of the current study was to compare the In Vitro efficacy of regionally produced brands of ceftriaxone with that of the global innovator brand. Therefore, a fact-based conclusion at the end of the study will serve to dispel any uncertainty regarding the efficacy of medications produced locally, whether they are inferior or equal in their comparative activity.
 Study Design: This study was In Vitro Lab based study.
 Place and Duration of Study: The study was performed in Riphah International University, Department of Pharmacy from July 2021 to August 2021.
 Methodology: Five regional brands and one international parent brand (Rocephin) were chosen. The multinational product was regarded as the standard. Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Pseudomonas aurogenosa were the four bacterial strains against which activities were tested. Antibiotics' zone of inhibition was measured using the agar well method, and their minimum inhibitory concentration was identified using the broth dilution method.
 Results: All tested brands showed effectiveness against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Pseudomonas aurogenosa.Some of the brands at some point showed more In Vitro efficacy than the standard brand.
 Conclusion: Health care professionals can be confident in prescribing locally manufactured brands that have equivalent efficacy to their international counterparts based on the findings of the study. Healthcare professionals can suggest the generic brand in population where medicine cost is directly affecting the patients adherence to therapeutic regimen.

Is consumers' willingness to pay premium for agricultural brand labels sustainable?: evidence from Chinese consumers' random n-price auction experiment

PurposeConsumers' willingness to pay premium (WTPP) for two different types of agricultural brand labels (enterprise and regional), are evaluated through a non-hypothetical Random n-price auction experiment during the online purchase of fresh agricultural products. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the two WTPP, compare their differences, and explore their sustainability.Design/methodology/approachData were collected in July–August 2020 from a sample of 310 consumers in Liaoning Province, China. A nonhypothetical random n-price auction experiment was implemented in a simulated online shopping environment.FindingsThe results show that WTPP exists, and WTPP level of regional brand labels is higher than that of enterprise brand labels. Consumers' WTPP is sustainable. Consumers with low WTPP for enterprise brand labels and consumers with high WTPP for regional brand labels have stronger willingness to repurchase.Practical implicationsThe results have direct practical implications for developing brand agriculture and encouraging “brand consumption”. The results can provide theoretical reference for policymakers, enlightenment for the development and effective dissemination of agricultural brand labels and important information to e-retailers on how to sale agricultural products with agricultural brand labels.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, no previous study has related WTPP and its sustainability for agricultural brand labels in China. We try to fill a gap in literature on consumers' WTPP for agricultural brand labels. And the authors explore the sustainability of WTPP by analyzing the impact of WTPP on repurchase intention and recommendation intention respectively.

The impact of government policies on place branding performance: evidence from China

Uneven economic development due to varying strategic resource endowments has led to increasing competition between cities, regions and countries. This study examines the impact of different government's policies on place branding performance because place branding is a crucial strategy that distinguishes the region from its competitors. This research used primary data and surveys have been collected from managers of companies in Zhejiang Province. The findings of PLS-SEM show that government policies (supply-side, demand-side, and environmental) have significant impacts on place branding performance with boosting, pulling, and guiding effects. Market environment and Inter-firm collaboration partially mediate between government policies and place branding performance. Inter-firm collaboration directly mediates supply-side and environmental policy on place branding performance. Moreover, according to the Importance-Performance map analysis, demand-based policies are more important than supply-based and environmental-based policies in place branding performance. The study concluded that the government could put more effort into the pulling effect of demand-based policies on place branding performance. This research enriched the relationship between government policies, inter-firm collaboration/market environment and place branding performance. This study provided valuable insights on how governments can further promote the active participation of enterprises in regional branding and enhance place branding performance in practice, which encourage governments to conduct place branding to new statures.

Analysis of the Current Situation and Countermeasures for the Development of Shandong Rongcheng Kelp Industry Cluster

Rongcheng is a natural kelp production base due to its unique geographical environment and climatic advantages. Since the 1930s, the Rongcheng kelp industry has played an important role in the development of the Chinese kelp industry. Rongcheng's kelp output ranked first in China for more than ten years, from 2010 to 2021. Its kelp production accounts for nearly half of total Chinese kelp production. This paper analyzes the current development of the Rongcheng kelp industry cluster from six perspectives: natural environment and resources of kelp farming, supporting infrastructure of kelp farming and processing enterprises, main bodies in Rongcheng kelp industry cluster, relevant assistance of Rongcheng municipal government to kelp industry, development of relevant supporting industries in kelp industry. Then it concludes that there are four problems in the current development stage of Rongcheng kelp industry cluster and the development of Rongcheng kelp industry cluster's domestic and foreign markets. It then concludes that there are four issues in the current development stage of the Rongcheng kelp industry cluster. Based on the analysis of the problems and countermeasures, it is concluded that the current development stage of the Rongcheng kelp industry cluster has four problems: low cluster efficiency, an imperfect market system, a lack of technological innovation, and a weak influence of regional brands. It assists the Rongcheng kelp industry cluster in achieving high-quality development based on an analysis of the problems and countermeasures.

The Purchase Intention for Agricultural Products of Regional Public Brands: Examining the Influences of Awareness, Perceived Quality, and Brand Trust

Digital economy technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, and 5G have brought significant changes to the operation and management of regional agricultural products. As a result, competition between agricultural enterprises turned to competition between brands. Recently, many regional brands of agricultural products have emerged, but most have low visibility, low influence, and significant homogeneity. Therefore, ways to rapidly improve public awareness of regional agricultural brands’ products have become an important issue in some regions. Against the background of regional brands and on the basis of 576 responses to a survey questionnaire, this study analyzes the direct and indirect influences of awareness and perceived quality on consumers’ purchase intention of agricultural products and the mediating influence of brand trust on consumer purchase intention. The results indicate that awareness has a significant positive effect on consumers’ purchase intention and that brand trust could strengthen the influence of awareness on consumers’ purchase intention. At the same time, brand trust can promote the positive influence of perceived quality on consumers’ purchase intention. This study extends the research on consumer behavior theory, reveals the influence mechanism of consumer purchase intention of the agricultural products of regional public brands, and provides a new perspective for further research on agricultural products in some regions. Additionally, we provide management implications for the operation of agricultural products of regional public brands.

Promoting Competitiveness of Green Brand of Agricultural Products Based on Agricultural Industry Cluster

Agricultural industrial clusters are the basis for the formation of regional brands of agricultural products and also an effective way to enhance the regional brand value and competitiveness of agricultural products. Based on the agricultural industry cluster, carry out regional brand building of agricultural products, emphasizing that the production of agricultural products from raw material bases to product sales in specific administrative areas, and even the collaborative production services of relevant agricultural technology research and development institutions are connected to the local network, establishing a regional first-class agricultural product brand. The brand grows with the development of regional production bases. Therefore, this paper is aimed at exploring the research on the promotion of green brand competitiveness of agricultural products based on the theory of agricultural industrial clusters, analyzing the internal connection between agricultural product agglomeration effect and brand competitiveness, and exploring its advantages and disadvantages. Using this strategy, this paper will use the research method of specific analysis of specific problems, design an analysis model construction experiment based on the influencing factors of agricultural industrial clusters, and draw experimental conclusions through the analysis and comparison of experimental data. Through theoretical innovation and exploration, a model for the rapid development of green agricultural product brands can be found. The results show that the use of questionnaires to explore the differences in the planting characteristics of green agricultural products in industrial clusters can account for 35% of the brand competitiveness, promote the rapid development of the brand, and enhance the technological innovation ability by 19%. Therefore, combined with the characteristics of the current era, with the help of the national agricultural aid policy, fully absorb the transformation, actively innovate, and improve the level of agricultural cultivation. Analyze different application difficulties, explore development prospects, give full play to the competitiveness of agricultural products, realize high-yield green crops, use these theories as a guide to innovate and integrate, provide valuable experience clusters for the wide application of agricultural industrialization, and achieve sustainable regional economic structure and ecological environment.

Samara identity in the mirror of advertising and commercial names

The purpose of our research is to identify ways of translating the Samara identity in the system of verbal sign complexes of commercial objects based on the use of the semiotic method. The main object of study is the proper names of shops, cafes, restaurants, salons, industrial and cultural facilities presented in Samara outdoor advertising, as well as brand names whose textual designations include brand identifiers of the territory – iconic names that serve as connotative regional components and provide a mental link with the image of a regional brand. Our research confirms the hypothesis that the Samara identity is built on the basis of a cultural code based on territorial certainty. The key verbal signs represented in the commercial discourse of urban space and forming the identity of the territory in the minds of citizens are toponyms: Samara, Zhiguli, Volga. These brand symbols not only demonstrate a direct toponymic link to the region, but mainly play the role of priority symbols of regional identity as part of numerous conventionally symbolic advertising and commercial names. Based on our research, it is possible to solve the problem of constructing the basic structure of the figurative-mental map of Samara identity on the basis of three key toponyms – symbols of the territorial brand. The spheres of numerous ergonyms and pragmatonyms are formed around each of these symbols, which are widely represented in the advertising and information environment of urban space, have visual contact with the residents of the agglomeration and have a direct impact on the formation of urban identity. Our study is relevant because it allows us to consider the key symbols of urban identity identified by us as material representatives of the symbolic capital of a territorial brand. The central markers of the figurative-mental map of the city perform the function of a verbal semiotic tool – a translator of urban identity, the active use of which in the advertising and commercial discourse of the city of Samara confirms a sufficiently high level of self-awareness of the citizens.

The Swedish consumer market for organic and conventional milk: A demand system analysis

AbstractIncreasing the production of organic food is becoming an important environmental target for many governments, and consumer demand for organic food is pivotal in reaching these targets. This paper studies consumer demand for organic and conventional milk, using weekly scanner data from the Swedish retail market for the years 2011–2017. Own‐ and cross‐price elasticities of demand are estimated using a quadratic almost ideal demand system. While previous studies on this topic show that demand for organic milk is commonly more price elastic than for its conventional alternative, this paper complements previous literature by (i) studying a market with relatively small organic price premiums, (ii) using a highly representative sample of retailers, and (iii) differentiating between private labels and brands. Results show that demand for organic milk is relatively elastic, despite relatively small organic price premiums in the Swedish milk market. Results also show that demand for branded products is, generally, less elastic compared to private label products, suggesting that consumers have strong preferences for traditional, regional brands. [EconLit Citations: D12, Q11, Q18].

Is One-Way Multi-Station Feasible? Influence of Value and Cost on Travel Intention of Urban Agglomeration in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area

Regional tourism with urban agglomeration as the spatial carrier has become one of the flow characteristics of many tourists. Tourists visiting multiple cities at one time will certainly gain more value than visiting one city, but they will also pay more costs, thus affecting their emotions and willingness to travel. But the mechanism and theoretical boundaries have not been clarified. Based on the cognitive–affective–behavioral attitude model and the customer-delivered-value model, this paper takes the tourism destination tourists of the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area urban agglomeration as samples to explore the influence mechanism of tourists’ perceived functional value, social value and knowledge value on positive emotion and travel intention, and to test the moderating mediating effect of monetary cost, energy cost and psychological cost on positive emotion. Social value and knowledge value positively affect travel intention. Functional value, knowledge value and social value positively affect positive emotion, and positive emotion positively affect travel intention. Positive emotion plays a complete mediating role between functional value, social value and travel intention, and plays a partial mediating role between knowledge value and travel intention. Monetary cost, energy cost and psychological cost respectively moderate the mediating effect of positive emotion between functional value and travel intention. Psychological cost moderates the mediating effect of positive emotion between social value and travel intention. Monetary cost and psychological cost respectively moderate the mediating effect of positive emotion between knowledge value and travel intention. Differences in the impact of consumers’ perceived value at different levels on positive emotion and travel intentions. It opens up the differences in the effects of the interaction of different levels of perceived value and different types of perceived cost on positive emotion. From an empirical point of view, it is proved that the tourism boutique line design based on multicity destination combination in China is feasible as a method to promote tourism integration and regional tourism brand building. It also puts forward the management enlightenment of regional tourism integration and regional tourism brand building from the perspectives of enterprises, front-line service personnel, residents and government.

Consumer Perspectives on Bio-Based Products and Brands—A Regional Finnish Social Study with Future Consumers

This article presents a Finnish social design study that focuses on consumer perspectives and future expectations related to bio-based products and brands. The qualitative regional study addresses the global concern associated with sustainability of the bioeconomy. Because a gap in research was identified from the regional consumer perspective, the article presents a case study that was held with 50 consumers in Finland. The main research method was qualitative online focus group discussions, with an objective to gain an understanding of consumer behavior, motivations, concerns, and intentions related to bio-based products and brands. The results are presented according to the sustainability framework, which was constructed around four topics: (1) consumer awareness, (2) illustrated examples and their consumer acceptance, (3) consumption habits, and (4) future consumption behavior. The main findings indicate that Finnish consumers were extremely well-informed on the bio-based concept, and they trusted domestic regional brands the most. Throughout the research, Nordic consumers highlighted the role of companies and urged sensible science-based communication on the sustainability aspects. Finally, the results led to consider how the value-sensitive consumer insights may be utilized by proposing prominent impact assessment methods for decision-making in both the business and consumer sectors.

Innovative Development of Intangible Culture of Arts and Crafts in Artificial Intelligence Decision Support System

The Chinese nation has accumulated a lot of precious, rich, and wonderful material and intangible culture in its historical evolution, but these cultures are facing the problem of inheritance difficulties in the long term, and it is becoming more and more difficult to innovate. In order to solve these problems, this paper puts forward the innovative development of the intangible culture of arts and crafts based on artificial intelligence decision support system, with the purpose of studying cultural inheritance, regional brand hematopoiesis promotion, and organizational goal’s support for intangible culture. The method of this paper is to study the basic principles of artificial bee colony algorithms and decision support systems, and then evaluate the value of intangible culture. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the development of local intangible culture and innovation models based on local knowledge systems and confirm the influence of technological innovation on intangible culture so as to promote the sustainable development of intangible culture. This paper describes the present situation of intangible cultural innovation and then explores the innovative ways of intangible culture based on the experiment of cultural development of artificial intelligence. The experimental results show that after using the decision support method mentioned in this paper, the technical progress index of Jingdezhen porcelain culture has increased by 2.4%.

Consumer Perception of Regional Brands in Czechia in 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 changed consumer purchasing behaviour and brand perception. Regional brands were denied their traditional availability and communication channels due to lockdowns. This poses a question whether regional brands are even relevant for consumers and companies in 2021? The aim of the article is thus to find out what the consumer regional brand awareness is, what are perceived regional brand characteristics/benefits, and what are regional brand customers characteristics. The sample used is 1050 respondents from the Czech Republic, gathered by Ipsos. The method used is online survey. The results are compared, where available, with results from 2014 and 2018 to illustrate the trends. Three research questions were formulated based on the three parts of article aim. Main findings include: the regional brand awareness is rising over the researched period to 73 % prompted awareness; main characteristics include region support, traditional production, high quality, and uniqueness; most favourable customer segments are age groups 46-55 and 56-65, with secondary and tertiary education, and income of 30 000 CZK and more.

Consumer preferences for agricultural product brands in an E‐commerce environment

AbstractBranding agricultural products are popular in the online market, but little is known about consumers' preferences for agricultural product brands in an E‐commerce environment. This study analyzed consumer preferences for three types of agricultural product brands and the interaction effect among them in an E‐commerce environment with a choice experiment. Our results show that regional brand shows remarkable complementary effects on grower brand and store brand, implying regional brand can enhance the value of other brands. Also, we found that there is a substitution effect between grower brand and store brand. Interestingly, we find that consumers prefer cheap or expensive fuji apples rather than middle‐price ones, implying significant consumption stratification in the Chinese online food market. This study also confirms the importance of the time window of delivery. This paper can provide critical information to optimize brand strategies of agricultural products in an E‐commerce environment. [EconLit citations: D12, Q11, Q13]