Different Types Of Consumers Research Articles

Implementing the United Nations sustainable development Goals to supply chains with behavioral consumers

We identify that the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of 7, 9, 12 pertaining to industry investment, innovation, affordability, clean product, and responsible consumption/production are relevant for the firms operating in closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) structures. We show how these goals can be implemented into a CLSC in which downstream manufacturer serves different types of consumers and engages in vertical relations with a supplier in the upstream. While the supplier invests in a green component, the manufacturer produces the final green product. The manufacturer diversifies its customer base and meet their demands through contracts and a variety of pricing options. Specifically, at the end of the supply chain there are three different customer groups: “contract customers”, “green-conscious customers”, and “wholesale market customers”. While the firms execute sustainability Goals of 7 and 9, the behavioral consumers who are the contract and green-conscious customers are altruistic, consume responsibly, and hence fulfill the Goal 12. We show that green consciousness and altruism play an important role on firm profitability and production. Furthermore, the SDGs proposed by the UN have welfare-improving implications. In particular, when the SDGs are implemented, all parties (firms and consumers) are better off compared to the benchmark case under which no SDGs are applied.

Exploring household natural gas consumption patterns and their influencing factors: An integrated clustering and econometric method

Understanding household natural gas consumption patterns and their influencing factors can help implement specific energy consumption policies and improve energy efficiency. Based on a dataset of natural gas consumption bills for 3995 households in Hefei city, China, this study identifies different household gas consumption patterns using intelligent cluster analysis, taking into account the increasing block tariffs (IBTs) and temperature factors. Subsequently, the survey data of 348 households are matched with the billing and weather data to explore the key drivers of natural gas consumption patterns in different households. The results show that (1) household gas consumption patterns can be divided into four types: a single-point spike, double-point flat-peak, micro-peak, and linear. Among them, single-point spike type consumers and double-point flat-peak type consumers belong to the second and third levels of consumers with high gas consumption, and consumers using wall-hung boilers account for a high proportion of households. (2) For the whole sample, both the IBT policy and the temperature have a significant negative impact on household gas consumption. In terms of different types of consumers, micro-peak and linear consumers are more sensitive to the IBT policy, whereas temperature has the greatest impact on the gas consumption of single-point peak consumers.

A Supervised Machine Learning Approach for the Credibility Assessment of User-Generated Content

Consumers increasingly rely on online reviews to assist them in their buying decisions. The rising popularity of e-commerce websites, hotel reviews, and social media has become a relevant research field in recent years. Online reviews affect people’s decisions in their day-to-day life; the fake review impacts both consumers and business organizations. They need to know how different types of consumers prefer consumer feedback, which influences their opinion. Automatic detection of such reviews is a difficult job, provided that the author writes in such a way that it seems like a real review. Previous work has tackled the identification of fake reviews in many fields, including food reviews or company reviews in a restaurant and hotels. In this study, we proposed a fully supervised approach to distinguish opinion spammers in online reviews. In this work, we have used labeled data that can be useful to classify real and fake reviews. We have also implemented various machine learning algorithms for classification on two different datasets (Yelp hotel review dataset, Yelp restaurant review dataset). We have performed the classification task on the features engineered dataset. Our experiment’s measured results show that Logistic regression performs better than other algorithms on most occasions. We may conclude that the presented study contributes to the existing literature with better accuracy from the obtained results.

The Politicization of Objects: Meaning and Materiality in The U.S. Cannabis Market

AbstractIn this article, we theorize how marketplace objects and their properties facilitate market legitimacy. Adopting assemblage theory, we examine a politically contested market—the U.S. recreational cannabis market—using retail sales data, public opinion polls and surveys, mainstream media coverage, and interviews with producers and consumers. We find that objects convey meaning in the market by creating sensory or discursive alignment between new or contested products and products from existing, legitimate markets, and by creating sensory or discursive distancing between new products and products in existing, illegitimate markets. We further find that different types of consumers play different roles in the overall legitimation process because they perceive alignments and misalignments differently. We present a conceptual model that links object meaning with the market and broader, cultural, and societal levels, demonstrating how materiality contributes to the overall legitimation of a politically contested market.

Do education sector credit cards differ with other credit cards in Malaysia?

PurposeThe credit card market is very large and segmented by targeting different types of consumers. One type of credit card is one that specifically targets people in the education sector, for instance, students, teachers and other staff members. This study aims to compare the features of education and other credit cards in Malaysia.Design/methodology/approachThe study analyzes data concerning 234 credit cards by using descriptive statistics and a one-way analysis of variance test.FindingsOut of 234 credit cards, this study found only two credit cards especially target education sector customers. The study evaluated 13 features of these credit cards and found that only 2 features are statistically significantly different from other conventional credit cards in Malaysia. These features are interest rate and cash withdrawal charge fees.Originality/valueThis is an original study based on the compilation of data from secondary sources. The findings will provide valuable insights to financial regulatory policymakers, academics and business managers.

Ways of shopping & retail mix at the Greengrocer's

The aim of this research is to relate the way in which consumers perceive value creation when shopping, reflected through the Ways of shopping concept, with the perception that they have of the characteristics of the retail mix in the greengrocery context. Different types of consumers are considered. To understand these relationships is the basis for the greengrocery's development of successful retail-mix strategies. To do so, we have developed an investigation with a sample of 1200 consumers of fresh food products. Our results include indicating the importance of managing the product portfolio and the shopping list of consumers, who see this purchase as a task. This is one of the factors which most affect their perception of the retail mix. These aspects must be the greengrocery's basis for the creating successful strategies.

Who buys organic food? Understanding different types of consumers

Globally, concerns regarding consumers’ food quality and safety have increased. There is an increase in the search of alternative healthy and safe food that also enhances immunity. Organic food eliminates most of the concerns that consumers have. Market experts expect the Indian domestic organic food market to grow rapidly in the coming years. This study aims to understand the characteristics, attitudes, and buying patterns of different types of consumers so that producers, sellers, and the government can design appropriate marketing strategies. To study the attitude of consumers, the Multi-attribute Model was used. A survey was conducted in Delhi-NCR, and data was obtained from 556 consumers. Through Exploratory Factor Analysis, six factors were derived: health, humanity, and environment; obstacles in buying; trust and confidence; fundamental knowledge; tradition and culture; and social acceptance and status. Based on these factors, and with cluster analysis, consumers were classified into five segments: incognizant consumers, unconcerned consumers, critical consumers, conservative consumers, and congruent consumers.

ЕФЕКТИВНІСТЬ ВИКОРИСТАННЯ АВТОМАТИЗОВАНИХ СИСТЕМ У ГОТЕЛЬНИХ ПІДПРИЄМСТВАХ

In the context of globalization, international hotel chains are large and complex complexes of functional associations. The analysis of modern publications on this topic is analyzed and briefly presented. In order to ensure the successful positioning of the company in the market of hotel services, it is necessary to regulate the coherence of these functional associations. This article absolutely completely considers the effectiveness of using automated systems in hotel enterprises. The possible prospects of introduction of innovative technologies in the field of hospitality are completely summarized. Information technology is constantly and dynamically evolving and covers a wider range of sectors of the international economy, hospitality is also gaining benefits. Hotel management software is subject to constant improvement and transformation, creating optimal conditions for improving the efficiency of international hotel chains in the context of globalization. Presented PMS, which are popular today and graphically display all available modules with detailed descriptions. The advantages and disadvantages of existing automated control systems are presented. Demonstrated how in the globalization of the service sector software systems for the management of international hotel chains have a number of advantages. The article shows how they facilitate the work of hotel staff, require administrative processes, as well as provide an opportunity to expand the operational activities of international hotel chains. Now hotel managers, as well as the entire travel service, are under pressure from the pandemic, the need to reduce staff and support the quality and operational activities of the company, under the same loads. The decision to remove such a burden is to carefully integrate the PMS into the market environment to reduce costs and maximize efficiency. Automated management systems increase customer loyalty, satisfaction and service delivery. The authors made a detailed comparison of the two most popular PMS in the modern market and offered a choice for different types of consumers.

Financial constraints, risk sharing, and optimal monetary policy

I characterize optimal government policy in a sticky-price economy with different types of consumers and endogenous financial constraints in the banking and entrepreneurial sectors. The competitive equilibrium allocation is constrained inefficient due to a pecuniary externality implicit in the collateral constraint and other externalities arising from consumer type heterogeneity. These externalities can be corrected with appropriate fiscal instruments. Independently of the availability of such instruments, optimal monetary policy aims to achieve price stability in the long run and approximate price stability in the short run, as in the conventional New Keynesian environment. Compared to the competitive equilibrium, the constrained efficient allocation significantly improves between-agent risk sharing, approaching the unconstrained Pareto optimum and leading to sizable welfare gains. Such an allocation has lower leverage in the banking and entrepreneurial sectors and is less prone to the boom-bust financial crises and zero-lower-bound episodes observed occasionally in the decentralized economy.

A comparative study on the online shopping willingness of fresh agricultural products between experienced consumers and potential consumers

Fresh e-commerce has developed rapidly in the past decade. However, compared with the huge number of Internet users and the huge scale of network economy in China, the utilization rate of fresh e-commerce is relatively low and the profit rate is not ideal. Based on the online survey data of 202 experienced consumers and 192 potential consumers, Amos structural equation model is used to empirically analyze the main factors that affect the online purchase willingness of fresh agricultural products of different types of consumers. The results show that: product quality, logistics service quality, online word of mouth and website information quality have significant impact on experienced consumers to varying degrees. Product quality, online word of mouth and logistics service quality have significant impact on potential consumers, but website information quality has no significant impact on potential consumers. On the basis of strictly controlling product quality and improving cold chain logistics system, fresh e-commerce enterprises should strengthen the comparative advantage of online shopping, strengthen the publicity and guidance to consumers, enhance the attraction of fresh agricultural products online shopping to consumers, promote consumers' choice and form online shopping habits.

Inner-Self vs. Outer-Self and Socially Responsible Product Consumption

This paper investigates how two fundamental consumer characteristics, self-esteem (inner-self) and status seeking (outer-self), influence consumers’ purchasing behaviors of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) products via two mediating effects: brand image and self-enhancement. In particular, we analyze these effects in two different CSR domains: environmental and social. By doing so, we are able to verify the underlying mechanisms of how different types of consumers respond to various CSR promotions. We propose a distinctive CSR consumption model incorporating both inner-self and outer-self components. We collected data from two countries, the US and China, using two commonly used online survey platforms: Amazon M-Turk and Loop Information Technology. Using structural equation modeling, our analysis in the environmental domain revealed that both inner-self and outer-self components play a significant role in consumers’ desire to purchase CSR products. Additionally, this process is mediated by the brand image of the firm and the tendency to enhance self-value. Interestingly, we found that in the social domain, self-enhancement mediated consumer characteristics and purchasing behavior of CSR product, whereas brand image did not. This indicates that environmental CSR activities increase brand value and its impact on purchase intention, while social CSR activities do not. Additionally, we found similar patterns for both US and Chinese consumers.

Consumer segmentation based on Stated environmentally-friendly behavior in the food domain

Food consumption has a large environmental impact, but the total impact of households can be reduced substantially by changing consumers’ food-related decisions and behaviors. Consumers differ in their motives and willingness to behave in an environmentally-friendly manner with regard to food consumption. Therefore, it is important to identify different types of consumers in order to develop and implement tailored intervention strategies. To identify and describe the different types of food consumers based on detailed behavioral patterns, we distributed a paper-pencil questionnaire and used data of 817 Swiss households. Applying a comprehensive and differentiated approach, self-reported environmentally-friendly food behavior was assessed with regard to different domains and different types of behaviors, which subsequently served as the basis for the consumer segmentation. We also assessed behavior in the mobility and household domains as well as several personality variables and sociodemographics as descriptive measures to characterize the segments on a differentiated basis. Cluster analysis revealed six segments in regard to environmentally-friendly food consumption: meat- and fish-eaters, origin-focused food savers, ambiguous consumers, food waste reducing sharers, renouncement aversives and consequent pro-environmental consumers. After a detailed description and discussion of the six consumer segments, we propose starting points for the development of segment-specific intervention and communication strategies to promote environmentally-friendly food consumption.

Characteristics and Motivations of Consumers of Direct Purchasing Channels and the Perceived Barriers to Alternative Food Purchase: A Cross-Sectional Study in the Ecuadorian Andes

Modern food systems generate social inequalities in the access to healthy food, but some families maintain behaviors that provide an alternative to these systems. Agroecological consumers (ACs) and non-agroecological direct market consumers (DMCs) are key actors in alternative food systems. We assessed the characteristics of ACs and DMCs using data from a representative sample of households in Ibarra, Quito and Riobamba (n = 2914). We also deepened the exploration of motivations for adopting these practices through mini-ethnographies with families who were identified as ACs or DMCs (n = 15). We found motivations related to personal health problems, food quality (e.g., taste, freshness), and safety (e.g., avoiding pesticides) to be key. Other motivations were price and community solidarity with farmers. Barriers included inconvenience, lack of awareness, and insecurity of market location. Using Chi-square tests, we found differences between ACs and DMCs on place of residence, education, employment, health, and diet. Controlling for socioeconomic and health variables using logistic regressions, we found DMC dietary habits to be similar to the remainder of the study population, except that they were less likely to eat processed foods less frequently (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 0.6, 95% confidence interval 0.4–0.9). In contrast, ACs were more likely than the remainder of the study population to control their salt intake (3.2, 1.9–5.2) and have greater knowledge of nutrition labels (2.8, 1.7–4.6). They were more likely to eat traditional foods frequently (1.9, 1.1–3.3), fruit and vegetables daily (1.6, 1.0–2.8), and processed foods less frequently (2.7, 1.5–4.8). Hence, these two types of alternative food provisioning practices (AC and DMC) were adopted by different types of consumers, with heterogenous motivations and food consumption practices. These findings have implications for public health initiatives aiming to scale up the nutrition and ecological potential of alternative food systems.

Subdividing the sprawl: Endogenous segmentation of housing submarkets in expansion areas of Santiago, Chile

Urban sprawl is a phenomenon observed in most cities around the globe and especially in Latin America, where it is associated to socioeconomic segregation. In the case of Chile, sprawl has been generally based on large real estate projects. Developers target their projects to different types of consumers, which translates into submarkets with a broad range of housing-unit’s characteristics, but also different location strategies. This heterogeneity has been analyzed and measured in the literature, but quantitative studies have used exogenous or sequential methods to identify submarkets, leading to potential bias in the segmentation. In this paper, we propose an econometric model to measure location drivers for different types of real estate projects that fills this gap. The modeling framework is based on discrete-choice and latent-class models, allowing us to simultaneously identify market segmentations, and their particular location choice preferences, without the need of arbitrary or ex-ante definitions of submarkets. The model is applied to the city of Santiago, Chile. The results reveal two clearly different approaches taken by developers to produce housing, with one submarket of “exclusive” and more sprawling projects, and another submarket of “massive” and more density driven projects. Location strategies are very different between submarkets, reproducing the socio-spatial segregation already observed in the consolidated city.

Análisis comparativo de consumidores de verduras y frutas ecológicas en España y Portugal

Actualmente se detectan nuevos patrones de consumo alimentario asociados a los llamados alimentos ecológicos. La extensión de valores posmaterialistas, la conciencia ecológica, la conservación del medio ambiente así como la reciente crisis económica que ha afectado a la mayoría de países europeos, han propiciado la aparición de nuevas formas de consumo de productos ecológicos fundamentados en un modelo de producción sostenible. En este contexto, la producción y consumo de verduras y frutas ecológicas se muestra como una estrategia de calidad de consumo alimentario y también como forma de ahorro en la adquisición y de alimentos frescos y saludables. En la siguiente contribución científica se realiza un estudio estadístico descriptivo comparativo de las características sociodemográficas de los distintos tipos de consumidores de frutas y verduras ecológicas en España y Portugal. También se muestra una descripción de las prácticas de tipo proambientales en dicha tipología de consumidores. Recurrimos a una estrategia de tipo cuantitativa mediante el uso de datos perteneciente a la encuesta ISSP Environment (2010, Portugal) y ISSP (2010, España). La técnica utilizada es el análisis bivariable y el análisis segmentación en árbol mediante el algoritmo CHAID. Los resultados principales muestran la influencia de la formación, los ingresos y el hábitat en la caracterización de los diferentes tipos de consumidores de frutas y verduras ecológicas en España y Portugal.

Consumers’ awareness of plastic packaging: More than just environmental concerns

Plastic pollution is considered to be among the greatest challenges the world faces. The consumption and often uncontrolled disposal of single-use plastic packaging is regarded as one of the main environmental hazards. Whereas the role of companies and politics in addressing this problem has been discussed intensively, little focus has been placed on the role of consumers. This paper investigates consumers’ awareness of plastic packaging by following an inductive and more differentiated approach. Results show that consumers associate plastic packaging with far more than environmental problems. Five different types of consumers’ awareness can be identified. Results help to gain a broader understanding of consumers and thus help to develop more effective strategies that empower consumers to use plastic in a more sustainable way.

Human Capital: A Key Driver of Consumer Decision-making in Online Promotion (An Application of Grounded Theory in Exploratory Research)

This study throws light on the diversity of online sales promotion and deal acquisition with respect to human capital (time cost and efforts cost). This is the non-monetary investment of consumer while making a purchase. The influence of non-monetary cost decides the action towards purchase choice among various product offerings in online space. Findings of the research reveal (a) the different types of consumer: value conscious, price conscious and encounters, (b) different strategies a consumer adopts: track on information, futuristic thinking and formulating deals and (c) source of deal gratification for different goal-oriented consumer behaviour. This study proposes an empirical model validated by data interpretation using grounded theory. It shows how human capital decides approach of consumer to evaluate online sales promotion.

Modelling and Simulation of Integrated Topology of DC/DC converter for LED Driver Circuit

With the increase in technological advancements and impetus to work for the reduction of electrical energy consumption among different types of consumers, there is a primary need to take into account all forms of energy efficiency improvement methods available for electric and electronic equipment been used. It has been noticed that in commercial lighting, in terms of efficiency light-lamps based on light-emitting diodes(LEDs) are far better as compared to those where traditional high pressure sodium (HPS) lamps which are still in use in major underdeveloped and developing areas worldwide in specifically street lighting. The LED have numerous advantages such as high luminous efficiency, life span and it has no mercury in its composition. Therefore, recently researchers of this area has been setting a goal to utilize LED as a good alternative to save electricity from major parts of this planet. In this paper simulation of LED driver circuit is presented to utilize the 12 V LED lighting strip which has been used in Indian hawkers/small shopkeepers since a long time.

Do online reviews truly matter? A study of the characteristics of consumers involved in different online review scenarios

ABSTRACT Online reviews have become one of the most influential persuasive messages concerning decisions making. Researchers have explored different aspects of online reviews and the characteristics of reviewers using various methods; however, few studies have focused on consumers who do not post online reviews after purchasing, resulting in a gap in the research. This study aims to identify consumers’ characteristics and analyze the importance of consumers in different online review scenarios. We employed a fusion analysis framework, which used machine learning to determine the value of different types of consumers; in addition, we quantitatively estimate the relationship between variables and consumer types using econometrics modelling. This research used real consumer data from three data resources, solving problems related to the use of limited questionnaire datasets and single-source data. Through rigorous analysis, we demonstrate that lurkers are more valuable than posters because they can be easily served and create more profit; thus, researchers should consider those who do not post online reviews rather than focusing only on the influence of online reviews and posters. Our findings also provide managerial implications for precision marketing by indicating that e-marketers should employ various marketing strategies and pay attention to different types of consumers, especially lurkers.

The Social Costs of Side Trading

Abstract We study resource allocation under private information when the planner cannot prevent bilateral side trading between consumers and firms. Adverse selection and side trading severely restrict feasible trades: each marginal quantity must be fairly priced given the consumer types who purchase it. The resulting social costs are twofold. First, second-best efficiency and robustness to side trading are in general irreconcilable requirements. Second, there actually exists only one budget-feasible allocation robust to side trading, which deprives the planner from any capacity to redistribute resources between different types of consumers. We discuss the relevance of our results for insurance and financial markets.