Low-involvement Categories Research Articles

Re-examining age-related loyalty for low-involvement purchasing

PurposePrevious research on age-related loyalty is sparse, contradictory and suffers from methodological limitations and criticisms. This study aims to apply two methodological advances to fresh purchasing data to give a much clearer picture of age-related differences in brand loyalty.Design/methodology/approachAn online brand choice survey (n = 1,862) is used to examine age-related loyalty within three low-involvement categories in New Zealand. The polarisation index (φ) is adopted as the measure of loyalty to control for confounding influences present in prior research. Results for chronological age are validated through comparison with results for measures of cognitive, biological and sociological age, as well as household life cycle.FindingsContrary to prior research, age-related differences in loyalty are detected in two of the three low-involvement categories studied. The third category does not show detectable loyalty for any age group. Although differences in brand loyalty are broadly present across all age measures, no alternative measure outperforms chronological age in detecting variations in age-related loyalty.Research limitations/implicationsTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first evidence that age-related brand loyalty is present in low-involvement categories. However, effects are small and easily obscured by confounding factors. More research is needed to determine how results vary by category.Practical implicationsDespite showing minor differences in loyalty, older consumers still purchase from a wide portfolio of brands and so should not be ignored by marketers. Future research can investigate loyalty for older consumers by adopting the method of analysing differences in polarisation (φ) for chronological age groups.Originality/valuePrevious contradictory findings and methodological concerns about measurement of age-related loyalty are resolved through use of the polarisation index (φ) as a measure of loyalty and by confirmation that chronological age performs as well as any other age measure.

Why build sustainable relationships with customers? - The effects of “Ambassador Program”

ABSTRACT To build relationships with customers, sustainable engagements are crucial. Ostensibly, firm profits are derived from customers’ financial contributions; in addition, their non-financial contributions such as advocacy also increase long-term profitability. Today, the importance of such customer-to-customer communication has dramatically increased and is derived from enhancing customers’ brand experience. This paper explores how to incorporate C-to-C communication into brand experience with the goal of strengthening customer relationships, developing advocacy, and encouraging sustainable interactions. This study introduces the novel approach called Ambassador Program which aims to build long-term collaboration with customers and promote advocacy from the participants. Through the case of the “NESCAFE Ambassador Program,” we found that this brand-new approach is effective in increasing customers’ brand experience and customers’ contributions. Consequently, customers can create new customers. The research empirically showed that even in such a low-involvement category as consumer-packaged goods, firms can build sustainable relationships with customers by adopting customer-to-customer relationships into their marketing strategies.

Enduring Attitudes and Contextual Interest: When and Why Attitude Surveys Still Matter in the Online Consumer Decision Journey

Consumers leave traces of key interest to managers on their journey to purchase. Next to traditional survey-based attitudes, readily available online metrics now show aggregate consumer actions. But how do survey response metrics and online action metrics relate to each other? To what extent do they explain and predict brand sales across consumer categories? This article shows that surveys and online behavior provide complementary information for brand managers. Times series data for 32 brands in 14 categories reveal low correlations but substantial dual causality between survey metrics and online actions. Combining both types of metrics greatly increases the model's power to explain and predict brand sales in low-involvement categories. By contrast, high-involvement categories do not gain much from adding survey-based attitudes to a model including online behavior metrics. The authors synthesize these generalizations in a new framework relating enduring attitudes to the contextual interest expressed by online actions. This new framework helps managers assess both types of metrics to drive brand performance depending on whether their goal is short-term sales or long-term brand health.

Mobile Display Advertising: Perilaku Niat Pembelian Konsumen pada High Involvement vs Low Involvement Product

This study uses the theory of Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) using a quantitative approach. Sampling using non-probability sampling method, using purposive sampling technique. Respondents in this study were 200 respondents in the purchase intention category in the High Involvement product and also 200 in the Low Involvement product category. The analysis technique used in this study is Partial Least Square (PLS). The results showed that browsing activities on Instagram for both the High and Low Involvement categories of the product had a positive influence on flow conditions, online trust, and purchase intentions. Then online trust in an account on Instagram has a positive influence on flow conditions. Likewise, the flow condition variable and online trust also have an influence on the purchase intention of the latest items on Instagram. There is no difference in consumer behavior towards purchase intentions in the online domain between High and Low Involvement products.

Understanding Brand Loyalty in Relation with Brand Affect and Brand Commitment: Evidence from Oral Care Segment

Purpose- The purpose is to examine the relationship among brand affect; brand commitment; attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty for oral care segment with special reference to Delhi and NCR. Methodology: For achieving the objective the theoretical model was tested with the help of SEM. Research scale were adopted from literature and were modified for suitability. Data was gathered from 250 respondents, 83 percent response rate was recorded, using anonymously completed questionnaire. Before undertaking the analysis; pilot testing was done followed by exploratory factor analysis; reliability and validity testing; and mediation analysis was also assessed. Findings: The result indicated that, for oral care segment, brand affect have a significant influence on both attitudinal and behavioral loyalty via brand commitment. It has been concluded that brand commitment has significant impact on behavioral loyalty. Even in the low involvement category (oral care segment), consumer purchase on the basis of attached attributes of the brand and shows attitudinal loyalty has a strong and positive influence on behavioral loyalty. This study makes an attempt to explain how all these variables are interlinked and their inter-relationship. Originality: Majority of consumer behavior research has been performed in high involvement products on the other hand very limited research is available on the oral care segment. This study tries to fill this void.

The Effectiveness of Recommendation Engine Based on Consumer’s Purchase Behaviour

This study seeks to demonstrate the impact of content and advertising at constant time on consumer’s obtaining behaviour. It wants several months to accumulate data and knowledge through kind, surveys, web site visits and walk-thorough investigations that unit the primary basis of this study work. This study distinguished that content is best on the shoppers WHO travel through the peripheral route and it'll leads the consumer’s mind to finish switch. This study together found that content and advertising is much easier in low involvement category product where a straightforward promotional signal can lead the shoppers to buy for a product. This study together suggests to the marketers involved in mind of the new or unknown product, as content might have sturdy negative effects on consumers’ internal worth reference and perceived quality. This work together highlights the importance of human action the advertising with utterly completely different promotional activities to reinforce the growth of sales of a product.

The Impact of Nutrition Claims on SKU Choice: An Investigation of the Effect of SKU and Category Characteristics

With growing emphasis on healthy lifestyles, manufacturers often try to persuade consumers by using nutrition claims on their packaging. The question is, how much do such claims have an effect in actual grocery choice situations, where shoppers encounter a large variety of SKUs and large amounts of information? In this study, Niels Holtrop, Kathleen Cleeren, Kelly Geyskens and Peter Verhoef investigate the effect of nutrition claims on the consumer´s SKU choice in a grocery context. They use an extensive dataset on U.K. household product purchases containing 1,765 SKUs and 1,004 nutrition claims, across 29 food categories. Using an attribute-based choice model, they investigate whether nutrition claims influence the choice of an SKU in the presence of other factors that drive consumer choice, such as SKU price, discounts, brand and nutritional value. Among their findings: On average, nutrition claims have a positive effect on SKU choice. The results indicate strong variability across SKUs. In particular, nutrition claims are more effective for strong brands, relatively healthier SKUs, and SKUs with low discounts. The results also indicate strong variability across categories. Nutrition claims are more effective in healthy categories, categories with a high advertising intensity and low-promotion intensity, and in low-involvement categories. Put into Practice About 30% of food and beverages carry nutrition claims. While this study suggests that such claims have a positive effect on SKU choice overall, there is strong variability across products and categories. Strong brands with smaller discounts benefit from products with nutrition claims, especially for products that are seen as healthy alternatives within their category. Nutrition claims are more likely to increase consumer choice in low-involvement categories that are considered healthy, with a high advertising and a low promotion intensity.

Unit pricing matters more when consumers are under time pressure

Purpose This paper aims to first investigate how unit pricing affects consumers’ grocery purchase decisions and perceptions of the shopping task’s information load. The second goal is to test how time pressure enhances the behavioural and perceptual effects of displaying unit prices. Design/methodology/approach Two on-line experiments were conducted using national samples of shoppers. In Study 1, participants indicated their choices and perceptions in an inter-brand shopping scenario where prepackaged products have conflicting positions on retail price and unit price. In Study 2, participants conducted the same shopping task but now under a condition of time pressure. Findings Study 1 shows that unit pricing shifts consumer choices towards the lower unit priced options and improves their perceptions of task information load. Study 2 shows that when consumers are under time pressure, unit pricing shows stronger effects on choices but not on perceptions. Research limitations/implications The study comprised a fairly homogenous set of low involvement categories and relatively small assortments in a hypothetical purchase setting. Exploration of the role of unit pricing in more complex and more realistic purchase environments pose suitable avenues for future research. Practical implications This study shows that consumers benefit from unit pricing because it makes it easier for them to find the lower unit priced items and to more quickly complete their shopping task. Retailers will benefit from increased customer satisfaction and possibly an improved store image. Social implications The study shows that consumers generally benefit from the presence of unit pricing and that unit price information does not create harmful effects in terms of increasing their information load. Originality/value This study uses a specifically designed and controlled but nevertheless realistic grocery choice task to study the effects of unit pricing in an inter-brand context where there are only small differences in size and price. The study contributes to the literature by showing that in such conditions, unit prices help consumers compare the economic losses associated with product options. Their heuristic role is more pronounced when consumers are under time pressure. The study shows that consumers generally benefit from the presence of unit prices.

Healthy Food Selection: The Role of Nutritional Information of Packaged Foods on Consumers’ Purchase Intentions

India is the world's second largest producer of food next to China and has the potential of being the largest food producer in the world. The food processing industry is the fifth largest industry in India in terms of production, consumption, export, and expected growth. Among the various sectors of the food-processing industry, the ready to eat food products industry is growing at the fastest pace of 30 % p.a. There are nearly 100 international, national, and local players already operating in the industry, and equal numbers of players are likely to enter in the market in the coming years due to its huge growth potential. Ready to eat food products being products of low involvement category, a little differentiation exists among the products produced by various players of the industry so as to differentiate their products. To differentiate their products, one of the most prominent tools used in the industry is packaging. The companies make use of various packaging elements to differentiate their products. This study was undertaken to analyze the influence of nutritional information provided on the packages of ready to eat food products on the product evaluation and buying behavior of consumers in Rajkot.

Quando ser internacional vale a pena: O efeito da presença internacional de uma marca de serviços sobre as atitudes dos consumidores

A number of academic studies have investigated the effect, i.e., the influence of a product’s country of origin on the attitudes of consumers. It is known that countries with a higher level of socioeconomic development generate more favorable attitudes towards their goods, and that this influence is moderated by the degree of consumer involvement with the product category. Most previous studies have investigated mainly tangible products, however, this study examines the country-of-origin effect for services using an unexplored and distinct approach: the presence of a brand in various cities across the world as an advertising appeal, without explicitly mentioning the country of origin. Specifically, we create a scenario in which two new retail brands in product categories with low and high consumer involvement are established in Brazil, and the presence of these products in cities of developed countries (vs emerging) is mentioned. The results show that their presence in developed (vs emerging) cities has a more positive effect on purchasing intent, attitudes as well as the perceived success for the high-involvement category (clothing store), when compared to the low-involvement category (supermarket). This study contributes to the marketing literature by demonstrating that presence in developed cities can have the same effect on consumer attitudes as the communication of the country of origin, and that this effect is moderated by the degree of consumer involvement with a category

An observational study of cross-cultural communication in short-term, diverse professional learning groups

This paper reports the evaluation of a European funded 3-week summer school which took place in 2013 involving 60 staff and students from five universities. The evaluation looked at one group in detail using a qualitative approach to consider whether students and teachers can work together in multicultural groups in order to achieve their goal. MethodOne group was observed during 2 two-hour sessions of group activity; at the beginning and end of the summer school task. Video data was analysed using the Rapport Management framework, a model of cross-cultural communication, to determine what motivated this group's interactions. ResultsAs the group's deadline became imminent ‘face-threatening acts’ (FTAs) were more apparent. These were tolerated in this group because of the development of a strong social bond. There was inequity in participation with members of the group falling into either high- or low-involvement categories. This was also well-tolerated but meant some students may not have gained as much from the experience. The group lacked guidance on managing group dynamics. ConclusionCultural differences in communication were not the main threat to multi-cultural working groups. Potential problems can arise from failing to provide the group with a framework for project and team management. An emphasis on ground rules and the allocation of formal roles is important as is the encouragement of socialisation which supports the group during challenging times.

Factors moderating the impact of word of mouth for TV and film broadcasts

This study builds on the research of East et al. (2008) into the relative impact of Positive and Negative Word of Mouth (PWOM, NWOM). It examines two low involvement categories with different consumer transaction patterns: TV programs and films. The results reveal that when prior viewing probabilities have equivalent room-to-change, PWOM and NWOM have the same level of impact for films, but PWOM is more influential than NWOM for TV programs. This is an important boundary condition for the work of East et al. (2008) and suggests that the value of NWOM should be discounted in TV programs, irrespective of the prior propensity to view. Consistent with East et al. (2008), we find that PWOM is more influential on those with lower viewing probabilities. Our findings provide guidance as to which type of viewers should be targeted with WOM campaigns to have the greatest effect on audience growth.

Segmentation in Low-Penetration and Low-Involvement Categories: An Application to Lottery Games

Market segmentation is accepted as a fundamental concept in marketing and several authors have recently proposed a segmentation model where personal and environmental variables intersect with each other to form motivating conditions that drive behavior and preferences. This model of segmentation has been applied to packaged goods. This paper extends this literature by proposing a segmentation model for low-penetration and low involvement (LP-LI) products. An application to the lottery games in Chile supports the proposed model. The results of the study show that in this type of products (LP-LI), the attitude towards the product category is the most important factor that distinguishes consumers from non consumers, and heavy users from light users, and consequently, a critical segmentation variable. In addition, a cluster analysis shows the existence of three segments: (1) the impulsive dreamers, who believe in chance, and in that lottery games can change their life, (2) the skeptical, that do not believe in chance, nor in that lottery games can change their life and (3) the willing, who value the benefits of playing.

Promoting Interactive Decision Aids on Retail Websites: A Message Framing Perspective with New versus Traditional Focal Actions

Online retailers significantly benefit when consumers use interactive decision aids (IDAs). In this study, we investigate how to best design messages that promote IDA use. Using an extended message framing perspective, we propose that messages about consumers’ traditional action (searching) increase usage intentions more than messages about the new action (IDA use). Results from two experiments confirm that this holds across both high and low involvement categories and in particular when the traditional action frame is combined with a loss outcome. We also demonstrate that familiarity with the message's focal action mediates this effect.

Antecedents to purchase decision of high and low involvement products amongst Indian Youth

Involvement of the product is a major determinant affecting consumer buying behaviour. Creating awareness for brands in high- and low-involvement category products is a major concern for marketers. The research paper focuses on identifying factors responsible for brand-awareness in the high- and low-involvement category products. The findings suggest that brand functions play a significant role in consumers' purchase behaviour in high-involvement products and advertising plays a significant role in low-involvement product purchase decision.

제품관여도, 광고모델에 따른 소비자 태도차이 연구

This study investigates the differences in advertisement attitude, brand attitude, and purchase intention based on advertising model and consumer product involvement. A total of 100 respondents in high involvement and 100 respondents in low involvement categories were exposed to the advertisements of a cosmetic brand using 4 different model types: celebrity endorser, expertise endorser, ordinary person as an endorser, and no endorser. The experiment was planned as <TEX>$2{\times}4$</TEX> types including high/low involvement and 4 different model types (25 respondents each). After looking at an advertisement for 1 minute, respondents were asked to answer a survey measuring advertisement attitude, brand attitude, and purchase intension. The results of this study showed that 6 hypotheses were supported and there was a significant difference between the high involvement and low involvement group depending on the advertising models used as well as the advertisement that influence advertisement attitude, brand attitude, and purchase intension. High involvement consumers showed the most favorable advertisement attitude on an advertisement with an expertise endorser, but low involvement consumers showed the most favorable advertisement attitude on an advertisement with a celebrity endorser. High involvement consumers showed the most favorable brand attitude on an advertisement with an expertise endorser whereas low involvement consumers showed the most favorable brand attitude on an advertisement with a celebrity endorser. High involvement consumers showed the highest purchase intention on an advertisement with an expertise endorser whereas low involvement consumers showed no difference in purchase intention depending on advertisement models. This study shows that marketers should differentiate advertising strategies based on consumer involvement.

Impact of Country of Origin and Country of Brand Origin on Consumer Attitude towards Products

Increasing number of binational and hybrid products draws attention not only to the products’ country of origin (COO), but also to the country of brand origin (COBO). Although the impact of COO on consumers’ attitude towards products has been studied for decades, the COBO impact on consumer has become scholars’ interest only recently. Also it is important to determine, are there other moderators of COO and COBO impact on consumers’ attitude, for example, product category (low vs high involvement) and consumers’ susceptibility to interpersonal influence (low vs high). The main purpose of this paper was to examine the impact of COO and COBO on consumer attitude towards the product, and to determine whether it depends on product category and consumer’s susceptibility to interpersonal influence. Literature research has revealed that there is no common agreement on whether product category (high vs low involvement) influences COO or COBO importance on consumers’ decisions. There are arguments that consumers are more concerned about countries of origin when choosing high involvement product, however, other data suggests that selecting low involvement products both countries of origin are also important. It suggests the need for additional research. No data was found on interaction between COO and COBO and consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence, thus our research fills the gap. 135 students were asked to fill in a questionnaire, which contained questions about consumer’s attitude to two products – photo camera (high involvement category) and toothpaste (low involvement category), indicating the particular COO and COBO of both products. To avoid carry-over effects, each respondent saw only one kind of COO and COBO combination (both countries are developed; both countries are undeveloped; developed COO vs undeveloped COBO country, and undeveloped COO vs developed COBO). Consumer’s susceptibility to interpersonal influence was measured using SNI scale by Bearden et al. (1989). Results indicate, that consumers have a different attitude towards products with different COO and COBO combinations. Moreover, the consumer’s attitude towards products with different country of origin and brand origin combinations does not depend on product category. However, it is dependent on consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence. These results of the study could give useful guidelines to manufacturers that intend to change either country of manufacturing or country of corporate ownership.

Limited Choice Sets, Local Price Response, and Implied Measures of Price Competition

It is becoming increasingly evident that a consumer's brand choice decision in low-involvement categories does not involve full search, evaluation, and comparison of price information of all brands available at point of purchase (global price response). The authors propose a two-stage choice process in which the consumer first identifies a subset of brands within the universal set of brands called the choice set and then evaluates only those brands that are in the choice set relative to one another to select a single brand. The authors find that, consistent with reports of the extent of external price search of consumers, response to shelf price variations is limited to the brands in the choice set (local price response). Their results indicate that employing the assumption of global price response may lead to biased estimates of price elasticity and derived measures of clout and vulnerability. To enable a managerially meaningful and useful assessment of a brand's competitive clout and vulnerability, the authors provide a brand-level approach to integrate local price response into the derivation of these measures.