Price Sensitive Market Research Articles

The Competitive Challenges in China's Prepared Dishes Industry: A Focus on Anjoy Foods

This research investigated Anjoy Foods Co., Ltd.'s strategies in China's prepared dish market amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the period 20202023. The pandemic led to a surge in demand for prepared dishes due to changing consumer behaviors, such as reduced outings and a scarcity of fresh food. Despite Anjoy Foods' revenue growth (from 673 million RMB in 2020 to over 3 billion RMB by 2022), its gross profit margin declined from 29.72% in 2018 to 11.42% in 2022. This paper employed the marketing mix theory (product, price, promotion, and place) to analyze Anjoy Foods' market strategies and identify key areas for improvement. The research highlighted that Anjoy Foods' product line fails to align with the growing consumer interest in health-focused and convenient food options. It also notes the company's premium pricing strategy as a disadvantage in a price-sensitive market. Additionally, the study pointed out a reduction in promotional activities, particularly in digital advertising, which affects engagement with key demographics. The paper suggested strategic innovations in product diversification, adopting tiered and value-based pricing models, and enhancing digital marketing efforts. These strategies aim to realign Anjoy Foods with evolving market demands and consumer preferences. The conclusion emphasized the importance of continuous adaptation and innovation for market competitiveness, recommending further research on practical strategy applications and broader market trends.

Investigating the role of utilitarian and hedonic goals in characterizing customer loyalty in E-marketplaces

Despite significant growth in sales in recent years, retaining customers remains a major challenge for the electronic marketplace (e-marketplace) industry worldwide, including Indonesia. The small basket size of Indonesian customers has created a highly price-sensitive market, making it difficult to nurture customer loyalty. This study investigates the factors affecting consumer behavior and loyalty in Indonesian e-marketplaces by employing a newly proposed E-Marketplace Customer Loyalty Model. Since customers' expectations have extended from mostly utilitarian-oriented goals to incorporate hedonic goals, the proposed model includes both utilitarian and hedonic-based constructs by integrating the Expectation-Confirmation Theory, e-service quality, and the Hedonic Information Systems Model. The proposed model was tested using a comparative approach of machine learning classification algorithms and partial least square, aiming to create a more robust model. The PLS analytical results of ECLM hiearchical component model from 678 customers show that the fulfillment of hedonic values via perceived enjoyment has a greater impact on customer satisfaction than utilitarian values of perceived service quality. Perceived enjoyment, personalization, and customer satisfaction positively affect customer loyalty. The classification results provide further evidence for all hypothesized relationships of the ECLM. The Sequential Minimal Optimization (SMO) algorithm has demonstrated superior performance compared with other classifiers in predicting the dependent variable in most cases. Based on findings, this study offers theoretical and practical implications, and recommendations for sustainable loyalty programs in e-marketplaces.

Pricing and inventory decision in a two-layer supply chain under the Weibull distribution product deterioration: an application of NSGA-II

Academicians and practitioners have focused a lot of attention on the separate issues of pricing and inventory control in a competitive setting. However, integrating these choices in a competitive environment has received scant attention for deteriorating inventory systems from academics despite being crucial to practitioners. From this perspective, our research focuses on designing a supply chain model with inventory coordination to reflect time systems with improved accuracy and optimal control systems. In this research, we develop a two-layer supply chain model consisting of one manufacturer and one retailer incorporating the inventory classification of the retailer. Price-sensitive market demand and two-parameter time-varying Weibull distribution deterioration have been assumed to develop the mathematical model. First, a collective decision on price and inventory control of a deteriorating product has been evaluated in a duopoly environment. Secondly, to explore the decentralized scenario, we have proposed the NSGA-II algorithm to solve the bi-objective programming problem of the two-layer supply chain. The paper aims to explore product collaborative pricing policies and the inventory decision of the deteriorating item in two-layer supply chain coordination. Finally, numerical research is conducted to execute the centralized supply chain and NSGA-II application in a decentralized supply chain. The research findings can provide valuable insights for members of the two-layer supply chain to make optimal product pricing and inventory scheduling decisions.

Food price and availability in Solomon Islands during COVID-19: A food environment survey.

Background: In Solomon Islands, the retail food environment is an important food source, for instance, the dominant source of fresh fruit and vegetables for urban consumers is open markets. The effects of COVID-19 mitigation measures (such as restriction of human movement and border closures) in early 2020 placed food security at risk in many parts of the community. Of particular concern was the risk of price gouging in an already price-sensitive market. Aims: The study aimed to provide rapid and policy-relevant information on the pricing of foods in the urban food environment in Solomon Islands in the context of the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A vendor survey was conducted in July to August 2020 and repeated in July 2021 using a survey tool that collected information on type, quantity, and price of food on offer. Findings: We found price reductions among the majority of fresh fruit and non-starchy vegetables available. A trend of rising prices was reported for some other commodities, such as fresh locally caught fish. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the impact of 'schocks to the system' on food prices as a potential barrier or enabler to consumption of fresh foods purchased from urban areas - an important finding in a price sensitive market. The survey design was successful in collecting pricing data from the retail food environment during a time of external 'shock to the system'. Our approach is applicable to other settings needing a rapid survey of the external food environment.

A post-COVID model to measure brand loyalty of banking clients

The study investigates the relationship between customers’ loyalty, trust and satisfaction concerning an organization’s reputation in the South African banking sector. High service levels exist in this highly competitive and price-sensitive market. Access to banking has also digitized significantly, and banks adapted their service strategies to comply with COVID-19 restrictions such as hard lockdowns and limited movements. Customers were not able to attend banks. Hence the whole personal (contact) service and loyalty scenario required aggressive reengineering. A bank’s competitiveness can be impacted significantly by service quality, price competitiveness, and product diversity. As a result, the study with the primary objective is to determine the new relationships between customer loyalty and antecedents such as service quality, customer satisfaction, customer trust, brand image, reputation, customer loyalty, and word of mouth. Data were gathered from South African customers using a 5-point Likert scale distributed via an electronic platform (Google Forms). More than 1,000 questionnaires were distributed, and 150 were completed and returned (representing a 15% response rate). The reliability is satisfactory (Cronbach alpha coefficient on all antecedents exceeded 0.775). The literature model was confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis. The analysis showed that the model possesses convergent- (r2 < Sqrt AVE) and discriminant (AVE > 0.5) validity and possesses satisfactory fit indices (CFI = .951, TL = .941, NFI = .922, RMSEA = .089, CMIN/df = 129.072/592.188 = 2.188). This indicates that the model can be operationalized in South Africa to measure post-COVID-19 bank loyalty.

Spillovers and connectedness among BRICS stock markets, cryptocurrencies, and uncertainty: Evidence from the quantile vector autoregression network

In this study we advance the understanding of the spillovers and connectedness network among conventional and Islamic BRICS stock markets, cryptos (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin) and various global uncertainties, using a quantile vector autoregression method and daily data covering the period October 8, 2016, to May 28, 2021. Further, the study uses a network and sensitivity analyses to assess the nexus, examines risk causes, and the transfer paths in these markets under bearish, normal, and bullish markets. The evidence offers major findings. First, the overall static and dynamic connectedness is very high and more intense at extreme events. Second, the network connectedness structure shows that the markets have played both roles: net transmitters and receivers of shocks under several market states. Finally, the sensitivity to quantiles analysis shows switching behavior of net transfer spillovers over the quantiles. This could be beneficial to investors aiming at optimizing hedging strategies. Policymakers should consider carefully the overall network connectedness in the market system and formulate appropriate policies to conceive stock market price sensitivity.

Design for automatic Assembly – A systematic literature review to assess the fitness of sub-components for automation

The automotive industry is in transition towards zero-emission mobility. New technologies, vehicle architectures and components are required for this disruptive transformation, which poses major challenges to the entire supply chain. One of these challenges is introducing new manufacturing processes within a very price-sensitive market environment. In addition, higher requirements concerning functional safety and quality do not only have an impact on the design of a component, but also strongly influence its manufacturing processes. To face these new challenges within manufacturing, automation is mandatory. The key-enabler as to automate as quickly and cost competitive as possible is to have a suitable product design. However, in many commodities, such as in the automotive high-voltage wire harness industry, the development and determination of the product design of sub-components and the subsequent assembly as well as the incurrence of related costs are separated in different companies throughout the supply chain. In terms of the high-voltage wire harness, the development and the assembly of high-voltage connectors, the most valuable sub-components, are usually separated. Consequently, a method is required to determine the strong influence of the product design on assembly and automation opportunities to consider this during the selection of sub-components.This paper conducts a systematic literature review to identify research publications that quantify the fitness for automated assembly based on the product design, cluster them and analyze their applicability. Based on the insights gained through the aforementioned procedure, we derive future research needs customized on the industry's problems to approach a higher level of automation within the manufacturing of automotive high-voltage wire harnesses by suitable sub-component selection.

Looking Back to Look Forward

Abstract India is the second-largest book market in the world for English-language content. Indian publishing, predominantly educational and 75 per cent in English, is growing at a compound annual growth rate. Tracing the business’s 75-year journey, this article highlights key phases and players that have shaped the way this industry looks today. Family businesses and international publishers have been an intrinsic part of the local publishing scene from the start. A large textbook market and growing general books market sustain them as new players continue to appear on the scene. The book-publishing ecosystem has historically included bookselling, distribution, and printing and in more recent times has expanded to edtech and telecoms. The COVID-19 experience has enhanced the need for collaborations in this ecosystem to sustain Indian publishing. Although the books market remains 90 per cent print, its sustainability requires e-resources that enhance, support, and test learning from these printed books. Finding suitable pricing models in a historically price-sensitive market is one of the key challenges. Government policy plays a key role in the direction and growth of Indian publishing. Tax, copyright, and education policies can pave the way for Indian publishing to be a research and skilling hub for this youthful nation.

Matching Supply and Demand with Lead-Time Dependent Price and with Safety Stocks in a Make-to-Order Production System

We studied the ability to reduce the supply–demand mismatch of a periodic Make-to-Order (MTO) production system using safety stocks with marketing managing demand using lead-time guarantee and price as levers. The aim is to understand the interdependencies between lead-time guarantee, price, and safety stocks. We modeled the problem as an unconstrained stochastic non-linear programming problem, maximizing the expected profit per-unit time and obtaining a closed-form solution. The price is a function of the lead-time guarantee. Based on the sensitivity analysis of problem parameters, we found that lead-time competitiveness is adversely affected by a low safety stock level, MTO production rate (i.e., low supply capability), and product price (i.e., high demand volume). A shorter lead-time requires higher safety stock through reduced product and inventory holding costs. A higher price for a shorter lead-time in a lead-time-sensitive market reduces the safety stock. In a price-sensitive market, lead-time is decreased instead of the price. Demand variation results in longer lead-time and higher safety stock (provided the holding cost is low). For a higher price premium, price increases and lead-time decrease (safety stock increases). The integrated operation-marketing model captures the complex trade-offs not seen in a hierarchical model to produce better solutions.

Advertising and Pricing Policies for a Diffusion Model Incorporating Price Sensitive Potential Market in Segment Specific Environment

This paper suggests an optimal control formulation of a diffusion model to determine the optimal advertising and pricing policy for a new product in segmented market involving price dependent market potential where total potential market is a decreasing function of price. We assume that sales rate is proportional to the number of adopters and evolved under the joint effect of a single advertising channel and segment specific advertising process that affect sales rate in unsaturated market. Single channel advertising with a fixed spectrum is available for each segment in whole market while segment specific advertising process can reach each target segment individually. The optimal dynamic price and advertising policies are obtained by applying Pontryagin’s maximum principle. Finally, numerical examples of two cases for a discrete version of the proposed control problem are provided to illustrate the efficacy of the proposed method

SYSTEM FOR DETECTING FAUX PRODUCTS

As a disruptive technology, blockchain technology has the potential to eliminate the problem of product counterfeiting in supply chains. A blockchainbased platform, on the other hand, charges legal producers and retailers an operational fee for product tracking and authentication. We use enterprise profitdriven analytical models based on Stackelberg equilibrium theory in this work to demonstrate the benefits of blockchain-supported e-commerce platforms in combating product counterfeiting. We evaluate the profitability of all actors in two separate supply chains, traditional and blockchain-supported, to determine the true benefits of blockchain technology. Manufacturers, merchants, and customers do not necessarily benefit from the use of blockchain technology, according to the findings. When a genuine company's manufacturing costs are sufficiently high, however, blockchain technology allows the manufacturer to make more money. Furthermore, in a price-sensitive market, a retailer is more likely to trade on a blockchainsupported e-commerce platform if the retailer's qualification in the platform is lower than in a traditional supply chain and the counterfeit manufacturer's manufacturing cost in the platform is higher than in a traditional supply chain.

TU5. PHENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDY BETWEEN ADHD POLYGENIC RISK AND ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD ICD-10 DIAGNOSIS CODES IN THE ESTONIAN BIOBANK

Modular production requires new service provision under the trend of servitization. This paper is to explore the issue of module-based service associated with three different power structurers in a two-echelon supply chain that consists of a module supplier and a manufacturer. The manufacturer considers to delegate its upstream module supplier to provide services for downstream consumers. We divide the market into two types: the price-sensitive market and the service-level sensitive market. Different power structures and market types have a great impact on the service levels, prices and the profitability of each member in the supply chain. When the manufacturer (the supplier) acts as the leader in the supply chain, the module supplier should provide the highest (lowest)-level service and the manufacturer will charge the highest (lowest) price for the bundled product and service. The module supplier can benefit from the service-delegation relationship while the manufacturer will be hurt. There is an opportunity for the module supplier to offer the service, especially when the module supplier is in a dominated position.

Time- and price-based product differentiation in hybrid distribution with stockout-based substitution

A delivery mix that includes delivery from stock and drop-shipping is of interest to many internet retailers. We consider a retailer serving a time- and price-sensitive market with two substitutable products that differ in the guaranteed delivery time and price, an express product (delivered from the stock) and a regular product (drop-shipped). In case of stockout, customers may switch from the express product to the regular product. We study how to differentiate the products in terms of delivery times and prices and how to determine the stock level to maximize the retailer's expected profit while satisfying service constraints. We solve different variants of the problem and derive insights into the optimal retailer's strategy. In addition, we study the impact of stockout-based substitution. This paper is the first to investigate time- and price-based differentiation along with inventory decisions for a retailer who relies on a hybrid distribution to satisfy a time- and price-sensitive demand subject to stockout-based substitution. When prices and stock are fixed, in addition to minimum and maximum time differentiations, a medium differentiation strategy may be optimal but depends on the stock level. When only prices are fixed, there exists a price differentiation limit below which a minimum time differentiation is optimal, and above which only the express product should be offered. For the general model, numerical experiments show that a higher stockout-based substitution leads to greater time differentiation (which is consistent with the results of previous models) and more stock. However, this would not impact the price differentiation.

Managing the Product-Counterfeiting Problem with a Blockchain-Supported E-Commerce Platform

As a disruptive tool, blockchain technology can eradicate the product-counterfeiting problem in supply chains. However, a blockchain-supported platform charges an operating fee to legitimate manufacturers and retailers for product traceability and authentication. In this study, we employ enterprise profit-driven analytical models using Stackelberg equilibrium theory and highlight the values of blockchain-supported e-commerce platforms in addressing the product-counterfeiting problem. To measure the actual benefits of blockchain technology, we compare the profits of all agents in two different supply chains, traditional and blockchain-supported. Results show that the application of blockchain technology is not always beneficial to manufacturers, retailers, and customers. However, when the manufacturing cost of a legitimate manufacturer is sufficiently high, the manufacturer generates more profits using blockchain technology. Further, for a price-sensitive market, a retailer tends to trade in a blockchain-supported e-commerce platform if the retailer’s qualification in the platform is lower than that in a traditional supply chain, and the manufacturing cost of the counterfeit manufacturer in the platform is higher than that in a traditional supply chain.

Leadership through differentiation: Hero’s journey with Niloy Motors in the motorcycle industry of Bangladesh

Learning outcomes This case study can be taught in the core courses on marketing management and strategic management at the postgraduate level management programmes. This case would facilitate students’ to appreciate the context of a business-level strategy in congruence with the firm’s corporate goals in an emerging market. This case study discussion will enable students to: understand and appreciate the opportunities and the nature of the emerging market, explain the strategic decisions that can impact the survival of the global brands in new markets, explain different types of business-level strategy and their appropriate application, synthesise various industry and market-related information into the selection and justification of any particular business-level strategy and learn the technique of perceptual mapping. Case overview/synopsis Hero MotoCorp Limited of India; the world’s number one motorcycle company by volume, established its second global manufacturing facility in Bangladesh in 2018 with the Nitol-Niloy Group. A sister concern, Niloy Motors Limited (NML), had been in charge of the marketing, distribution and sales of the brand “Hero”. Abu Aslam, as the Chief Marketing Officer of NML soon had to confront this fast-paced and highly competitive motorcycle market of Bangladesh. He needed to meet the corporate goal of becoming the market leader by the year 2025. On the one hand, Hero was comparatively a late entrant; on the other hand, the market accommodated almost all popular global brands such as Bajaj, TVS and Honda. The high growth economy with a rising middle class and a favourable government policy had made the Bangladeshi motorcycle industry quite lucrative for the global manufacturers. Upon its entrance, Hero found a price-sensitive market where it soon became number two by adopting the cost-leadership strategy. However, the incessant price-cutting by the players led to the price war, and every company was losing profit. The resulting situation had created a strong challenge for Aslam as achieving the market leadership through cost-leadership seemed to be an impractical strategy. Towards the end of the 2019–2020 sales-year, Aslam introduced a new variant of Splendor Plus to the entry cc segment with some new features and a slightly higher price. Receiving a significant positive customer response, Aslam was seriously considering sailing away from cost-leadership. Now, Aslam was in a dilemma as he needed to choose from the three alternatives of adopting the differentiation strategy, namely, differentiation, focussed differentiation and broad differentiation. Complexity academic level Not applicable. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 11: Strategy.

The effect of greenness- and price-based competition on a product's environmental performance

This study considers two retailers that offer substitutable products and compete in a greenness- and price-sensitive market. The retailers rely on supply chains that have different costs, replenishment times and carbon intensities. The demand is stochastic, and the inventory replenishment time is also stochastic. Each retailer decides the greenness of its product (carbon intensity), the price and the order size to maximize its expected profit under a service level constraint. The mean demand for each retailer decreases in its price and carbon intensity and increases in other retailer's price and carbon intensity. The customers' switchovers are, thus, governed by disparities in carbon intensity and price. The retailers may have different market powers since the total demand is not necessarily equally shared between them when they offer the same price and greenness level. We derive analytically the best response of each retailer to other retailer's decisions at the Nash equilibrium. We determine the market conditions that lead the competing retailer to offering a greener or a dirtier product than the product it would have offered in a monopolistic situation. We explain how the retailer's market power impacts on its greenness strategy under different market conditions. We also investigate insights into the impact of disparities in transportation carbon emissions, the order size decisions, and the retailers' optimal profit under the different competition scenarios.

Module-based service provision under different power structures

Modular production requires new service provision under the trend of servitization. This paper is to explore the issue of module-based service associated with three different power structurers in a two-echelon supply chain that consists of a module supplier and a manufacturer. The manufacturer considers to delegate its upstream module supplier to provide services for downstream consumers. We divide the market into two types: the price-sensitive market and the service-level sensitive market. Different power structures and market types have a great impact on the service levels, prices and the profitability of each member in the supply chain. When the manufacturer (the supplier) acts as the leader in the supply chain, the module supplier should provide the highest (lowest)-level service and the manufacturer will charge the highest (lowest) price for the bundled product and service. The module supplier can benefit from the service-delegation relationship while the manufacturer will be hurt. There is an opportunity for the module supplier to offer the service, especially when the module supplier is in a dominated position.

Examining the Structural Relatiosnhips of Product Price, Product Quality and Customer Purchasing Decision

This research aims to test the influence of price and product quality on customers’ purchasing decision. To this, 105 respondents were used to fill up the questionnaires, Smart-PLS 3.0 was used to analyze and test the hypothesis. The results showed that product price influenced positively and significantly on customers’ purchasing decision, while product quality did not. This research enriches the empirical study on price, product quality, and the customer purchasing decision. At the practical level, the result revealed that corporates should emphasis developing and delivering products meeting the needs of customers in price sensitive market in order to stimulate customer’s purchasing decision and enhance corporate’s market share.

Oil and Agricultural Commodity Markets of Pakistan: Looking for a Preferable Trading Avenue

The primary objective of this study is to find out the impact of oil price on futures and spot markets of agricultural products in Pakistan. Secondly, the study compares the research findings to suggest less oil price sensitive market for trading agricultural products in Pakistan. Futures (1 and 2 months futures) and spot prices of rice and sugar are taken as proxies for prices of agricultural products representing respective markets. Oil price sensitivity analysis is conducted via Vector Error Correction model. Further, Granger Causality approach is used for the causality analysis. Futures (1 and 2 months futures) and spot prices of rice and sugar are taken as proxies for prices of agricultural products representing derivatives and spot markets respectively. Time series data constituting 7 variables of 60 observations is analyzed from October 2012 to October 2017. The results are then subject to comparison and discussed.

Time-sensitive markdown strategies for perishable products based on dynamic quality evaluation

Purpose This study aims to provide a time- and price-sensitive market strategy for merchants to handle the markdown price strategy. The market demand for perishable products is usually price – and quality (freshness) – sensitive. The proper handling of markdown-price strategies can help merchants enhance competitiveness and maximize operational performance. Design/methodology/approach A markdown strategy consisting of price and markdown time was developed to explore the properties of market strategies based on the dynamic quality evaluation. The strategy considers multiple price discounts and multiple markdown times. The optimal price decisions in each stage and the optimal markdown times were derived during the selling season. Findings The results showed the following. A retailer always raises the initial price if it wants to adopt multiple price-markdown strategies. A high initial price may lead to a high inventory at the early stage and bring the next price reduction in advance. Large price discounts can be used to reduce the inventory later. The higher the previous price, the shorter the interval between the next price reduction. The markdown strategies showed that the regular discount as a new business model is not the best pricing model for perishable products. A time- and price-sensitive strategy, however, can increase operational performance and provide new insights for perishable products. Originality/value The results showed the following. A retailer always raises the initial price if it wants to adopt multiple price-markdown strategies. A high initial price may lead to a high inventory at the early stage and bring the next price reduction in advance. Large price discounts can be used to reduce the inventory later. The higher the previous price, the shorter the interval between the next price reduction. The markdown strategies showed that the regular discount as a new business model is not the best pricing model for perishable products. A time- and price-sensitive strategy, however, can increase operational performance and provide new insights for perishable products.