Donata Vianelli

In-Store Shopping Behavior

SUMMARY The analysis of consumer shopping behavior is one of the most critical aspects which has to be taken into consideration in a context of retailing internationalization, where managers need to define the degree to which international firms can standardize or adapt their strategies in foreign markets. The aim of this research is to analyze and point out the main cross-cultural differences regarding in-store behavior comparing three countries: Italy, France and Poland. The study presents the results of an empirical research carried out on the household goods retail sector, which shows on a global level a positive growth trend that is predicted to continue in the next years especially through the internationalization of the retailing chains.

L'internazionalizzazione delle imprese italiane nel mercato cinese: fattori propulsivi e difficoltà percepite

The present paper explores the internationalization process of Italian companies in the Chinese market, focusing on the analysis of facilitating factors and perceived difficulties. In order to make a comparison, both companies operating and willing to enter the Chinese market have been analyzed. The study was based on the development and administration of a self-administered questionnaire. The analysis, exploratory in nature, was carried out by analyzing a sample of 238 companies operating or willing to enter the Chinese market. The findings suggest that internal facilitating factors (such as the entrepreneurial vision, brand and company know how) are more important than external ones; furthermore Italian companies selling in China have to deal with some complex difficulties which are partly differently perceived by those firms not yet operating in the market. The findings provide marketing executives useful insights in developingentry and distribution strategies for Italian products in the Chinese market.

Il comportamento di scelta del prodotto crocieristico nel mercato italiano

In recent years, the ever-more-meaningful role of the cruise ship segment of the market was frequently analyzed by the academic literature on leisure tourism. However, research focused on consumer behavior has been limited and was completely absent in the Italian market. To address the gap in the literature, the author analyzed the importance of different attributes evaluated by consumers in their buying process. Using primary survey data from a sample of 1.372 consumers, a factor and a cluster analysis were performed. The analysis identifies the existence of segments based on different consumer behaviors. Experience (first timers versus cruise repeaters) and loyalty (brand versus non brand repeaters) can influence the evaluation of the importance of certain attributes, whilst socio-demographic variables are not relevant. The article concludes with some suggestions for future research and highlights managerial implication especially for communication campaigns.

Does Culture Affect Consumer Behaviour, When Shopping On-Line?

On-line retailers have to decide whether to standardize or adapt their marketing strategy to the foreign consumer markets. The objective of this article is not only to locate differences in on-line shopping behavior between English, Italian, and Chinese consumers, but also to explain these differences, through cultural dimensions. A discriminant analysis was conducted on English, Italian and Chinese consumers, based on eighteen behavioral variables, to illustrate the effect that a change of culture would have on a consumer’s on-line shopping behavior. The behavioral variables were classified in a descending lexicographic order of their discriminating power, between these cultures. After running the discriminant analysis, a factorial analysis of the eighteen behavioral describers was also run, to organize the latter into a smaller number of factors that are mutually exclusive, and very exhaustive. Factorial analysis identified five distinct factors that point out differences between the three countries, underlining that on-line retailers cannot duplicate abroad their home marketing strategy, because the needs e-shoppers wish to fulfill diverge between these markets.

The Influence of Product Context Complexity on Processing Fluency and Product Evaluation Across Shop Environments

Visual appeal is a pivotal feature in retail strategy. Consumers process the visual presentation of products based upon their ease of processing visual information. Similarly, consumers evaluate products depending on how they interpret the overlap between a target object and its context. Across two studies we demonstrate that product context complexity influences processing fluency and product evaluation. Further, we find that consumers process products high in context complexity less fluent in low congruent shop environments compared to high congruent shop environments. Relevant academic and managerial findings are discussed.

The effect of COO on retail buyers’ propensity to trial new products

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to theorize country-of-origin (COO) to be important to retail buyers in making purchase decisions. However, this question has not been addressed in the literature and leaves a critical gap in determining how COO ultimately affects consumer purchase options. Design/methodology/approach Retail buyer behavior is empirically tested with both premium and value brands from Italy. A sample retail buyers was taken from a LexisNexis database and provided 205 completed surveys. Construct scales were taken from existing literature and tested using composite reliability. SEM was used to analyze the data. Findings Results showed that retail buyers are affected by COO; that low involvement purchases are not differentially affected compared to high involvement; product typicality enhances likelihood of purchase and this typicality is more important for high involvement goods. Practical implications Retail buyers are affected by COO and will make product choices for their stores accordingly. Companies should be aware of this and take it into consideration to strengthen their acceptance by retail buyers. Trade organizations within countries may consider advertising approaches to distinguish themselves and stimulate positive COO among retail buyers. Originality/value This is the first time that retail buyer behavior has been studied with regard to COO effects using consumer models. Results showed that use of these models is more appropriate than only using industrial buying models. Retail buyers are found to indeed be affected by COO, which in turn influence buying choices for consumers and offerings from retailers.

Diesel: An Unconventional, Innovative, International-Lifestyle, Italian Company

Diesel is an example of a successful Italian company in the fashion industry. This international lifestyle company founded in the 1970s has succeeded in creating and developing denim fabric in a mature market where the competition, led by American multinationals, is strong. Innovation, creativity and nonconformist choices are the fundamental roots of the company. The engine of the company’s success is its founder, Renzo Rosso. Rosso managed to merge the philosophy of Diesel with the challenges of the market. Thanks to his marketing strategy, the company reaches young consumers across the globe. The marketing mix is based on an intense knowledge of the business and on Rosso’s personal intuition. These characteristics made Rosso a pioneer of many trends that later came to be established in the market. This case study examines the company’s internationalization process, the development of its brand identity, and the structural, cultural and human resource variables that favor innovation. It also considers how the company succeeded in repositioning a mature product in such a way as to experience continued growth in national and international markets.

Franchising in Italy

Every year Italy provides millions of visitors with distinctive experiences, thanks to the natural, cultural, and social resources that characterize the country. An analysis of the role of the tourism industry — an important component of the Italian economy — is therefore appropriate and timely. Franchising can contribute greatly to a host market environment and to specific service industries in particular (Alon, 2004). Weaknesses in the Italian hospitality market could be compensated for and reduced by the development of the franchising concept, which is seldom used by Italian hotel chains as they seek to expand in the local market. The low level of franchising in the Italian hospitality sector stands in stark contrast to countries like the U.S., and to other countries where franchising represents as much as 65 percent of the total bed offer (Pine et al 2000). As Altinay (2004) points out, the implementation of franchising is a very difficult organizational activity, and this is particularly true in markets such as Italy, Spain, and Greece, where family-run companies resist the logic of franchising. Considering the data provided by Assofranchising (2005), in a positive overview which reveals a constant growth of franchising during recent years (during 2005 the increase in total turnover was 6.9 percent), the presence of franchising in the hotel sector is still insignificant: with a total turnover of €41.35 million, it represents only 0.2 percent of overall franchising activity in the country.