Jean C. Darian

Perceived salesperson service attributes and retail patronage intentions

In the 1990s many companies have acknowledged the critical importance of being customer‐oriented. However, as retailers contemplate the higher costs and higher revenues of increased customer service levels, they need to understand the relative importance to consumers of various aspects of customer service, particularly those delivered by salespeople. This research investigates the impact of selected salesperson service attributes and levels on consumer patronage intentions in a consumer electronics store setting. The study uses conjoint analysis to measure consumer priorities. The results indicate that salesperson’s respect for the customer, knowledge, and responsiveness are the most important attributes. Where three service levels are presented, there is a greater difference in impact between the lowest and middle levels than between the middle and highest levels. This suggests that retailers do not necessarily have to offer the best service levels to satisfy customers, but must avoid poor service levels.

Segmenting by consumer time shortage

Investigates whether consumers′ time availability is an important segmentation variable in the convenience and fast‐food markets. Very time‐poor, somewhat time‐poor, and not time‐poor consumers are compared, and three types of food are examined: fast foods, frozen dinners, and ready‐to‐eat foods. For weekday dinners, similarities and differences between the three segments are investigated with respect to usage of each type of food, importance of benefits sought in a weekday dinner, and perceptions of each type of food. Managerial implications of differences between segments and of overall patterns are discussed.

Parent‐child decision making in children’s clothing stores

This research analyses the in‐store behaviour of children and their parents while shopping for children’s clothing. Data were collected by unobtrusively observing and recording the behavior of parents and children in retail stores. Results indicate that a purchase was more likely where both parties were highly involved in the search, the interaction was collaborative, the parent had positive evaluations of quality, price, practicality and style, the child had positive evaluations of price, style and colour, and the salesperson addressed the needs of both the parent and the child. It is recommended that retailers′ strategies for merchandise selection, salesforce training and in‐store promotions, address the needs of both parent and child.

Integrated Marketing and Operations Team Projects: Learning the Importance of Cross-Functional Cooperation

Increasingly, U.S. businesses are breaking down barriers between functional departments and focusing on interdepartmental teams aimed at providing customer satisfaction. Cooperation between marketing and production/operations is critical to this objective. This article describes integrating a marketing elective and a required operations management course through coordinated instruction that integrates topics and projects. This approach teaches business students that effective management involves close cooperation between these two functional areas in providing competitive and profitable products. Teamwork is emphasized by utilizing self-managed teams of students who work on functionally integrated projects that include locating a facility, aggregate production planning, and monitoring and improving service quality.

Marketing and Economic Development: A Case Study from Classical India:

A study of marketing in Classical India demonstrates that a substantial expansion of marketing activity promoted ideologies conducive to economic development, with major social and political consequences. This raises ethical, political and strategic issues for those intent on fostering the expansion of marketing in developing countries today.

Perceived health benefits and food purchasing decisions

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to investigate the relative importance to consumers of different health benefits of food.Design/methodology/approach – This study uses conjoint analysis to investigate the relative importance of five health benefits to consumers in their intention to buy a food.Findings – The results suggest that the single most important health benefit influencing purchase intentions is high nutritional value. If two health benefits are to be promoted, for the total sample the most effective combination would be high nutritional value and the potential to reduce cancer, followed by high nutritional value and proven to reduce the risk of heart disease. However, for those respondents with less than a college education, the most effective combination would be high nutritional value and the potential to reduce arthritis.Research limitations/implications – The sample size is small – 238 respondents.Practical implications – The results can be used to help food marketers offer and promo...

Developing marketing strategies to increase vegetable consumption

Purpose – This study aims to examine factors that influence consumption of vegetables in the USA.Design/methodology/approach – Discrete choice methodology is used to measure the relative importance of health benefits and other attributes when choosing food to be eaten at home, cluster analysis to identify segments, and analysis of variance to analyze differences between clusters.Findings – The results show that, for food in general, nutrition and impact on weight are more important than value for money, ease of preparation and taste. However, for vegetables, while the nutrition and weight benefits are very positive factors, taste, cost and ease of preparation inhibit consumption. Results of the cluster analysis suggest that marketing strategies should be adapted for different consumer segments.Research limitations/implications – The sample size is fairly small – 250.Practical implications – The results can be used to help food marketers increase consumption of vegetables.Social implications – More effecti...

An Analysis of Consumer Motivations for Purchasing Fair Trade Coffee

ABSTRACT The growth of Fair Trade has presented challenges to the core values of the initiative, which have emphasized not only improving the farmers standard of living but also empowering producers. This study investigates factors influencing the consumers decision to purchase Fair Trade coffee to be made at home, with a focus on what can be done to maintain the core values of fair trade while expanding its scope. The sample comprises 500 United States adults obtained from an Internet panel operated by ResearchNow. Maximum Difference Scaling (MaxDiff) analysis is used to examine reasons why consumers buy Fair Trade coffee and factors that stand in the way of them purchasing more Fair Trade coffee. Results indicate that the most important reasons for purchasing Fair Trade coffee are to improve the wages and the working conditions of workers and farmers.

Retail Location Decision Making Using a Market Potential Approach: A Group Project

In the project, each student group chooses a particular type of store and constructs an index of market potential to help choose a new location for the store. In addition to gaining experience in making decisions based on limited information, students also are exposed to online data bases and gain practice using Lotus 1-2-3.

A Writing-Intensive Project for Teaching Retailing Management

marketing plans, marketing proposals, and market research. When dealing with external publics, they use writing to develop promotion campaigns and to obtain feedback. Written forms of communication are only effective, however, when they are well written. According to one estimate, as many as half of all business plans are rejected simply because they are poorly written (Steinberg, 1983). Corporations therefore demand good writing skills from business graduates (Dumaine, 1983). Unfortunately, graduates from even the most prestigious business schools often cannot write well (Greising, 1989; Ferrara, 1983). Although corporations can deal with the problem of poor writing skills by providing training to their employees (Ferrara, 1983), training is expensive, and a competitive advantage accrues to those graduates who not only have learned basic business principles but who can also distinguish themselves by their writing skills. Sensitive to the professional importance of writing, a marketing professor took part in a year-long faculty training program, part of a Writing Across the Curriculum program at her institution. The following principles guided the program.