Johan Anselmsson

Sources of customer satisfaction with shopping malls: A comparative study of different customer segments

Abstract In spite of the growing importance of planned, centrally managed and enclosed shopping centres in the retailing sector, the understanding concerning sources and outcomes of customer satisfaction with this kind of shopping malls is limited. This paper develops and validates a conceptualisation of shopping mall satisfaction based on field studies in Sweden. The results show that eight underlying factors of varying character are important to customer satisfaction. These are selection, atmosphere, convenience, sales people, refreshments, location, promotional activities and merchandising policy. Furthermore, this study investigates whether sources of satisfaction differ in importance with respect to gender and age, generally two important variables for retail segmentation.

Understanding price premium for grocery products: a conceptual model of customer-based brand equity

Purpose – This paper seeks to develop a framework for understanding what drives customer‐based brand equity and price premium for grocery products.Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews empirical studies made within the area of brand equity and studies of grocery products. It compares and analyses the results from an explorative and qualitative field study with previous research on brand equity and food quality.Findings – The study finds that brand equity and price premium focusing on the grocery sector specifically highlights the role of uniqueness, together with the four traditionally basic dimensions of brand equity proposed: awareness, qualities, associations and loyalty. Relevant brand associations (origin, health, environment/animal friendliness, organisational associations and social image), and quality attributes (taste, odour, consistency/texture, appearance, function, packaging and ingredients) specific to groceries are identified and proposed for future measurement scales and model val...

Retailer brands and the impact on innovativeness in the grocery store assortment

The purpose of the paper is to examine the degree of innovation in the grocery category and analyse to what extent the presence and growth of retailer brands influence innovativeness in different grocery categories from a customer perspective. Using the Swedish grocery market, 34 grocery categories were studied from 2000 to 2004. Data from Gfk household panel data, Mintel database of product releases and face-to-face interviews with consumers are used. The paper uses four alternative measures of category innovativeness capturing different levels of consumer orientation. The study is limited to one geographic market over a four-year time period. Although the panel data are based on the purchase data of 300 households, one of the four alternative models is in part only based on a sample of 59 respondents. The study shows that there is no empirical support for the suggestion that retailer brands have a negative impact on the overall innovativeness in the grocery categories. However, there was a significant positive relationship between growth in the retailer market share in a category and level of innovativeness in the category. Prevalent innovative behaviour – line extensions – does not rank high with consumers in terms of innovativeness. Companies could allocate resources for more creative products although it might mean fewer new product releases.

What successful branding looks like: a managerial perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of the ways in which food companies can work with branding to perform better in the market. The authors achieve this purpose by comparing how different managers of food brands prioritise and evaluate their brands, in relation to a theoretical ideal framework. Design/methodology/approach – A survey of 77 managers of domestic and international brands. Findings – Beliefs and priorities are similar between managers. What differs is how they measure and monitor their brands. Managers of high performing brands, for example, in general measure brand equity to a greater extent than other managers, and they focus significantly more on monitoring typical brand equity elements such as brand awareness, uniqueness, and feelings. Also managers of international brands measure and monitor more intensively than those of domestic brands. Practical implications – Weaker and domestic brands could learn from the better-performing brands, by becoming more orien...

Manufacturer brands versus private brands: Hoch's strategic framework and the Swedish food retail sector

The purpose of this study was to contribute to the knowledge of how manufacturer brands choose and can choose to defend themselves vis-à-vis introduction of private brands by retailers. The study adopts the same research approach as a Dutch empirical study (Verhoef, P. C., E. J. Nijssen, and L. M. Sloot. 2002. “Strategic Reactions of National Brand Manufacturers Towards Private Labels – An Empirical Study in the Netherlands.” European Journal of Marketing 36 (11/12): 1309–1326) that tested and rejected large parts of the original and well-known conceptual framework by Hoch (Hoch, S. J. 1996. “How Should National Brands Think About Private Labels?” Sloan Management Review 37 (2): 89–102) consisting of six manufacturer strategies to defend against private brands. This study is based on the Swedish market, a more typical market compared with the Dutch market characterized by high innovation level and high penetration of private brands. The study builds on a combination of qualitative and quantitative interviews with brand managers at 100 manufacturers in the Swedish Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) market. The results support Hochs original conceptual framework concerning appropriate defence strategies for manufacturer brands. However, the two differentiation strategies – value for money and new and improved – are seen as one category of the strategies, which creates a simpler and more distinct structure to the framework. The results show that it is the largest and the leading manufacturers that choose this strategy. The lower the penetration of private brands, the larger the share of manufacturers that choose this strategy. The study gives a more nuanced picture concerning the motives behind the strategies and also concerning the differences between how manufacturers act depending on size and market share.

A comparison of customer perceived service quality in discount versus traditional grocery stores

Purpose -- The overall purpose of this study is to enhance the understanding of customer perceived service quality within grocery retailing in a North European context. We do this by comparing customer perceived service quality evaluations of the traditional supermarket store with evaluations of the discount store. Design/methodology/approach -- This study is based on empirical data from four store cases (two traditional and two discount stores), including information gained from a total of 542 respondents. In the study, we have used and tested a model of grocery store service quality, presented in Vazquez et al. (2001), with structural equation modelling (LISREL) and traditional multivariate analysis (SPSS). Findings -- The ability of the Vazquez et al. (2001) model to capture customer perceived quality was below 40 per cent for both concepts which signals limited relevance and that important dimensions in the service evaluation could be missing for both of the two concepts, at least in a North European context. The results show that the traditional supermarket outperforms the discount stores on all service aspects but availability and reliability. When comparing the determinants of the service quality evaluation, the two concepts are very similar. Finally, the overall results regarding determinants of service quality show resemblance to retail studies in other countries and cultures. Research limitations/implications -- This study has been limited to investigate service quality in Sweden and from two out of at least five possible retail concepts. As the explanatory power of the model is limited, future studies should explore other possible determinants of service quality, e.g. the role of technological innovations. Practical implications -- Kotler and Keller (2012) proposes five generic differentiation strategies: product, service, people, channels and image. The results suggest that traditional grocery stores that choose to differentiate and position themselves by focusing on service rather than physical product differentiation should work with assortment issues as well. In order to decide which aspect of service to choose and promote, companies should emphasise differences that are considered important by customers, distinct from competitors and superior in terms of delivering the overall benefit -- in this case -- in terms of service quality. The results show that the policy dimension would satisfy all three criterions. Social implications -- The study enhances the understanding of customer perceived service quality within grocery retailing, specifically in comparison between the supermarket and the discount store concept. Originality/value -- This study is the first to focus on whether there is a divergence in service quality and service quality measuring between the traditional supermarket concept and the growing discount concept, and if so to what extent. Furthermore, it is a test of a model that has gained acceptance in Latin and South European countries, but in the context of Northern Europe

What’s the buzz about the store? A comparative study of Word of Mouth and customer satisfaction, their sources and relationships to sales growt

This is the first study to systematise the “buzzables” in retailing that drive word of mouth (WOM) and to compare the argued relationship between WOM and sales growth with the relationship between customer satisfaction and sales growth. The results build on data from 27 retail chains in seven categories in the Scandinavian retail market, panel data from 3000 households and 1000 customer interviews. The results show that satisfaction and WOM are equally important for growth. Contrary to the previous literature, which has maintained that unique and extreme features drive WOM, it is rather common factors such as value for money, quality and range of goods that encourage WOM.

Customer-based brand equity and human resource management image : Do retail customers really care about HRM and the employer brand?

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between an organization’s human resource management (HRM) image and its customer-based brand equity. Research into HRM in relation to branding has mostly dealt with how to attract and maintain employees through employer branding. The present study attempts to link HRM directly to marketing and branding aimed at customers as an altruistic dimension of the brand image and as something that applies to customers’ sociological needs. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on a survey of Swedish customers in two different retail categories: groceries and home decoration. Findings: The results show that HRM image is distinct from a more traditional service image and that there is a significant relationship between favourable customer perceptions of an organization’s HRM and customers’ willingness to buy and pay a premium for products provided by the retail chain. This finding leads to the conclusion that HRM is not only relevant for employer branding, internal branding and operations management but also plays a significant role in building customer-based brand equity. The results show that further integration of HRM and brand management is needed, both in theory and practice. Originality/value: This study takes a holistic approach to marketing and is one of the first attempts to incorporate HRM and employer branding into the customer-based brand equity framework. Implications for future research, retailing and other businesses are discussed in the conclusion.

Exciting on Facebook or competent in the newspaper? Media effects on consumers’ perceptions of brands in the fashion category

Abstract Media investments are continuously shifting from traditional media like newspapers to digital alternatives like websites and social media. This study investigated if and how media choice between the two rival channels can influence consumers’ perceptions of a novel brand. 504 Swedish retail fashion customers participated in an experiment to evaluate the identical advertisement placed either in a national newspaper or on Facebook. The results revealed that advertising in a newspaper can have a positive effect on brand equity facets and purchase intention through brand personality perceptions of being competent, while advertising on Facebook have similar effects but through perceptions of being exciting. Besides some evidence that choice between traditional and new media affects brand personality this study is one of the first attempts to incorporate media channel choice into the broader customer-based brand equity framework. The results from this particular study suggest that media channel choice should be considered from a brand equity building perspective at least in the fashion category. This study shows that different media channels could complement each other strategically, as traditional media channels still can have valuable and unique contributions to brand building through brand personality perceptions, especially for brands striving to be perceived as competent.