Lisa S. McNeill

Using atmospheric elements in service retailing: understanding the bar environment

Purpose – In retail environments, the atmosphere communicates to consumers through non‐verbal channels, impacting on their beliefs about a product, a service or the way in which a service is provided. The current paper explores the bar environment, and the use of atmospherics by managers as well as responses to atmosphere by consumers,Design/methodology/approach – The research takes a qualitative approach, utilising focus groups with consumers, and in‐depth interview with bar managers to assess the use and importance of atmospheric elements in the bar environment.Findings – The findings suggest that managers and consumers want the same things from the bar environment. However, parties are divided as to the best way of achieving this.Research limitations/implications – The research is limited to a sample of bars in one city. However, implications for bar retailing in general can be drawn from the observations by customers and managers.Practical implications – The study provides confirmation that atmosphere...

Spending their way to adulthood: consumption outside the nest

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore consumption habits of the young adult market, as they leave home and enter into a world of personal fiscal responsibility. Prior research in this area is limited; however those studies, which have focused on young adult consumption have found increasing impulsive consumption and use of credit amongst this generation. This study seeks to extend research in this area by exploring further how young consumers are spending, their motivations for impulsive consumption choices and their attitudes towards debt.Design/methodology/approach – The study in the paper is exploratory, and takes a qualitative approach to data collection and analysis. A two‐stage design is employed, consisting of focus groups with first and second‐year university students and in‐depth interviews with selected cases from these focus groups. The data collected are content‐analysed, with an emphasis on enlightening quotation from participants.Findings – The paper finds that the young consumer...

Magazine communities: brand community formation in magazine consumption

Purpose – The magazine industry is currently experiencing a period of significant growth, resulting in increased competition in the marketplace. As a consequence of these changes many magazine producers are being forced to look for fresh and innovative ways to attract and retain readers. By broadening our understanding of how brand community relates to the consumption of products such as magazines, this paper aims to highlight the way in which the community concept offers opportunities to further bridge the gap between a product and the needs of the consumer.Design/methodology/approach – The study follows a qualitative approach, using a two‐stage research design consisting of semi‐structured intercept interviews and focus group inquiry.Findings – The research generated a number of findings in regards to magazine loyalty, brand attachment, reader connections, community formation and the use of traditional brand community support tools in the magazine industry context.Research limitations/implications – Ove...

The impact of front-of-pack nutrition labels on consumer product evaluation and choice: an experimental study

OBJECTIVE The present research was an experimental test that aimed to quantify the impact of two dominant front-of-pack (FOP) nutritional label formats on consumer evaluations of food products that carried them. The two FOP label types tested were the traffic light label and the Percentage Daily Intake. DESIGN A 4×5 partially replicated Latin square design was used that allowed the impact of the FOP labels to be isolated from the effects of the product and the consumers who were performing the evaluations. SETTING The experiment was conducted on campus at the University of Otago, New Zealand. SUBJECTS The participants were 250 university students selected at random who met qualifying criteria of independent living and regular purchase of the products used in the research. They were not aware of the purpose of the research. RESULTS The presence of FOP labels led to significant and positive changes in consumer purchase intentions towards the products that carried them. These changes were not affected by the nature of FOP labels used, their size or the product nutritional status (good/bad) that they were reporting. CONCLUSIONS The result is consistent with the participants paying attention to the FOP label and then using it as an adimensional cue indicating product desirability. As such, it represents a complete functional failure of both of these FOP label types in this specific instance. This result supports calls for further research on the performance of these FOP labels before any move to compulsory deployment is made.

Does the Australasian "Health Star Rating" Front of Pack Nutritional Label System Work?

This article describes an experiment to measure the impact of the Australasian “Health Star Rating” front of pack nutritional label system on consumer choice behaviour. This system presents a one-half to five star rating of nutritional quality via the front facings of food product packages. While this system has been recently rolled out across Australasia, no test of its impact on food choice has been conducted. A sample of 1200 consumers was recruited on exit from supermarkets in New Zealand. A 2 × 2 factorial design was used with two levels of cold cereal product nutritional status (high, five star/low, two star) and two levels of the Health Star Rating label (present/absent). The dependent variable was revealed choice behaviour. The results indicated that the presence of the label had a significant depressive effect on consumer preference, but that this impact was not moderated in any way by the nutritional status expressed by the label. The result represents a significant functional failure of the Health Star Rating label in this research environment. The nature of the failure is consistent with the consumers processing the label in much the same way as the nominal brand cues that dominate the retail food packaging.

The Influence of Culture on Retail Sales Promotion Use in Chinese Supermarkets

Abstract Current challenges to supermarket retailers posed by the growing popularity of online retail, customer desensitisation to advertising, and globalisation of large grocery retail firms, has led to an increased reliance on sales promotion as a means of attracting and retaining customers. Retailers recognise the need to make the shopping experience more rewarding for the consumer (Keh and Teo 2001), and have a keen understanding of which supplementary activities are likely to achieve this in their market. The difficulty faced by manufacturers, therefore, is in assessing which sales promotion activities that support their own goals will be favoured by retailers in culturally diverse environments. In light of Chinas attractiveness as an export destination for food products (Lo et al 2001), those wishing to do business effectively in China must understand specifically how sales promotion and culture are linked (Lee 2002). This exploratory study considers the use of, and preferences towards, different sales promotion methods in supermarkets in China and New Zealand, highlighting the potential impact of cultural influence on the application of particular tools.

The private label grocery choice: consumer drivers to purchase

Private label products have increased in quality and range in recent years and now make up 17% of grocery sales in New Zealand. These changes mean that private label goods are no longer seen as a ‘budget’ alternative to branded goods, but a legitimate choice for consumers in the supermarket environment. Consumer motivations for private label grocery purchases are examined in this article, with findings suggesting that product category is the most important factor in determining choice between a private label and a branded good, with different levels of purchase risk attributed to different categories of product. The study documents a two-level decision process for consumers of grocery products – pre-purchase and in-store, finding that rational drivers tend to promote pre-purchase preferences and emotional drivers are more active in the store environment.

Retailer brand share statistics in four developed economies from 1992 to 2005: Some observations and implications

Purpose – This paper seeks to examine long‐term trends in retailer and manufacturer brand shares in grocery product categories, and to relate these trends to retailer category strategy with regard to these two types of brand.Design/methodology/approach – The study makes use of secondary data and empirical materials from the literature to establish and explain the trends in four countries: the UK, the USA, Australia, and New Zealand. Additionally, interview data are used to develop issues.Findings – The results indicate the existence of long‐term equilibrium points between the shares of manufacturer brands and retailer brands in grocery product categories in the USA, New Zealand and Australia. Only the UK shows strong growth of retailer brands in line with retailer consolidation and power, but this trend is arrested, reversed and brought to equilibrium in 2001.Research limitations/implications – The data presented are restricted to four major English‐speaking economies between 1992 and 2005. The data are a...

Parental financial role modelling and fiscal behaviour of young home leavers

Purpose – This paper aims not only to provide an insight into the nature of the relationship between parental financial role modelling and consumption behaviour of young people, but also to explore the consumer socialization process that children undergo in the parent‐child dyad.Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative research in the form of personal in‐depth interviews was conducted in order to extract new knowledge and reach a greater understanding regarding the impact that this relationship may have on future consumption behaviours within the youth market.Findings – It is clear that parents are able to exert a huge amount of influence over the financial behaviour of their children (although this obviously differs between families) and are able to do so through the informal teaching of financial lessons, by allowing children to observe their own financial patterns and by guiding their children through significant financial decisions by offering advice and approval (or disapproval) when asked. Key fina...

Damage Control: Limiting the Fall-out from Deceptive Advertising

ABSTRACT Deceptive claims in advertising can cause serious damage to a firm9s reputation. Prior research revealed that consumers who recognized deception in an advertisement in turn generally would develop a negative perception of advertising. The authors explore the issue of how a company can recover consumer trust after being caught in a deceptive advertising episode. In particular: GlaxosmithKline, among the world9s largest pharmaceutical companies by turnover, pleaded guilty in 2007 in a New Zealand court to making misleading health claims relating to Ribena blackcurrant fruit drink. Lessons are derived from this high-profile case and the company9s attempts to recover its reputation by means of television apology.ABSTRACT Deceptive claims in advertising can cause serious damage to a firms reputation. Prior research revealed that consumers who recognized deception in an advertisement in turn generally would develop a negative perception of advertising. The authors explore the issue of how a company can recover consumer trust after being caught in a deceptive advertising episode. In particular: GlaxosmithKline, among the worlds largest pharmaceutical companies by turnover, pleaded guilty in 2007 in a New Zealand court to making misleading health claims relating to Ribena blackcurrant fruit drink. Lessons are derived from this high-profile case and the companys attempts to recover its reputation by means of television apology.