Malaika Brengman

Food retailing, now and in the future. A consumer perspective

Abstract Some predict that electronic shopping will account for 15–20% of the retail market by 2004, others hold a more conservative opinion. The objective of this study is two-fold. A first question pertains to how consumers perceive current grocery shopping. A second question deals with the consumers’ preferred future grocery shopping alternative. The results of a qualitative study show that on the one hand, consumers are not fond of the way they do grocery shopping at the moment. On the other hand, consumers seem to prefer that retail stores evolve in retailing superstores, rather than choosing for the more revolutionary alternative of online shopping which indicates that the predictions of the future success of online retailing may be inflated and that the experiential aspect of high-touch products such as groceries should not be underestimated.

The impact of consumer characteristics and campaign related factors on brand confusion in print advertising

Brand confusion takes place when a recipient views an advertisement for a particular brand as a communication about a different brand. The study is conducted in a sample of 153 women, and based on 27 perfume and facial care product advertisements. Advertisements that are perceived as likeable and distinctive, and that are not information-overloaded suffer less from brand confusion. Brands with weak advertising support are more vulnerable to brand confusion. Consumers with higher levels of product category involvement and higher levels of brand awareness and brand loyalty confuse brands less frequently.

Fashion Store Personality: Scale Development and Relation to Self-Congruity Theory

Abstract Over five decades ago, Martineau (1958, p. 47) introduced the notion of store personality (SP), which he defined as “the way in which the store is defined in the shopper’s mind, partly by its functional qualities and partly by an aura of psychological attributes”. The strategic role of these symbolic, humanlike attributes that can be attributed to stores, has been empirically demonstrated, with respect to customer satisfaction and perceived retail differentiation (Chun & Davies, 2006), as well as with respect to store patronage and loyalty behavior (Sirgy & Samli, 1985; Zentes, Morschett, & Schramm-Klein, 2008). A potential and reasonable explanation of the power of associations with humanlike personality, can be found in the self-congruity theory. This theoretical framework argues that if retailers can position their stores in such a way that the store’s personality is congruent with that of target shoppers, they are likely to succeed in attracting and retaining these consumers (Bellenger, Steinberg, & Stanton, 1976; Zentes et al., 2008), which would in turn enhance profitability (Sirgy, Grewal, & Mangleburg, 2000). However, self-image congruity is still in its infancy in retailing research (Chebat, El Hedhli, & Sirgy, 2009; O’Cass & Grace, 2008; Sirgy et al., 2000), in comparison to the extensive corroborations of the theory across many product categories (Sirgy, 1982). The present study aims to fill this gap in the literature, focusing on fashion retailing in particular. As image and identity concepts are arguably more salient in fashion retailing than in any other sector (Cheng, Hines, & Grime, 2008; Zentes et al., 2008), store personality perceptions can be expected to be particularly relevant in this area of the retail industry. Compared to weekly grocery shopping, for instance, shopping for clothes is an opportunity for self-expression par excellence (Buttle, 1992; for an overview of the role of clothing, see Burns, 2010). We start by introducing “concept-scale interaction” effects in Section 1. This phenomenon implies that rather than applying general brand/store personality scales such as the ones that were developed by Aaker (1997) or d’Astous and Lévesque (2003), it is advisable to adopt a contextual approach by developing a SP scale tailor-made for fashion retailing. In Section 2, we subsequently define the construct “fashion store personality” according to Rossiter’s (2002) C-OAR-SE procedure and Section 3 briefly discusses self-congruity theory and its applications in a retail context. Subsequently, a measurement instrument is developed for Fashion Store Personality (FSP) in Section 4. The scale construction procedure consists of three steps. First, repertory grid analysis is carried out in fifty-one individual interviews, in order to generate adjectives that people naturally use to describe the personality of fashion stores. Female participants dominate throughout this study as the interest in fashion is characteristic among women within this age range (Evans, 1993) and clothing for men is often bought by their female partner (Banister & Hogg, 2004). After a preliminary purification of the elicited item pool, a consumer survey (n=481) is carried out. By means of Principal Component Analysis with Varimax rotation five underlying FSP dimensions are identified in the resulting dataset: “chaos”, “innovativeness”, “sophistication”, “agreeable-ness”, and “conspicuousness”. The psychometric properties of this measurement instrument are checked and the scale’s reliability, stability and validity meet the common standards. Subsequently, based on this operationalization, the role of self-congruity in the context of fashion retailing is explored in Section 5. First, the extent to which consumers shop in fashion stores with a personality that they perceive to be similar to their own, is studied (Section 5.1). An inspection of the correlations between the consumer’s self-image and her perceptions of FSP of her most patronized fashion store supports the idea of SC theory in fashion retailing. Furthermore, a multidimensional scaling (MDS) visually identifies, in a multidimensional space, which types of consumer personality do or do not cluster with certain types of fashion store personality. Overall, the findings indicate that (1) agreeable consumers seem to patronize agreeable fashion stores, (2) open-minded and extraverted consumers correspond to innovative fashion stores, (3) sophisticated and little chaotic stores match best with conscientious consumers, and (4) neuroticism in a consumer is found to be associated with conspicuousness and chaos in a fashion store. Finally, the relative importance of the five FSP dimensions in explaining fashion store choice is assessed using a stepwise multiple discriminant analysis (Section 5.2). Overall, the results indicate that it is worthwhile to take FSP into consideration when explaining consumers store choices. In particular, chaos and sophistication are the two FSP dimensions that consumers mind most when choosing a fashion store to patronize. As self-image congruence seems to have an impact on consumers’ store choice, the findings of the present study highlight the role of FSP in retailing positioning strategies. In order for retailers to exhibit a personality that matches the one of their target group, a wide variety of tools can be used (Brengman & Willems, 2009, on determinants of fashion store personality). Further research could provide additional support for this scale’s superiority over general brand/personality scales. Moreover, a cross-cultural validation as well as a study of the scale’s use among male consumers would be valuable.

The influence of advertising on compulsive buying — The role of persuasion knowledge

Background and aims: The growing concern over compulsive buying (CB) among consumers has led to vast amount of research examining the antecedents of this maladaptive behaviour. The focus of previous research was, however, mainly on examining the internal, psychological factors contributing to CB. The current research, on the other hand, sheds light on one of the external triggers which can possibly stimulate CB, namely advertising. Methods: An online survey has been conducted to identify the attitudes and scepticism towards advertising as well as ad avoidance and persuasion knowledge among a sample of 582 Belgian consumers. Furthermore, all participants were screened with regard to compulsive buying tendencies. Results: This research provides evidence that positive attitudes towards advertising can lead to CB. An important factor in this relation is persuasion knowledge. Conclusions: The study results lead to the conclusion that people higher in persuasion knowledge dispose less positive attitudes towards advertising which can subsequently prevent them from engaging in CB. Moreover high scores on scepticism towards advertising and ad avoidance among Belgian consumers in our sample point to a need for advertisers to modify their practices in order to gain more trust from consumers. This study also shows that advertising in particular attracts and seems to affect an already disadvantaged group of people – namely compulsive buyers.

When brands come to life: experimental research on the vividness effect of Virtual Reality in transformational marketing communications

Mobile Virtual Reality provides a gateway for marketers to innovatively reach consumers. This study examines the impact of Virtual Reality in the context of transformational brand experience appeals, focussing specifically on the determining role of vividness. A three-dimensional conceptual framework is presented, offering a systematic review of the literature on vividness effects in marketing communications, revealing the major gap that most available studies only focus on informational messages. We conducted an experiment to address this gap and demonstrate in the context of a transformational ad that Virtual Reality generates higher perceptions of vividness and presence than a regular two-dimensional video, with vividness positively affecting attitude toward the ad, both directly and indirectly via presence. Our study also reveals that vividness in turn elicits a positive effect on brand attitudes which stimulates consumers’ purchase intentions. As such, the strategic potential of Virtual Reality for marketing communications is highlighted.

Does Personality Affect Compulsive Buying? An Application of the Big Five Personality Model

Compulsive Buying (CB) is ‘a consumer’s tendency to be preoccupied with buying that is revealed through repetitive buying and a lack of impulse control’ (Ridgway et al., 2008). Although Kraepelin (1915) and Bleuler (1976) described this phenomenon many years ago, it was the study of Faber et al. (1987) which increased the interest in that topic. For more than 20 years empirical studies have been conducted to increase our knowledge about this maladaptive consumer behavior. The main focus of these studies has been on identifying the antecedents and consequences of CB. First of all, CB is viewed as a method of coping with life’s challenges (Scherhorn, 1990), low self-esteem (d’Astous et al., 1990; Hanley & Wilhelm, 1992; O’Guinn & Faber, 1989) and/or internal psychological tension (Valence et al., 1988). It is also seen as a process whereby the consumer wants to escape from negative feelings, stress and anxiety (Edwards, 1993; Ergin, 2010; O’Guinn & Faber, 1989). Buying a product causes release of the internal tension. At the same time however feelings of guilt and frustration appear as the person could not control the inner drive to buy an unneeded product. The consumer is caught in a vicious circle.

Touching the void: Exploring consumer perspectives on touch-enabling technologies in online retailing

Purpose A major factor hampering the continuing and explosive rise of e-commerce, particularly for experience goods, is the lack of tactile information that could help to reduce uncertainty in consumer purchase decision making online. The purpose of this paper is to identify the specific touch-related properties worthwhile to enable in online retailing and the type of customer value that can be provided, as well as the drivers and barriers for consumer acceptance toward touch-enabling technologies for online shopping. Design/methodology/approach By means of consumer focus groups, the authors address the research questions regarding touch-related properties, their value to consumers, and the drivers and barriers for consumer acceptance by taking into consideration two specific touch-enabling technologies. Findings The study reveals that touch-enabling technologies can provide utilitarian and hedonic value to consumers, mainly at the pre-purchase stages in the path-to-purchase. Valuable applications conceived by consumers primarily pertain to offering information on material and geometric product properties. A hurdle for consumer adoption seems to be the necessity of a dedicated output device, such as a glove. Research limitations/implications Due to the early development stage of the new technologies under investigation, this study is exploratory in nature. The findings should be validated in the future, once these technologies actually get introduced for online marketing purposes. Practical implications This study aims to raise awareness among online retailers about marketing opportunities comprised of touch-enabling technology. Originality/value The authors provide a first outlook with regard to future consumer acceptance of touch-enabling technologies in online shopping and how and when such technologies can provide consumer value.

An examination of trust assurances adopted by top internet retailers: unveiling some critical determinants

This paper investigates the different trust assurances adopted by internet retailers and tries to identify a link between the characteristics of an online vendor (i.e., cost of merchandise sold, reputation, offline presence, etc...) and the specific types of trust assurances applied. The findings demonstrate that e-retailers with a relatively stronger reputation rely more on internally provided e-assurance mechanisms, such as a privacy policy or a money back guarantee, and that they make less use of third party trust endorsements. Internally-provided e-assurances also appear to be utilized more by e-retailers putting more expensive products on the market and less by those selling cheaper products. The findings regarding externally-provided e-assurances also show that third party trust endorsements such as privacy seals, security seals and award seals are adopted almost exclusively by e-retailers who sell more expensive products as compared to those selling products lower in monetary value. The results demonstrate that these findings regarding the impact of the ‘monetary value of goods traded’ on the adoption of externally-provided e-assurances remain valid when controlling for ‘reputation’ and ‘offline presence’. The results also reveal that total seal investments are higher among e-commerce companies with a weaker ‘reputation’, among those ‘without offline presence’, and among e-tailers selling relatively ‘more expensive merchandise’.

In-store proximity marketing: experimenting with digital point-of-sales communication

Purpose The authors present an exploratory study on the effectiveness of in-store marketing communication appeals via digital signage applying the construal level theory (CLT) in a field experiment. According to this theory, the authors hypothesize that shoppers will on the one hand respond more favorably to messages focusing on the desirability of the offering, when they are further distanced from the actual purchase decision. On the other hand, the authors expect more favorable responses toward messages containing feasibility appeals, positioned closer by to the purchase decision. The purpose of this paper is to determine appropriate location-based content for in-store proximity marketing. Design/methodology/approach A field experiment was conducted in a Belgian coffee bar, examining temporal distance effects in a natural retail/service environment. A 2×2 between-subjects experimental design is implemented (i.e. low vs high temporal distance×concrete/cost vs abstract/brand-oriented appeal), examining the impact on marketing communication effectiveness. Findings Overall, the authors find some initial support for CLT on effectiveness measures regarding purchase intentions and actual purchase, but not in terms of self-reported noticing of the screen and the ad, nor in terms of (un)aided ad recall. Research limitations/implications This experiment is a pilot study and such finds itself confronted with a limited number of observations. Originality/value The study is among the first to examine how message content (beyond price promotion) can be adapted to in-store locations.

Can’t touch this: the impact of augmented reality versus touch and non-touch interfaces on perceived ownership

The rise of augmented reality (AR) technology presents e-retailers with new opportunities. According to previous research, it is a technology that can positively affect engagement, brand recall and purchase confidence. Mobile-enabled augmented reality differs from regular mobile phone use as the technology virtually overlays images or information to the real environment. As the use of a touch screen device (i.e. smartphone vs. laptop) has previously been found to positively affect feelings of perceived ownership, the current study examines whether the possibility to virtually manipulate a product on a mobile AR application would have an even stronger effect. This is examined for products with either material properties (i.e. products that require the examination of sensory information) or geometric properties (i.e. products that can be examined via written and/or visual information). The findings reveal that AR does indeed result in higher levels of perceived ownership, particularly in case of material products.