Margo Buchanan-Oliver

Retail Service Branding in Electronic-Commerce Environments

Considerable discussion has arisen about how electronic commerce is changing retail marketing theory and practice. Most of the debate revolves around how retailers with investments in physical channels can apply their existing strategy online. The retail service brand is one component that requires examination, but there is no model to guide online strategy. The authors, therefore, draw on exploratory research from consumer focus groups to understand retail service branding in electronic markets. The case setting is a nationwide grocery service that recently extended its traditional strategy and offered consumers online shopping. The authors conclude that the service brand defines the experience of shopping online for consumers in terms of service attributes, symbolic meanings, and functional consequences of the service encounter. In the fulfillment of this role, the service brand acted as a relationship lever (fulcrum) on which trust was built between consumer and service provider. Managerial implications and future research directions are also considered.

Pluralism in contemporary marketing practices

Over the last decade, considerable emphasis has been placed on the importance of relationship marketing. The re‐orientation of marketing has been at the expense of the traditional approach to marketing, that is transaction marketing (the “4Ps”). However, others conclude that transactional marketing is still relevant and practised concurrently with various types of relational marketing. However, no empirical evidence has been provided to support the proposition of a pluralistic approach to marketing. We, therefore, draw on empirical, qualitative case study evidence from the emerging and transforming international food supply chain that supports the proposition. The paper uses two settings from this context to illustrate that both transactional and relational approaches to marketing are employed concurrently. The first case, at the product origin of the supply chain, is based upon research into relationship marketing in the Danish‐UK dairy supply chain. The second case, at the consumer interface of the supply chain, evolves from a study into an interactive home‐shopping supermarket in New Zealand. The paper considers implications and areas for further research.

Relationship benefits in an internet environment

Purpose – The notion of relationships has been shown to be a worthwhile strategy in many service industries. This coupled with the rapid development of the internet means that it is now possible (and even beneficial) to implement internet based relationship management programs. Given the importance of this issue this paper seeks to understand the relational benefits that consumers receive in an internet environment relative to the benefits consumers receive in a traditional environment i.e. face‐to‐face.Design/methodology/approach – Results are derived from 15 in‐depth interviews (10 from the internet context and 5 from the traditional context) and over 200 quantitative surveys.Findings – The relationship benefit of “history” appears in both samples which was missing from the original study on relationship benefits. Findings also show that there are differences between the internet group of customers and the traditional customers in respect to the perceived relational benefits. In particular internet cust...

Relationship marketing in electronic commerce environments

The advent of electronic commerce is changing marketing practice. In particular the transformation of traditional intermediaries such as the retailer is occurring as a result of new computer-mediated relationships. This paper uses the setting of an interactive home-shopping supermarket to examine the changing role of the retailer in electronic commerce environments (ECEs). We build on our previous conceptual enquiry which proposed a conceptual model which posits that retailers in an ECE apply a trust-based approach to consumer marketing relationships. In this paper we provide additional literature and empirical evidence to support our proposition that the relationship between the retailer and their customers can be defined by the disconfirmation of two cognitive images of the on-line shopping experience, these being the expected virtual (service brand-created, cognitive image of experience) and actual real (service-processcreated, cognitive image of experience) images. This paper develops existing conceptualizations through new, confirmatory, interorganizational case data and consumer-oriented, qualitative, empirical evidence from focus groups that supports our proposition.

Visual Rhetoric and Global Advertising Imagery

Highly visual global advertising is deployed by many advertisers and yet there are few studies in the literature that help explain variations in visual advertising interpretations and little theory for adequately accounting for the interpretation of visuals or the role of visual rhetoric in a global context. The purpose of this review paper is to extend current thinking about global advertising imagery and to propose how a visual rhetoric approach might enrich our understanding of advertising imagery interpretation in the global context. The paper reviews the literature regarding the interpretation of visuals as related to global advertisements and identifies gaps in knowledge, theoretical conflicts and paradoxes in the literature. It concludes by identifying research priorities and provides a research agenda that suggests how a visual rhetoric approach might provide a theoretically useful contribution in this important area.

Meaningless or meaningful? Interpretation and intentionality in post‐modern communication

Contemporary television advertising is more sophisticated than ever, employing subtle and complex visual imagery. Nevertheless, critics suggest that highly imagistic advertisements fail because they do not communicate basic information. Qualitative methods were used for investigating the interpretation and intentionality in a highly imagistic television advertisement for perfume. The results suggest that consumers recover intended meanings and generate a variety of idiosyncratic responses to advertisements. Consumer interpretation of advertisements depends on contexts and individual, social and cultural structures. Overall, this study demonstrates that complex television advertising imagery is meaningful and leaves the viewer with a sense of what the brand stands for.

Luxury brand markets as confluences of multiple cultural beliefs

Purpose – Cross-cultural influences are important considerations in the international marketing of luxury brands. These influences have predominantly been understood through cross-national approaches and the lens of glocalisation. The purpose of this paper is to study augments these paradigms by advancing the view of luxury brand markets as confluences of multiple cultural beliefs. Design/methodology/approach – A hermeneutic analysis of 24 in-depth interviews was conducted with luxury brand consumers in New Zealand. Findings – The findings describe two cultural beliefs that convey divergent meanings and shape luxury brand consumption styles in a multicultural marketplace. More specifically, the authors illustrate that consumers can be influenced by and shift between both local and foreign cultural beliefs in a single national market. Research limitations/implications – The study offers a situated account of the New Zealand luxury market. Other cultural beliefs may be in operation in different national mar...

Luxury branding: the industry, trends, and future conceptualisations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the emergence of a global luxury brand industry and discusses previous conceptualisations of luxury brands. In this endeavour, the study illustrates the unique context of luxury consumption, to highlight several developments in extant literature, and to advocate for the advancement of the consumer-centric paradigm of luxury branding. Design/methodology/approach – The study reviews the emergence of a global luxury brand industry, discusses macro-environmental trends that have influenced luxury brand consumption, critically evaluates the existing literature on luxury brands, and offers directions for future research. Findings – The study highlights that luxury brands have emerged as a special form of branding that conveys the unique sociocultural and individual meanings to their adherents. Moreover, it was found that these meanings have been shaped by a number of important cultural, social, and external trends, which call researchers and practitioners to con...

Advertising across Cultures: Interpretations of Visually Complex Advertising

Abstract This study of variations in television advertising interpretation, amongst respondents from different cultures, contributes to knowledge in advertising by extending Scotts (1994) print media research. We utilise a visual rhetorical approach to interpretation and suggest that pictures are not universal; visual interpretations vary as viewers use culturally-sited advertising knowledge and visual signs to interpret commercials. We suggest the visual rhetoric approach is useful for interpreting complex communications, implications for marketing practitioners are discussed, and we conclude that advertisers should be aware of ascribed meanings of their international advertising, as subtleties in campaign interpretation may lead to difficulties in various markets.

Shaping the body and technology: Discursive implications for the strategic communication of technological brands

Purpose – This paper aims to provide a theoretical analysis of contemporary brand communication for technology products, focused on how the human body functions as a metaphorical and communicative device, to shed insight into how technological brands make their products understandable, tangible, and attractive in interesting ways.Design/methodology/approach – An interdisciplinary conceptual review and analysis focuses on issues of metaphor and the body in marketing research and social theory. This analysis is discussed and applied to the communication of technological brands.Findings – The paper argues that to successfully communicate technological brands requires interdisciplinary insights in order to understand consumption contexts. It proposes an analytic framework for practice and research focused on visual communication for technology brands and products, and demonstrates how advertising both creates and contributes to culture.Research limitations/implications – Researchers need to understand that a ...