Maria Avello

Shopper marketing: a new challenge for Spanish community pharmacies.

BACKGROUND Changes that have occurred over the past few decades in retailing and in the health care sector--namely, a drastic reduction in drug profit-margins, and a more critical use of health services by patients--have created a scenario characterized by rising competitiveness. This new context is necessitating community pharmacies (hereafter, pharmacies) to improve their business model through new strategies. Shopper marketing has proven invaluable in other retail settings and therefore, could be a critical element for new practices in pharmacies. OBJECTIVES First, to analyze how shopping experiences in pharmacies based on new practices in shopper marketing affect shopping behavior. Second, to study the mediating effect of customer satisfaction on the relationship between shopping experiences and shopping behavior. METHODS A self-reported questionnaire was developed to measure four concepts: hedonic experience (enjoyable), functional experience (goal-oriented), customer satisfaction and shopping behavior. Data were collected from 28 different pharmacies dispersed throughout Spain. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the relationships in the theoretical model. First, the measurement model was estimated to assess model fit, reliability, convergent and discriminant validity. Then, the parameters of the structural model were estimated and the mediation effects were subsequently tested. RESULTS Functional experience and hedonic experience each significantly and positively correlate with consumer satisfaction and with customer shopping behavior (purchases and loyalty). Moreover, the effects of each type of experience on shopping behavior are partially mediated by customer satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that even in Spanish pharmacies, which have traditionally been considered as strictly functional retailers, ensuring customer satisfaction and enhancing shopping behavior now demand more than just functional experiences. Moreover, a customers experience at a pharmacy can itself trigger a shopping cycle; therefore, pharmacists should consider prioritizing investments in hedonic experiences.

Affective commitment to the employer brand: Development and validation of a scale

In recent years employer branding has become increasingly important as a source of sustainable competitive advantage. Companies are trying to engender affective commitment in the best employees in a global labour market. In this study, we develop and validate a multidimensional scale to measure the strength of an employees affective commitment to the employer brand in five separate studies. In Studies 1 and 2 the Affective Commitment to the Employer Brand (ACEB) scale was developed and tested for its structure, reliability and convergent validity. Study 3 examines additional reliability and discriminant validity. Study 4 provides evidence of external validity. Study 5 examines the scales nomological validity showing that a positive experience with the employer brand is important in making the employee develop affective commitment towards it. The limitations of the scale and the boundary conditions of its applicability are also discussed.

Need for Touch and Multichannel Search and Purchase

This paper firstly analyses the relationship between the consumer’s need for touch and the channels used during search and purchase stages. The focus will be the fashion industry, characterised by offering highly hedonic products, where great importance is placed on the sense of touch. Secondly, the moderating effects produced by the type of touch (autotelic / instrumental) and by the types of shopping task (goal-oriented / experiential-oriented) are also analysed.

Autotelic and Instrumental Need for Touch: Searching for and Purchasing Apparel Online

Apparel is considered to be a category where haptic cues play a key role in evaluating product properties, and yet the consumer buying process in said retail channel is hindered by restricted product experience and evaluation due to the intrinsic absence of haptic options. The current research seeks to gain deeper insights into the knowledge and understanding of consumer autotelic and instrumental need for touch (NFT] in the search and purchase stages of buying apparel online. Using a self-reported questionnaire, data were collected from 227 subjects. Results indicate that consumers high in autotelic NFT and instrumental NFT show a lower likelihood to purchase apparel online. Also a significant moderating effect for utilitarian shopping orientation and instrumental NFT on online apparel search and purchase was also found. These findings have important implications for online retailers since overcoming the lack of NFT remains a major obstacle in the adoption of this channel. In addition, directions for future research are suggested.

Why is it Important for Private Labels to Innovate? : The Effects on Trust and WOM.

There is growing evidence that private label brands have become more innovative (DelVecchio, 2001; Mintel, 2009). Private labels have been considered of special importance in recent years for retailer strategy and have clearly evolved through time. Private labels are becoming more sophisticated and are delivering a broader and more complex portfolio (Kumar and Steenkamp, 2007). The latest generation of private labels is positioned around innovation and quality. They originated in the UK, where they are critical for the strategy of some of the most important retailers (Burt, 2000; Verhoef et al., 2004). Despite this new trend, the impact of private label innovativeness on store image and customer relationships has not yet been investigated. The purpose of this paper is to examine how consumer perceptions of private-label innovativeness influence retailers’ store image and their relationships with their customers.

El valor intangible de la innovación de las marcas del distribuidor

Private labels have experience extraordinary growth worldwide, reaching in Spain a market share close to 40%. Private labels have clearly evolved over time increasing the range, developing a more sophisticated portfolio and in many cases adopting innovation and quality improvement strategies. The objectives of this paper are: firstly to investigate consumer perceptions of private-label innovativeness and secondly to analyze how these perceptions influence the creation of intangible assets related to the perception of private labels, retailers and other consumers prescriptions.