Patrali Chatterjee

Drivers of New Product Recommending and Referral Behavior at Social Network Sites

Managers of new brands seek to leverage positive WOM and establish a critical mass of consumers who interact with their brands on social network sites (SNSs). Effective selection of ‘seeds’, or influencers, on SNSs, who will recommend the product and leverage the power of their social networks to influence other consumers is key to organic growth. This research examines the role of an influencer’s activity on a social network website (network size, membership duration, share-of-posts), brand message source (marketergenerated versus member-generated), and recipient type (SNS member versus nonmember) on an influencer’s decision to recommend a new brand and the recipient’s decision to make a referral visit. Empirical analyses of clickstream data from SNSs at a commercial website show that marketer- and consumer-generated brand ads differ in their impact on recommending propensity for high share-of-posts and long-term influencers, and for member and non-member recipients, which has implications for referral management.

Multiple-Channel and Cross-Channel Shopping Behavior: Role of Consumer Shopping Orientations

Purpose - This research examines the role of consumer shopping orientations on consumer‘s channel choice, cross-channel shopping behavior, and shopping outcomes.Design/Methodology/Approach - Using multiple sources of data including surveys of store, web, and cross-channel shoppers and their transaction information, we investigate the impact of consumer shopping orientations on comparison-shopping, likelihood of cross-channel usage, purchase outcomes including unplanned purchasing, retailer satisfaction, intent to return/abandon purchases, and share of category purchases.Findings – Results suggest that high thrift customers patronizing a cross-channel retailer are less likely to search for competitive offerings online or offline than customers patronizing a multiple channel retailer. Further, retailer satisfaction is higher for cross-channel compared to multi-channel retailers irrespective of the transaction channel used by consumers.Research Limitations/Implications – The data has external validity however it lacks the control possible in laboratory experiments. Future research should examine if the findings can be replicated in multiple retail sectors.Practical Limitations – These results suggest that brick-and-click retailers can exploit synergies between their channels through OOPS strategies for greater profitability than those who operate multiple independent channels.Originality/Value – This paper examines managerial implications of multiple independent channel versus cross-channel strategies by retailers using data from customers of a commercial retailer.

Interfirm alliances in online retailing

Abstract Reports in the popular media attest to the fact that the commercial development of the Web has sparked greater interconnectedness and competition between firms. Under rapid technological and market change and opportunity, firms who have innovative ideas, technologies, and products form alliances to coordinate their resources and fully capitalize on them in a timely fashion. Drawing on interorganizational exchange behavior, we examine factors that contribute to the successful continuation of an alliance relationship. Specifically, we investigate how satisfaction with performance and resource dependency in the presence of market and technological turbulence affects alliance outcomes. We use data collected from alliance partners in the online retailing industry to test our propositions. Implications of the findings are discussed for both research and practice.

Tests of the Specification of Univariate and Bivariate Ordered Probit

This note presents tests of the specification of univariate and bivariate ordered probit. The test is sensitive to deviations from either normality or the exogeneity of the explanatory variables. As an example, the ownership of dogs and televisions, both sources of time-intensive entertainment, is studied. The specification for dogs is not rejected, the specification for televisions is rejected at the 2.0 level, and the specification of both together is rejected at the 1.3 level.

Green brand extension strategy and online communities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine current and prospective consumer perceptions, purchase intent and parent brand evaluation due to green brand – line and category extensions by marketers of established (non‐green) brands for products with high vs low perceived environmental impact.Design/methodology/approach – The paper analyses responses to online surveys by 602 pet‐owners at social networking websites. The quasi‐experiment considered perceived environmental impact of core product, parent‐brand user status, and green extension strategy (line vs category). Brand extension evaluation, purchase intent, and parent brand evaluation were then measured.Findings – Results suggest that consumers are more likely to purchase green extensions of products with high perceived environmental impact and that current consumers prefer green line extensions to green category extensions. Both have similar reciprocal impact on parent brand evaluation among current consumers.Research limitations/implications – ...

Nonprofit Websites: Prevalence, Usage and Commercial Activity

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the extent to which nonprofits have websites and how they are used. Our empirical analyses of 1,000 nonprofit organizations indicates substantial differences in website presence and use among mission categories–conservation related, arts and cultural, religious civil rights, and science and technology. We find that while asset level and mission have statistically significant main effects on predicting website presence, interactions between them are also important. Our estimates suggest that at any particular asset level the increase in probability of having a website with each unit increase in assets is greatest for civil rights organizations (compared to religious, conservation, and cultural organizations) and least for scientific organizations.

Online Comparison Shopping Behavior of Travel Consumers

This article examines the extent of pre-purchase comparison search activity, in terms of comparison search duration and dispersion (number of alternative vendors examined) and its impact on purchase propensity for flight, car rental and hotel reservations. Click stream data and transactions from the Comscore panel of travelers between March and September 2008 are used to examine our hypotheses. Results show that comparison dispersion has an inverted-U relationship on purchase probability for flight and rental cars but does not significantly impact hotel purchases. Further, comparison search dispersion and duration differ for households of different sizes and income. These findings can help travel website managers develop appropriate online search marketing strategies to increase purchase conversion among different demographic segments.

Advertised Versus Unexpected Next Purchase Coupons: Consumer Satisfaction, Perceptions of Value, and Fairness

Purpose – The research investigates how consumers differ in their interpretation of advertised and “surprise” (or unexpected) next-purchase coupons as delayed rewards or immediate losses based on promotion context and coupon start date restrictions.Design/methodology/approach – Two laboratory experiments examine how consumers respond to next-purchase coupons. In Study 1, next-purchase coupon types (advertised; unexpected) vs. competing brand promotions (yes; no) vs. coupon start date restriction (unrestricted; restricted to future start date) between-subjects experimental design was used to examine the impact on purchase satisfaction, perceived promotion value, and perceived retailer fairness. In Study 2, four between-subjects factors were used to examine the impact on purchase satisfaction, perceived value, and retailer fairness: next-purchase coupon type vs. coupon start date restriction vs. coupon target restriction (brand-specific; non brand-specific) and the measured need-for-cognition variable (high; low).Findings – Study 1 indicates that unexpected next-purchase coupons lead to higher purchase satisfaction but lower perceptions of retailer fairness compared to advertised coupons. Study 2 indicates that consumer predisposition toward effortful thought (NFC) amplifies the impact of unrestricted start date on perceptions of retailer unfairness. Furthermore, this effect is stronger on purchase satisfaction and perceived value for unrestricted unexpected next-purchase coupons.Research limitations/implications – Results imply that advertised and unexpected next-purchase coupons differ in their impact on post-purchase outcomes of consumers. Differences in competing brand promotions and coupon start date restrictions lead to interpretations of next-purchase coupons as immediate loss vs. delayed gains.Practical implications – Managerial implications for the design and use of next-purchase promotions are discussed.Originality/value – The research paper is the first one to study how consumers respond to checkout or next-purchase coupons.

Framing Online Promotions: Shipping Price Inflation and Deal Value Perceptions

Purpose: This research examines differences in perceived shipping charge inflation associated with online promotions presented as reducing base product price, reducing shipping surcharge, or reducing all-inclusive price and its impact on deal values for shipping charge skeptics and non-skeptics.Design/methodology/approach: Drawing from research on multi-component pricing and mental accounting, a laboratory experiment investigates if (a) shipping charge skeptics differ in their perceptions of shipping charge inflation for different presentations of online promotions from non-skeptics, and if (b) they differ in perceived deal value of economically equivalent promotions presented as reduced product price, reduced shipping charge promotion, or reduced all-inclusive price for high and low priced items with small or large shipping fees at retail websites.Findings: Analyzes show that shipping charge skeptics differ from non-skeptics in their perceptions of shipping charge inflation and deal values for different online promotions only when surcharge is large relative to base price. Reduced price promotions are most attractive for high-priced items with low surcharge but least attractive for large surcharge sizes. For large surcharge sizes, shipping charge skeptics prefer reduced all-inclusive price promotions to reduced shipping promotions, while non-skeptics prefer reduced shipping promotions to reduced all-inclusive price promotions.Research limitations/implications: Results suggest that effectiveness of various promotion frames at online stores differs based on base price, surcharge size, and consumer skepticism of shipping charge. Robustness of the results obtained at different levels of discount sizes need investigation.Practical implications: Online retailers that have to charge high shipping fees can use promotions to shift the referent price component used by consumers to calculate savings and mitigate perceptions of shipping or base price inflation. For equivalent dollar savings, retailers can use reduced shipping charge promotions to communicate higher deal values to shipping charge non-skeptic consumers than reduced base price or reduced all-inclusive promotions.Originality/value: This research examines how consumer perceptions of deal value differ, even though objective savings and financial outlay is the same, when promotions are presented as reducing product price versus surcharge.

CONSUMER RESPONSE TO PROMOTIONS IN THE PRESENCE OF SURCHARGE: IMPLICATIONS FOR ONLINE RETAILING

This research examines the impact of surcharges on deal value perceptions of online promotions and purchase intentions. Based on research on mental accounting and price partitioning laboratory experiments investigate if consumers differ in perceptions of economically equivalent promotions presented as reduced product price, reduced shipping surcharge, a partitioned price (dollars-off promotion) or a bundled price (free shipping) for high and low priced items with relatively low or high shipping fees at retail websites. Experimental analyses show that sales price promotions are more effective than others for low-base price and low surcharge items. For relatively high surcharge or high base price, purchase intent is highest for free shipping followed by reduced shipping, dollars-off and sale price for all items. Results suggest that effectiveness of various promotion frames at online stores differs based on base price and relative surcharge level.