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This paper aims to develop a richer, more complete understanding of how firms define and consider customer engagement on social networks. The research builds from the theoretical backdrop of customer engagement. The research then uses a qualitative interview approach to understand the firm perspective.

Qualitative data were collected using in-depth interviews with employees at a variety of companies including Facebook, Google, another leading social networking site, a higher education institution and a start-up company.

Companies view engagement with social media as measureable metrics of consumer interactions with the platform. These metrics could include growth and interaction on the platform, number of users, subscribers to the site or page views. Propositions are developed around how customer engagement is defined, the breadth and depth of social media and when social media is used as a push or a pull strategy.

Findings from this research are limited by the sample size and convenience of sampling. However, results from this grounded theory approach enabled propositions that can focus on larger datasets and testing.

Engagement indicates meaningful information that can propel a company’s position forward. To companies, this meaningful information is in terms of metrics that can be used as information and evidence for future decision-making.

This research suggests that firms need to better define what engagement means and to assess the best platforms for creating an ecosystem of engagement with customers.

Many researchers are exploring engagement within the context of social media networks. This research, however, is one of the first to explore this from a firm level perspective.

This editorial aims to discuss how the modern world is causing pricing practices of both retailers and consumers to evolve. The contributions of seven papers included in this special issue have been highlighted.

The purpose is to explore how different cues impact consumer reactions to prices.

These cues include both cues regarding the price itself (e.g. the level of the discount, how the price is broken into component parts, the starting price in an auction), as well as non-price-related cues (e.g. private labels, brand familiarly, consumer ratings, creativity of an ad). In addition, this special issue includes a review article which provides a comprehensive review of behavioral pricing research.

The contributions of seven papers included in this special issue have been highlighted.

Drawing from prior research, the purpose of this paper is to outline the benefits of cause-related marketing (CRM) campaigns for the sponsoring multinational organization and the non-profit, to examine the impact of firm–cause fit and how this fit forms and to describe consumer reactions to CRM campaigns. With this backdrop, the paper offers recommendations for how multinational corporations (MNCs) should undertake international CRM activities.

A comprehensive literature review, undertaken with a theoretical lens, helps reveal how CRM campaigns can be executed in international markets.

With accurate country market assessments, MNCs are better prepared to integrate with the local environment and deliver effective CRM strategies and value.

This paper offers guidance for MNCs that are interested in expanding internationally in terms of how to develop an effective CRM in international markets. In addition, it explores relationship elements that are critical for creating a successful, synergistic relationship between the firm and the non-profit.

When adopted effectively, CRM can be a valuable tool for firms as they expand internationally, by establishing relationships with local customers. This research suggests guidelines for multinationals to consider as they expand their presence globally and apply CRM in broader contexts.

In this brief paper, the aim is to highlight three important pricing areas: the business strategies and pricing models that have evolved over the past 20 years of research, the customers that have been targeted, and the role of the internet on pricing. The advent of social media, mobile marketing and display technologies are likely to encourage researchers to pursue additional research on these topics.

The current paper is an essay aimed at stimulating pricing research in three major domains.

The authors review illustrative current practices and research findings pertaining to emerging pricing business models, customer target marketing and price dispersion on the web.

The paper highlights areas that need empirical investigation.

Managers need to explicitly understand the role of these emerging technologies (e.g. social media, mobile media, and web‐application) and appropriately incorporate them into their pricing strategies.

The paper's central contribution is to stimulate additional research on key pricing areas.

This paper aims to investigate personalized communications through digital media, which include display, search, social and mobile communications.

Drawing on the literature pertaining to different digital mediums, the authors explore how different factors influence consumers’ responses to personalized communications. The current study integrates and reviews prior literature related to personalization, seeking a richer understanding of when personalized communications improve or hinder customer–firm interactions.

Personalization can both enhance and diminish consumer engagement with the firm: it may heighten privacy concerns because consumers worry about how their data are collected and used, and it can also benefit them in meaningful ways. Thus, firms must use the information that they collect in a strategic manner to balance this personalization-privacy paradox. This paper finds that the benefits of personalization may vary as a function of the medium through which the communication is conveyed. It suggests directions for research in each of these media and strategies firms can implement to mitigate privacy concerns.

This investigation of emerging themes related to search, display, social and mobile communications provides a more comprehensive overview of current research, as well as a foundation for further research into personalization.

This study aims to discern emerging trends and provide a longitudinal perspective on merchandising research by identifying relationships between merchandising-related subdomains/themes.

This study sourced 657 merchandising-related articles published since 1960, from the Scopus database and 425 from Web of Science. After processing and normalizing the data, this study performed co-word and thematic network analyses. Taking a text mining approach, this study used topic modeling to identify a set of coherent topics characterized by the keywords of the articles.

This study identified the following merchandising-related themes: branding, retail, consumer, behavior, modeling, textile and clothing industry and visual merchandising. Although visual merchandising was the first type of merchandising to be used in-store, only recently has it become an emerging topic in the academic literature. There has been a further trend over the past decade to understand the adoption of simulation technology, such as computer-aided design, particularly in supply chain management in the clothing industry. These and other findings contribute to the discussion of the merchandising concept, approached from an evolutionary perspective.

The conclusions of this study hold implications at the intersection of merchandising, sectors, new technologies, research methodologies and merchandising-practitioner education. Research trends suggest that, in the future, virtual reality and augmented reality using neuroscientific methods will be applied to the e-merchandising context.

The different dimensions of merchandising can be used to leverage store managers’ decision-making process toward an integrated store-management strategy. In particular, by adopting loyalty merchandising tactics, the store can generate emotional attachment among consumers, who will perceive its value and services as unique, thanks to merchandising items designed specifically with that aim in mind. The stimulation of unplanned purchases, the strategic location of products and duration of each merchandising activity in the store, the digitalization of merchandising and the application of findings from neuroscience studies are some of the most relevant practical applications.

This study provides the first-ever longitudinal review of the state of the art in merchandising research, taking a holistic perspective of this field of knowledge spanning a 60-year period. The work makes a valuable contribution to the development of the marketing discipline.

The aim of this paper is to assess the use of social media by Gen Z consumers and the ways they impact on and re-shape their fashion consumption journey. This generational approach uses the lens of uses and gratifications theory (UGT) to explore the customer fashion retail journey from the perspective of the Gen Z consumer.

The research uses an exploratory approach in response to the relative lack of research in to GenZ consumers combined with a need to understand shopping journeys. Mixed methods were used with a first phase of interviews followed by a survey of 102 Gen Z students recruited online in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study found that GenZ users of social media for shopping sought gratification from experiences derived from social relationships, entertainment and information. The need for immediate gratification was found in new information and meeting new people to maintain social relationships, learn about products and inform the shopping journey. Further, the research supported the importance of visual images in the affective gratification of shopping needs. Resale sites on social media were favoured for their low prices, information about previously owned fashion items and the opportunity to exercise sustainable fashion choices.

The research advances understanding of fashion shopping journeys through social media and online resale sites. It demonstrates that younger consumers, GenZ, shop through the gratification of experiences informed by their social networks and wider contacts. The linear stages of pre to post–purchase shopping are merged and looped as they exchange information about their shopping journey, from information gathering to post–purchase comments. The role of the brand to these knowledgeable consumers conducting their own resale trade is to facilitate access to and information about their products.

Smart devices like fully automated smart refrigerators can simplify customers' shopping processes. However, despite the advantages, such as saving time and effort, these devices are rarely used in private households. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the influence of various aspects on the usage intention of automated purchase processes and how these can be established in the long term.

For examining the given topic, an online experiment was conducted in which the experimental factors automation (not given vs given) and product type (utilitarian vs hedonic) were systematically manipulated.

The findings show a decreasing usage intention for automated shopping processes and no significant results for the utilitarian and hedonic product types. In addition, trust and behavioural control mediate the effect of automation on usage intention, and this effect is further moderated by inherent novelty seeking.

The study investigates the usage intention of automated buying processes in a business-to-consumer retail context and highlights the importance of trust and behavioural control. Retailers offering automated buying processes should further focus on customers that seek novelty. In general, this study offers new insights into establishing automated buying processes in the long term.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the signaling effects of high versus low price discounts by integrating extant literature on price discounts, perceived risks and purchase intentions for products sold online. The study examines the influence of price discounts on perceived risks, and the subsequent influence of these risk perceptions on online purchase intentions.

This study used an experimental design. The manipulated factor was price discount (10, 30, 50, 70 and 90 per cent). Responses were collected via online surveys. Nonlinear regression analysis with the MEDCURVE macro was used for the analysis.

The results show that the discount size increases customers’ perceived risks, and that these perceived risks mediate the relationship between price discount and purchase intentions.

This study provides a better understanding of customers’ risk perceptions for online price discounts, which enables retailers to decide appropriate price discounts to attract customers.

Most previous literature focusing on price discounts takes into consideration the presentation effect on consumers’ positive perceptions, while this study investigates the price discount effect on customers’ negative perceptions. In particular, this study examines the mediating effect of perceived risks on the relationship between price discount and purchase intention, which has not been investigated in previous studies.