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The puprose of this study is to empirically test the suggestion that branding is more important for services than for physical goods and that there is a direct relationship between the level of intangibility and the importance of branding.

An exploratory study is employed using a scenario‐based repeated measures ANOVA design, wherein the degree of product intangibility is varied from high (mutual funds) to medium (hotels) to low (computers) through a survey distributed to 101 respondents.

The results support the position that intrinsic brand cues are more important for highly intangible service purchases (mutual funds) than for purchases that are more tangible (hotels and computers). The results also reveal that extrinsic brand cues are less important in purchase decisions of highly intangible services.

This study answers a call for additional empirical research into the dynamics of services branding and its effects on consumer decision making.

This study provides managers with information about how to prioritize brand‐building activities.

This study fills an important gap in the services marketing literature by offering a rare empirical study on services branding. Furthermore, this study makes an important extension to the research of Krishnan and Hartline in their article, “Brand equity: is it more important in services?”by testing the effects of specific brand cues on consumer's purchase decisions. The findings are more in line with prior conceptual research on the importance of services branding than the results presented by Krishnan and Hartline.

The study seeks to quantify the ability of consumer knowledge (both objective and subjective) and personal self‐confidence to moderate consumer reliance on price and country of origin (COO) when evaluating wine quality, when all intrinsic cues are experienced through sensory perceptions.

Taste testing experiments were conducted (N = 263) using unwooded chardonnay wine as stimulus, in a three (COO) × three (price) by three (acid level) conjoint analysis fractional factorial design. Specific measures were employed to quantify consumer objective knowledge, subjective knowledge and personal self‐confidence as clearly delineated constructs, in order to investigate the ability of each to moderate extrinsic cue usage.

Analysis revealed price and COO were both stronger contributors to perceptions of wine quality than taste, irrespective of knowledge (objective or subjective) or self‐confidence levels. Reliance was found to remain extremely consistent although objective product quality was manipulated to three differing levels in a controlled laboratory environment. The research clearly demonstrates that consumer belief in the price/value schema dominates quality assessment for consumers, with COO also found to be a strong influence. This is in spite of varying knowledge and self‐confidence levels.

Results show that marketers cannot assume that intrinsic product attributes, even when experienced, will be weighted and interpreted accurately by consumers – even those considered “knowledgeable”.

The research significantly advances our understanding of consumer knowledge (type and level) and their use of extrinsic cues (price and COO specifically), in relation to their respective influence in their determination of both expected and experienced quality.

This paper aims to analyze the relative importance of brand‐packaging, price and taste in the formation of brand preference for manufacturer and store brands in food product categories.

The authors first perform a blind taste test of the product using three brands (two manufacturer brands and one store brand) in two categories with differentiated characteristics (cola drinks and olives stuffed with anchovies). They then use conjoint analysis to analyze the influence of the intrinsic cue (taste) and the extrinsic cues (price and brand‐packaging) on consumers' preference for manufacturer and store brands. Finally, after telling the consumers which taste belongs to each brand, the authors study the influence of the extrinsic cues on the consumers' quality evaluations of the real stimuli.

The results show that not knowing the brand to which the taste tested belongs, leads consumers in general to order their preferences fundamentally by taste. However, the results differ by product category and consumer segment analyzed. Consumers who evaluate the taste of store brands as better change their preferences more when they know which brand belongs to which taste. Further, the change in preference when consumers know the brand‐taste correspondence is clearly greater in the most differentiated category.

The main limitations of this research derive from the factors conditioning the information. A greater number of categories and attributes would enrich the information. In addition, it would be useful to analyze more than one store brand.

The results obtained have interesting implications for manufacturers and retailers concerning management of the brands in their product portfolio and management of their relationships in the distribution channel.

The main contribution of this paper lies in the work methodology used. The paper offers a comprehensive analysis of how the relative importance of brand‐packaging, price and taste affect brand preference for manufacturer and store brands. The study also contributes evidence on how the consumer's knowledge of the correspondence between brand and taste can change his or her brand preferences, an issue of great interest for manufacturers and distributors in managing their product portfolios.

There has been no significant research undertaken in the Japanese market on wine knowledge level and its relationship with brand loyalty and preference for specific country‐of‐origin (COO) wine brands. This exploratory study seeks to investigate these aspects and how wine knowledge is acquired and used in buying decisions.

A highly structured, self‐administered questionnaire in the Japanese language was used to collect data over a three‐week period. Data include consumers from six of the eight major regional divisions across Japan. The sample population was female‐weighted with moderate levels of education and medium income. A ten‐item objective wine knowledge scale was developed to measure consumers' knowledge levels and to form the basis for segmentation.

Japanese wine consumers with higher levels of objective knowledge were shown to use more intrinsic cues than extrinsic cues in their purchase decisions, with the importance attributed to intrinsic cues increasing as objective knowledge increases. The study showed consumers with higher levels of objective knowledge do not use the COO cue more than consumers with lower knowledge. Wine consumers view taste, variety and price as the most important buying cues and are influenced by the recommendations of people around them.

This research provided insights into the Japanese wine market and the nature of the Japanese wine consumer. It is recommended that wine exporters focus greater marketing efforts on Japanese women, including greater wine education.

This study is of value to academic researchers, wine educators, industry practitioners such as restaurant owners/sommeliers and wine exporters alike, as it provides insights into the direction and extent of COO preferences and hence wine (country) brand loyalty. It has a specific focus on wine knowledge and the educational aspect thereof highlighting how this can be used for the benefit of stakeholders.

Country-of-origin (COO) effects on product evaluations have been widely applied in international marketing, albeit with mixed results. One stream of research values its importance in decision-making, whereas another stream posits that COO has little effect when compared to the greater diagnosticity of other product attributes. This suggests that how and along what other attributes (extrinsic or intrinsic) COO is presented play an important role in its relative impact. The purpose of this paper is to address these mixed results by applying one such framing perspective based on evaluation mode (i.e. separate versus joint evaluation) and preference reversals and their biasing effects to a study of COO and willingness to pay (WTP) for a product.

A three between-subject (joint evaluation, separate evaluation-domestic and separate evaluation-foreign) experimental design was used to assess whether evaluation mode moderates COO effects on product evaluations.

Similar results are mirrored across three/four countries. When evaluated separately, consumers value an inferior domestic-made product more than a superior foreign-made one. However, when the domestic- and foreign-made products are presented in joint evaluations, the better foreign-made product is favored.

A number of limitations in terms of countries, consumers within the countries and products studied are addressed along with future research that may address these factors and test the robustness of domestic–foreign preference reversals.

The results of this study reveal practical insights to marketers. Marketing managers for better-quality foreign brands are encouraged to engage in comparative advertising appeals and sell their products in retail stores that hold both domestic and foreign products, whereas marketers for domestic products should create a selling environment that facilitate only a separate evaluation mode to enhance WTP.

This paper provides insights on the diagnosticity of COO when presented alongside intrinsic attributes and the role of evaluation mode in shaping consumers’ preferences. This research suggests that COO has different effects in different evaluation modes, thus explaining some of the mixed results in literature regarding its importance. On the one hand, COO has a decisive effect on product evaluations when products are presented separately. On the other hand, COO effect is overridden by intrinsic cues, which become more apparent when products are presented jointly. Overall, these results demonstrate the robustness of the preference reversal effect across countries and products.

The purpose of this paper is to explore pre-purchase apparel evaluation cues and examine the effect of demographic variables empirically in the context of a developing country. The initiation for the study was driven by the absence of such prior research and supplemented by the big market opportunity for clothing products in the country under investigation.

A self-administered online survey was used for data collection. Demographic questions, 23 apparel measurement items composed of 17 product-based and 6 sustainability-based items, and an open-ended question were included in the questionnaire. Factor analysis was used for dimension reduction and one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) for hypotheses testing.

Garment fit, design features, colour, fabric type and seasonality are the five important characteristics most Ethiopian consumers consider while buying apparel products. Factor analysis resulted in five important factors used for pre-purchase apparel evaluation amongst which the design and extrinsic cue is found to be the most important. Environmental factors in the apparel industry got higher emphasis than social factors. While age and educational background made differences in apparel evaluation, gender did not show a significant difference.

The paper provides a founding insight in exploring apparel evaluation cues by considering product- and sustainability-based cues in a developing country context. It also examines the effect of three demographic variables which are rarely studied in such combination.

This study aims to examine the moderating effects of two important consumer characteristics (product familiarity and risk aversion) on the relationships between two intransient cues (store image and product signatureness) and consumer quality perception of private label, as well as the interaction between the cues themselves.

This paper employs survey research to test three main hypotheses. The authors collected data from parents in an elementary school in a southern state.

The study yields some counterintuitive results. The paper finds that the combination of two diagnostic cues does not necessarily enhance the positive evaluation of private labels. Instead, store image reduces the effect of product signatureness. Further, product familiarity induces a positive moderating effect on product signatureness, whereas risk aversion exerts a negative moderating effect on store image.

Prior literature neglects the interactions between cues and consumer characteristics and the interaction between cues themselves in consumer quality evaluation of private labels. This research addresses these gaps and offers useful insights about private label strategies.

The purpose of this research is to understand the effects of expertise and brand schematicity on the perceived importance of choice criteria in the context of purchasing red wine purchase.

Data were collected via an online survey of 307 French wine consumers. The interaction effects of expertise and brand schematicity on the importance assigned to choice criteria were then investigated.

First, the results show that commercial brand is more important for brand-schematic consumers (novice and expert) than for brand-aschematic (novice and expert) consumers. Second, to make their choice, brand-schematic consumers place a greater reliance on quality cues than brand-aschematic consumers, whether they are novices or experts. Third, brand-aschematic novice consumers are only interested in two quality cues [Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) label and wine category], but French brand-schematic novice and brand-aschematic expert consumers look for five quality cues (AOC label, wine category, vintage, commercial brand and place of bottling). Fourth, brand-schematic expert consumers take into account all quality cues.

The individual characteristics of consumers, that is, level of expertise and schematicity, influence the importance assigned to the information contained on the label. Care should be taken when designing a wine label, especially when consumers make their purchases in supermarkets and have no opportunity to seek advice. To convince these customers, it is essential that the font and size of the label ensure that the AOC label, wine category, vintage, commercial brand and place of bottling can be easily read. Brand-schematic consumers are interested in many quality cues to make their choice, and therefore, such information should be available in supermarkets (e.g. flyers and posters). Managers should also focus on brand content strategy to influence and hit brand-aschematic consumers.

There has been little research on the effect of brand schematicity on the importance of choice criteria. The interaction of brand schematicity and degree of expertise regarding product category has not been previously studied in relation to wine selection. Brand schematicity may be used as a segmentation criterion by managers in communication campaigns and brand content strategies.

The purpose of this study is to examine the consumer-side effects of “under new management” (UNM) signs. The authors integrate cue-utilization theory and relevance theory to guide hypotheses about the conditions under which these signs are and are not beneficial.

Two consumer-based experiments were used to examine the quality and reputation effects of restaurants signaling a management change on potential and existing customers.

The results suggest that positive and negative effects are possible. The direction of these effects is contingent upon consumers’ prior experience, type of service (i.e. search/experience) and the relevance of the signal.

The study is limited to one industry (i.e. restaurants) and examines the effects of market signals on perceived quality and reputation. In addition, this research brought forth the notion of “signal relevance” and suggested that it may be explicitly tied to attributions. However, this assertion must examine multiple signals (relevant/irrelevant) and their contingent effects on consumer perceptions.

The findings advise businesses to use caution when using signals such as an “UNM” sign, as they appear to have different effects depending on the experience of the consumer with the service and the relevance of the signal.

This research contributes to the literature on cue utilization theory to understand the effects of marketplace cues on consumer perceptions. It contributes to marketing theory and practice by proposing a model of cue effects based on prior customer experience, type of service and cue relevance.