Search results

Despite the existence of some research into habitual behavior, there is a noticeable lack of investigation into its determinants. Since the only influential factor generally discussed is brand awareness, our study includes other factors in order to provide a complete understanding of the determinants of habitual behavior. We consider the influence of various marketing and demographic factors on consumers’ habitual behavior towards national and leading brands of low involvement products in mainland China. A conceptual model is proposed and logistic regression used to analyze data on southwestern China, with the results indicating that all four marketing factors, brand awareness, perceived quality, channel convenience and price, exert significant influences on habitual behavior. The results further suggest some discernible demographic features of habitual buyers. Marketing implications are also discussed, highlighting in particular, the association between “satisfaction” and “channel convenience”, which is clearly demonstrated as the critical determinant for retaining leading brand consumers.

A behavioural measure is used to describe loyalty in different product areas. The measures derived from a study comprising more than 600 branded consumer goods, for which information about purchasing, place of purchase, brand awareness, brand preference, relative importance of price and quality was collected. An analysis was conducted of the way in which loyalty varies across product areas and how loyalty patterns vary depending upon the degree of penetration of the product class. A summary model of variables is proposed showing how average and leading brands behave, for each of the brands measures of their perceived price and quality are available.

The purpose of this research is to examine the influence of direct comparative advertising on brand information processing and purchase intentions compared with that of indirect comparative advertising in non‐forced exposure conditions.

The overall sample of 240 female consumers (aged between 25 and 51 years, and representative of French women in terms of region and profession) was divided into two equal groups. These two groups viewed a televised montage that followed GfK's pretest methodology for TV advertising (a 20‐minute television show, an advertising break with seven commercials, a short questionnaire, a 20‐minute television show, an advertising break with four commercials, and a longer questionnaire), which favors a low involvement context in laboratory conditions. These two groups were respectively exposed to two 20‐second ads for a well‐known challenger brand (identical except for whether they name the leading brand and its price or “brand X” without price information).

This research provides original evidence that the comparative ad that cites the name and price of the leading brand increases purchase intentions for the sponsored brand, more than an equivalent that uses brand X. This effect operates through an increased probability of message processing, which in turn enhances the perceived compelling character of ad content.

Despite the many studies of comparative advertising in existing literature, little research has been devoted to the potential alternative of replacing a “brand X” designation with the name of a competing brand. Moreover, previous research often includes participants (e.g. students) engaged in deliberate processing of a single advertisement in conditions of artificial exposure.

The purpose of this paper is to study the rationale for the production of store brands and the possible existence of different store brand manufacturer segments according to their competitive position, size, advertising investment, sector concentration and type of product.

The method to obtain information is a survey developed in Spain and answered by manufacturers of consumer packaged goods. The methods applied are descriptive (Crosstabs and Anova) and multivariate techniques (correspondence analysis, chi‐square automatic interaction detector (CHAID), and cluster).

The article provides empirical evidence in favour of the rationale for the production of store brands by non‐leading medium to small‐sized firms and against this practice by leading manufacturers. It also shows the existence of different manufacturer segments.

The main disadvantages of this research are based on their exploratory nature and on the method to obtain information (postal survey): self‐selection, small sample size and measuring of the variables (perceptual bias). Additionally, the goodness of fit of the CHAID applications is not very high.

The insights presented here can be used by manufacturers from other countries with a less developed store brands market, such as Eastern European or Latin American. Leading manufacturers or mid‐size manufacturers with high advertising investment can still compete head to head with store brands. The other manufacturers must adapt their strategies to collaborate with retailers in order to produce store brands.

There are no previous studies that empirically assess the rationale for the production of store brands. Moreover, no empirical research has focused on the manufacturers' group identification regarding their decision to produce store brands. This study determines the most significant variables in the identification of manufacturer groups.

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.

This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of a brand imitation strategy for the package design of male-targeted, female-targeted and gender-neutral products.

Three (2 × 2 × 2) between-subjects factorial experiments were conducted with three independent variables, namely, visual shape, color and logo, each classified as relevant/divergent. The dependent variables were participants’ attitudes toward the brand, attitudes toward the product and purchase intention.

There were no significant main effects or interactions for the male-targeted product. The results for the female-targeted product revealed no significant main effect of visual shape, a significant main effect of color and significant two-way interactions between visual shape and color and between visual shape and logo. Significant main effects were found for visual shape and color for the gender-neutral product.

A color scheme similar to that of a leading brand in the same product category more powerfully influenced participants’ attitudes and purchase intention, while a more holistically similar design had greater impact than a less holistic design. Some “divergence” or distinctive design elements of the female-targeted product positively influenced participants’ attitudes and behavior. These findings suggest that a brand imitation strategy offers a means for competing in the marketplace, but should be used with caution.

A conceptual continuum of brand imitation is proposed, incorporating visual semiotics, creativity theory and gender differences in cognitive styles to provide a more systematic method for delineating brand imitation levels.

The main aim of this research is to provide empirical analyses about the store brand management by manufacturers and retailers from the manufacturer's perspective, in the current context, which is one of intense competition between manufacturer and store brands. Particularly, this research pursues to analyse the profile of store brand manufacturers, their perceptions about the retail management of these brands and their own product management of the same.

A postal survey was carried out directed at manufacturing business units of mass consumer products in Spain. Multivariate techniques are used in the information analysis such as contingency tables, variance and principal component analysis.

The results highlight the differences between manufacturers and non‐manufacturers of store brands in their competitive position and in the type of manufactured product; the consensus of both groups regarding the perception of favourable merchandising for store brands; the greater number of production and market motivations versus the relational motivations in the manufacture of store brands; the no convenience of producing store brands for leading manufacturers, and the slight differences in the manufacturing process between manufacturer and store brands.

The main limitation of this research is the fact that only the manufacturers' perceptions have been considered. It would be beneficial in future research to consider the opinion of retailers about their own management of these brands.

The main value of the paper is the empirical analyse of the store brand management from the manufacturer's perspective. This subject has been analysed from a general and basically theoretical perspective until now.

In most markets it is possible to identify a brand leader and a number of brand followers. The purpose of this paper is to address the following question: “Why should any consumer purchase a ‘second‐best’ option?”

Consideration of the way in which these two groups of consumers (brand leaders and followers) trade off product attributes (utilitarian benefits, hedonistic benefits and price fairness) during the choice process is made in the study by path analysis of the appropriate structural equation models and then a consideration of the level and the differences between the means of the three variables.

The paper finds that utilitarian attributes are of paramount importance to satisfaction with the brand. This is not in accordance with conventional wisdom, which leads us to believe that price is most important to buyers of second‐tier brands and hedonic considerations most important to buyers of leading brands.

The model fit attained is only good enough for exploratory work (GFI =0.88/0.90) so replication with a larger sample would be appropriate. In addition, the research is carried out in South Korea – although we know of no reason why this should affect the results it would be of interest to generalize the results to a western economy. Nevertheless, the method of first fitting the model then trading off the attribute levels is unusual and quite interesting.

Marketers of leading brands should not concern themselves about price but merely stress the benefits, whereas marketers of follower brands should make much of the price differential.

The importance of utilitarian benefits have hitherto not often been stressed when marketing premium brands – this research suggests that this is wrong.

Faced with the aggressive and invasive behavior of a competitor, it is necessary for a firm to adopt strategies to protect its market share. This study aims to examine brand counter‐extension strategy as a means of fighting back against strong competitors.

The study applies a measure of conditions among competitors, namely market position and extension outcome, as well a firm's own technological capability, in order to develop the fight‐back strategy of brand counter‐extensions.

The results verify that utilizing a competitor's market position does not help in the firm's brand counter‐extension, although the outcome of the competitor's previous successful extension could facilitate it.

Two practical implications could be addressed to enable firms to utilize their competitors' conditions: first, to utilize the competitor's market position to enter a new market at the introduction stage of a product's life cycle; second, to utilize the outcome of a competitor's brand extension to build support for a new product at the growth stage of its life cycle; a two‐step appeal strategy with the aim of learning the degree of support and purchase intention of consumers.

This study proposes that the strength of the firm's technological capability is critical for a successful counter‐extension. Moreover, the combination of successful experience and technological capability could enhance a customer's intention to purchase.