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The paper reports the results of a study of food shopping behaviour in Greece. It is concerned with establishing the dimensions underlying shoppers’ evaluations of their regular supermarket store attributes, exploring the existence of shopper segments and subsequently, identifying the segments in terms of shopping behaviour and attitudes to store features. The main research instrument is a survey of adult Greek grocery shoppers in the metropolitan area of the city of Thessaloniki. The empirical results indicate that there are three dimensions that underlie the importance of store features. These are defined respectively as ‘Store design and variety’, ‘Personnel and service’, and ‘Convenient location’. The application of cluster analysis to the dimensions factor scores reveals four clusters. The characteristics of each cluster are described by average factor scores on the dimensions of store features, demographic characteristics, attitudes to store features, store loyalty, and motives for regular store choice.

The twin trends of health and convenience which have resulted in changing food consumption patterns are outlined. Research among consumers confirmed that there is awareness and concern about the relationship between health and diet; food scares have brought confusion; and the better educated are more food‐conscious. Changing lifestyles and the changing role of women are shown to affect food habits.

Analyses customer satisfaction with mail‐order speciality foods in the UK and examines the relationship between satisfaction with eight attributes of mail‐order speciality food and their association with overall satisfaction and likelihood of future purchase. Univariate analysis reveals that a high proportion of mail‐order customers experience satisfaction with each of the eight mail‐order attributes, reflected in a high proportion of customers who are satisfied overall and who intend to repurchase the products in the future. Canonical correlation analysis reveals a statistically significant relationship between one set of variables, overall satisfaction and likelihood of future purchase, and another set of variables, the eight mail‐order attributes. Consequently the results indicate that customer satisfaction is associated with service aspects of mail‐order such as the order process and delivery service as well as physical product attributes such as product quality.

Illustrates the use of conjoint analysis, a multivariate technique for the analysis of consumer preferences for multiple attribute products with an application to freshness and quality attributes of eggs. Establishes general and specific background issues and explains the technique of conjoint analysis. Discusses aspects of research design. Summarizes the empirical results with emphasis on the interpretation of the model and its use for simulation analyses.

The results of qualitative and quantitative research into differentiation of compounds feeds are presented. The aim of the qualitative research is to define the compound feeds as product attributes in the context of marketing mix elements in order to understand product differentiation amongst products. The framework of the qualitative research is employed in the quantitative research where price and cost data for feed products are collected and related to the product attributes. Quantitative analysis is employed to identify some characteristics of products. Compound feeds can be defined as a set of product/service attributes. Both prices and costs can be related to these. The quantitative analysis reveals that whilst there is significant variation in the prices and costs of compounds in the same product category, the relative variation is greater for some product groups than others and that these categories form natural product groups.

In marketing, products are defined as a series of attributes which extend beyond the concept of physical aspects of the product. This concept is applied to the definition of compound animal feeds. The development of the industry is described and evidence presented to establish the degree of seller concentration. Qualitative research, in the form of in‐depth interviews, is employed to identify the relevant product‐service attributes of compound feeds in the context of the marketing mix. Subsequently, some of the more recent changes in the industry are discussed in the context of this framework and from the perspective of impending change in the marketing mix.

Corporate social responsibility is a strategic decision whereby an organization undertakes an obligation to society, for example in the form of sponsorship, commitment to local communities, attention to environmental issues and responsible advertising. The impact of organizational decisions on society in the wider sense has been in evidence in the agricultural and food industries in association with merger and takeover activity, environmental pollution, intensive livestock production, hygiene, health and international marketing practices. Social responsibility has been given credibility through the attention given to social issues by the Confederation of British Industry, the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management and is of immediate relevance to the UK food sector because of the recent initiative of the Institute of Grocery Distribution. First considers social responsibility within a corporate strategy framework and subsequently deals with some theoretical and practical issues in the context of the UK food and agricultural sector.

The objectives of the study are to examine consumer attitudes to mail‐order speciality food products on the basis of a survey of mail order shoppers. The particular question which is addressed in the paper is concerned with the benefits perceived by mail‐order speciality food customers. Specifically, it identifies the perceived benefits associated with mail‐order, then establishes the underlying dimensions of these benefits and, finally, investigates the existence of customer segments on the basis of benefits sought. Consumers’ perceptions of the benefits of mail‐order emphasise quality, uniqueness and convenience. However, underlying these attributes are four main dimensions of customer relations and service, convenience, nostalgia and uniqueness. Furthermore, it is possible to identify two consumer segments of active mail‐order shoppers in terms of a product‐oriented group and a mail‐order‐oriented group.

Considers the incidence of average cost pricing in the compound feed industry in the context of strategic and marketing aspects of firms′ behaviour. The empirical analysis uses a cross‐section econometric model derived from the Koutsoyiannis model of average cost pricing and incorporating assumptions about cost and price adjustment. The model is estimated using primary data on prices and costs for a sample of firms in the North of England for main categories of compound feed products. The results indicate support for the hypothesis in association with these adjustment factors which accommodate both cost and strategic influences within product segments of the market.

The authors sought to examine how nostalgic feelings influenced purchase intentions of sport fans towards branded merchandise. Additionally, the goal was to test the childhood brand nostalgia (CBN) scale to see if it was an effective measure in this context. This was an important early step in understanding the way nostalgia may influence sport fan's merchandise preferences.

Surveys were completed by 601 fans of two professional sport teams in the USA. These consumers were targeted geographically through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and half given a modern branded t-shirt and the other half a retro branded t-shirt. To examine brand nostalgia in this context, the CBN measure was evaluated and examined to see its impact on each group, using hierarchical regressions.

The results demonstrated that CBN positively impacted consumers purchase intentions in the retro logoed t-shirt group. However, in the modern logoed t-shirt group, CBN did not significantly influence purchase intentions.

The findings of this study suggest that retro merchandise is working as expected, as it is attractive to those who feel nostalgic about their team. Secondarily, this study's findings suggest it may be vital for marketers to be conscious that their retro materials are connecting to the past.

This study was an early examination of a measure of nostalgia and its impact on purchase intentions in sport. The findings suggested that this CBN instrument may be appropriate in retro marketing research, especially regarding sport merchandise. Further, the findings suggest that nostalgic feelings may be influential toward retro merchandise, but not modern merchandise.