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1 – 10 of over 1000Many on‐farm‐processed products frequently command a premium price, characterised as they are by unique sensory properties and image. Examines the nature of consumer judgements…
Abstract
Many on‐farm‐processed products frequently command a premium price, characterised as they are by unique sensory properties and image. Examines the nature of consumer judgements about product quality for farmhouse Cheddar cheeses based on utilities derived from the product attributes, and the trade‐off against price. Determines key Cheddar cheese attributes through in‐depth interviews with specialist cheese consumers and employs conjoint analysis to estimate the utilities associated with these attributes based on a wider choice‐experiment survey of farmhouse Cheddar consumers. A “price sensitivity meter” technique was used to establish acceptable price ranges as perceived by the latter group. Results from market simulations suggest that the consumer price sensitivity for farmhouse cheese is likely to be low. The analysis also revealed that those attributes associated with the traditional characteristics of farmhouse Cheddar have the highest utilities and that any characteristics similar to industrial Cheddar were largely unattractive to the consumers of farmhouse cheese.
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Sérgio Dominique-Ferreira and Cristina Antunes
The purpose of this paper is to investigate and identify the price sensitivity of consumers of three- and five-star hotels and to determine the impact of bundling strategies on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate and identify the price sensitivity of consumers of three- and five-star hotels and to determine the impact of bundling strategies on consumers’ price sensitivity.
Design/methodology/approach
To calculate price sensitivity, authors apply the van Westendorp’s price sensitivity meter (PSM). To understand the impact of bundling strategies, univariate and bivariate techniques are applied.
Findings
PSM results reveal the optimal prices and the range of acceptable prices for three- and five-star hotel. The bundling strategy results reveal that five-star customers are less sensitive to mixed-leader bundling. Regarding mixed-joint bundling, managers could improve sales through bundling strategies if they selected an attractive service (e.g. restaurants).
Practical implications
Findings assist hotel managers to understand the different price sensitivities, according to the hotel typology. Managers can manage prices without the risk of losing market share or revenue. The results help managers in deciding which bundling strategies they can create, as well as the services to be included to achieve highest profitability.
Originality/value
No research to date to the best of the authors’ knowledge has attempted to understand and compare the role of bundling strategies in three- and five-stars hotels. Moreover, no research has attempted to measure and compare customers’ price sensitivity of three- and five-stars hotels.
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Sarah Kühl, Aurelia Schütz and Gesa Busch
The use of multi-level labels can enhance product visibility by enabling labeling of various items. Moreover, it can better accommodate the diversity on both the producer and…
Abstract
Purpose
The use of multi-level labels can enhance product visibility by enabling labeling of various items. Moreover, it can better accommodate the diversity on both the producer and consumer sides. However, studies on the willingness to pay (WTP) for premium levels of those animal welfare labels are scarce.
Design/methodology/approach
We investigate consumers’ WTP for a four-level animal husbandry label introduced to the market by German retailers in 2019 by conducting an online survey with 1,223 German meat consumers using Van Westendorp’s price sensitivity meter (PSM).
Findings
There is a significant increase in WTP for level 3 of the husbandry label, but only a slight increase for level 4. One explanation is that consumers may have the mistaken belief that level 3 already includes outdoor access for animals. As a result of this expectation, consumers may not perceive much added value in level 4, which is reflected in their reluctance to pay a higher price. This is reinforced by the finding that once informed of the criteria, 18% of the participants reduced their WTP for level 3, whereas only 6% considered a discount for level 4. Furthermore, 40% were prepared to pay more for level 4 after being informed of the respective criteria than they had previously stated.
Originality/value
To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to analyze and emphasize the importance of clear label communication, particularly for multi-level animal husbandry labels.
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Questionnaire measures of consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) and price sensitivity are biased, yet these declarative methods can aid managerial decision-making. Additional…
Abstract
Purpose
Questionnaire measures of consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) and price sensitivity are biased, yet these declarative methods can aid managerial decision-making. Additional choices involve which question formats to use (open-ended or discrete choice) and how many questions (unique versus multiple). This paper aims to inform such choices for online data collection with an empirical evaluation of the size of the bias induced by four methods (price acceptability, price judgements, multiple discrete choices and single discrete choices) in a realistic choice context.
Design/methodology/approach
An experimental framework collects online data about a staple product whose price should be well known. Price sensitivity, WTP and their confidence intervals are derived from a logistic binary model of acceptability, then ranked to evaluate the size of the bias of each method, relative to an indirect benchmark.
Findings
Online data collections with self-administrated questionnaires lower respondents’ involvement and create substantial bias; hypothetical methods overestimate WTP and underestimate price sensitivity, especially with methods using unique questions (both discrete choice and price acceptability). Multiple questions (price judgements and repeated random discrete choices) increase attention to price information and reduce the bias. The round price effect also is notable in data collected by open-ended methods.
Practical implications
To measure declarative WTP and price sensitivity with online data collections, researchers should use a random discrete choices method. Price acceptability questions and split tests are not recommended. Price judgements provide reliable information about consumer reactions to prices, but the strong round price bias is problematic.
Originality/value
This study adds to marketing and economic literature by comparing actual measurement methods used by firms, rather than hypothetical versions, and offers strong external validity.
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Tianyu Pan, Rachel J.C. Fu and James F. Petrick
This study aims to examine consumer perception during COVID-19 and identifies cruise industry marketing strategies to fill a gap in crisis management and product pricing…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine consumer perception during COVID-19 and identifies cruise industry marketing strategies to fill a gap in crisis management and product pricing literature.
Design/methodology/approach
This study developed and validated two-factor measurement scales (vaccine perception and protective behavior), which predicted cruise intents well. This study revealed how geo-regional factors affect consumer psychology through spatial analysis.
Findings
This study recommended pricing 7-day cruises at $1,464 (the most preferred length). The results also showed that future price hikes would not affect demand and that coastal marketing would help retain customers.
Originality/value
This study contributed to the business, hospitality and tourism literature by identifying two new and unique factors (vaccine perception and protective behaviors), which were found to affect consumers’ intention to travel by cruise significantly. The result provided a better understanding of cruise tourists’ pricing preferences and the methods utilized could easily be applied to other cruise markets or tourism entities.
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Heather Bergstein and Hooman Estelami
New‐to‐the‐world products are innovations that represent leapfrogging advancements in product design, which often result in significant gains in consumer utility. Such new…
Abstract
New‐to‐the‐world products are innovations that represent leapfrogging advancements in product design, which often result in significant gains in consumer utility. Such new products are critical not only because of their ability to become a means for market share gain and revenue growth, but also because they often change the competitive landscape of the markets they are launched in. A fundamental concern in developing new‐to‐the‐world products is the appropriate pricing of these products. In this paper, we will first review the traditional methods used in determining the prices of new‐to‐the‐world products. We will then profile emerging technologies that have found extensive use in recent years and are helping accelerate the pricing process of new‐to‐the‐world products. The paper will conclude with a discussion of the implications of these emerging technologies on the practice of pricing.
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Digitalization and marketing technologies have made it possible to overcome some barriers to pricing – a multidisciplinary field between marketing, finance and IT – and have set…
Abstract
Digitalization and marketing technologies have made it possible to overcome some barriers to pricing – a multidisciplinary field between marketing, finance and IT – and have set the stage for a paradigm shift in the pricing profession. Value creation, the pricing process, and price communication have been transformed by innovative business models and advanced algorithmic and human–machine solutions. This chapter synthesizes the literature to date and provides a comprehensive framework for an all-encompassing 360° pricing approach that broadens the understanding of pricing in the context of digital business across all steps of the price management process. Starting from product attributes and motivational beliefs in consumers' value assessment and adoption of (technological or digital) products or services, new business models and pricing models emerge in the digital economy, human–machine solutions for price implementation and repricing are increasingly applied, and price search and communication take place through a variety of digital communication channels. Each stage of this framework discusses concrete examples, highlighting the freemium strategy, the subscription model, price tracking and repricing tools, and digital price information channels such as e-commerce, marketplace, or price comparison platforms. The implications for price management in a digital, technology-driven landscape are discussed from the executive level to the analyst level.
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Dominic Habenstein, Katharina Kirchhoff and Torsten Schlesinger
The relevance of merchandise for professional football clubs is uncontroversial. Especially the constantly growing e-commerce sales elicits disruptive market changes such as…
Abstract
Purpose
The relevance of merchandise for professional football clubs is uncontroversial. Especially the constantly growing e-commerce sales elicits disruptive market changes such as global brand visibility or data-driven customer relationship management strategies. To exhaust these possibilities, it is a precondition that merchandising costumers choose the official online fan shop as the first choice channel instead of a third-party supplier. Thus, the purpose of this study is to figure out if the club as a retailer and the loyalty to a club influence the fans' channel choice when purchasing licensed sports merchandise online.
Design/methodology/approach
To do so, a choice-based conjoint analysis for a jersey purchase embedded in an online questionnaire was conducted (sample: n = 589) to investigate the importance of the online supplier, relative to the tangible factors price, shipping speed and free added values and the influence of fan loyalty within the e-commerce purchase channel choice.
Findings
The findings reveal that the price has the highest relative importance (47%), but, as a sport specific peculiarity, the relative importance of the online supplier (22%) is higher than added values (20%) and shipping speed (11%). But, these overall findings are significantly affected by the level of fan loyalty. Based on the findings, implications that influence the fans' decision-making practices are derived for clubs.
Originality/value
This study is the one of the first in sports management research, focusing straight on the purchase channel importance (affected by fan loyalty) when purchasing merchandising online.
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Abstract
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Bettina König, Christian Pfeiffer, Marcus Wieschhoff and Elena Karpova
The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of wine closure types on the quality perception of wine consumers in a traditional wine market, combined with the willingness…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of wine closure types on the quality perception of wine consumers in a traditional wine market, combined with the willingness to pay for red and white wines in bottles closed with screw caps compared with that for wines in bottles with a cork closure.
Design/methodology/approach
An online experiment with 436 Austrian wine consumers was conducted in a two-by-two between-groups design. To assess the quality of Austrian red and white wine, quality indicators such as origin, grape variety, awards, the content of residual sugar, vintage, geographical indication, ageing potential, organic certification, vineyard designation and brand (producer) have been applied. Furthermore, different involvement levels as well as willingness to pay were taken into consideration.
Findings
Contrary to earlier findings, results confirm that Austrian consumers do not generally perceive wines (both red and white) in a screw cap bottle to be lower or different in quality from those in a cork-closed bottle. However, consumers expect red and white wines in bottles with a cork closure to be higher in price than wines in bottles with a screw cap. Among established quality indicators, the present analysis shows that price is the strongest cue for quality when it comes to wines and indicates that wines in bottles closed with corks and bearing a higher price tag are considered to be of higher quality.
Research limitations/implications
This research comes with limitations, such as the absence of sensory differences. Moreover, the research design is based exclusively on the description of wines and a limited set of quality indicators and does not involve the actual tasting of wines.
Practical implications
Outcomes suggest that in the strategic positioning of wines, the difference in wine consumers’ quality perceptions between wine bottles with screw caps and cork closures plays a smaller role than anticipated. Findings are relevant for practitioners, particularly in old-world wine markets where cork is still seen as the closure of choice for higher-quality wines.
Originality/value
The results of this survey contribute to understanding consumers of an established old-world wine market and their attitudes towards alternative bottle closure types such as screw caps. It adds new insights to the research stream of the quality perception of wines.
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