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This chapter presents a summary of the literature on the influence of the Internet and other digital innovations on markets, consumers, and firms. The review leads to a list of topics in need of research in the general areas of big data, online and mobile advertising, consumer search, online privacy, online reviews, social networks, platforms for online transactions, and the impact of the Internet on retail markets, including multi-channel and omni-channel retailing. We discuss the big data approaches that have been applied to problems of targeting and positioning and suggest areas for further development of these approaches. We also discuss the emerging area of mobile advertising, which can further enhance targeting. On the consumer side, the evidence indicates that the Internet has greatly lowered the costs of search and access to retailers. Much of the consumer data are transmitted to sellers, and much of the online advertising is transmitted to consumers, through platforms, such as Google. We conclude that better models of competition among these platform firms are needed and that they need to be examined for anti-trust violations. While online retailing has grown rapidly, it still has a relatively small share of retail sales. Since sellers can combine the advantages of online and offline channels, it has been common for sellers to branch into multi-channel retailing. Given the increased availability of detailed consumer data, omni-channel selling, which emphasizes strategies for the various touchpoints that lead to a transaction, is an area for further development.

Over the past 25 years as a marketing academic, I have been fortunate to have collaborated with various researchers and firms and have contributed to the advancement of the marketing field. This is a review article that tracks my progress through these years that has led me to explore different areas of marketing, thereby shaping me as a researcher and an academic. As I see now, all of my research work can be viewed from a decision-making point of view – decisions that marketers can make either at the market, brand/firm/store, or the customer level. These decisions have in turn been transformed into strategies or tactics leading up to successful implementations and improved bottom-line results. The development of strategies/tactics and successful implementations can be seen in nearly 10 areas of research that I have involved myself in. This article also highlights how my research studies have contributed and advanced the creation of knowledge in each of these research areas.

The following is an introductory profile of the fastest growing firms over the three-year period of the study listed by corporate reputation ranking order. The business activities in which the firms are engaged are outlined to provide background information for the reader.

This research aims to explore the impact of augmented reality (AR), the digital technology that superimposes virtual elements in a real environment, on consumers in the context of experiential marketing. Specifically, this study proposes a research model based on the stimulus-organism-response model, which considers AR media characteristics as external stimuli, consumers’ value perceptions as the organisms, and purchase intentions as the responses. The research model was tested with 248 consumers using structural equation modelling. The results show that informativeness, ease of use, and telepresence have positive effects on consumers’ utilitarian value perception and that telepresence and interactivity have positive effects on hedonic value perception. Overall, this study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on AR and provides actionable insights for managers implementing digital transformation strategies and AR applications in marketing practices.

This chapter examines the concept of dual marketing using Quelch's tools for marketing to individual and business customers. The benefits, opportunities and risks involved in the practice of dual marketing in emerging economies are discussed. The need for organisations to strategically utilise dual marketing to satisfy both categories of customers is further illustrated.

This paper investigates how members of ethnic minorities perceive ethnic-themed retail spectacles staged by mainstream marketers.

The data was collected in the North of France, through ethnographic methods combining in-depth interviews with French-Moroccan consumers, field observation of their shopping behavior in supermarkets, and online discussions on the subject.

The consumers’ responses reflect perceptions of dystopia, articulated in two interrelated types of discourses: inclusion versus exclusion on the one hand, and consumerism and the commodification of religion on the other. Spectacles aimed at being a cosmopolitan utopia into a spectacle become thus perceived as dystopic, alienating consumers who belong to ethnic minorities, some of whom will as a result oppose or boycott the supermarkets.

Given its phenomenological focus on consumers’ perception, this study provides an emic perspective on the phenomenon of ethnic retail spectacles. Further research should therefore study these contexts from multiple angles, in order to consider the role of other market actors such as retailers or the larger socio-political context.

This paper contributes to existing research by providing an understanding of ethnic minorities’ perceptions of product cross-over, understudied until now when it comes to mainstream marketplaces. Moreover, it highlights the importance of studying retail environments such as supermarkets, where ethnic spectacles enter consumers’ everyday life.