查看更多>>摘要：Fifty years ago, the Federal Trade Commission stopped enforcing its fictitious reference pricing guidelines, emphasizing the search qualities of price and the belief that competition would drive out deceptive behavior. Yet this practice of posting false, inflated comparison prices alongside sale prices has proliferated. Building on prior analytic work and the documented effects of reference pricing on search behavior and consumer choice, the authors develop a descriptive model explaining why fictitious reference pricing has spread instead of being extinguished by competition. After summarizing the model with a series of generalizations, the authors consider potential regulatory solutions to the problem. They propose that disclosure of the true normal price charged may be the only solution that could plausibly influence both consumer and firm behavior. Then, based on the existing literature, interviews with practitioners and regulators, an analysis of other nations’ approaches, and the results of a laboratory study of 900 consumers to examine how they integrate “true normal price” information into deal evaluations, the authors develop a set of propositions about the likely effects of requiring firms to disclose recent selling prices for goods, identifying both potential benefits and challenges associated with such a requirement.
Lisa PeñalozaAndrea ProtheroPierre McDonaghKathrynn Pounders...
847-868页
查看更多>>摘要：This systematic literature review enhances paradigmatic/metaphysic analyses by examining how value-based commitments, intellectual personae, and stances impact the diversity, relevance, and consideration of ethics in gender research published by the top-tier marketing journals in the past 30 years. Theoretical contributions (1) explain how commitments to research values and practices constitute personae and particular stances toward research, (2) attribute value commitments to quantitative/positivist as well as qualitative/neohumanist research, and (3) implicate stances that favor particular theories and procedures and in turn enable the hierarchical development of gender research and its marginalization in the field. Recommendations elaborate the analytic, reflexive, and administrative training and research activities that will foster and reward more relevant, accurate, and ethical research on gender in the marketing academy and in industry. This work is of interest to persons dealing with gender identities, communities, and social issues, those working for greater gender representation and participation in firms and civic organizations, and those concerned with leveraging better marketing research for a better world.
查看更多>>摘要：Membership-based free shipping (MFS) has been increasingly adopted by online retailers. However, its effectiveness is understudied. This study leverages a consumer transaction data set provided by an online retailer and uses a stacked difference-in-differences approach to quantify the enrollment effect of MFS on consumers’ purchase behaviors and their net revenue contribution to the retailer. Interestingly, MFS enrollment does not lift average consumers’ spending at the beginning of the enrollment, as they break large orders into smaller ones. Retailers do not gain incremental net revenue due to the increased shipping costs during this period. However, the free shipping benefit may build a switching barrier that motivates consumers to purchase more often with larger order sizes over time. It eventually leads to increased spending and revenue contribution. MFS also increases members’ purchase variety and impulse purchases. In addition, the authors find that there is a greater increase in net revenue contribution after enrollment for light buyers, variety seekers, and those who are willing to pay shipping fees before enrollment. Surprisingly, MFS has a negative impact on the revenue contribution of heavy buyers, the conventional best-value consumers. Moreover, MFS can effectively strengthen consumer–retailer relationships by reducing customer churn.
查看更多>>摘要：An increasingly common strategy when naming new brands is to use an unconventional spelling of an otherwise familiar word (e.g., “Lyft” rather than “Lift”). However, little is known about how this brand naming strategy impacts consumers’ beliefs about the brand and, ultimately, their willingness to support it. Eight experimental studies demonstrate that, in general, consumers are less likely to support unfamiliar brands whose names are spelled unconventionally compared with brands that use the conventional spelling of the same word. This occurs because consumers perceive the choice of an unconventionally spelled name as an overt persuasion attempt by the marketer and thus view the brand as less sincere. Using mediation and moderation, the authors demonstrate that these effects are driven by persuasion knowledge and show robustness by employing different types of unconventional spellings. The studies suggest that although marketers may choose unconventional spellings for new brands with the goal of positively influencing consumers’ perceptions, doing so may backfire. However, unconventionally spelled names do not produce a backfire effect when the motive for selecting the name is seen as sincere. Further, unconventionally spelled brand names may even be desirable when consumers are seeking a memorable experience.
查看更多>>摘要：Given the high failure rates of brand extensions, insights into the drivers of brand extension success are critical for marketing practitioners and scholars. Prior research has inferred that parent brand equity and extension fit are the two key success drivers; however, empirical findings are mixed. Drawing on signaling theory, categorization theory, and a large database of 2,134 effect sizes from research spanning 1990–2020, the authors address these mixed findings through a meta-analysis to develop empirical generalizations. The results show that parent brand equity and extension fit positively influence extension success. However, the multifaceted dimensions of these two drivers have differential effects. For example, among the fit dimensions, usage fit has the weakest effect. While the results suggest an overall positive interaction effect between the two drivers, a fine-grained perspective that considers the drivers’ various dimensions reveals differences. For example, brand familiarity appears to have a lower interaction effect with extension fit than the other dimensions of parent brand equity. Furthermore, the authors provide a comprehensive analysis of five groups of moderators: contextual factors (parent brand, extension, communication, and consumer factors) and research method factors. The authors offer managerial and future research implications for the design of brand extension strategies.
Christina KanYan (Lucy) LiuDonald R. LichtensteinChris Janiszewski...
928-948页
查看更多>>摘要：This research investigates how a price promotion on a fast-moving consumer good influences the sales of substitute products in a retail shelf or online display. An analysis of supermarket yogurt data finds that when nonpromoted products are strong substitutes for the promoted product, a 1% decrease in the price of the promoted product results in a .25% decrease in the sales of proximal products but no change in the sales of distal products—a negative promotion-proximity effect. However, when nonpromoted products are weak substitutes for the promoted product, a 1% decrease in the price of the promoted product results in a .10% increase in the sales of proximal products but no change in sales for distal products—a positive promotion-proximity effect. Subsequent studies show that these effects occur because a proximal strong substitute is more likely to enter a consideration set with the promoted product (negative promotion-proximity effect) and a proximal weak substitute is more likely to be seen and considered by a consumer who is not interested in the promoted product (positive promotion-proximity effect).
Emanuel de BellisGita Venkataramani JoharNicola Poletti
949-965页
查看更多>>摘要：Technologies are becoming increasingly autonomous, able to complete tasks on behalf of consumers without human intervention. For example, robot vacuums clean the floor while cooking machines implement recipes on their own. These autonomous products free consumers from daily chores that they used to perform manually. The current research suggests that some consumers derive meaning from completing such manual tasks, and that this meaning of manual labor acts as a barrier to the adoption of autonomous products. A series of field and experimental studies shows that consumers who score high (vs. low) on the meaning of manual labor construct tend to evaluate autonomous products less favorably and adopt them less frequently. However, making alternative sources of meaning in life salient can serve as a remedy to increase autonomous product adoption among these consumers. One such strategy is to emphasize that the time gained through the use of autonomous products can be spent on meaningful activities, thus offsetting the detrimental effects of meaning of manual labor on autonomous product adoption. The findings suggest effective interventions for firms that offer autonomous products while stressing the need to provide meaningful experiences to consumers.
NETL
NSTL
Sage