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Over the last two decades, there has been growing interest from all stakeholders (government, manufacturers, and consumers) to make packaging more sustainable. Paper is considered one of the most environmentally friendly materials available. A qualitative study investigating consumers’ expectations and opinions of sustainable paper-based packaging materials was conducted where 60 participants took part in focus group sessions organized in two stages. In the first stage, participants expressed their opinions about currently available packages in the market and their expectations about a sustainable packaging material. In the second stage of the study, they evaluated five paper-based prototype packages for two product categories (biscuits and meat). Too much plastic and over-packaging were the key issues raised for current packages. Price and quality were the main driving forces for consumers’ purchase intent. While participants were impressed by the sustainable nature of the prototypes, the design did not necessarily meet their expectations, and they were not willing to pay more for a sustainable package. The key message that emerged from the discussions was the “3Rs”—Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle”—which should be the main points to consider when designing a sustainable packaging.

This research investigates the profound impact of digitization on business operations in Romania, with a specific focus on the notable surge in online purchasing behavior. Romania, positioned at the crossroads of tradition and technological advancement, is undergoing a transformative shift propelled by increased internet accessibility and a burgeoning tech-savvy consumer base. The core of this transformation lies in the substantial rise in online purchasing behavior among Romanian consumers. Factors such as the convenience of virtual marketplaces, diverse product offerings, and secure online payment systems have reshaped the retail landscape, challenging traditional brick-and-mortar models. This paper delves into the driving forces behind this surge, exploring the factors that make online shopping increasingly attractive to Romanian consumers. The examination encompasses the convenience of remote shopping, the extensive variety available online, and the reliability of delivery services. Additionally, the paper addresses the impact of digitization on business dynamics, as enterprises adapt to remain competitive in an evolving marketplace. The research not only sheds light on the current landscape but also aims to unravel the broader implications for businesses, consumers, and the Romanian economy. By dissecting the catalysts and challenges associated with this digital paradigm shift, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the intricate relationship between digitization and the escalating trend of online purchasing behavior in Romania. As we navigate through this exploration, the objective is to provide valuable insights that inform strategic decisions, foster innovation, and pave the way for a more nuanced comprehension of the digitized business landscape in Romania.

This paper explores established models of the consumer decision-making process, originated from the 1960s, and assesses the viewpoints of Nicosia, Howard and Sheth, Engel, Kollat and Blackwell, and Fishbein and Ajzen's theories of reasoned and planned behavior. Subsequently, it demonstrates their significance and linkages with current marketing practices, encompassing the effects associated with digitalization and the augmentation of consumer requirements. Finally, the paper puts forth a theoretical model for the decision-making process. These models provide diverse perspectives on how consumer attitudes, purchasing decisions, and interactions with marketing stimuli are formed. However, it is emphasized that these models must continually evolve to remain relevant in an ever-changing environment, as they are critical in comprehending consumer behavior and developing marketing strategies.

The study was carried out on farmers and consumers from the Western Romania, using the questionnaires developed within the framework of WELANIMAL project in year 2009. The aim of this paper was to identify if there are any differences between the two social categories regarding the issues of farm animal welfare. A number of seven common questions were indentified in the questionnaires of farmers and consumers, and a comparative study between these categories was conducted. Farmers considered that dairy cows (70.1%), laying hens (46.8%) and pigs (24.7%) need their current welfare level to be improved, while consumers considered that the welfare status of all the farm animal species mentioned in the questionnaire needed to improved. Both farmers and consumers considered that sometimes or very rarely could find information about the rearing system on the labels of animal products. Farmers believed that EU legislation exists mostly for farm animal transportation (34.8%) and slaughtering (30.5%), while consumers considered that EU legislation exists for slaughtering (34.8%) and rearing conditions (32.8%). Both farmers and consumers considered that in Romania the animal welfare/protection receives not enough importance (61.3% and 77.4%, respectively), while in the EU this is better than in other parts of the world (46.7% and 50%, respectively). It was concluded that farmers and consumers have either similar of divergent views on specific issues of farm animal welfare.

Pricing is one of the major components of businesses. Retailers have adopted different pricing modes due to the need to devise sustainable pricing strategies. This is one of the reasons for the development of psychological pricing. Psychological pricing has adverse effects on Muslim retailers and consumers due to their involvement in zulm (deception). Therefore, this study examined the implications of psychological pricing on Muslim retailers and consumers in Nigeria. The paper adopted qualitative and analytical methods. The qualitative method was used to review related literature, while the analytical method was used to examine and analyse the implications of psychological pricing. This study found that psychological pricing is used for profit maximization through deception. Psychological pricing has led to the involvement of Muslim retailers and consumers in vices such as deception, lying, and trickery. This paper concluded that psychological pricing affects the spiritual and moral lives of Muslim retailers and consumers. The paper recommended that Muslim retailers and consumers adopt and accept other pricing strategies that do not involve ambiguity and deception. They are also encouraged to use credit cards in order to avoid paying beyond the tagged price of a commodity.

The emergence of the internet coupled with the rapid development in digital technology has revolutionalised the way things are done, including the economic activities of businesses and consumers. The ease and convenience offered via the electronic commerce platform has become a major motivation for its increasing use rather than visits to physical stores or places of business. Amidst the comfort, wider array of products and time saving benefits available to consumers in the digital marketplace, consumers are confronted with complex problems and challenges that offline consumers who interact with sellers’ face to face do not experience. Although there is subsisting legislation that regulates online transactions and agreement in South Africa, this seems to be inadequate to address the adverse situations consumers are exposed to while contracting electronically. This paper discusses the common forms of online contracts and the concomitant legal challenges affecting consumers while concluding contracts online in the South African context. Questions such as ‘which country’s law will apply on online contracts in cross-border contracts’ are some of the pertinent issues without clear cut answers. Divided into four parts, the first part deals with the legal principles regulating online contracts, part two tackles the validity of online contracts, part three deals with the legal challenges consumers face in online contracts in South Africa and the last part is the conclusion. The authors hope that this contribution would help stimulate the debate about online contracts with hopes of bringing the much-needed contractual certainty in this area of the law.

This article aims to highlight the influencing factors on omni-channel consumer attitudes towards virtual shopping channels, providing the literature with a new conceptual model that studies the use of technology by omni-channel consumers. The research hypotheses were established based on the literature review, and a conceptual model was defined. Quantitative research was carried out on an emerging market through the survey technique to verify the relations between the investigated concepts. In total, 307 responses from Millennials and Generation Z members were analyzed using structural equations modeling in SmartPLS. The results show that both channel and consumer characteristics, alongside their media contexts, influence the attitude and willingness to access and use retail channels. To keep up with constantly changing consumer needs, companies are advised to continually analyze the target market and implement any necessary measures. The paper expands the studies investigating the behavior of technology users, enhancing the UTAUT2 model-based literature.

The aim of the article is to identify the characteristics of the introduction and development of marketing activities in agricultural enterprises in order to increase the efficiency of their activities. Methodology. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study is a systematic approach to the study of economic phenomena and processes related to the marketing activities of agricultural enterprises. In formulating theoretical generalisations and formulating conclusions and proposals, the paper uses historical, abstract and logical, and monographic methods. Forecasting of indicators characterising the marketing potential of enterprise in the context of increasing labour productivity at enterprises, market parameters and substantiation of the choice of marketing strategy of agricultural producers is carried out using the methods of extrapolation and economic forecasting. The article uses general scientific and special research methods: abstraction and comparison, analysis and synthesis, graphical methods, deduction, economic and mathematical modelling, observation and comparison, and the logical method. The results of the study show that marketing instruments include methods of its implementation, i.e., advertising, sales, customer service, pricing policy, study of needs and demand, communication with consumers and the public. Calculation of a comprehensive indicator of efficiency of marketing activity of enterprises is an important direction of assessment of the status and level of development of the marketing complex at enterprise. The indicator makes it possible to promptly identify and eliminate deviations in achieving goals and fulfilling tasks, which affects the overall performance of the enterprise. The results of the study are presented in the form of tables, graphs, diagrams, and charts. Practical implications. Since the marketing activity of an agricultural enterprise is multifaceted, it is necessary to evaluate its effectiveness in the following areas: efficiency of implementation of marketing functions, implementation of the marketing complex and use of marketing resources. In order to assess the level of efficiency of marketing activities, it is necessary to analyse both strategic and tactical aspects of the agricultural enterprise. Value/originality. An important component of ensuring marketing activities in the agricultural market is the communication policy of the enterprise. A modern system for assessing the effectiveness of marketing activities should take into account the possibility of disseminating information via the Internet, which is an indispensable tool for obtaining up-to-date marketing information.

A dynamic business environment and intense competition require companies to create numerous incentives for consumers to keep them loyal. Various incentives are available to marketing managers. Their combination depends on the company's goals on the one hand and consumer characteristics on the other. Loyalty programs have traditionally been based on financial incentives aimed at the average consumer. The means on which modern loyalty programs are based are more diverse and complex, and are often based on information technology. They are focused on personalization, that is, the creation of incentives for the individual consumer and the dominant provision of hedonic and symbolic values. The goal of such programs is consumer loyalty to the company/brand, not to the program itself. Starting from the differences between traditional and modern consumer loyalty programs, the author's intention in the paper is to investigate the impact of both programs on consumer loyalty. The impact of traditional programs on consumer loyalty was investigated through financial benefits, flexibility and program reliability, and the impact of modern loyalty programs through personalization, social benefits and gamification. Additionally, the paper analyzed the moderating role of gender and age as consumer demographic characteristics on the degree of loyalty to the program itself and loyalty to the company/brand. Identified relationships between the investigated variables enabled a comparison with the results of existing research and the formulation of recommendations necessary for managing consumer loyalty.

Consumers’ privacy rights have been enshrined in law, long before information systems and the Internet was brought to life. In 2018, stricter regulations relating to information privacy came into force, named the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Using elements of Roger’s diffusion of innovations theory, we investigated the research question: How has five years of the GDPR influenced consumer’s knowledge, attitude, and practice of their enhanced rights? We draw on empirical data collected in Norway through four online survey questionnaires over five years (N=1293). Quantitative (descriptive statistics) and qualitative analyses (manual cluster text mining) were performed to obtain a state-of-the-art mapping of insights on consumers and their information privacy. Our findings show that the respondents’ answers remained similar over the years, and that the GDPR has not had a significant influence on the consumer. The respondents demonstrated a high degree of knowledge regarding both the regulation and technology, such as cookies. Their attitude was sceptical, as they valued their enhanced rights but questioned the feasibility. Regarding their practice, our findings reveal diversity. Some respondents took careful actions to protect their privacy, while most did not. The present paper should be interesting to both the industry (practitioners) and academia (researchers).

The purpose of the research is to identify the preference, motivation, attitude and satisfaction of consumers towards the resorts found in the Semenic Tourist Area. The paper presents the results obtained through direct research, respectively an occasional survey using the questionnaire, through used to identify if there is tourist demand, what is the frequency of consumption and what budget is reserved for a minimum stay, respectively the attitude of consumers regarding the main sources of information when choosing a tourist accommodation structure, depending on unit type, classification, rates and payment methods. At the same time, the preference for purchasing tourist services, the motivation, the selection criteria used when choosing a tourist accommodation structure, the degree of satisfaction with the basic and additional services offered, the degree of satisfaction with the natural environment, road transport and cable installations, tourist routes, ski slopes, facilities for entertainment and relaxation were also identified.

Consumer credit is of permanent social and economic interest and has therefore benefited from appropriate European and national regulation. In its specialised form, the credit agreement offered to consumers for residential real estate has been regulated by O.G. No 52/2016 and recently amended by Law No 134/2023.The study of the substantial amendments to Law no. 134/2023 is of legal interest, in particular, because of the field addressed, namely mortgage credit.The paper is divided into three parts: "Introduction to the credit agreement", "Consumer credit in national regulations" and "Main legislative amendments to the law on mortgage credit by Law No 134/2023".

The global organic market is increasing constantly, organic sales reaching over USD 5 billion per year. Organic Monitor estimates that international sales amounted to about USD 38.6 billion in 2006, more than the double of USD 18 billion in 2000. The organic demand is concentrated in North America and Europe, these two regions comprising 97% of the global revenues. The European organic food and beverage market is the largest and most complex in the world, evaluated at USD 20 billion in 2006. Many European countries offer grants to organic farms to support organic production. This production-oriented strategy will have guaranteed success if the market structures and the marketing channels will be able to face the rapidly increasing demand and if the sellers adapt their products, sales channels and prices to the consumers’ demand

As more consumers shop online, avatars are being used to support consumer purchase behavior in many online shopping sites and virtual worlds. Previous studies have suggested that avatars have positive effects on consumers’ online shopping experience and are important for the successful operation of a website. Despite their increasing importance, findings from previous studies have not been organized to provide a systematic understanding of avatars. Therefore, in this paper, previous research on avatars is reviewed in terms of the effects of (1) the existence of avatars, (2) avatar design, and (3) avatar communication. Based on this review, this paper suggests that future research should (1) examine new moderation variables, (2) focus on avatars in social media, (3) examine new avatar design factors, and (4) simultaneously examine the effects of avatar design and communication.

Abstract Background Governments and third-sector organizations (TSOs) require support to reduce suicide mortality through funding of suicide prevention services and innovative research. One way is for researchers to engage individuals and services in multisectoral collaborations, to collaboratively design, develop and test suicide prevention services and programmes. However, despite widespread support, to date, it remains unclear as to the extent to which stakeholders are being included in the research process, or if they are, how these partnerships occur in practice. To address this gap, the authors conducted a systematic review with the aim of identifying evidence of multisectoral collaborations within the field of suicide prevention, the types of stakeholders involved and their level of involvement. Methods The authors conducted a strategic PRISMA-compliant search of five electronic databases to retrieve literature published between January 2008 and July 2021. Hand-searching of reference lists of key systematic reviews was also completed. Of the 7937 papers retrieved, 16 papers finally met the inclusion criteria. Because of data heterogeneity, no meta-analysis was performed; however, the methodological quality of the included studies was assessed. Results Only one paper included engagement of stakeholders across the research cycle (co-ideation, co-design, co-implementation and co-evaluation). Most stakeholders were represented by citizens or communities, with only a small number of TSOs involved in multisectoral collaborations. Stakeholder level of involvement focused on the co-design or co-evaluation stage. Conclusion This review revealed a lack of evidence of multisectoral collaborations being established between researchers and stakeholders in the field of suicide prevention research, even while such practice is being espoused in government policies and funding guidelines. Of the evidence that is available, there is a lack of quality studies documenting the collaborative research process. Also, results showed that the inclusion of co-researchers from communities or organizations is defined as co-creation, but further analysis revealed that collaboration was not consistent across the duration of projects. Researchers and practitioners should consider issues of power and equity in multisectoral collaborations and encourage increased engagement with TSOs, to rigorously research and evaluate suicide prevention services.

To market products with geographical indications in the best possible way, it is necessary to examine the attitudes and habits of consumers. The subject of this paper is a survey on habits and attitudes of consumers about products with GI in Serbia. The aim of this paper is to examine the level of familiarity, attitudes, and habits of consumers, as well as to determine the knowledge and interest in these products. Citizens of Serbia participated in the research (n = 399). The methodology is based on a questionnaire that obtained the data that were processed via t-test statistical methods for independent samples, one-factor analysis of variance, the χ² test, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Based on the conducted research, it can be stated that about 70% of respondents are willing to pay a higher price for these products.

This paper aims to analyze the importance of paid advertising on social networks in the territory of Nišava and Pčinja districts. For this reason, a survey was conducted, which included 294 respondents. Data were processed in the SPPS software package, using tests of independence, contingency, one-factor analysis of variance, and post-hoc tests. The results showed that the majority of respondents from the south of Serbia ignore paid ads on social networks. Also, the study led us to the conclusion that paid advertising affects men and women equally, but also that it has the greatest impact on the population over 50 years old, while it has the least impact on respondents up to 30 years old, as well as that there is a strong connection between the level of education and clicks on paid ads. The results showed that respondents who do not open ads do not do so because they do not notice them, but also that highly educated people open ads for informative reasons and to get to know the advertised business.

This paper is aimed at determining the connection between the provision of companies' financial information on the indicator of quality and the macroeconomic development of countries. In this research, we use the following methods: the method of categorization, the method of comparative analysis, statistical analysis and the forecast method. The scientific novelty of this research is due to the development of the theoretical and practical characteristics of informing consumers on the activities of companies in the sphere of managing the system of the indicators of quality and determination of the dependence of the macroeconomic characteristics of countries on the implementation of the measures of accounting and provision of information on the indicators of quality. We analyse the main advantages and drawbacks of quality management in the selected developed and developing countries, which have a significant impact on the world economy. The developed offers in the sphere of accounting information on the indicators of quality are formulated from the position of growth and sustainable macroeconomic development.

This paper presents a qualitative study on the organic discourse from the perspectives of consumers in the Czech Republic. The main aim of the paper is to identify partial discourses among consumers in the Czech Republic within the framework of a communication “concourse” on organic farming as one of the sustainable initiatives within the context of the Organic 3.0 concept. The paper is based on Q methodology with 44 final statements which represent current respondents’ discourses (perspectives) on the organic sector. Results reveal that Czech organic consumers could be divided into 3 specific groups – “Convinced organic globalists”, “Modest organic localists” and “Convinced organic rationalists”. The first group of consumers is convinced of the importance of organic farming at a global level and they emphasise the global economic importance of organic farming. The second group are protagonists of organic farming, despite seeing its shortcomings. In the terms of preferences, they rather prefer local food with regard to sustainability than organic food. The third group is characterised by a rationally economic view of organic farming. They see the barrier to further expansion of organic farming in economic factors, such as the price of organic food. The identified barriers of economic rationality and competition of local production are challenges to the future development of the organic sector and its position among other sustainable initiatives. The results also provide better insights into Czech organic consumers’ discourse and their perception of the Organic 3.0 concept.

The dynamic development of e-commerce is driven by the rapid expansion of Internet access and the increasing use of portable devices, such as smartphones, tablets, etc. Ecommerce dominates the B2C market, where products are ordered by individual customers and sold by a company. One-time purchases are often made, loyalty is relatively low, while customer expectations are constantly growing. The research was conducted with the aim of analyzing the impact of logistical value and the moderating effect of digital literacy on consumer satisfaction in the digital environment in the Republic of Serbia. The paper presents 6 hypotheses. Observing the importance of relations between all constructs, it was found that logistics value with an emphasis on delivery monitoring and convenient place of delivery is important when it comes to customer satisfaction in the digital environment. Moderating the effects of digital literacy on customer satisfaction in the digital environment have not been confirmed. At the very end of the paper, implications for the economy are given, as well as recommendations for further research.

This paper analyzes some issues related to the one-year Statute of limitations for claims, from the beginning of this period and throughout its course, in the context of obligation (contract) law and consumer law relations. The focus is on reconsidering whether the length of the special one-year Statute of limitations should be changed. The author examines whether there is room for refining, specifying and amending the provisions of the Obligation Relations Act, especially pertaining to the beginning of this period, given that the legal provisions on the one-year Statute of limitations in this Act do not contain special rules on this issue. The discussion is further complicated by the fact that in the Republika Srpska, the Consumer Protection Act contains a provision on a one-year Statute of limitations for claims on services of general economic interest. Is the circle of claims or the rule concerning the beginning of this Statute of limitations different from the one prescribed in the Obligations Relations Act? The paper aims to find answers to these questions by using scientific research methods in the analysis of legislation, legal theory and case law, as well as the questionnaire techniques in the empirical research which is of both theoretical and practical importance.

Knowing the profile of hunting tourism consumers is particularly useful to the administrators of hunting funds or natural parks, and of travel agencies that develop hunting tourism products for the hunting of large game for trophy, of small game as recreational activity and also for the experienced hunting tourists who love adventure and hunting with traditional weapons. The motivation for hunting consists in the existing fauna in a certain area, but there are also cultural, historical reasons or spending time in the middle of nature. Consumers of hunting tourism have a wide range of ages: hunting tourists prefer watching the animals in their natural habitat and are less adventure-oriented, unlike trophy hunting tourists who are self-contended, travel much and wish to know the history, the culture and the behaviour of animals in protected areas. They prefer special accommodation and transport conditions and rely on large incomes: they wish to get the rarest trophies to display back home as a symbol of their hunting skills and courage.

The managers have to be focused on clients and satisfy their needs, so that the products meet their expectations. The evaluation and monitoring the consumers satisfaction is very important because it is a managerial instrument which offers the possibility to understand and satisfy the needs of the existing consumers. In this study we used the questionnaire as research method and after analyzing and processing the data we noticed the consumers preferences related to the meat and meat products consumption, the frequency of consumption and the places from where the consumers procure their meat and meat products.

The central objectives of this paper are to enhance the understanding of how consumers in developed economies value credence attributes and to understand their preferences for red-pulp kiwifruit. To achieve this, we utilised the choice experiment method through surveys conducted in Italy, Spain, France, and Germany, targeting kiwifruit consumers through specific questionnaires. Regarding red kiwifruit, a significant percentage of those who are already familiar with them either purchase or intend to purchase them. What is equally interesting is the high percentage of those who declared themselves to be undecided about making a purchase. Specific marketing actions can be directed towards the following two categories: converting the intention to purchase into an actual purchase and shifting the current inclination towards an intention or act of purchase, for example, by improving the knowledge about this relatively unknown fruit. This paper contributes to the market chain by assessing consumers’ choice and willingness to pay for red kiwifruit, while also comparing developed economy markets.

The paradigm shift caused by disruption of traditional business models and innovation is among some factors which have propelled marketers forward-thinking in emphasizing brand fidelity. It is a novel idea and an innovative approach to understanding the impact of consumers while they demonstrate love and commitment through engagement, subconsciously or otherwise, with respect to cognition and behavior. The current study tested the components/factors of brand fidelity among Saudi consumers. The primary data for the study were collected based on the survey instrument among Saudi consumers. Overall, 446 responses were used to analyze the results. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) coupled with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using IBM SPSS and AMOS were used to analyze the data. All the factors of brand fidelity, namely “accommodation/price”, “accommodation/performance”, “cognitive interdependence”, and “derogation of alternatives”, hold valid in the Saudi context with exploratory factor analysis with a factor loading of each factor above the threshold value of 0.50, and with confirmatory factor analysis with a threshold value of more than or equal to 0.60 for all the factor loadings. The result thus obtained suggests that the brand fidelity scale is valid in the Saudi context. Saudi consumers were found to be highly loyal to their favorite brands. The findings of the study will provide inputs to the companies operating in the Saudi market for their brand-related strategy formulation. Moreover, the paper indicates undermining the power of brand fidelity in improving the bottom line through experience management. AcknowledgmentThis paper was supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Alkharj, Saudi Arabia, under the Specialized Research Grant program with Grant No. 2020/02/17342.

The idea of this research is to combine the influence of personal brand with business needs. This article is a personal brand’s analysis on how personal brand influences consumer interest in products/services. An experiment is carried out on the content viewed by consumers using eye-tracking technology “Neuromarketing & AI LAB” to reveal emotional and structural sensations in the social network Instagram. The aim of this research is to determine the influence of a personal brand on the consumer. Research methodology: analysis of scientific literature, logical definition and theory construction, an experiment: research of human emotions and chosen content. Data analysis method: descriptive statistics and comparative analysis. AOI (heat map) was selected to illustrate the research results. Influencers with up to 100 000 followers were selected – stimuli that trigger or enhance physiological and psychological reactions in the body. It was found that the body and face of a personal brand had the higher influence on consumers. Personal brand attracts consumers’ attention and promotes engagement. The originality and value of the paper: content relevance research of personal brand (identity) influence on consumers in social network Instagram. Further we suggest carrying out similar personal brand’s research choosing other social networks.

In the context of the prosperity of the Internet economy and the progress of the cultural industry, the Internet cultural industry is expanding in a big way based on the economic development of the cultural industry, supported by the Internet technology platform and serving the cultural and spiritual experience of consumers. The Internet cultural industry is gradually becoming the backbone of the country’s comprehensive strength for the amount. The Internet to boost the development of China’s cultural industry and cultural export to the outside has become a general trend. In 2018 China’s Internet cultural industry added value accounted for the first time exceeded 3 trillion of GDP, and the added value of the Internet cultural industry in 2021 further increased to 6.63% of GDP. Thus, it can be seen that the share of Wen Internet culture industry in China’s GDP is a steady upward trend and the future development is clear. This paper uses the vector autoregressive model to model and analyze the cultural consumption data of Internet users, and the analysis results show that in 2021, China’s Internet cultural consumption mainly tends to music and video, games, literature, animation, and online cultural content information services in five areas, among which games account for 36.52% of the total Internet cultural consumption. Due to the improvement of China’s comprehensive strength, the difference in CPI of Internet culture consumption between urban and rural groups in China is 11, and the gap is gradually narrowing, and the countryside will be a big new market in the future. The Internet group culture user group as a whole tends to be younger, with the student group accounting for 26% of the user group. Based on the analysis of this study, it is concluded that Internet cultural consumption tends to be young, cultural innovation is the main driving force to promote consumption, and future development is unstoppable.

The change in technological area all over the world has changed the concept of information and communication. The use of internet for commercial purposes gave rise to the existence of the electronic commerce (e-commerce) phenomenon. Online shopping or e-shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser. The study focuses on the impact of hedonic and utilitarian motives on the consumers buying behaviour towards online shopping. Questionnaire was used to collect the primary data. The sample size of the study was 125 and the sample design adopted was convenience sampling. This paper tried to find out the impact of hedonic and utilitarian motive on the consumer buying behaviour towards online shopping and gives suggestions to improve the same.

The popularity of smart devices that collect and share data on user behaviour grows every year, and the number of such devices in households is forecast to rise steadily. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to present the attitudes of young consumers regarding the security of their data collected by smart devices, interconnected via the existing Internet infrastructure or other network technologies within the Internet of Things (IoT) systems. The paper was written based on both secondary and primary sources of information. Secondary sources were used to define the discussed issues related to the Internet of Things and the security of data collected by smart devices. Primary sources, on the other hand, offered direct evidence of the attitudes of young consumers on the security of such data. Direct research was carried out using an online survey carried out in 2021 on a sample of 588 consumers aged 18–34 living in Poland. The results show that more than half of the respondents pay great attention to where the data collected by the devices used in their households is kept and whether such data is safe. In spite of such declarations, more than half of those surveyed have no knowledge about the level of the security of such data. The respondents agreed with the statement that consumers accepted the uncertainty related to the loss of control over their personal data collected by smart devices more quickly than the risk involved in becoming disconnected from them.

With the deepening of globalization, brand plays an important role in determining the competitiveness of enterprises. It is worth thinking about how to quantify the brand value reasonably to achieve the purpose of improving the competitiveness of enterprises. The research of commercial brands based on emotion analysis extracts the views of consumers on the evaluation data of brand attributes, analyzes the emotional tendency of consumers' views, and then helps enterprises adjust their production strategies. The purpose of emotion analysis is to judge users' views and attitudes toward goods or services by analyzing texts. In this paper, the linear support vector machine model is used to extract and study the features in sentiment analysis. Then, the brand based on the fusion model is evaluated, and the experimental conclusions are drawn: the method of fusing the depth features extracted by word vector and the named entity extracted by CRF makes the brand effect of fusing emotional factors better than the feature extraction method only using CRF named entity recognition. It is proved that the model method proposed in this paper has a certain role in actual business. Feature fusion often combines shallow model methods and fuses various shallow feature screening technologies based on word segmentation results. This paper introduces fusion features and supplements feature vectors based on the results of the deep learning word vector model. Support Vector Machine (SVM) maps feature vectors to some sample points in the space, finds a plane that can realize sample classification, and maximizes the distance between the two sample points closest to the plane in two types of samples, to maximize the classification performance and improve the generalization of the model.

Brand design is an important part for enterprises to improve brand awareness and attract consumers. If a company wants to develop for a long time, it must have a good brand image. Good brand design can make a deep impression on consumers, thereby promoting purchase intention. With the advancement of technology and the development of the times, traditional brand design can no longer meet the needs of consumers, and the design of brand experience has gradually become a trend. Incorporating emotional experience into brand design can influence consumers’ brand decisions, and can also make consumers resonate with the brand, which in turn generates purchase behavior. New media is a media state produced within the framework of new technologies and technological development systems. In the context of the 5g new media era, this paper studies and analyzes brand design and its impact on consumers’ emotional experience, aiming to change the traditional brand design method and provide new ideas for brand design. In addition, combined with new media technology and mathematical relational model, the brand design method based on consumer emotion is discussed. The results show that the brand design method proposed in this paper can increase the emotional experience of consumers and improve the brand praise by 7.3%.

ObjectiveConsumers often need to compare the same type of products from different merchants to determine their purchasing needs. Fully mining the product information on the website and applying it to e-commerce websites or product introduction websites can not only allow consumers to buy products that are more in line with their wishes, but also help merchants understand user needs and the advantages of each product. How to quantify the emotional tendency of evaluation information and how to recommend satisfactory products to consumers is the research purpose of this paper.MethodAccording to the analysis of the research object, this paper uses the Python crawler library to efficiently crawl the data required for research. By writing a custom program for crawling, the resulting data is more in line with the actual situation. This paper uses the BeautifulSoup library in Python web crawler technology for data acquisition. Then, in order to ensure high-quality data sets, the acquired data needs to be cleaned and deduplicated. Finally, preprocessing such as sentence segmentation, word segmentation, and semantic analysis is performed on the cleaned data, and the data format required by the subsequent model is output. For weightless network, the concept of node similarity is proposed, which is used to measure the degree of mutual influence between nodes. Combined with the LeaderRank algorithm, and fully considering the differences between nodes in the interaction, the SRank algorithm is proposed. Different from the classical node importance ranking method, the SRank algorithm fully considers the local and global characteristics of nodes, which is more in line with the actual network.Results/DiscussionThis paper calculates the sentiment polarity of users’ comments, obtains the final user influence ranking, and identifies opinion leaders. The final ranking results were compared and analyzed with the traditional PageRank algorithm and SRank ranking algorithm, and it was found that the opinion leaders identified by the opinion leader identification model integrating user activity and comment sentiment were more reasonable and objective. The algorithm in this paper improves the efficiency of operation to a certain extent, and at the same time solves the problem that sentiment analysis cannot be effectively used in social network analysis, and increases the accuracy of e-commerce brand ranking.

New food processing technologies are continuously being introduced in the food industry due to the potential benefits such as longer product shelf life, convenience, sensory appeal, and nutritional superiority. Despite their potential benefits, consumers' perceptions and attitudes towards food processing technologies remain a complex phenomenon as consumers tend to take a more conservative stance concerning novel food processing technologies. This paper applied the Food Technology Neophobia Scale(FTNS) to assess the influence of food technology neophobia, and socio-economic factors on the consumption of processed milk products. Data was collected from 400 milk consumers in northern Uganda using structured questionnaires. Analysis was done in SPSS version 21, and binary logistic regression. Results show that milk consumers in northern Uganda are characterized by a high degree of food technology neophobia towards processed milk products (FTNS score of 62). Education(p=0.04), income(p=0.08), risk perception(p=0.00), healthy choice(p=0.06) and media role (p=0.00) were the major factors that influenced the consumption of processed milk products. The paper concludes that Food technology neophobia, food culture and tradition are the most important factors in the success of foods produced by novel technologies.

Generating profit is one of the primary reasons behind the establishment and functioning of any enterprise that predetermines its behavior, inter alia, in the context of sustainability. Manufacturing enterprises are a specific area in terms of sustainability, as they have a great impact on social and environmental indicators. The paper analyses the issues of sustainable production in the Slovak Republic. The methodological basis of the study is the triple-bottom line concept. The methods used in the paper are analysis, synthesis and comparison. Within the framework of the research, the author has conducted two surveys in the form of open-ended questions. The first part is dedicated to consumers’ evaluation of the production activity of manufacturing enterprises. Consumers as stakeholders of an enterprise have a significant influence on its activities due to the fact that they create market demand. The survey results show that the main methods for stimulating consumers’ sustainable behaviour are the use of compostable packaging and abandoning chemical sprays. The second part is an overview of barriers and problems at enterprises that prevent consumers in the Slovak Republic from transitioning to a sustainable lifestyle. Among them are excessive plastic packaging and high prices for eco-products. The presented activities determine the direction for managers how to lead enterprises to sustainability in the market. The most significant findings from the surveys point to the excessive and reckless use of plastic by manufacturing enterprises. Consumers demand that managers make rational decisions about the origin, quantity and quality of materials used in production, including the long-term consequences and environmental impact of materials.

The article deals with the development of media spaces of virtual fan communities. The aim of the research was to reveal the specifics of online communication of virtual fan communities with the audience. The paper investigates the dialectics of the concepts of fan-community, media space, fandom. The article considers the main approaches to studying media space by Russian and foreign authors. The study describes the traditional offline communication practices of the fandoms. The authors substantiate the problem of the existence of a variety of communication channels of the fan communities with the audience (negative interpretation of content, limitations in monetization and evaluation of the effectiveness of communication practices, the growth of costs for the diversification of content, taking into account the features of different platforms). The paper identifies the trend of centralization of fan communities and the possibilities of technological support of user experience at all stages of the communication process as part of the use of online platform. The article gives an analysis of the media environment and media spaces of South Korea’s fan communities on the example of the South Korean case of the development of the fandom media space in the format of the Weverse mobile application. The study considers the techniques of interaction with the audience in the offline interaction limitations. The authors formulate conclusions about the specifics of the extended functionality of the platform, about the provided ways of organizing the virtual fan media space with the help of the platform; about the coming trend of transferring fan activities into the virtual environment.

The Osijek-Baranya County at the East part of Croatia, generally is known as lowland region in whose economy agriculture and food industry are of great importance. Eastern Croatia abounds in various traditional products, mainly based on smoked pork. The goal of this paper is to identify consumers' attitudes and behavior towards East Croatia traditional food products (TFP). Furthermore, the model for market power evaluation of each East Croatia TFP is created according to consumers¨ preferences and attitudes results. The research was performed in Osijek-Baranya County in spring 2019. The sample was consisted of 500 randomly chosen respondents older than 18 via self-fulfilled questionnaire survey. In paper is used descriptive, parametric and non-parametric statistics. People in East Croatia have a positive attitude to TFP of their region. Survey results related to supply, quality, demand and price willingness are used to modelling coefficient for East Croatia TFP commercialization. This coefficient can help producers and policy makers to decide easier about the most perspective production from market point of view. According to the survey results, production of kulen, cottage cheese, ham, honey and sausages are the most promising.

The purpose of this paper was to determine the factors that influence the purchasing behaviour of Generation X and Y sports apparel consumers in Johannesburg. This was achieved by using the theory of planned behaviour. Understanding why customers buy specific products presents an opportunity for companies to design marketing communications strategies that will ensure more customer buying decisions. Quantitative research methods were used in this study. In total, 70 responses were obtained. Based on the proposed research model, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control were found to have a positive influence on attitude. Also, it was found that attitude has a positive influence on purchase intention. The study recommended that managers and marketers of sports apparel companies use experts in the field to run their promotional campaigns. Furthermore, they need to make it easy for their consumers to access sports apparel and provide them with enough information so that their consumption is informed by knowledge. Moreover, managers and marketers need to create favourable consumer attitudes towards their products or brands by using reputable celebrities to endorse them and genuinely engage in charitable initiatives.

This paper examines the consumers purchasing behaviour on Short Food Supply Chains (SFSC) using a choice experiment for extra virgin olive oil, as one of the most regularly food supplied through SFSC in Spain, and a cluster analysis to segment consumers by their perceptions and behavior. Results reveal that consumers` distribution channel preferences are similar although there is a negative reaction to online purchasing. Additionally, since there are consumers willing to pay more for local and organic food, opens opportunities for SFSC development. Hence, the implementation of policies encouraging the use of eco-environmental labeling, can foster SFSC development.

Abstract With the development and application of Internet technology, the world has entered a new era of the Internet economy. Information resources worldwide are no longer limited by time or space, which significantly improves the operational efficiency of production and commerce. As an essential part of the digital economy, digital finance is developing rapidly. Compared with traditional finance, Internet finance and digital finance have the advantages of low informational and transactional costs, and efficient services, which bring more benefits to consumers and investors. In the traditional small and fragmented long-tail market, the availability of finance has been effectively improved through technology-driven development. However, the sound development of the financial digital industry is inseparable from the self-generated sense of innovation and the exploration of green and sustainable development within the industry. This paper shows the evolution of the innovation and development of the financial digital industry driven by information technology in recent years, summarizes and discusses the key technologies emerging in it, and analyzes its limitations and shortcomings. This work will provide some references for the green development of the current industry.

The deregulation process of the electricity sector has led to competition in wholesale and retail markets. In particular, retailers submit bids to wholesale markets to satisfy the energy needs associated with portfolios of end-use customers. This paper describes a strategic process for retailers bidding in a wholesale market composed of a day-ahead market, an intraday market, and a balancing market. It considers a market design that involves a hybrid model for the intraday market, based on daily auctions and a continuous procedure. The paper also presents a computational study to illustrate and test both the market design and the strategic bidding process of retailers. The results confirm the advantages of considering a continuous intraday market, show that bidding in short-term markets is more beneficial than bidding in medium-term markets, and indicate important aspects to consider when selecting customers to add to the portfolios of retailers.

The aim of this paper is to examine and analyze the perceptions of wine consumers regarding the use of digital wine lists in restaurants. The empirical research was conducted using a specially designed questionnaire, which was completed by 406 respondents from 2020 to 2021. The data analysis applied descriptive statistics, KolmogorovSmirnov test, Levene’s test, and the Kruskal-Wallis H test. The results showed that restaurants with digital wine lists are preferred by consumers who are at the young age group (between the ages of 18 and 35), have no prior knowledge about wine, and visit restaurants frequently (a few times per month). These respondents are willing to recommend digitally oriented restaurants and their services to others. The results and conclusions presented in this research could serve as a foundation for decision-makers and managers in restaurants to consider the introduction of digital wine lists and to improve their restaurant’s attractiveness.

The United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union challenges the existing framework for cross border consumer dispute resolution and exacerbates the negative effect of the EU’s harmonisation approach in this area. Both EU and UK consumers face an uncertain future after the transition period. This paper will analyse and evaluate key challenges to UK and EU consumer cross border dispute resolution after the transition period ended on 31 December 2020. The paper will consider procedural impediments to UK consumers enforcing consumer rights against EU/EEA traders as well as to EU consumers enforcing rights against UK traders. The paper will also consider the jurisdictional impact of UK’s status and its effect upon the reciprocal enforcement of consumer court judgments/ADR decisions between the EU and UK. Finally, the paper suggests that a Lugano+ approach would help to mitigate the impact of the impediments to effective consumer dispute resolution between EU and UK entities. In doing so, it first takes a preliminary look at the existing paradigm of cross border cooperation in consumer dispute resolution. The chapter also includes some thoughts on the normative clashes facing the creation of a new relationship in this area.

Abstract Moving to 133 years of the synthesis of citrate‐stabilized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) by M. C. Lea (published in Am. J. Sci, 1889), a myriad of scholarly works and patents were published globally demonstrating the applicability of this microbial‐killing nanoparticles in various industries. One of the favorite applications is on the food supply chain whereby AgNPs serve to improve food safety and quality. In this paper, the adaptation of AgNPs in each phase of a typical food supply chain is disclosed, doubts associated with the potential risks brought by this technology, and what a consumer shall be aware of are highlighted.

In this paper, food safety was characterized from consumers' point of view. Food safety can be checked in the laboratory, which can be shown, for example, by many certificates and obligatory food safety management systems, but consumers have their own ways to assess the safety of food as well as to make themselves be sure about the safety of food products they buy. The results of a survey made among 2000 consumers are presented. Food safety is an important characteristic of food for consumers as well as the lack of food preservatives and other additives. It was shown that consumers actively paricipate for assurance food safety they consume. It was indicated as the most popular way to assure food safety is to check information on the food labels. To make sure the product they buy is safe, the usually buy a, the product they know, and product with a certificate.

Aim/purpose – The paper aims to present a preliminary consumer typology based on the declared nutritional behaviors and selected lifestyle elements of Polish and Slovak consumers.

The number of advertisements using character endorsers has increased considerably recently. Character endorsers have also attracted growing interest from advertising researchers. Considering that previous research has contributed to improved understanding of the effectiveness of character endorsers, it is essential to organize previous research findings and clarify important questions for future research. This paper reviews previous research on character endorsers in terms of (1) classification of character endorsers, (2) positive effects of character endorsers on consumer attitude, and (3) moderators of the effects of character endorsers. This paper proposes that future research should (1) identify additional moderators, (2) examine negative effects of character endorsers on consumer attitudes, and (3) focus on additional dependent variables.

In the last decade or so, the Romanian wine industry has changed and developed greatly, by the increase of wine producers, especially the niche producers, alongside the traditional, big, producers. The paper aims to understand the new tendencies in the field of marketing, that occur on the wine industry of Romania, as well as the changes that take place in the minds and lives of the consumers in the context of the online world, combined with new trends and technologies that can be used by the consumers. Secondly, the paper represents a secondary data analysis of the International and Romanian Wine Industry, in terms of production and consumption, we also presented a short profile of the Romanian wine consumer, as a result of a survey developed by wine industry organisation. The paper shows some new trends of the wine industry, underlined by the specialists, as well as technologies and methods of marketing interaction with the consumers used by the Romanian producers of this product.

The aim of this paper is to describe the characteristics of functional products based on cereals and their consumption in the market and tourism, in order to achieve the correlation between food, nutrition and health. All this serves the purpose of building the concept of functional food. This paper presents various technological processes utilized to obtain functional products based on cereals, such as pasta, bread and corn flakes enriched with nutrients (unsaturated fatty acids, mineral elements), probiotics and antioxidants. This paper presents the characteristics of new cereal functional products and different ways to list ingredients. Special emphasis is put on customer reception in the market as a key factor for the successful positioning of a new product.

The paper analyses behaviour of Generation Z (GenZ) in the region of Balkans (Serbia, Croatia and Republika Srpska). It presents the survey that was conducted among young people of age between 12 and 25, during December 2019 and January 2020. Total of 523 persons participated: 309 respondents from Serbia, 102 from Croatia and 112 from Republika Srpska. The analyzed topics were: Generation Z and communication, the role of Internet in life of Generation Z, attitudes of GenZ towards shopping and consumption habits. Besides many similarities of the results between global surveys and this one aiming region of Balkans, some specifics of the region were found and analyzed. The aim of the paper was to present insights that can help researcher (preferably in the field of marketing) to better understand the behavior of GenZ. The conclusion provides an analysis-comparison of similarities and differences of Generation Z in the Balkans comparing to global experiences.