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One of the prominent pricing decisions a retailer can make is its choice of pricing strategy. Previous research investigating consumers' responses to stores with frequent, shallow price advantages relative to competitors (a frequency strategy) versus stores with infrequent, deep price advantages (a depth strategy) was all conducted by allowing people to simultaneously view prices from multiple stores, a setting that emphasized across-store comparisons. The present research finds that when a store's prices are evaluated separately, as opposed to simultaneously across stores, many of the prominent findings of previous research are reversed. The authors demonstrate that without simultaneous comparisons across stores, consumers shift from using across-store prices as reference points to using within-category reference prices. As a result of this shift, deep price advantages are easier to evaluate than frequent price advantages, and therefore more influential on consumers' formation of price image. When stores are evaluated separately, the result is most often a depth advantage, where stores with a HILO pricing strategy are evaluated as having a lower price image than EDLP stores, even when the average prices are the same. These results cannot be explained by prior work related to frequency and depth pricing strategies that relied on across-store comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to deepen the understanding of evaluating TV ad spots by their immediate effects on important online activities. The authors merged minute-by-minute brand search and price search data with spot-level TV advertisement data for the three leading pickup truck brands in the United States over an 11-month period. They presented a generalizable modeling framework and used it to estimate the size and variation of immediate online responses to TV ads. The average elasticity of brand search to a brand's own national ads is.09, and the average elasticity of price search to a brand's own national ads is.03. Given ad audience size, immediate search responses vary with ad creative characteristics, audience category interest, slot of the break, program genre, and time factors. Overall, the results show that ordinary TV ads lead to a variety of immediate online responses and that advertisers can use these signals to enrich their media planning and campaign evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the highly touted potential for synergies in cross-media advertising, much has yet to be discovered about how the effects of multiple media combine to shape sales response. Two challenges related to the investigation of media interaction effects are their complex nature and their specification in a sales response model. The authors adopt a flexible modeling approach, multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS), which captures parsimoniously complex interaction effects and facilitates their measurement and interpretation. Analysis of multiple data sets on brand sales and media spending points to the following typology of media interaction effects: (1) synergistic (positive interactions), (2) antagonistic (negative interactions), and (3) asymmetric, where each medium does not contribute equally to the interaction. The findings show that 44% of media spend produces synergistic effects, whereas 21% produces antagonistic effects. Hence synergy is not the de facto outcome of cross-media advertising. Interestingly, low-budget media play a key role in producing interaction effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managers frequently seek strategies to profit systematically from social media to increase product sales. By forming a brand alliance, they can acquire an installed social media base from a partner brand in an attempt to boost the sales of their composite products. Drawing from power theory, this article develops a conceptual model of the influence of the social media power of partner brands on brand alliance success. The proposed framework details the partner brand’s social media power potential (size and activity of the social media network), social media power exertion (different posting behaviors and comments), and their interaction. The authors test this framework with an extensive data set from the film industry, in which films function as composite products and actors represent partner brands. The data set features 442 movies, including 1,318 actor–movie combinations and weekly social media data (including 41,547 coded Facebook posts). The authors apply a linear mixed-effects model, in which they account for endogeneity concerns. The partner brand’s social media power potential, power exertion, and their interaction can all lead to higher composite product sales. By coding different types of product-related posts, this article provides estimates of their varying monetary value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As franchise systems expand, the clustering and resulting proximity of same-brand outlets often become contentious issues. The increased interactions among outlets may facilitate knowledge sharing, even while inducing intrabrand competition. Prior research has considered each possibility—knowledge sharing or intrabrand competition—in isolation, resulting in conflicting recommendations to the central question of whether multiple same-brand outlets should be close to or distant from one another. In this study, the authors take the perspective of the focal outlet and show that the opportunity to share knowledge afforded by clustering-based proximity may or may not be realized, depending on the motivation and ability of the proximal outlets to share knowledge, the focal outlet’s ability to absorb knowledge, and the governance context. An analysis of more than 8,000 observations on the 988 outlets of a U.S.-based automotive service franchise system from 1977 to 2012, and corresponding outlet-level sales information from 2004 to 2012, provides support for the authors’ hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competing brands differ in the extent to which they offer a given feature as standard or optional in their product lines. In this article, the authors study the competitive basis for this difference in brands’ product line strategies. Specifically, they analyze the relationship between a brand’s quality image and its propensity to offer a wider product line, from a relatively stripped-down base model to a more feature-rich model. They develop a conceptual framework and hypotheses by considering an analytical model with two vertically differentiated firms: They show that a low-quality firm would offer a feature as optional—that is, it would offer both a feature-added product and a stripped-down base product—if it chose to add the feature to its product. In contrast, a high-quality firm would offer the feature as a standard component unless the cost of the feature was high. This asymmetry in the propensity of high- and low-quality firms to offer optional and standard features with their products is tested using data from the U.S. passenger car market; the authors find empirical support for their model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the authors propose a flexible framework to assess customer lifetime value (CLV) in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) context. They address the substantive and modeling challenges that arise in this setting, namely, (1) multiple discreteness, (2) brand switching, and (3) budget-constrained consumption. Using a Bayesian estimation, the authors are also able to infer the consumer’s latent budgetary constraint using only transaction information, thus enabling managers to understand the customer’s budgetary constraint without having to survey or depend on aggregate measures of budget constraints. Using the proposed framework, CPG manufacturers can assess CLV at the focal brand level as well as at the category level, a departure from CLV literature, which has mostly been firm centric. The authors implement the proposed model on panel data in the carbonated beverages category and showcase the benefits of the proposed model over simpler heuristics and conventional CLV approaches. Finally, they conduct two policy simulations describing the role of the budget constraint on CLV, as well as the asymmetric effects of pricing in this setting, and develop managerial insights in this context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In some product categories, low-priced brands are consistently of low quality, but high-priced brands can be anything from terrible to excellent. In other product categories, high-priced brands are consistently of high quality, but quality of low-priced brands varies widely. Three experiments demonstrate that such heteroscedasticity leads to more extreme price-based quality predictions. This finding suggests that quality inferences do not only stem from what consumers have learned about the average level of quality at different price points through exemplar memory or rule abstraction. Instead, quality predictions are also based on learning about the covariation between price and quality. That is, consumers inappropriately conflate the conditional mean of quality with the predictability of quality. We discuss implications for theories of quantitative cue learning and selective information processing, for pricing strategies and luxury branding, and for our understanding of the emergence and persistence of erroneous beliefs and stereotypes beyond the consumer realm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable luxury is a strategic issue for managers and for society, yet it remains poorly understood. This research seeks to clarify how corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions directly and indirectly (through brand value dimensions) affect consumers' willingness to pay a premium price (WTPP) for luxury brand products, as well as how a long-term orientation (LTO) might moderate these relationships. A scenario study presents fictional CSR actions of two brands, representing different luxury products, to 1,049 respondents from two countries (France and Tunisia). The results of a structural equation modeling approach show that the luxury brands' CSR actions negatively affect customer WTPP overall and for each brand. The luxury brands' functional and symbolic value dimensions positively mediate the effects of CSR actions on WTPP, whereas social value does not. The effects of CSR actions and brand symbolic value on WTTP do not differ between countries. The effect of functional value on WTPP differs across countries, such that it is stronger for high-LTO than low-LTO cultures. Inversely, the effect of social on customer WTPP is stronger for low-LTO than high-LTO cultures. These findings have theoretical and practical implications for luxury brand managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four studies demonstrate that selling and buying prices are differentially influenced by the value of products' low- and high-level construal features. The study shows that sellers construe products at a higher level than do buyers and owners. Based on this, this study predicts and demonstrates that selling prices exceed buying prices when (1) the object's primary aspects are superior and the object's secondary aspects are inferior but not vice versa, (2) individuals focus on a product's desirability-related aspects rather than the same product's feasibility-related aspects, (3) individuals are in a "why" mind-set but not when they are in a "how" mind-set, and (4) the product's desirability aspects are superior and its feasibility aspects inferior but not vice versa. Further, sellers' and buyers' differential construal mediates the difference between seller and buyer prices, which emerges when a product's value derives from high-level features but not from low-level features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study employed Aaker's methodology to empirically investigate the personality of luxury fashion brands and explored the impact of brand personality on brand trust and brand commitment based on a sample of American consumers. Results of Study 1 revealed that American consumers perceive six distinct personality dimensions and 37 personality traits in luxury fashion brands. Study 2 validated the results from Study 1 and further clearly indicated that brand personality has a significant effect on both brand trust and brand commitment. The findings provide insights into the underlying values that consumers seek from luxury fashion consumption and lend a theoretical guidance to practitioners in the luxury fashion industry in their efforts to win customers' brand commitment and loyalty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes how online brand experience can be measured and determines its impact on brand loyalty. Similar to offline brand experience, online brand experience is broken down into sensory, affective, cognitive, behavioral and relational elements of brand experience. Although online brand experience lacks physical presence such as a store, it still has the possibility to create a virtual brand experience through visual, audible, gaming or community-based features, which in turn can lead to improved brand image and to behavioral and attitudinal brand loyalty. The present empirical research investigates the influence of the five different types of online brand experiences--sensory, affective, cognitive, behavioral and relational--and the website usability on brand loyalty through an empirical study of the travel website qyer.com in China. The respondents (n = 69), i.e., users of the qyer.com website, confirm through a standardized online survey the positive impact of online brand experience on brand loyalty. Especially affective and behavioral brand experience impacts brand loyalty. Sensory, cognitive and relational brand experiences have a slightly lower but significant impact. Website usability shows the lowest impact. The study proves the significance of online brand experience to create brand loyalty and identifies the most important dimensions of brand experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Servo, a product of Indian oil, was launched as a lubricating product in 1972 in the Indian market. Now, Servo is a super brand and is the leading lubricant brand in the country and maintains a share of about 30% of the market. It also has footprints across the globe and is increasing its presence rapidly. The paper analyzes brand attitude of Servo through Elliot and Percy model of brand equity synthesis. The model is used to study the objective and subjective characteristics of the brand which affect the functional and emotional realm of brand attitude. The objective characteristic of the product is that it is a superior lubricant with cutting-edge technology and high-quality products; and has been able to reposition from its original position of "World-Class Engine Oils" to "World-Class Lubricants". The subjective characteristic of the Servo brand communicates its 'energizing' power. The creative - 'Add Servo Add Life.' highlights the thought - 'Everything that Servo touches, comes to life'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims at studying the smartphone usage among college students in Chennai through a sample survey of 120 respondents. It explores selected aspects related to brand positioning of smartphones and identifies the common sources of information about smartphones, the most important reasons for choosing smartphones and the most common uses to which they are put. It also explores the difference between male and female college students in the context of brand positioning of smartphones. Further, it identifies four factors that influence brand positioning of smartphones through the method of factor analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This comparative study between the UK and Poland set out to ascertain the key differences in the Skoda motor car brand across a range of brand characteristics, including brand image, price, perceived quality, trust, perceived value, purchase intentions, advertising and the country of origin effect. An online survey was used to collect data across both countries. A sample of 113 respondents was generated, with 58 respondents from the United Kingdom and 55 from Poland. The study found that, in general, the brand image of Skoda in both Poland and the UK was positive. However, it was statistically more positive in Poland. Most brand characteristics were found to be favourable to Skoda, although no further statistical differences were found between the country scores. Although no difference in the country of origin effect was detected statistically, the empirical evidence would suggest some affinity between Poland and Czech Republic, Skoda's home, due to geographic and historical ties between the countries. Polish respondents were more knowledgeable about Skoda's roots, which may account for its higher level of popularity in sales terms within that country. Whilst Skoda's advertising was generally well received, there may be opportunity to embrace a change in tone (e.g. more humorous content) to make the brand more visible and appealing going forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between key attributes such as (price consciousness, quality variability, brand image, store image and smart-shopper self-perceptions) towards purchase of private label brands by Indian consumers and how consumers prioritize different attributes in making purchase decision of private label brands. Hypothesis framed was tested by gathering data on select Indian retailers in Food & Grocery and clothing & apparel segment and assessed through multiple regression analysis. This paper also studies the impact of socio-demographic attributes such as (age, gender, occupation, income and qualification) on purchase of private label brands by using cross tabulation technique. The finding of the study reveals preference adopted by consumers on purchase of PLBs on the identified attributes in which brand image is the most crucial factor and self perception is the least significant factor, and the findings on socio-demographic factor reveals that all factors have positive impact towards purchase of PLBs. Based on the findings it is suggested that retailers of PLBs should adopt appropriate strategies for increasing the revenue from PLBs in their stores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trade in consumer electronics and household appliances in Bolivia operates mainly from popular marketplaces. Multinational corporations enter these once informal, now enhanced economies. This article analyses the expansion of global brands into urban street markets, together with the local branding of electronics and the advancement of popular traders along transnational commodity chains. I argue that these socio-spatial transitions offer a counterintuitive articulation between the informal and the formal. Looking at specific localities along the commodity chain from East Asia to Chile and Bolivia, one sees not mere formalization of informal economies as often expected nor a rampant informalization as attributed to current economic globalization, but piecemeal formalization of traders as much as a partial informalization of all actors involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether or not mavens’ dissemination activities are likely to promote or hinder retailers’ store brand premiumisation attempts, by revealing the relationship between mavens’ price and non-price on-pack extrinsic cue search and their store brand purchasing behaviours.Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts a hypothetic-deductive approach and develops a model of mavens’ store brand purchasing behaviour. The model is tested using SEM on a US data set containing 457 respondents. A full discussion of the direct, indirect and total effects is provided.Findings Mavens’ store brand purchasing behaviours are strongly linked to their price search activities and negatively related to their use of non-price on-pack extrinsic cues. This indicates that their dissemination activities are likely to stress lower prices and hence price competition rather than promote other cues used to infer quality. Thus, mavens are likely to inhibit retailers’ store brand premiumisation attempts. Mavens’ investments in time engaged in search activities are strongly linked to social returns rather than private financial savings.Research limitations/implications The work is based on data collected using an online survey in one region of the USA where store brands are not as prevalent in other countries such as the UK.Practical implications The investigation of non-price on-pack extrinsic cues reduces mavens’ store brand purchasing behaviours while the use of price cues increases them. This suggests that even with mavens’ market expertise that a non-price extrinsic cue deficit continues to exist for these products. Consequently, retailers need to re-examine and rework the cues contained on pack to convey more positive consumption-related information if mavens are to become store brand advocates.Originality/value Rather than conceptualising the maven as possessing market wide knowledge, this research adopts a domain specific perspective arguing that price mavenism can be distinguished from product-related mavenism with consequences for the set of extrinsic cues used as part of the maven’s search process. In doing so, it reveals the conflicting effects that these maven dimensions have on purchasing behaviours and the likely effects on mavens’ dissemination activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims To assess the impact of a reduction in the nicotine content of cigarettes on estimated consumption of reduced nicotine cigarettes and usual brand cigarettes at a variety of hypothetical prices. Design Double-blind study with participants assigned randomly to receive cigarettes for 6 weeks that were either usual brand or an investigational cigarette with one of five nicotine contents. Setting Ten sites across the United States. Participants A total of 839 eligible adult smokers randomized from 2013 to 2014. Intervention and comparator Participants received their usual brand or an investigational cigarette with one of five nicotine contents: 15.8 (primary control), 5.2, 2.4, 1.3, or 0.4 mg/g. Measurements The Cigarette Purchase Task was completed at baseline and at the week 6 post-randomization visit. Findings Compared with normal nicotine content controls, the lowest nicotine content (0.4 mg/g) reduced the number of study cigarettes participants estimated they would smoke at a range of prices [mean reduction relative to 15.8 mg/g at a price of $4.00/pack: 9.50, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 6.81,12.19]. The lowest nicotine content also reduced the maximum amount of money allocated to study cigarettes and the price at which participants reported they would stop buying study cigarettes [median reduction relative to 15.8 mg/g, 95% CI = $8.21 (4.27,12.15) per day and $0.44 (0.17,0.71) per cigarette, respectively]. A reduction in nicotine content to the lowest level also reduced the maximum amount of money allocated to usual brand cigarettes (median reduction relative to 15.8 mg/g: $4.39 per day, 95% CI = 1.88,6.90). Conclusions In current smokers, a reduction in nicotine content may reduce cigarette consumption, reduce the reinforcement value of cigarettes and increase cessation if reduced nicotine content cigarettes were the only cigarette available for purchase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research contrasts two approaches to managing multi-brand salesperson efforts: (1) the extrinsic approach via a brand-specific quota emphasis, and (2) the intrinsic approach via salesperson brand identification. Using multi-source data from a large food distributor, we uncover how and when each approach is more effective. First, beyond its direct and indirect positive effects on salesperson brand-specific effort through salesperson brand psychological ownership, a brand-specific quota emphasis is more effective in boosting effort in selling the brand among more experienced salespeople. Second, beyond its indirect positive effect on salesperson effort through salesperson brand psychological ownership, salesperson brand identification is less effective at increasing salesperson effort among more competitive salespeople, suggesting a redundancy effect. These findings provide novel insights into the effectiveness of two distinct approaches to managing multi-brand salesperson effort and performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a brand equity measurement model in the consumers’ mind. The measurement model separates the perceptual component of the behaviour component of individuals in their preferences for brands. That is, as a result of a set of perceptions, consumers create a brand equity that will be realised in loyal behaviour and in their willingness to pay a premium price for a brand.Design/methodology/approach A measurement model of brand equity using the methodology of SEM is proposed. Two samples were used, one for the estimation and another one for the validation of the proposed model, with 272 observations each. The sample is constituted by consumers of five denim clothing brands that have their own chain of stores in Portugal.Findings Results show that the model is statistically valid and that perceptual aspects should be separated from behavioural aspects in brand equity measurement based on consumers’ mind.Originality/value The originality of the model is the division of constructs into perceptual constructs (inputs), and of behaviour constructs (outputs) of brand equity. By doing this, the model tries to answer two important aspects of entrepreneurial management: which are the explanatory variables of brand equity and how could that be translated into an answer, for the consumer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This study aims to test and extend Carroll and Ahuvia’s (2006) model on the antecedents and outcomes of brand love by examining the moderating effects of experience and price on the relationship between brand love and offline word of mouth (WOM) and between brand love and electronic WOM (eWOM).Design/methodology/approach An online survey was conducted on Facebook, which generated 342 valid responses. The data were analyzed using partial least squares-structural equation modeling.Findings The results mainly support the model by confirming that the self-expressiveness of the brand and trust are positively associated with brand love. No association between hedonic product type and brand love was found. The study’s findings also suggest positive associations between brand love and both types of WOM. Experience and price were found to strengthen the relationship between brand love and offline WOM but not the relationship between brand love and eWOM.Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by introducing and testing an extended model of brand love. It tests two moderating effects on the relationship between brand love and WOM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose of the article: The Price Sensitivity Measurement (PSM) evaluates consumers' expectations to set the optimal price. Applied to a brand's different lifecycle stages, it can show different feasibility. The aim of this paper is showing that PSM is more effective for newly introduced brand products compared to established ones. Methodology: The difference in PSM effectiveness is tested for a newly introduced Lithuanian cosmetics brand, Ziede, and a well-known vitamin distributor brand, Jamieson. The authors selected 3 products, based on product category, consumer segment and product lifecycle stage. PSM was applied for different consumer categories by differentiating respondents who were familiar with the brands from those who weren't. Scientific aim: Empirical results show that optimal prices are higher for brand-familiar consumers, since they incorporate the brand value in their perception of optimal price (Salamandic, Alijosiene, Gudonaviciene, 2014). However, as the brand moves along the lifecycle stages, the price perceived by consumers as optimal moves closer to the actual market price. The scientific problem is to find how to reach maximum effectiveness of PSM when setting the optimal price. Findings: Empirical research confirmed two important recommendations for PSM applications. Firstly, since price sensitivity decreases with increasing brand awareness, PSM should be applied for different consumer categories. Secondly, product lifecycle advances together with brand awareness; therefore, PSM is more effective for newly introduced brand products. Conclusions: By comparing PSM feasibility for new vs. established brands, it was obtained that PSM is more effective when applied at the early stage of a brand's lifecycle. Mispricing is detected more accurately when information is collected from more respondents who are unfamiliar with the brand, which happens more often when the brand is newly introduced. To avoid future losses, price must be set according to the brand-familiar group, while investing into building brand awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the potential for adjacent brands to influence sales of a focal brand. Specifically, this paper examines whether the type of adjacent brand (market leader or non-market leader competitor) and its promotion (featuring or discounting) have an effect on sales of a focal product. Design/methodology/approach – Store-level scanner data supplemented with in-store audits are used. Findings – It is demonstrated that adjacent brands and their specific marketing activities influence focal brand sales in specific ways, and that market leaders have a disproportionate and different effect than other competitors on the sales of adjacent brands. Originality/value – Recent marketing research has suggested that brand activities such as featuring and discounting and in-store environmental stimuli such as shelf allocation and displays can have an important effect on category and individual brand sales. Prior work in this area, however, has not explicitly considered the potential influence of relative shelf positions (i.e. adjacencies) on brand and category sales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pharmaceutical companies have long focused their marketing strategies on getting doctors to write more prescriptions. But they lose billions in potential sales when patients do not take their prescribed drugs. Getting patients to 'adhere' to drug therapies that have unpleasant side effects and questionable efficacy requires more than mere ad campaigns urging patients to talk to their doctors. It requires changing patients' beliefs and attitudes about their medications through repeated contact from people patients trust. Since patients do not trust drug companies, these companies are delivering their marketing messages through nurses, pharmacists, and even other patients - leveraging patients' trust in these intermediaries to persuade them to consume more brand name drugs. Armed with the premise that better adherence improves patients' health, drug companies justify manipulating patients by reframing reasonable decisions to decline therapy as pathological, and promote brand loyalty in the guise of offering medical care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private label brands, consisting of merchandise sold exclusively through a particular retail chain, are growing in prominence throughout the world. Although highly advantageous to retailers, these brands exhibit pitifully low penetration rates in South Africa and are typically seen as being inferior to national/manufacturer brands. This study considers three key demographic variables and the impact of these on consumer responses pertaining to the perceptions of a private label brand. In this respect, a range of responses to PLB characteristics are assessed, focusing on perceived quality, risk, relative price and value. Furthermore, antecedents affecting perceived quality, and a moderator variable assessing the impact of entrenched loyalty to national brands, are included in the mix. Lastly, willingness to buy is also probed. The findings reveal that high income households shun PLBs, as do younger adults of 21 to 40 years of age. In contrast, consumers aged 60 and above appear to embrace these brands. There was a negligible difference recorded by the gender divide, although females appeared more inclined to favour private label merchandise. These results may assist retailers in better targeting predisposed consumers, particularly through customisable channels such as Facebook and Google Mail advertisements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article sheds light on the current state of research on consumer brand relationships (CBR) and presents two distinct taxonomies, respectively, theoretical frameworks that help to classify CBR research. First, the 'brand connection matrix' that classifies brand relationships into functional-based (low versus high) and emotional-based (low versus high) connections to brands. This framework leads us with a 2 × 2 matrix consisting of four quadrants, each of which are discussed. Second, the 'brand feeling matrix' classifies consumer's relationships with brands by grouping them into the strengths of relationships (weak versus strong) and the consumers' feeling toward the brand (positive versus negative). The latter taxonomy leads to another 2 × 2 matrix where each of the four quadrants is discussed. Finally, this article discusses the papers in this special issue and applies the two frameworks by grouping the papers into the corresponding quadrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past decade has witnessed significant shifts in both the macro and micro environments, which have impacted all forms of marketing. The main objective of this study is to examine whether consumers' preference for manufacturer national brands today is as strong as it was, say, a decade ago. Initial findings from a large-scale survey across multiple product categories indicate a decreasing preference amongst consumers for manufacturer-originated national brands. Interestingly, this is accompanied by a non-trivial increasing preference for the No Preference option in consumer questionnaires. Similar results were found when the authors delved deeper into three specific categories - cereals, cosmetics and OTC allergy medications. To validate and explain these results the study used two other data sources, the Customer Loyalty Engagement Index from Brand Keys and the brand value measures from BAV Consulting. Alternating measures and different methodologies only confirmed the initial findings. We found in both these data sources that consumers increasingly evaluate supposedly different brands in the category as being more and more similar. In other words, brands are operating in a smaller competitive space and consumers are finding it increasingly difficult to differentiate among and between them. In short, most brands, and particularly those in the three categories that used data from three sources, face a high risk of 'commoditization'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study endeavoured to examine the antecedents of customers' willingness to buy store branded household cleaning products. The study examined this phenomenon in a retail setting by considering the key constituents of perceived value, as proposed by Sweeney, Soutar & Johnson (1999). Respondents were recruited through an in-store survey and the data analysed using PLS path modelling. The results verify those identified by Sweeney et al. Strong relationships between perceived relative price and perceived product value, as well as between perceived product value and willingnessto- buy, were found to exist. A powerful negative relationship was observed between perceived product quality and perceived risk. The results indicate that establishing a value perception is critical in the buying process. Tangible cues exhibiting high quality (e.g. packaging, shelf space, media placement, etc) need profound attention. Furthermore, it is suggested that risk, which plays an important part in the consumer decision process, is minimised through optimal retail service quality and customer reassurances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, 'bottom of the pyramid' (BoP) initiatives - from Grameen Phone Ladies and Solar Sister, to Women First and Living Goods - have captured increasing attention, not only in corporate boardrooms where the desire for untapped revenue streams looms large, but also in the arenas of development policy and practice, where entrepreneurship is celebrated as a way to repurpose 'informal' and/or 'subsistence' workers through new forms of private sector engagement. Based on fieldwork with BoP schemes in Bangladesh and South Africa, and cases drawn from other regions, this paper explores how development is outsourced through the figure of the BoP entrepreneur, the 'poor' woman who travels door-to-door delivering a range of branded manufactured goods across the 'retail black spots' of developing countries. These women are actively converted into entrepreneurial subjects through a set of ideological and material practices that aim to produce and hone the requisite traits of industry, market discipline and entrepreneurial distinction to succeed in global business; subject positions that can bring tangible rewards to those who successfully assume them. However, the process of outsourcing development to a reservoir of 'informal labour' unsettles BoP claims of 'inclusive capitalism', as an ethos of meritocracy and individual responsibility not only deflects the responsibility for development onto the poor themselves, but remakes their subjectivities in service to global brands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the base model depicting the impact of price on multiple manufacturers and retailers. It informs that store brand positioned close to the national brand can maintain higher retailer bargaining power. It reveals that strong store brands can help in higher national brand retail margins and prices, while weak store brands can result in lower national brand prices and margins.

The article offers information on a base model depicting the impact of store competition or cross-price sensitivity with one national brand and two or more retailers and the competition between national and store brands. It mentions that store competition between the national brand in the two stores increases national brand wholesale price but decreases retailer price. It reveals that national brand manufacturer get higher profits from higher store competition.

The article discusses the impact of price on the base model with two or more national brands and one retailer, which depicts the competition between national and store brands. It informs that introduction of store brand is more profitable for a retailer when store brand strength is higher and store brand introduction impacts national brand profits. It mentions that when the number of national brands is large, then incremental profits from store brand introduction increases.

The article discusses the incorporation of price promotions in the base model with one manufacturer and one retailer that depicts competition between national and store brands. It informs that the promotion of national brand with the larger loyal segment is more often than the store brand with the lower loyal segment size while the store brand with less loyalty does not promote price. It mentions that discount offered by stronger national brand is more than weaker store brand.

The article discusses the incorporation of cost factor in the base model with one manufacturer and one retailer that depicts competition between national and store brands. It informs that there is an inverse relationship between national brand–store brand price differential and store brand share and also between price elasticity and private label share. It mentions several papers by market researchers on demand model for national and store brands.

The article discusses the base model with one manufacturer and one retailer that depicts the national brand and store brand competition. It informs that when a retailer carries its store brand instead of a second national brand, then price, profits and quantity sold of the first national brand is lower and the retail price of the store brand is lower. It presents mathematical equations for demand functions of national and store brands.

The article reflects on the conceptual framework that can be used to study the competition between store brands and national brands as of 2012. It informs that store brand is be produced by a retailer or procured from a national brand manufacturer and consumers are free choose from national and store brands. It mentions that there are two factors related to brand competition, exogenous factors such as category demand and consumer price sensitivity and endogenous decision factors such as price.

The article discusses various models regarding the dual branding approach of national brand manufacturers. It mentions the model of scholars, Kumar and colleagues revealing the reasons behind dual branding where in case the bargaining power of national brand is more than that of retailer then retailer should obtain brand products from an independent supplier.

The article discusses the failure of a low price brand to deliver a level of service and experience that meets basic requirements. Topics include the tendency of lower priced brands to rely on volume to generate profit, and if brands that offer low prices should deliver a level of customer experience that is below that of others in the sector.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including consumer brand relationships (CBR), brand attitudes, and consumer engagement.

El artículo discurre sobre la eficacia de el mercadeo de la marca, enfocando en dos estrategias diferentes, simbolizadas en el artículo como dos boxeadores. El autor comenta sobre la importancia de las relaciones entre la marca y el consumidor. También se considera el valor de la marca y los costos del producto.