The Telegraph on: Hand-held scanners
For a number of years, various combinations of researchers from the lab have been collaborating with retailers about “the future of retailing”. We have (so far) focused on the physical store in a digital age and more specifically we have looked at “digital tools enhancing shopper in-store decision-making”. In this vein of research we have looked at effects of shoppers using smartphones, hand-held scanners, interactive screens, digital signage and more. In parallel we have also looked at “the role/purpose of the physical store in an omni-channel world”. Here we are more interested in looking at the store layout, the range selection, the services provided in the store etcetera. We are currently collaborating with multiple international researchers and retailers, running field studies, in these projects. At the same time we constantly want new partners. Hence, if you are a retailer who is interested in collaborating with us in the quest to understand the future role for the physical store (or high street for that matter), please feel free to contact us so that we can discuss it further.
For a contact send an email to: j.g.nordfalt@bath.ac.uk.
Related article (open access):
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022435916300872
Research lab member Iina Ikonen has put together a summary of research conducted at the RCC lab with shopping and retailing implications related to the effects of Covid-19 pandemic. Download your one-pager today!
Billed as Covid-safe shopping to avoid the checkout, scanning your own groceries is adding an average 12 per cent to your supermarket spend, according to research from the University of Bath School of Management. Professor Jens Nordfält tells us more.
The RCC Lab formally launched
After months of preparations, the Retailing and Contemporary Consumerism lab has been formally launched. We are excited to formalise existing networks of researchers, partners, and students within this new format. Please read more about the lab on the website!
Abstract
What fuels capitalism and what stops it from collapsing? Does marketing communications support and sustain the economic and political status quo?
This book is not about describing the ways in which businesses can optimize the messages they put across or about adding to the marketing communicator’s toolkit. This book argues that marketing communications plays an increasingly important role in bolstering contemporary capitalism. Drawing on conceptualizations of the ‘market’ from political economy and sociology, it focusses on five logics that underpin and sustain the form of capitalism in which we live: the logic of competition, the logic of sustainability, the logic of individualism, the logic of objectivity, and the logic of distraction. It does this by exploring those arenas which are increasingly dominated by the communicative activities of business: sport, CSR, social media, statistics, and entertainment.
Bringing theories from marketing and consumer research, sociology, cultural studies, technology and media studies to bear on marketing communications, this book is necessary reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students and academics who wish to understand the broader role of marketing communications in the reproduction of contemporary capitalism.
Abstract
Anecdotal evidence is mixed regarding whether handheld scanners used in stores increase or decrease consumer sales. This article reports on three field studies, supported by eye-tracking technology and matched sales receipts, as well as two laboratory studies that show that handheld scanner use increases sales, notably through unplanned, healthier, and impulsive purchases. The findings highlight that these effects may be limited by factors such as not having a budget; for those without a budget, use of scanners can decrease sales. Building on embodied cognition and cognitive appraisal theories, the authors predict that scanners, as a bodily extension, influence sales through both cognitive (shelf attention, perceived control) and affective (number of products touched, shopping experience) mechanisms. The results offer implications for retailers considering whether to integrate scanners into their store environments.
Abstract
As consumers continue to struggle with issues related to unhealthy consumption, the goal of front-of-package (FOP) nutrition labels is to provide nutrition information in more understandable formats. The marketplace is filled with different FOP labels, but their true effects remain unclear, as does which label works best to change perceptions and behaviors. We address these issues through an interdisciplinary meta-analysis, generalizing the findings of 114 articles on the impact of FOP labels on outcomes such as consumers’ ability to identify healthier options, product perceptions, purchase behavior, and consumption. The results show that, although FOP labels help consumers to identify healthier products, their ability to nudge consumers toward healthier choices is more limited. Importantly, FOP labels may lead to halo effects, positively influencing not only virtue but also vice products, e.g., interpretive nutrient-specific labels improve health perceptions of both vice and virtue products, yet they influence only the purchase intention of virtues.
Abstract
Impulse buying by consumers has received considerable attention in consumer research. The phenomenon is interesting because it is not only prompted by a variety of internal psychological factors but also influenced by external, market-related stimuli. The meta-analysis reported in this article integrates findings from 231 samples and more than 75,000 consumers to extend understanding of the relationship between impulse buying and its determinants, associated with several internal and external factors. Traits (e.g., sensation-seeking, impulse buying tendency), motives (e.g., utilitarian, hedonic), consumer resources (e.g., time, money), and marketing stimuli emerge as key triggers of impulse buying. Consumers’ self-control and mood states mediate and explain the affective and cognitive psychological processes associated with impulse buying. By establishing these pathways and processes, this study helps clarify factors contributing to impulse buying and the role of factors in resisting such impulses. It also explains the inconsistent findings in prior research by highlighting the context-dependency of various determinants. Specifically, the results of a moderator analysis indicate that the impacts of many determinants depend on the consumption context (e.g., product’s identity expression, price level in the industry).