Category: Highlighted publication

This systematic literature review enhances paradigmatic/metaphysic analyses by examining how value-based commitments, intellectual personae, and stances impact the diversity, relevance, and consideration of ethics in gender research published in the top-tier marketing journals over the past 30 years. Theoretical contributions: 1) explain how commitments to research values and practices constitute personae and particular stances towards research, 2) attribute value commitments to positivist/ quantitative as well as humanist/qualitative research, and 3) implicate stances that favor particular theories and procedures in the hierarchical development of gender research and its marginalization in our field. Recommendations elaborate the analytic, reflexive and administrative training and research activities that will foster and reward more relevant, accurate, and ethical research on gender in the marketing academy and in industry. This work is of interest to persons dealing with gender identities, communities, and social issues, those working for greater gender representation and participation in firms and civic organizations, and those concerned with leveraging better marketing research for a better world.

This research investigates how shopping on a weekday or a weekend moderates the impact of music on supermarket sales. Contrary to the intuitive beliefs of interviewed store managers, a meta-analysis, two field studies, and a controlled experimental study indicate that playing pleasant music (vs. no music) in supermarkets on weekdays enhances sales, an effect not found on weekends. Theorizing and interviews with shoppers suggest a potential reason for this weekpart difference: Shoppers are more mentally depleted on weekdays (vs. weekends). A final study demonstrates and tests mental depletion as the driving factor for how shoppers are affected by music during different weekparts. When consumers are depleted (e.g., on weekdays) music increases affect, which mediates the impact of music on sales. The results of the studies further indicate that weekpart plays a significant role in determining the impact of in-store music on sales. This article concludes with a discussion of the substantive and theoretical importance of incorporating the impact of weekparts to predict in-store marketing effectiveness.

In-store communication delivered through technology formats (e.g., kiosk, digital display) as well as non-technology formats (e.g., magazine cover, flyer) can help retailers enhance sales by delivering relevant content to consumers. Although prior research has primarily examined the effects of deal-oriented content that primarily offers promotions for a single product on shopper spending, the effects of inspirational content that sparks ideas (e.g., novel ways to use products) on spending are unclear. Inspirational content can affect spending differently from deal-oriented content as it activates stronger motivation for consumption goal-completion. Guided by motivation for goal-completion, this article proposes that inspirational content increases spending more than deal-oriented content does. The authors propose and empirically test the hypotheses using data from a set of experimental studies, a field experiment, and an eye-tracking study. The results show that inspirational content increases spending more than deal-oriented content or no content. This effect is mediated by consumption goal-completion, such that it is attenuated when consumers already have consumption goals or when the content detracts from inspiration-induced goals. These results suggest that retailers can increase sales by using clear, inspirational content in their communications.

Abstract

This case explores how Allbirds, a direct-to-consumer (D2C) ethical footwear brand was founded, its growth from 2016 to 2020, and how it may continue to expand in the future. In 2016 the brand gained B-corporation status, meaning it meets the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. As a D2C brand, it sells online without employing a more traditional wholesale model. The brand, now headquartered in San Francisco, achieved sales of more than a million pairs in the first two years. Its marketing and brand management challenge is now how should it expand, both in the US domestic market and internationally. Critical factors in the brands journey are explored; the relevance of the D2C business model in today’s brand-scape, the challenges of international expansion in Europe and China, the threat of counterfeits, product line management, and its marketing communications mix. Key marketing frameworks are outlined in the exploration of central business questions, and their application prompts critical discussion and analysis that could inform future recommendations. This study includes pre- and post-pandemic data, and readers are encouraged to consider how the brand may continue to grow post-pandemic.

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

This research examines consumers’ general in-store mobile phone use and shopping behavior. Anecdotal evidence has suggested that mobile phone use decreases point-of- purchase sales, but the results of the current study indicate instead that it can increase purchases overall. Using eye-tracking technology in both a field study and a field experiment, matched with sales receipts and survey responses, the authors show that mobile phone use (versus nonuse) and actual mobile phone usage patterns both lead to increased purchases, because consumers divert from their conventional shopping loop, spend more time in the store, and spend more time examining products and prices on shelves. Building on attention capacity theories, this study proposes and demonstrates that the underlying mechanism for these effects is distraction. This article also provides some insights into boundary conditions of the mobile phone use effect.

Abstract

Much has been written about myth and the marketplace. Consumer research has added immeasurably to academics’ appreciation of the myths that inhere in fabulous flagship stores and experiential retailing more generally. Studies of consumer mythopoeia, however, have tended to muffle the martial side of retailing, the heroic struggles that some customers undergo in-store. This article argues that the epic offers valuable insights into martial matters, and more. Although epic and myth overlap, they are far from identical. The former is characterized by conventions that can help illuminate consumers’ quests, not least their disturbing journeys through the underworld. These are considered in relation to Hollister (HCo), a phenomenally successful retail chain that’s renowned for its antithetical atmospherics and inky interior design. A qualitative study of Hollister lovers and haters casts light on the epic in action and adds to scholars’ understanding of immersive retailing experiences.