The authors examine the implications of electronic shopping for consumers, retailers, and manufacturers. They assume that near-term technological developments will offer consumers unparalleled opportunities to locate and compare product offerings. They examine these advantages as a function of typical consumer goals and the types of products and services being sought and offer conclusions regarding consumer incentives and disincentives to purchase through interactive home shopping vis-à-vis traditional retail formats. The authors discuss implications for industry structure as they pertain to competition among retailers, competition among manufacturers, and retailer-manufacturer relationships.

Interactive home shopping: Consumer, retailer, and manufacturer incentives to participate in

https://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/27508/1/122227.pdf

Working consumers: Co-creation of brand identity, consumer identity and brand community identity

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.

/pdf/brand-love-and-positive-word-of-mouth-the-moderating-effects-5fvy98uboi.pdf

Brand love and positive word of mouth: the moderating effects of experience and price

This article critically examines consumer–brand relationships from the perspective of interpersonal relationship theory. Specifically, the authors investigate the relationship between brand experience and the two components of brand loyalty, namely purchase brand loyalty and attitudinal brand loyalty. The study also examines the link between brand experience and brand relationship variables, brand trust, brand attachment and brand commitment. In addition, the mediating role of brand personality and brand commitment in the relationship between brand experience and brand loyalty is investigated. Drawing on the results of an empirical cross-brand study from three product categories, the authors demonstrate that brand experience, brand personality and brand relationship variables (brand attachment and brand commitment) all affect the degree to which a consumer is loyal to a brand. On the basis of the findings, the authors offer guidelines to managers on how to build and sustain purchase and attitudinal brand loyalty by enhancing brand experience. The theoretical and managerial significance of the findings together with directions for future research are discussed.

/pdf/connecting-the-dots-between-brand-experience-and-brand-3us359fht7.pdf

Connecting the dots between brand experience and brand loyalty: The mediating role of brand personality and brand relationships

Purpose




By outlining the evolution of brand management research over the past 25 years, as reported in the Journal of Product and Brand Management (JPBM), this paper aims to analyze the changes in the way branding has been approached in research, highlight the current challenges the discipline faces and suggest future research avenues that will hopefully further enrich brand management knowledge.




Design/methodology/approach




This paper includes internal historical literature review and commentary.




Findings




After a thorough analysis of the journal’s content, the contribution that the JPBM has made in the development of brand management knowledge over the past 25 years is highlighted. Eight major shifts in brand management research and thought, and three overarching difficulties and challenges, are identified.




Research limitations/implications




By solely focusing on the contributions published in the journal, by no means this review is exhaustive and includes all the contributions to the discipline. Its contribution is limited to the analysis of the work, and the evolution of brand management thinking, recorded in the JPBM.




Originality/value




The paper highlights the evolution of brand management thought and presents imperatives and challenges to guide future research in brand management.

/pdf/the-evolution-of-brand-management-thinking-over-the-last-25-11v4ethmzq.pdf

The evolution of brand management thinking over the last 25 years as recorded in the Journal of Product and Brand Management

Purpose – This paper aims to analyse the antecedents of brand love in online network-based communities and to develop an integrative conceptual model in which social-interactive engagement influences brand love via the mediating effects of social identity. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted on the Facebook fan pages of 20 leading international brands. A total of 387 responses were collected from consumers living primarily in Europe and the USA. Structural equation modelling was performed to test the hypothesised linkages. Findings – The results confirmed that the positive influence of social-interactive engagement on brand love is mediated by the psychological effects related to how members perceive their self-concept based on belonging to the social group of the brand fan page. Research limitations/implications – This study considered Facebook, the favourite social network used by customers to connect with brands. Future research is invited to consider other social media to increase the...

Antecedents of brand love in online network-based communities. A social identity perspective

The aim of this study is to identify and interpret the main emerging strategic approaches in communicating a corporate brand through social media (SM). A quantitative content analysis of the SM platforms of 60 major international corporate brands yielded data that were processed by hierarchical cluster analysis. The study identified four clusters, characterized by distinctive approaches in terms of interactivity and openness toward corporate brand building via SM. The findings highlighted that despite encouraging signs of effective use of SM for this purpose, the online corporate communication initiatives of more than a third of all companies are characterized as cautious. Corporate branding strategists are advised to adopt conversational forms of corporate communication, to expand the range of SM used and to involve a broad range of stakeholders in the dialogue. This study adds to the limited body of academic research into the use of SM as part of corporate communication and corporate brand-building stra...

Communicating Corporate Brands Through Social Media An Exploratory Study

Purpose – Packaging is a strategic tool that merits holistic management. Three managerial disciplines have the potential to significantly influence packaging strategy: marketing, logistics, and ethics. Despite the multidimensional nature of packaging, the academic literature tends to analyse these three dimensions separately. To address this shortcoming of a more integrated approach, the aim of this paper is to identify the main integration areas among marketing, logistics, and ethics in packaging innovation projects, in the retail grocery sector.Design/methodology/approach – In total, 186 cases of packaging design were selected and the data collected were analysed by quantitative content analysis (cross‐tabulation).Findings – The results show that simultaneous integration among marketing, logistics and ethics recurs in only one third of the cases. The main area of integration is between marketing and ethics. To a lesser extent, there is a significant degree of integration between marketing and logistics ...

An exploratory study of marketing, logistics, and ethics in packaging innovation

Strategic and organisational challenges in the integrated marketing communication paradigm shift: A holistic vision

Digitization and the growing importance of online environments require specific approaches for analyzing and managing e-brands. With a focus on pure players’ websites, the aim of our study is to analyze the main determinants of users’ e-brand attitudes. In doing so, our study considers three key variables relating to e-brand attitudes: interactivity, personalization and e-trust. A quantitative empirical study was conducted, and data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show that the key determinants of user attitudes toward e-brands are interactivity (indirect) and personalization (direct). To a lesser extent, e-trust is a factor that has a significant effect on e-brand attitudes. Furthermore, it is the interrelationships among these constructs that are of particular interest. This study could serve both as a theoretical reference point for future research and as a managerial tool for the integrated evaluation of the multidimensional relationships among e-brand attitude key drivers.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1057%2Fbm.2011.59.pdf

Maria Vernuccio

Papers

Antecedents of brand love in online network-based communities. A social identity perspective

Communicating Corporate Brands Through Social Media An Exploratory Study

An exploratory study of marketing, logistics, and ethics in packaging innovation

Strategic and organisational challenges in the integrated marketing communication paradigm shift: A holistic vision

Determinants of e-brand attitude: A structural modeling approach