Hasil untuk "Marketing. Distribution of products"

Zahra Mohamadzadeh, Zahra Mohamoudi

Loyalty is an important concept in marketing and makes customers less likely to search for hotels among different hotel names and stay loyal to the same hotel they have been to before. Therefore, after reviewing the literature related to marketing management and brand management, the main goal of this research was to test the effect of the hotel's tangible and intangible characteristics as well as the perception of the hotel's well-being on hotel brand loyalty. In this regard, it has also investigated the mediating role of cognitive and emotional attitude towards the brand. For this purpose, 384 guests of 4 and 5 star hotels in Mashhad were surveyed using a questionnaire. The sample members were selected by conducting the convenience sampling sample. The collected data were analyzed using structural equation modeling technique in Amos software. The research results showed that the tested model has a good fit to the data, and all the research hypotheses were confirmed. In particular, the tangible and intangible characteristics of the hotel had an effect on the perception of the hotel well-being; perceived well-being had an effect on the cognitive and emotional attitude towards the hotel brand; and the two components of brand attitude affected hotel brand loyalty. In addition, the mediating roles of brand attitude components in the relationship between perceived well-being and loyalty to the hotel brand were also confirmed. 1. Introduction Tourism industry is one of the most important industries for the economic prosperity of many countries, especially developing countries. During the Covid-19 pandemic, tourism was hit hard all over the world and related industries faced crisis (Kamata, 2022). In the case of 4 and 5 star hotels, since the profit of loyalty and return of each customer is high, the return rate of customers is very important for the profitability of the whole complex. Therefore, it is necessary to know the factors that contributeto the loyalty and positive attitude of customers towards 4 and 5 star hotels. An important branch of the tourism industry is the hoteling industry, which in Mashhad accounts for a large part of the city's economy. On the other hand, loyalty is an important concept in marketing. It makes customers less likely to search for alternatives and remain loyal to the service or product they have perviously purchased (in this case, hotels). Therefore, after reviewing the literature related to customer loyalty in the hotel industry, this research primarily aims to investigate the effects of tangible and intangible characteristics of hotels, in turn, the way these characteristics affect the perception of the hotel's well-being on its loyalty. In this regard, the mediating role of cognitive and emotional attitudes towards the hotel brand has also been investigated. 2. Literature Review A hotel is a type of dwelling that is rented to people for a short period of time. They also provide a wide range of services to tourists (Oriade et al., 2021). The Perception of well-being is a relatively new variable that has received little attention. Customers' and guests' view of the hotel and its services and their satisfaction with hotel services can be considered as their perception of well-being. Customers and guests of 4- and 5- star hotels expect more pleasure and pleasure due to the higher amount they pay for the services received (Wang et al., 2020). Attitude can be defined in three aspects: a) attitude as a value or emotional response, b) attitude as a willingness to respond, and c) attitude as a system of cognitive elements as well as emotional and behavioral elements. Based on the last definition, attitude is composed of three elements: cognitive, emotional and behavioural; this definition considers attitude as an enduring system of evaluations, or enduring customer beliefs. Brand loyalty refers to the customer tendency of customers to be loyal to a brand and can be expressed as the willingness of customers to choose a brand as their first choice(Oliver, 1990). Loyal customers are committed to a particular brand and are more likely to tolerate its failures.This commitment leads to constant purchases from a brand while using its services. With Regard to hotels, it can be said that customer or tourist loyalty is very important for hoteliers. This is because the cost of providing services to former customers is lower than for new customers. Customers are also likely tohave higher levels of satisfaction (Zhang et al., 2014). Based on the review of the internal and external background, it can be expected that the tangible and intangible characteristics of hotels have a positive effect on the perception of well-being and the attitude towards the hotel brand. The perception of well-being also has a positive effect on brand loyalty. Cognitive and emotional attitudes also have a positive effect on loyalty to the brand as well (Kim et al., 2021). 3. Methodology This research is in applied and descriptive – survey method. The statistical population of this research is all Iranian guests of 4- and 5-star hotels in the city of Mashhad. These people have visited the hotels either to stay overnight or to use hotel services such as swimming pool, etc. The number of visitors during the study period (winter 2023) is unknown. Since it is not possible to reach and survey all members of the statistical population, a statistical sample should be determined by sampling. Due to the uncertainty of the size of the statistical population and based on Morgan's table, the sample size was estimated to be at 384 people. 384 guests of 4 and 5 star hotels in Mashhad were surveyed using a questionnaire. The sample members were selected by conducting the convenience sampling sample. In order to check the validity of the questionnaire, the face validity index and the structural validity of the questionnaire have also been examined. Construct validity should be assessed and confirmed using statistical methods such as confirmatory factor analysis. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to check the reliability of the variables. SPSS and Amos software were used for calculations. 4. Results 46% of the respondents were men and 44% were women. The remainder did not indicate their gender. 49% said they were between 41 and 50 years old, which was the majority of respondents. After that, the 31-40 age group had the highest frequency with 112 people. The lowest number of respondents, i.e. less than 9% of the total statistical sample with a frequency of 34 people, was related to people older than 50 years. About 49% of the sample had the highest number of respondents with a bachelor’s degree, diploma or lower with 87 people. The lowest number of respondents, less than 8%, had a Master's degree or higher. People with an income of more than 10 million tomans, who make up about 40% of the statistical sample. The lowest frequency is related to the income class between 5 and10 million tomans, with 21% of the statistical sample. About 15% did not state their income. Skewness and kurtosis coefficients were used to check the normality of the research variables. It can be said that the research variables have a normal distribution and the covariance-based approach can be used for structural modelling. The validity and reliability of the measurement instrument were confirmed. In addition, the research model was tested in the AMOS software and the hypotheses were tested. Based on the standards provided for model fitting and hypothesis testing, all research hypotheses were confirmed. The research model was also confirmed with to a good approximation. 5. Conclusion The results of the hypothesis test show that the tangible and intangible characteristics of the hotel have an effect on the guests' perception of the hotel. Well-being perceptions also influence the cognitive and emotional attitudes of travelers. These attitudes lead to brand loyalty.The initial hypotheses of the research were dedicated to the direct effect of the tangible and intangible characteristics of the hotel on the perception of well-being. The results of the structural equation modelling showed that in the statistical population, the tangible characteristics of the hotel and the intangible characteristics of the hotel increase the loyalty of the guests. The better the tangible and intangible features of the hotel are remembered by tourists and the more favorable their attitudes towards the components of hotel service quality, the more likely is that the efforts of the hotel management and staff will lead to improve the well-being of the guests. Therefore, it can be said with high confidence that the tangible and intangible features of the hotel are basic requirements for the service quality of of 4 star and 5 star hotels, and are able to increase the effect of hotel service quality on the perception of guests' well-being. In other words, the quality of tangible brand components (such as brand slogan and trademark) and intangible brand components (such as brand reputation) lead guests to have a more positive perception of trust and comfort in the hotel. The results of the present research regarding the effects of the perception of well-being have shown that perception of well-being can indirectly influence the loyalty of guests to the brand of 4 and 5 star hotels. In other words, the results of the research show the variable importance of the perception of well-being in the discussion of hotel and tourism economics. It can be said that the perception of well-being is a general variable thatgenerally improves the attitude of customers and increases their loyalty to the business in question or its services and products. Regarding the customers of 4- and 5-star hotels in Mashhad, the results of this research confirmed that the perception of well-being to a large extent, indirectly affects the loyalty of the guests of these hotels. In general, the existence of an indirect relationship between the perception of hotel well-being and brand loyalty has been confirmed in the empirical research literature. In other words, the more favorable the guests' perception of well-being is, the more favorable their perceptual and mental processes form a more favorable attitude towards the hotel brand and its products and services in the minds of the guests. The results of the present research also showed that the perception of the well-being of 4 and 5 star hotels in Mashhad was able to significantly affect the emotional and cognitive attitude towards the brand of these hotels. Practical applications for hoteliers and future research directions for academics are also presented at the end.

Anjana S, Sudheesh Kattumannil

Log symmetric distributions are useful in modeling data which show high skewness and have found applications in various fields. Using a recent characterization for log symmetric distributions, we propose a goodness of fit test for testing log symmetry. The asymptotic distributions of the test statistics under both null and alternate distributions are obtained. As the normal-based test is difficult to implement, we also propose a jackknife empirical likelihood (JEL) ratio test for testing log symmetry. We conduct a Monte Carlo Simulation to evaluate the performance of the JEL ratio test. Finally, we illustrated our methodology using different data sets.

Abhimanyu Kaushal, Wicak Ananduta, Luciana Marques et al.

The increasing share of distributed energy sources enhances the participation potential of distributed flexibility in the provision of system services. However, this participation can endanger the grid-safety of the distribution networks (DNs) from which this flexibility originates. In this paper, the use of operating envelopes (OE) to enable the grid-safe procurement of distributed flexibility in centralized balancing markets is proposed. Two classes of approaches for calculating OEs (one-step and two-step methods) are compared in terms of the level of distribution grid safety they can provide, the impact they can have on the market efficiency, and the volume of discarded flexibility they can yield. A case study considering different system scenarios, based on Monte Carlo simulations, highlights a trade-off between the market efficiency, DN flexibility resource utilization, and the grid safety delivered by the different OE methods. The results showcase that the use of the two-step OE approach results in a more grid-secure albeit less-efficient use of distributed flexibility.

Antonin Colot, Elisabetta Perotti, Mevludin Glavic et al.

This paper considers an incremental Volt/Var control scheme for distribution systems with high integration of inverter-interfaced distributed generation (such as photovoltaic systems). The incremental Volt/Var controller is implemented with the objective of minimizing reactive power usage while maintaining voltages within safe limits sufficiently often. To this end, the parameters of the incremental Volt/Var controller are obtained by solving a chance-constrained optimization problem, where constraints are designed to ensure that voltage violations do not occur more often than a pre-specified probability. This approach leads to cost savings in a controlled, predictable way, while still avoiding significant over- or under-voltage issues. The proposed chance-constrained problem is solved using a successive convex approximation method. Once the gains are broadcast to the inverters, no additional communication is required since the controller is implemented locally at the inverters. The proposed method is successfully tested on a low-voltage single-phase 42-nodes network and on the three-phase unbalanced IEEE 123-node test system.

Imran Ali, Mohammad Naushad

Social media has revolutionized how businesses connect with consumers, going beyond product promotion to understanding consumer preferences. It is undeniable that social media plays a pivotal role in shaping consumer purchase decisions, as more individuals turn to these platforms to seek advice and opinions from peers. The current study engaged 410 Indian consumers, employing a quantitative approach backed by rigorous statistical methods, including descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, regression analysis, and structural equation modeling (SEM) using AMOS software. The goal was to unravel the intricate dynamics between social media marketing, brand image, and purchase intentions. The findings highlight a significant and positive relationship between social media marketing efforts and brand image perception. Moreover, it was discovered that brand image significantly influences consumers’ purchase intentions. Surprisingly, it did not find a direct and significant impact of social media marketing on purchase intentions.Notably, the study revealed a crucial insight: the influence of social media marketing on purchase intentions is fully mediated by the perception of brand image. In light of these results, businesses are encouraged to establish a strong presence on social media platforms to effectively promote their products and services. Organizations can effectively steer consumer purchase intentions by harnessing the synergy between social media marketing and brand image. Acknowledgment This study is supported via funding from Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University project number (PSAU/2023/R/1444).

Fanjie Kong, Yuan Li, Houssam Nassif et al.

In digital marketing, experimenting with new website content is one of the key levers to improve customer engagement. However, creating successful marketing content is a manual and time-consuming process that lacks clear guiding principles. This paper seeks to close the loop between content creation and online experimentation by offering marketers AI-driven actionable insights based on historical data to improve their creative process. We present a neural-network-based system that scores and extracts insights from a marketing content design, namely, a multimodal neural network predicts the attractiveness of marketing contents, and a post-hoc attribution method generates actionable insights for marketers to improve their content in specific marketing locations. Our insights not only point out the advantages and drawbacks of a given current content, but also provide design recommendations based on historical data. We show that our scoring model and insights work well both quantitatively and qualitatively.

Sayan Putatunda, Anwesha Bhowmik, Girish Thiruvenkadam et al.

According to the literature, Product reviews are an important source of information for customers to support their buying decision. Product reviews improve customer trust and loyalty. Reviews help customers in understanding what other customers think about a particular product and helps in driving purchase decisions. Therefore, for an e-commerce platform it is important to understand the sentiments in customer reviews to understand their products and services, and it also allows them to potentially create positive consumer interaction as well as long lasting relationships. Reviews also provide innovative ways to market the products for an ecommerce company. One such approach is Nudge Marketing. Nudge marketing is a subtle way for an ecommerce company to help their customers make better decisions without hesitation.

Cindy G. Grappe, Cindy Lombart, Didier Louis et al.

PurposeAnimal welfare is increasingly favoured by consumers in their choice of food and cosmetic products, proposed by manufacturers and retailers. This study aims to investigate the impact of the “not tested on animals” claim on consumers' attitude and behavioural intention towards a cosmetic product through an enriched version of Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour.Design/methodology/approachA between-subjects design has been used. 450 participants were recruited through the social network of a cosmetics and personal hygiene brand in Quebec, Canada, and answered a questionnaire. They were randomly assigned to either a manipulation group (n = 226) or a control group (n = 224). Data were analysed with partial least squares structural equation modelling.FindingsThis study shows that external (credibility and attitude towards marketing claims) and internal psychological variables (subjective norms and altruistic concerns with animal welfare) influence attitude towards and purchase intention of “not tested on animals” personal care products. More egotistic concerns, such as personal appearance, also explain the formation of attitude towards cruelty-free cosmetics.Research limitations/implicationsThis research supplements Ajzen's original model with internal psychological (individuals' concerns with animal welfare and personal appearance) and external (general credibility of cosmetic products claims, credibility of the “not tested on animals” claim and attitude towards this claim) variables. These variables, as suggested by previous research on cosmetics and their claims, improve the understanding of consumer attitude and purchase behaviour patterns.Practical implicationsThe study's findings point out the role of companies to increase consumers' knowledge on the significance and transparency of their messages, notably the “not tested on animals” claim. They also stress that policymakers in regions where regulation is unclear should at least punish untruthful communication pertaining to animal testing in cosmetic and personal care products.Originality/valuePrior studies on cosmetic products did not investigate the difference of consumer attitude formation towards cruelty-free products compared to conventional cosmetic products. Consequently, this research shows that the construction of attitude towards cruelty-free products highly differs from conventional personal care.

Khalid M. Alomari

This paper aims to discuss the adoption of information technology by retailers in Jordan and the impact on retail space, particularly in major urban areas of Jordan. Retailers such as Walmart, Amazon, and Metro are using advanced technologies to continue attracting and expanding consumers with the advent of internet of things (IoT), radio frequency identification (RFID) and point of sales (POS) hardware and software and retail. The study relied on the explanatory approach to achieve these objectives. The study sample consisted of 134 stores that were chosen randomly and 480 customers of these stores, which were also chosen randomly. A questionnaire was designed based on previous studies and distributed among the respondents. The statistical analysis program (SPSS) was used to analyze the data obtained from the sample and test the hypotheses. The study results showed that information technologies influence customer perceptions. However, RFID appears to have no impact on employee perception. Retailers’ attitudes and adoption of information technologies in the Jordanian retail sector are heavily influenced by external factors. RFID usage does not play a significant role in determining the retailers’ attitude towards adopting IT practices. The reason for such an outcome may be that sometimes the devices fail to read the various codes, and thus, it makes it difficult for the retailer to scan the products. AcknowledgmentThis paper is supported with a generous fund of the faculty of scientific research and graduate studies, Al-Hussein Bin Talal University. Fund decision number – 47/2021.

Đurđana Ozretić Došen

Benedict Ofori Antwi, Daniel Agyapong, Dominic Owusu

The negative impact of mining activities on mining communities has received increased calls for mining firms to engage in management practices that are deemed to be environmentally friendly. Using the ecological modernisation theory, the study sought to examine which of the environmentally accepted supply chain management practices should be encouraged to ensure that mining firms are able to sustain their performance economically, socially and environmentally. The current study, therefore, used the explanatory study design to gather primary data from 200 respondents. Data were analysed by means of PLS-SEM to model the relationship between green supply chain management practices and sustainable performance. The findings of the study indicated that all the four constructs of sustainable supply chain management practices predict the sustainable performance of mining firms. The study, therefore, recommends the adoption of green supply chain management practices by mining firms in order to sustain their performance. Details of the findings are discussed.

Shiva Mayahi, Marko Vidrih

In today's world of marketing, it is necessary to have visually appealing content. Visual material has become an essential area of focus for every company as a result of the widespread availability of gadgets for mass communication and extended visual advancements. Similarly, artificial intelligence is also gaining ground and it is proving to be the most revolutionary technological advancement thus far. The integration of visual content with artificial intelligence is the key to acquiring and retaining loyal customers; its absence from the overarching marketing strategy of any production raises a red flag that could ultimately result in a smaller market share for that company.

Juan J. Marfil, Antonio Sanchez-Esguevillas, Belen Carro

Bundling is a pervasive strategy in telecommunications markets. Due to the great success obtained at Spanish Telco market, this article analyzes the impacts of the introduction of convergent bundling on that market. This commercial strategy has caused major changes in the market, both from the point of view of demand and its own structure. From the demand-side, we analyze how product bundling has produced a substantial reduction on effective prices in the sector, and by means of technological diffusion models, we show that bundling is the main factor of Fixed Broadband development, along with FTTH networks deployments, in contrast with stand-alone product marketing scenarios. Pay TV inclusion and hard-bundling strategies at communications packages has motivated the greatest growth of this product in the history of this market. Regarding market structure, the introduction of convergent bundling has led to a consolidation in the market, increasing the concentration around the main convergent players

Darius‐Aurel Frank, A. O. Peschel

ABSTRACT Over the past decades, consumer adoption of online grocery shopping has increased steadily. Yet, overall market share is still comparatively low and retailers start questioning the prospects of the maturing distribution channel. The existing landscape of online grocery channels has seen little innovation nor diversity in terms of business models, reflecting the prevailing assumption that consumer online grocery shopping behavior is largely homogeneous. The present research challenges this notion by updating the understanding of consumer online grocery shopping behavior in a large-scale, representative study of Danish consumers. The results reveal distinct segments of online grocery adopters, which differ in their importance placed on perceived benefits of online grocery shopping. These segments can be targeted based on differences in preference for price, convenience, and service. The findings imply potential for retailers’ differentiation in the market of online grocery shopping.

Mengxia Ma, Qingjie Sun, Man Li et al.

Wheat-based products are staple foods for over a third of the world's population. However, most wheat-based staple foods are provided with a high water content to maintain naturally chewable mouthfeel, which leads to a short shelf life and limits their distribution and marketing. Understanding the fundamental mechanisms and dynamics that drive the quality deterioration is therefore essential for obtaining alternative technologies for optimal quality and extended shelf life. Here, we provide the basis for the physicochemical, structural, and molecular changes occurring in various wheat products during storage, intending to elucidate the underlying deterioration causes. Generally, more desirable qualities are obtained for fresh wheat products, both in appearance and mouthfeel. During storage, changes in the physicochemical properties, structure, main constituents, and water status contribute to the quality deterioration. Based on these changes, deterioration mechanisms are summarized to provide both theoretical and practical references for the quality regulation of high-moisture wheat-based food.

Haiyang Xia, Huy Quan Vu, R. Law et al.

Abstract Understanding the competitiveness of hotel brands is important for hotel managers to shape their brands and initiate effective marketing strategies and business developments. However, evaluating hotel brand competitiveness is challenging due to the complexity of information involved. A hotel brand often comprises many hotels with different performances. Hotel brands are also evaluated against multiple hotel features, thereby making the application of traditional evaluation techniques impractical. This paper introduces a novel technique for automatically evaluating the competitiveness of hotel brands based on probability distribution and earth mover’s distance. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method by conducting a case study that involves major hotel brands in Hong Kong. The proposed method can be applied in various contexts and can help researchers and managers evaluate the competitiveness of hotels as well as other branded products in the hospitality and tourism sectors.

Kimihiko Kondo, Shinya Nakami, Kazuo Shirotori

Dramatic changes in the environment, such as digital transformation and the COVID-19 pandemic, have had a profound impact on consumer behavior and the retail industry. New retail business models are needed to adapt to the era of the New Normal. In this paper, we first review the main literature on how digital transformation is reshaping the retail industry and on how the COVID-19 crisis has markedly changed its activities. We then use consumer surveys conducted by the Hakuhodo Institute of Life and Living; the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; Accenture; and others to examine how digital transformation and COVID-19 have changed consumer behavior. In addition, we conducted interviews with top management of retailers such as BEAMS and Cainz to examine how these factors have encouraged new retail initiatives. Based on these discussions, we name the new business model of the retail industry in the New Normal era as “Neo-Retail”. Finally, we present a comprehensive picture of Neo-Retail from the perspectives of customer relationships (customer identification, targeting, touchpoints, customer relationship bonds), value-creation and value-provision (provided value, directionality, role and position of physical stores), activity systems (product supply systems, business systems, intra- and interorganizational relationships), and profit formulas.

Houssame BENFRIHA

تهدف هذه الدراسة إلى تحديد الفرص االستثمارية المتاحة في بورصة ماليزيا من خالل اختبار كفاءة السوق المالي اإلسالمي والتقليدي عند مستوى ضعيف، ومن خالل دراسةدرجةالتكامل فيما بينها  للفترة الممتدة من 7102 إلى غاية .7102 حيث خلصت الدراسة إلى كفاءة المؤشرات المدروسة عند المستوى الضعيف وأنه اليمكن للمستثمرين تحقيق مكاسب غير عاديةباالستفادة من البيانات التاريخية، كما أظهرت النتائج أن جميع المؤشرات المدروسة متكاملة فقط على المدى القصير و بالتالي وجود فرص للتنويع االستثماري علىالمدى الطويل This study aims to identify investment opportunities in Bursa Malaysia through testing the weak form efficiency of Islamic and conventional financial markets, and through testing the integration between them using Johansen co-integration test and the Granger  causality test for 2017 and 2018. This study demonstrates that indices are efficient, and investors can not realize gains above average  using historical data. Results show also that indices are co-integrated only in the short-term, this leads us to say that there are opportunities for investments diversification in the long-term. 

Yongcheng Qi, Hongru Zhao

In this paper, we consider $m$ independent random rectangular matrices whose entries are independent and identically distributed standard complex Gaussian random variables and assume the product of the $m$ rectangular matrices is an $n$ by $n$ square matrix. We study the limiting empirical spectral distributions of the product where the dimension of the product matrix goes to infinity, and $m$ may change with the dimension of the product matrix and diverge. We give a complete description for the limiting distribution of the empirical spectral distributions for the product matrix and illustrate some examples.

Mohammad Ostadijafari, Juan Carlos Bedoya, Anamika Dubey et al.

Increasing penetrations of distributed energy resources (DERs) and responsive loads (RLs) in the electric power distribution systems calls for a mechanism for joint supply-demand coordination. Recently, several transactive/bilateral coordination mechanisms have been proposed for the distribution-level coordination of flexible resources. Implementing a transactive market coordination approach requires a secure, reliable, and computationally efficient multi-agent platform. An example of such a platform is VOLTTRON, developed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL). The VOLTTRON platform allows the market actors to exchange information and execute proper control actions in a decentralized way. This paper aims to provide a proof-of-concept of the transactive market coordination approach via a small-scale demonstration on the VOLTTRON platform. The steps needed to implement the proposed market architecture using virtual machines and VOLTTRON are thoroughly described, and illustrative examples are provided to show the market-clearing process for different scenarios.