Sales and Merchandising Commons^™

Intelligshop: Enabling Intelligent Shopping In Malls Through Location-Based Augmented Reality, Aditi Adhikari, Vincent W. Zheng, Hong Cao, Miao Lin, Yuan Fang, Kevin Chen-Chuan Chang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Shopping experience is important for both citizens and tourists. We present IntelligShop, a novel location-based augmented reality application that supports intelligent shopping experience in malls. As the key functionality, IntelligShop provides an augmented reality interface-people can simply use ubiquitous smartphones to face mall retailers, then IntelligShop will automatically recognize the retailers and fetch their online reviews from various sources (including blogs, forums and publicly accessible social media) to display on the phones. Technically, IntelligShop addresses two challenging data mining problems, including robust feature learning to support heterogeneous smartphones in localization and learning to query for automatically gathering the retailer content …

Life Beyond The Like: Uses And Gratifications Of Sharing Business Facebook Page Content, Sara M. Nash

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

One of the main reasons businesses create a Facebook Page is to solidify relationships with existing customers who are Facebook users and to leverage those relationships to gain new customers. Many studies have asked Facebook users to articulate the gratifications they receive when “liking” a business Facebook Page. These studies help explain what gratifications users gain by connecting to businesses via Facebook. To expand on these findings, the current pilot study applied the uses and gratifications theory to identify Facebook users’ motivations to “share” business Facebook content within their own personal network. Understanding users’ reasons for “sharing” will help businesses …

Perceived Value E-Ticketing As Sports Entertainment Options, Amber A. Smith-Ditizio

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Through the advantages of online and electronic ticketing services, the sporting entertainment industry has been able to increase the production and effectiveness of their customer relation management department. While simultaneously minimizing and perfecting the current concerns of electronic ticketing such as; costs, safety measures to both consumers and companies, delivery modes, comparisons to traditional ticket services, and technological sophistication. An empirical study of business professionals in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania metropolitan area revealed that age, amount of disposable income, and education were not predictive of the degree of customer satisfaction derived from the use of e-ticketing for sports events, possibly pointing …

Branding Gender In Sport: A Visual-Rhetorical Analysis Of The Branding Of Roller Derby, Tylean Coleman, Jon Littlefield

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Branding a sport has a significant effect on its reception by the public, particularly for sports that are newer or for which consumer awareness is less. Hence, how a sport is positioned to potential spectators will likely play a key role in its success. Roller derby has been a part of American cultural landscape since the 1880’s and took its modern form during the Great depression. Historically, it involved women competing for points circling a flat track, and was primarily target to working class spectators. Over the last few decades, however, roller derby has experienced a resurgence in popularity due …

Cutting The Cord: An Examination Of Changing Tv Viewership, John Crawford

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

On October 2, 1925, John Baird successfully transmitted the first television image. Since the early days of the new medium, television technology has constantly changed. Similarly, as the decades have passed the means for receiving television programming has also changed. Today, programs are delivered to millions of customers via cable connections and by satellite transmissions as those technologies were chosen by consumers to replace antennas as a means for receiving signals. The newer delivery mechanisms also provided many more channels to consumers compared to the handful of channels they could access in the antenna-only days.

The television programming delivery industry …

How Customer Shopping Motivation Influences Perceived Design Of The Retail Environment, Julie C. Steen

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Previous research shows that the decisions retailers make about the retail environment influence the amount of time customers spend in retail stores and the total amount of money spent in the retail store (Turley & Milliman 2000). One recent example of a retailer’s efforts to influence customers through the retail environment is Walmart’s Project Impact. In 2009, Walmart embarked on a five year plan to remodel seventy percent of its stores (Gregory 2009). Based on feedback from customers, Walmart sought to change several aspects of the retail environment, including reducing clutter, reducing crowding, wider aisles, clearer sight lines, brighter stores, …

The Impact Of Social Media On The Sales Cycle And Prospecting, Mike Serkedakis, Gary L. Selden, R. Keith Tudor

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Sharing information and networking with business contacts are the crux of social media in sales. The use of social media platforms (e.g., LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter) for all phases of the sales cycle is a relatively new technique, about 20 years since the arrival of the internet and associated technologies. Research to measure the impact of social media on the sales cycle time is not adequately addressed in the current literature. Our research highlights the impacts of social media on this important business function and examines individual performance aspects associated with the use of social media.

Narrative Engagement And The Role Of Presence, Stef Nicovich

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Presence as a phenomenon has been studied for over 20 years with an identifiable progression as to how the field has matured. Initial research explored the physical nature of what conditions were necessary to produce presence focusing on the physical representations of the experience such as vividness and interactivity. This soon segued into more of an exploration into the psychological understanding of what is to experience presence focusing more on the actual “being there” phenomenon experienced by people as they engaged in a CM event. However as our understanding of presence has matured the focus has turned to exploring the …

Music As A Positional Good: Why Market Success Might Actually Drive Away Some Fans?, Timothy J. Schibik

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

The Oxford Dictionary of Economics defines “goods” as things that people (e.g., consumers) prefer to consume more of rather than less. Further, these “goods” overwhelmingly adhere to a relationship between price and quantity known as the Law of Demand wherein consumers will purchase more of a good at lower prices than at higher prices. How the demand for these “goods” reacts to non-price stimuli is also well known and yields a place in the market system for marketing. Traditionally, the adoption of marketing techniques to alter the consumer satisfaction process and thus consumer demand has predictable impacts on the market …

Motivations In The Fine-Art Market: A Self-Determination Theory Approach, J. Paul Leavell

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Fine-art marketing research experiences friction that other arenas for marketing research do not. The product moved within this arena has subjective value with many drivers that can be difficult to quantify: The motivations of sellers and buyers may be different from what other marketing arenas experience (Marshall and Forrest 2011). The end price of fine art may have no relationship to the cost of inputs relying more on the demand driven by the artist’s reputation (Throsby 1994). Due to such challenges, the Academy has struggled in its contemplation of the marketing concept within this arena.

This paper will investigate the …

A Typology Of Co-Branding Strategies, Suzanne B. Walchli

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

This presents a typology of co-branding (brand alliance) strategies. It reveals the complexity that is represented by the topic of co-branding, which has been researched to a relatively limited degree although the practice began to be commonplace in the early 1990s (Gibson, 1993; Helmut, Huber and Leeflang, 2008). Since then, academic research has been published on the subject, but has been somewhat limited in scope (Rao and Ruekert, 1994; Park, Jun and Shocker, 1996; Simonin and Ruth, 1998; Washburn, Till and Priluck, 2004; Voss and Gammoh, 2004; Walchli, 2007). This may in part be because most studies have interpreted co-branding …

Updating A Research Tradition By Examining The Effect Of New High Tech Channels On Consumer Search And Integrated Marketing: A Framework For Teaching, Deborah Fain, Mary Long

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

As computers became more powerful in the late 80s and early 90s, large marketers began to try to push what became known as customer relationship management . Specifically, they began to evaluate various channels and how consumers navigated among them when making purchase decisions. Most of the examples at that time were anecdotal, and obviously considered traditional channels, both retail and direct. These included retail, direct mail, print, television, radio, telephone, early email, and a small amount of Internet. The impact of the Internet on new ways consumers navigate among the channels to collect information and make purchase decisions was …

College Students Use Social Networking Sites For Sharing With Friends, But Guess Who Else Is Looking?, Liz Alexander, Fred Mader, Deanna Mader

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Jobvite, a recruiting platform for the social web, reports from their annual 2012 survey of recruiters that 92% of U.S. companies are using social networking sites (SNS) for hiring purposes (Jobvit, 2012). Career Builder reported in 2009 that 45% of employers were using SNS to screen and research applicants (CareerBuilder, 2009). It is important that faculty and support staff working to place students, and the students themselves, understand the developments and practices in the use of social networking sites for job search and recruiting and the best methods, as well as detriments when marketing themselves. This study examines corporate recruiters’, …

Exploring Motivations And Usage Patterns Of Social Media Users, Anita Whiting

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Social media is an important aspect of marketing today. According to Hanna et al (2011), social media is not an optional part of marketing strategy but a mandatory component for most companies today. Social media usage is rapidly growing. Facebook, the largest global social network, has over 1.19 billion users with an annual growth rate of eighteen percent (Aichner & Jacob 2015).

Perceived Risk Reduction In E-Commerce Environments, C. Michael Powell, Chris Conca

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

During the past three decades, the growth of e-commerce has presented marketers with many new arenas for research and application. Certainly e-commerce has become a significant portion of the world economy and in particular the consumer sector. As previous literature has consistently considered perceived risk as a major factor consumer purchase decisions, this research identifies several major components of consumer perceived risk (PR) and their normative implications in the e-commerce environment

A Systematic Review Of Anti-Brand Website Literature: What We Know And What We Need To Know, David L. Williams, Ellen Kolbas

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

The emergence of Web 1.0 began an evolution in electronic communication. This platform resulted in a unidirectional communication flow (e.g. firm to consumer) that featured firms generating messages for public consumption. Web 1.0 gave rise to Web 2.0 and 3.0 platforms that facilitate bi-directional communication between firms and the public. This new method has resulted in an increase in consumer empowerment to create and disseminate marketing messages of their own (Williams, Crittenden, Keo, & McCarty, 2012). Third party stakeholders are disseminating electronic word-of-mouth communications about companies through the use of video, reviews, forums, microblogs and multiple other channels (Gil-Or, 2010). …

Using Focus Groups And Correspondence Analysis To Explore The Relationship Between Millennials' Online Behavior And Their Opinions Of Online Reviews, James E. Stoddard, Michael J. Dotson, Neel Das

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Consumer decision-making regarding a purchase is usually influenced by feedback received from other people in addition to prior experiences/beliefs/attitudes and marketer dominated information. Such diverse sources of influence are collectively referred to as the influence mix (Simonson and Rosen 2014). Of the different sources in the influence mix, word-of-mouth (i.e., feedback received from other people) is one of the most impactful sources of information (Duan, Gu, and Whinston 2008). With the advent of e-tailers on the Internet, the influence of word-of-mouth communication has grown significantly in the form of online consumer reviews (Schindler ad Bickart 2012). Research has shown that …

Profile Of Corporate Social Media Consumer Segments, Beverly Wright, Aberdeen Leila Borders, Paul H. Schwager, S. Scott Nadler

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

The trade and academic literature is replete with commentary about the need for companies to develop promotional strategies and to adopt media platforms that are more engaging and conversational with customers than the traditional top-down company directed one-way communication strategies of the past (Thomas, Peters, Howell and Robbins, 2012; Foster, West and Francescucci 2011; Deighton and Kornfeld, 2009). This viewpoint is supported by Christodoulides (2008) who reported that many customers view information about a company or brand that they obtained from blogs, social networking sites and the like as being more relevant, believable and important to them in their interactions …

An Exploratory Analysis To Understand Organic Food Market In The United States In Comparison To Europe, Alfiya Ansar, Ismet Anitsal, M. Meral Anitsal

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

To meet the increasing continuous demand of food, many techniques are used for mass production food but these techniques in turn have diminished the quality of many products. The negative effects associated with such production methods make them controversial in nature and thus requires discussion. One such method is the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO), which involves genetically modifying the Deoxyribose Nucleic Acids (DNA) of plants or animals of interest to introduce certain traits such as resistance to pests or diseases. Food allergies are on a rise and researchers estimate that up to 15 million Americans suffer from vast …

The Clothing Swap: Social, Sustainable, And Sacred, Mary M. Long, Deborah Fain

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

While there is much focus on recycling household waste such as paper, plastic, and metal, there is less focused attention on the waste produced by clothing and textiles. As noted by Joung (2013), consumers dispose of clothes by recycling, donating to charities, or giving to friends and family. But when individuals are not motivated to do this or are unaware of recycling options, they simply discard unwanted clothing where it ends up in landfill sites.

Motives for recycling clothes can range from altruistic (e.g., donating to a clothing drive for the poor or victims of a natural disaster) to economic …

What Drives Conspicuous Consumption? - The Case Of Chinese Consumers, Y. Henry Xie

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Conspicuous consumption refers to a type of consumer behavior that people display wealth by spending a large proportion of their incomes on luxury products and services (Trigg, 2001). Different from other goods, the satisfaction that conspicuous goods provide buyers often comes from audience’s reaction, as opposed to product’s actual use (Wong, 1997). In other words, consumers exhibit certain conspicuous consumption behaviors due to their hopes to be seen more favorably in the greater social hierarchy (Podoshen, Li, & Zhang, 2011).

Chinese Consumers' Involvement In Wine Consumption And Their Willingness To Visit Wineries In California, Mahmood Hussain, Roblyn Simeon, Lutfus Sayeed

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

This research fills a gap in wine tourism literature, taking into account the effects of consumers’ involvement in the pre-purchase stages on their willingness to visit wineries in California or in a foreign country. The theoretical framework presented in this paper provides support for a strong linkage between product involvement, consumption, and eventual propensity to visit a wine destination. As of this writing this paper constitutes the first of its kind econometric study of these effects.

Fitting Consumer Needs To Perceived Product Value: The Example Of Apple Versus Samsung Products, Yi-Chia Wu, Arturo Vasquez-Parraga

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

This study explores the fitting of consumer needs to product perceived value using the example of two lines of competitive products in the area of communication electronics, Apple products versus Samsung products. Five types of needs regarding digital communication and three types of related product value are evaluated for these two brands in order to know if product value differences have a distinctive effect on consumer needs.

This study focuses on the impact of perceived product values on certain consumer needs. We use Apple products and Samsung products to accomplish this.

Progressive Trust Formation Within The South African Fresh Produce Industry Through The Use Of Self-Service Technologies, Justy Range, Awie C. Leonard Phd

The African Journal of Information Systems

When using self-service solutions to deliver services the challenge is to retain the trust of the end user. This is specifically the case when dealing with end users in the fresh produce market environment. This sector has not seen the adoption of self-service technologies specifically in southern Africa. In this paper we propose a model to enhance our understanding of trust formation using self-service technologies. A qualitative research approach, based on a case study was followed to create the model. This case study offers insight into how the dynamics of the product, supporting services and the technology shapes trust forming …

7 Tips To Grow Your Rural Business With Purpose And Meaning, Connie I. Reimers-Hild, Alyssa Dye

Community Vitality Initiative

No one can predict the future; however, rural entrepreneurs and business owners can use a future-focused leadership approach, which includes examining megatrends, to shape the future of their businesses. Megatrends are global shifts that influence society, the economy and the environment. The purpose of this article is to help rural entrepreneurs discover ways to grow their businesses with Living with Purpose and Meaning Megatrend.

The Effects Of Social Media & Web Development On Product Promotion & The Effects Of Branding On Sales And Building A Startup, Scott Toshiro Burns, Galen Quan Tran

Graphic Communication

The purpose of this study was to identify the key components needed to make a startup. This included created making a landing page and also driving traffic to the page through Facebook. On the landing page section, there was a test to see what would provide the best user experience using Squarespace. This entailed looking into different layouts and using analytics to determine how effective the landing page was in converting customers. In terms of Facebook research, went into looking into creating a method into driving leads into the prospect pipeline. A campaign was run to gather all the data …

The Relationship Between Fashion Blogs And Intention To Purchase And Word Of Mouth Behavior, Cassidy L. Vineyard

Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Blogs are an influential social media platform and a powerful marketing tool (Hsu & Tsou, 2011). A corporate fashion blog is an online product community. Online product communities established by retailers enable customers to interact with the company as well as amongst themselves (Nambisan & Watt, 2011). Online communities are a social space wherein relationships and ties are formed among the members and a common set of values and norms are established and shared (Nambisan & Watt, 2011).

The objective of this study was threefold. First it explored what factors shape readers’ intention to browse products on blogs. Based on …

How Corporations Use Social Media: An Exploratory Study, Victor Khachatryan

Honors College Theses

This paper explores the role of social media in increasing a company’s brand equity and strengthening its customer relationships. The data collected consists of three case studies of major American companies, two interviews with Brazilian entrepreneurs, and a survey conducted to start-up companies in the New York City area. The paper then concludes that the use of social media by businesses, leads to a positive relationship with brand equity and improved customer relationships. Nevertheless, further research is required to see how other factors interact with brand equity and customer relationships to get a better understanding of social media and its …

An Integrated Marketing Communications Plan For The Great American Comedy Festival, Johnny Carson Theatre, Norfolk, Nebraska, Adnormal Strategies, Emily Schaefer, Tony Nelson, Dominique Brown, Kary Benson, Mickey Mcconkey, Katheryn Schuller, Amanda Gammel, Max Wesely

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Student Advertising Projects

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Client: The Great American Comedy Festival

Campaign Purpose: In the summer of 2014, members of the Great American Comedy Festival approached our team of 8 advertising and public relation students with a specific task. The proposed task was to help increase attendance as well as raise awareness for future Great American Comedy Festivals. Our team’s mission is to present innovative ideas that will help our client generate an increase in attendance and to also provide them with beneficial tactics for future festivals.

Research: For our campaign, we accumulated various data through both secondary and primary research. Our secondary …

Ratings Lead You To The Product, Reviews Help You Clinch It? The Dynamics And Impact Of Online Review Sentiments On Products Sales, Nan Hu, Noi Sian Koh, Srinivas K. Reddy

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

It is generally assumed that ratings are a numeric representation of text sentiments and their valences are consistent. This however may not always be true. Using a panel of data on over 4000 books from Amazon.com, we develop a multiple equation model to examine the inter-relationships between ratings, sentiments, and sales. We find that ratings do not have a significant direct impact on sales but have an indirect impact through sentiments. Sentiments, however, have a direct significant impact on sales. Our findings also indicate that the two most accessible types of reviews - most helpful and most recent - play …