International Retail and Marketing Review - latest Issue

This research introduces "brand prominence," a construct reflecting the conspicuousness of a brand's mark or logo on a product. The authors propose a taxonomy that assigns consumers to one of four groups according to their wealth and need for status, and they demonstrate how each group's preference for conspicuously or inconspicuously branded luxury goods corresponds predictably with their desire to associate or dissociate with members of their own and other groups. Wealthy consumers low in need for status want to associate with their own kind and pay a premium for quiet goods only they can recognize. Wealthy consumers high in need for status use loud luxury goods to signal to the less affluent that they are not one of them. Those who are high in need for status but cannot afford true luxury use loud counterfeits to emulate those they recognize to be wealthy. Field experiments along with analysis of market data (including counterfeits) support the proposed model of status signaling using brand prominence.

As a result of the diminishing effectiveness of broadcast advertising, firms are increasingly turning to product placements in films and television to promote their products. A growing stream of product placement research has conducted surveys of consumer and practitioner views on the practice and experiments to gauge product placement's impact on brand awareness, attitudes, and purchase intent. However, there is no evidence of whether firms' investments in film product placements are worthwhile. The event study of 126 product placements in successful films during 2002 reveals a mean cumulative abnormal return of .89% during the film's opening, indicating that product placement in a successful film is associated with positive movements in firm stock prices. Cross-sectional analysis of the returns offers new insight into how product, film, and execution factors influence the placement's worth. The authors find that placement abnormal returns are enhanced by tie in advertising and brand equity but are inhibited by audience absorption, critical acclaim, and violent film content. Placement modality, character associations, and blatancy also significantly affect the placement's value.

Foreign branding - or using brand names that evoke foreign associations through, for example, spelling a brand name in a foreign language - is a popular means in both developed and emerging countries of suggesting a specific country of origin (COO) in the hope that it will evoke certain product qualities. As a result, consumers increasingly encounter products with brand names that imply a COO that differs from the actual COO (where the product is manufactured). In four experiments, the authors find support for the hypothesis that incongruence between the actual COO and implied COO decreases purchase likelihood asymmetrically. Incongruence backfires in hedonic categories but has hardly any effect in utilitarian categories. Furthermore, incongruence decreases purchase likelihood more if the actual COO is an emerging rather than developed country. The authors address the psychological process underlying the asymmetric effect of incongruence by showing that consumers apply different information-processing strategies to hedonic versus utilitarian products. These results have important implications for (foreign) branding decisions.

Black urban areas consumers in the period before independence were communities that were generally regarded as being lower in income. Since democracy however in 1994, these communities have seen a steady rise in income, which has heightened attention to the development of retail outlets which in the past was very limited (Ligthelm, 2008: 37; Tustin & Strydom, 2006: 48-49). With new developments within the black urban areas, consumers are becoming more exposed to branded merchandise and the advertising thereof, therefore new perceptions as to such merchandise will have been formed. Therefore the aim of this study is to explore the perceptions that black urban area consumers have with regards to retail brands and the advertising thereof. In order to satisfy research objectives, the study took the form of a self-administered location based survey, which was distributed to the residents of Attridgeville, Mamelodi and Shoshanguve.

Is visual merchandising display dead? It has been suppressed so many times before and in more than one way - especially when times are bad. However it has been brought back to life over and over again. Visual merchandising displays have long been a contentious issue in the apparel industry. Visual merchandising displays is about creating a sensation inside a store, creating the perfect look for a store and promoting the image of the store. Some regard it as a mere waste of good selling space. This study was undertaken to acquire a consumer response centred approach to visual merchandising displays and the effect is has on consumers. The study explored which aspects of visual merchandising displays consumers consider as significant in apparel retail stores. Therefore the primary research question posed by the literature was to identify which aspects of visual merchandising displays are the most significant and important to consumers. Explorative research was deemed to be the most appropriate for the study and qualitative data were collected. Focus groups was used to collect the first round of data where after naïve sketches was used to support the findings. The focus groups and the naïve sketches were analysed by means of a thematic analysis process. The findings indicated that a prominent visual stimulant and important aspect of visual merchandising displays was colour, which creates visual attraction and stimulation. Other important aspects of visual merchandising that were identified were the positioning of displays and the use of space, lighting as well as the neatness of displays. A further important aspect that was noted was that visual merchandising displays should provide information about the products sold in store. It became clear from the findings that visual merchandising displays have a functional role to play in apparel marketing.

Small businesses are the lifeblood of many countries worldwide, but in many instances are barely surviving. With the increased pressure on small business to develop and alleviate poverty and to enhance social wellbeing, many small business owners are forced into business in order to survive, which in turn may lead to them being less ethically inclined and rather focussed on survival. This in itself can lead to moral predicaments and an increase in unethical behaviour in order for small businesses to keep their heads above water. It has therefore been deemed important to consider the attitude employees have towards the ethical issues in the small business sector, and to what extent they would compromise these issues in order to survive. The core of this study was to determine the attitude small business employees/owners have towards the ethical environment in which they are currently operating. The study made use of a quantitative approach by collecting data through a self-administered survey questionnaire. The study found that small business employees and owners have a negative attitude towards the ethical responsibilities of the business they are operating in. Their attitude regarding their perception of what an organisation should commit to in order to be ethical, shows that respondents understands what constitutes ethical behaviour.

Successful retail business management in today's world demands that an organisation be able to meet the needs of customers while at the same time meeting its other goals including the need to operate effectively and efficiently. Retail analytics offer retailers an opportunity to come up with informed strategies that will help optimise retailing decisions so as to help ensure business success. This paper reviews the book 'Retail Analytics: The Secret Weapon' written by Emmett Cox and published in 2012 by John Wiley and Sons. This seven chapter book offers insights into analytics and how it can assist retail business operations in a variety of ways including demand forecasting, merchandise mix modelling, price and promotion modelling, store location analysis and labour forecasting.

With the launch of the GetSmarter and UCT Social Media course in late 2012, many posed the question: can social media marketing skills be taught? It's a valid question, given the volatility of the social media landscape and a certain X-factor quality that many online influencers possess. Social platforms are in a constant state of flux and marketers are often left wondering whether an update or redesign will throw their best intentions into disarray. Furthermore, many agonise over the quest to secure more likes and followers, searching desperately for the elusive recipe to make people like their brand online.