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1 – 10 of over 14000This study examined the reciprocal influence of demand learning and preference matching in the context of store brand customization. The demand-learning effect refers to the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examined the reciprocal influence of demand learning and preference matching in the context of store brand customization. The demand-learning effect refers to the collection of market demand information through production, based on pre-order demands, enabling retailers to accurately predict and allocate product quantities, thus improving inventory management. The preference-matching effect involves engaging consumers in the production and design processes of store brands to align fully with their preferences, thereby increasing the purchase impact of store brand products and promoting consumption.
Design/methodology/approach
We employ game-theoretic models to analyze a two-echelon supply chain consisting of a manufacturer and a retailer. The retailer offers both national brands, manufactured by the supplier and in-house store brands. To enhance their competitive edge, the retailer can adopt a customized strategy targeting the store brand to attract a wider consumer base.
Findings
The analysis reveals that, under low commission fees, the manufacturer consistently opts for high production quantities, irrespective of the level of demand uncertainty. However, when the perceived value of a store brand is low and demand uncertainty is either low or high, the retailer should choose a minimal or zero production quantity. The decision-making process is influenced by the customization process, wherein the effects of demand learning and preference matching occasionally mutually reinforce each other. Specifically, when the perceived value of a store brand is low, or the product cost is high, along with high customization costs, the interplay between demand learning and preference matching becomes mutually inhibiting. Consequently, the significance of store brand customization diminishes.
Originality/value
This study enhances the current body of knowledge by providing a deeper understanding of the theoretical value of store brand customization. In addition, it offers valuable decision-making support to enterprises by assisting them in selecting appropriate inventory and customization strategies.
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Frank Mathmann, Di Wang and Jesse Elias Christian
This study employs S-D Logic to examine the hotel booking behaviors of individuals, with a focus on the impact of service customization on service cancellation. Additionally, the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study employs S-D Logic to examine the hotel booking behaviors of individuals, with a focus on the impact of service customization on service cancellation. Additionally, the moderating role of social co-creation is explored to provide further insight.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on booking data from two hotels: a resort hotel with 40,060 recorded bookings, including 11,122 cancellations, and bookings from a city hotel with 79,330 bookings, including 33,102 cancellations.
Findings
The result reveals that bookings with higher levels of initial customization, such as special requests, are more likely to be modified later and less likely to be canceled. Interestingly, while multi-adult bookings were found to have a higher cancellation rate than individual bookings, the effects of customization commitment were more pronounced for multi-adult bookings.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to establish a connection between service customization, the number of adults on a booking and the likelihood of cancellation, thus providing new empirical evidence for the emergence of customization effects in services. Additionally, the study identifies important contingencies based on the number of consumers in a booking.
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Traditionally, executives have assumed that trade‐offs – highquality or low cost, efficiency or customization – are inevitable.In defining their businesses, the choice has always…
Abstract
Traditionally, executives have assumed that trade‐offs – high quality or low cost, efficiency or customization – are inevitable. In defining their businesses, the choice has always been seen in terms of mass production of inexpensive, commodity‐like products or services (the assembly line) on the one hand, and on the other hand, premium‐priced, individually‐tailored, highly differentiated offerings (the “job shop”). But the notion that such trade‐offs and choices are permanent, inevitable business realities is fading as a new management paradigm – mass customization – emerges. Mass customization consists of cutting‐edge management methods and tools that give companies the ability to produce customized, affordable, high‐quality goods and services, but with the shorter cycle times and lower costs historically associated with mass production and standardization. Proposes that much of the power of mass customization, like total quality management before it, lies in its visionary and strategic implications. Also delineates an exploratory diagnostic framework to help companies assess the potential for mass customization as an explicit strategy in their industries. The key dimensions of this framework are customer sensitivity, process amenability, competitive environment, and organizational readiness.
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Chiara Ottolenghi, Simona D'Amico and Gennaro Iasevoli
The objective of this study is to investigate consumer motivations and purchase behaviors with respect to cookies with customized packaging and consumer interest in different…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this study is to investigate consumer motivations and purchase behaviors with respect to cookies with customized packaging and consumer interest in different types of customization in the Italian food industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was conducted by performing a quantitative analysis of 642 surveys collected via Google Forms. A repeated-measures ANOVA, univariate ANOVA, chi-squared test, correlation analysis and linear regression analysis were conducted using SPSS.
Findings
Customers buy cookies with customized packaging as personal gifts to someone they care about. The ability to insert their initials or a personalized phrase appears to increase customers’ positive attitudes toward buying cookies with customized packaging. Those interested in this type of customization are willing to pay more, regardless of the type of customization.
Research limitations/implications
In the survey, only some types of customization not previously extracted from a focus group are explored, and the analysis covers only the food industry and does not take a cross-sectional approach. In addition, we specifically refer to the Italian market, which means that results cannot be generalized.
Practical implications
From a managerial perspective, our results highlight that food industry companies should take advantage of the opportunity to segment the demand for customized packaging with respect to consumers’ attitudes and their motivation toward food products.
Originality/value
From a theoretical perspective, this study analyzes consumer attitudes and behaviors toward purchasing cookies with customized packaging. From a managerial perspective, the results of the study highlight interesting courses of action for companies in the food industry that would like to use the tool of customization by intervening in terms of the packaging rather than the product itself.
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Abul Kalam, Chai Lee Goi and Ying Ying Tiong
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of celebrity endorsers on consumer advocacy, customization and entertainment intentions based on the notion of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of celebrity endorsers on consumer advocacy, customization and entertainment intentions based on the notion of the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) framework. In addition, this study aims to examine the mediating and moderating role of customization and entertainment intentions on the proposed relationships. The authors also intend to highlight the comparative effects between male and female young social media consumers on those proposed associations.
Design/methodology/approach
In the pursuit of comprehensive and rigorous data collection, this study adopted a quantitative methodology using a meticulously crafted questionnaire. The questionnaire survey was conducted in major cities of Malaysia using the convenience and snowball sampling techniques. A total of 576 responses were collected, even though 549 retorts were used for data analysis. In this investigation, the authors strategically used covariance-based structural equation modeling through the use of AMOS v. 24 as the primary data analysis tool. Augmenting the analytical depth, the authors also conducted a supplementary bootstrap analysis. The additional layers of examination were crucial for appraising the mediating and moderating effects inherent within the model, in which the PROCESS MACRO v.4.20 was used.
Findings
The results of this study revealed the significant direct positive effects of celebrity endorsers on consumer customization, entertainment and advocacy intentions. Consumer customization and entertainment intentions also found significant direct affirmative effects on consumer advocacy intention, along with the significant direct positive effects of consumer entertainment intention on consumer customization intention. The results further revealed that consumer customization and entertainment intentions cannot mediate the relationship between celebrity endorsers and advocacy intention. The entertainment intention also declined the mediating effects between celebrity endorsers and consumer customization intention. On the contrary, consumer customization intention significantly and positively, and entertainment intention also significantly but negatively, moderate the association between celebrity endorsers and consumer advocacy intention. This study also illustrates that the effects of those examined relationships differ between male and female young social media consumers.
Originality/value
This study investigates the impact of celebrity endorsers on consumer behavior, focusing on their customization, entertainment and advocacy intentions. It extends current SOR framework, enhances source credibility theory, fills gaps in the literature on social media brand engagement and underscores the significance of customization and entertainment intentions. The findings provide insights for managers aiming to harness consumer brand advocacy through celebrity endorsers effectively.
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Abstract
Purpose
This study investigated the impacts of the interaction experiential customization (IEC) mode on consumers' information processing fluency and green customization intention (GCI) as well as the moderating effect of consumers' self-construal.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducted an online field experiment, questionnaire study and between-subjects laboratory experiment to test the hypotheses.
Findings
It was found that IEC had a significant positive effect on consumers' GCI. Moreover, consumer retrieval processing fluency played a partial mediating role in the relationship between IEC and GCI. In addition, consumers' self-construal moderated the “IEC? Three dimensions of processing fluency” relationships.
Practical implications
The results emphasized the importance of IEC in influencing consumers' consumption intention in a green customization setting and have some practical implications, that is, companies have the opportunity to use appropriate digital choice architecture designs, which can enhance consumer processing fluency when promoting eco-friendly products in the customized consumption process, especially for independent consumers.
Originality/value
This study focused on the customization design on consumers' GCI and explained the mechanism of impact of IEC on improving consumers' processing fluency and GCI in a product customization setting based on the fluency theory. In addition, this study investigated the moderating effect of consumers' self-construal (independent vs interdependent) on their significant different information processing modes for low-carbon choices.
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Mohamed E Bayou and Alan Reinstein
The traditional product-costing continuum is too limited to account for the new mass customization approach currently used by many corporations in many industries. Mass…
Abstract
The traditional product-costing continuum is too limited to account for the new mass customization approach currently used by many corporations in many industries. Mass customization has changed the nature of many transactions, activities and, indeed, the very essence of many manufacturing companies, who have become more of assemblers than manufacturers. These new developments necessitate establishing new way of accounting for proper planning and control. After tracing the development of the mass customization approach from modular manufacturing into common platforms applied in one firm, and then shared by a group of firms, the paper explains the benefits of these approaches to both manufacturers and their suppliers. The central theme of this paper is to develop a product costing system for mass customization. It begins with the traditional product-process matrix in operations management literature and adds to it two elements: firm size and the modular manufacturing method. The rationale for this addition is that modular manufacturing is the best mass customization method; firm size and mass customization are inherently related as indicated by the typical evolutionary pattern of production processes. At this point, the operations management taxonomy is renamed the modular-process matrix; this matrix displays three groups of major activities: manufacturing, supplemental manufacturing, and assembling activities. These three activity groups provide the basis for developing a new set of accounts and a ledger system to account for specific customer orders developed by mass-customization processes.
Pielah Kim, Hua Chang, Rajiv Vaidyanathan and Leslie Stoel
Customization allows brands to provide goods that match customers’ preferences, but its impact on consumer–brand relationships is unclear. This study aims to examine the impact of…
Abstract
Purpose
Customization allows brands to provide goods that match customers’ preferences, but its impact on consumer–brand relationships is unclear. This study aims to examine the impact of two key moderators on the effectiveness of customization to enhance brand’s perceived partner quality, which mediates the relationship between customization and brand attitude.
Design/methodology/approach
Study 1 (n = 219) tests the moderated–mediation relationship, the effect of customization (IV) on perceived partner quality (mediator), and its indirect effect on brand attitude (DV), which is moderated by consumers’ self-construal orientation (Moderator 1). Study 2 (n = 416) extends the model tested in Study 1 by including an additional moderator, shopping task context (Moderator 2).
Findings
Results empirically demonstrate the impact of self-construal and shopping task context on the effectiveness of customization in improved customer–brand partner quality and eventual brand attitude.
Practical implications
Customization may not appeal to every customer for the same reason. Marketers must target customers’ individual traits (independents vs interdependents) and understand the context of the shopping task context (self-purchase vs gift-giving).
Originality/value
The work reveals how brands can enhance consumers’ perceptions of the brand by allowing them to customize the product. It is novel in demonstrating that customization is not just a fine-grained segmentation strategy but a brand building tool. It highlights contextual factors affecting the outcome of customization by demonstrating the conditions under which it is most effective.
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Yuan Chang, Xinguo Ming, Xiaoqiang Liao, Yuguang Bao, Zhihua Chen and Wenyan Song
This study is a reference for manufacturers who are promoting their product-service system (PSS) development. Currently, improvements in both digital customization and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study is a reference for manufacturers who are promoting their product-service system (PSS) development. Currently, improvements in both digital customization and sustainability for various smart PSS categories have been considered rarely. This paper addresses this research gap by developing relevant models.
Design/methodology/approach
The development trends of customization-oriented PSS are described in a literature review. An in-depth multiple-case study methodology is adopted, and seven manufacturing companies are sampled. The goal is to identify digital customization measures that can be employed on representative smart PSS models and to explore how these models can create sustainable value.
Findings
This study provides valuable insights by uncovering a synthesis framework for achieving customization of the product/use/result-oriented smart PSSs, and the relevant representative smart functions are summarized. This identifies how digital customization capabilities can improve sustainability, including direct economic value for customers as well as additional social benefits and environmental improvements during customization.
Originality/value
Currently, the influence of digitalization on customized offerings and the relevant impact on sustainability development have not been fully addressed to date. This study provides comprehensive information with a reference value for digital customization transformation among the three main types of smart PSS.
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Li Chen, Yiwen Chen and Yang Pan
This study aims to empirically test how sponsored video customization (i.e. the degree to which a sponsored video is customized for a sponsoring brand) affects video shares…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to empirically test how sponsored video customization (i.e. the degree to which a sponsored video is customized for a sponsoring brand) affects video shares differently depending on influencer characteristics (i.e. mega influencer and expert influencer) and brand characteristics (i.e. brand establishment and product involvement).
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a unique real-world data set that combines coded variables (e.g. customization) and objective video performance (e.g. sharing) of 365 sponsored videos to test the hypotheses. A negative binomial model is used to analyze the data set.
Findings
This study finds that the effect of video customization on video shares varies across contexts. Video customization positively affects shares if they are made for well-established brands and high-involvement products but negatively influences shares if they are produced by mega and expert influencers.
Research limitations/implications
This study extends the influencer marketing literature by focusing on a new media modality – sponsored video. Drawing on the multiple inference model and the persuasion knowledge theory, this study teases out different conditions under which video customization is more or less likely to foster audience engagement, which both influencers and brands care about. The chosen research setting may limit the generalizability of the findings of this study.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that mega and expert influencers need to consider if their endorsement would backfire on a highly customized video. Brands that aim to engage customers with highly-customized videos should gauge their decision by taking into consideration their years of establishment and product involvement. For video-sharing platforms, especially those that are planning to expand their businesses to include “matching-making services” for brands and influencers, the findings provide theory-based guidance on optimizing such matches.
Originality/value
This paper fulfills an urgent research need to study how brands and influencers should produce sponsored videos to achieve optimal outcomes.
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