Market Research
Abstract
This is the fifth edition of Marketing Research and the first that also takes a United Kingdom, European perspective. It continues to reflect the importance of social media, ‘big data’, neuromarketing and the use of online technology in qualitative and quantitative data collection. This edition has a revised chapter on qualitative research, which includes a wider discussion of sentiment analysis in social media and the evolving software approaches that can be used in this area.
This edition of Marketing Research also examines practical examples of market and social research, and what students can learn from the advantages and disadvantages of each research approach when they are applied in real life (Real world snapshots). We also provide tips for conducting research and doing flowcharts, and offer improved and more detailed worksheets that will greatly facilitate the understanding and application of market research techniques by the student and practitioner.
We have worked diligently and carefully to make this edition a book that reflects the fast-paced and dynamic practice of marketing research. We have retained our central approach of making the subject interesting and entertaining for the student. This, we believe, is consistent with the style and learning approach of the original author, Professor William G. Zikmund. Market research, we argue, can be the most fascinating subject for the student, as it is now applied in diverse fields such as health, politics, social marketing, media and law. Therefore, we have continued to include a wider set of examples that reflect this throughout the text
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Free-floating carsharing (FFCS) fleets are inherently volatile spatio-temporally, which presents both a logistical challenge for operators and a service reliability issue for customers. In this study we present a stated-choice survey to investigate the attractiveness to customers of two mechanisms for managing fleet volatility: Virtual Queuing (VQ) and Guaranteed Advance Reservation (GAR). We investigate socio-demographic features and “Big Five” personality traits that are associated ceteris paribus with choosing to use the existing FFCS service model, willingness-to-pay (WTP) for VQ and GAR, and risky-choice behaviour under the uncertainty of FFCS systems. Data (n = 289; 232 employed in analysis) are sourced from existing users of a FFCS service in London, UK. Within the survey context, we found that customers are on average not willing to pay for VQ (i.e. negative WTP), however have £0.54 per journey WTP for GAR, with low-frequency FFCS users and users scoring highly on the Big Five “Conscientiousness” dimension having larger WTP for GAR. When analysing the two dimensions of uncertainty, we found that respondents exhibit risk-seeking behaviour towards price and weaker and insignificant risk-aversion towards walking time. This pattern holds across the three standard model types of nonlinear risky-choice behaviour that we investigated. The results are intended to be useful both to policymakers and carsharing operators who are likely, as the industry matures, to seek mechanisms to differentiate their service offers to better serve individual market segments with distinctive characteristics.
Advancements in the development of neuroscience have created the capacity for neuroscientific methods to be applied to marketing science and ultimately marketing practice. As a relatively nascent subfield in marketing, neuromarketing applies neuroscientific methods to study consumer reactions to specific marketing related stimuli. This study analyzes the use of neuromarketing by for-profit and non-profit organizations from an ethical perspective based on consumers' point of view. The implications of consumers' ethical judgments are also explored. The empirical evidence indicates that consumers perceive the use of neuromarketing-based marketing tactics by for-profit organizations to be unethical, yet the same tactics are considered ethical when non-profit organizations use this tool. The implications of these ethical judgments show the most favorable consumer responses for non-profit organizations that do use neuromarketing based marketing practices and, interestingly, the most unfavorable response for non-profits that forego the use of such practices. Managerial implications are also discussed.
This study assesses how locality of production, method of production, and price of beef and beef products influence purchasing preferences. Consumers were surveyed for demographic, economic, and taste and preference characteristics. A conjoint analysis is implemented to analyze the effect of various product attributes on consumers’ beef purchases. The results reveal that the most important of the attributes for consumers is the distance of origin. Consumers consider beef locally grown if the beef is produced within an 85-mile radius, and the distance of origin accounts for 60% of the total importance from all attributes.
The growing sales of private labels (PLs) pose significant challenges for national brands (NBs) around the world. A major question is whether consumers continue to be willing to pay a price premium for NBs over PLs. Using consumer survey data from 22,623 respondents from 23 countries in Asia, Europe, and the Americas across, on average, 63 consumer packaged goods categories per country, this article studies how marketing and manufacturing factors affect the price premium a consumer is willing to pay for an NB over a PL. These effects are mediated by consumer perceptions of the quality of NBs in relation to PLs. Although the results do not bode well for NBs in the sense that willingness to pay decreases as PLs mature, the authors offer several managerial recommendations to counter this trend. In countries in which PLs are more mature, the route to success is to go back to manufacturing basics. In PL development countries, there is a stronger role for marketing to enhance the willingness to pay for NBs.
The influence of electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) on consumers’ perceptions of price, allowing for consumers having different price acceptability levels, was examined through nine online experiments. Three valences of eWOM were systematically examined: positive, negative, and inconsistent, that is, both positive and negative present in the word-of-mouth communication. When contemplating making a purchase of an item, consumers have ranges of prices that would be acceptable. It was found that eWOM was more influential on consumers’ price perceptions than the advertised price for all price acceptability levels. However, the price perception of an item was found to be less acceptable when eWOM was inconsistent compared to when eWOM was absent or was positive. Inconsistent eWOM had a negative effect on price perceptions but not as great as that when negative eWOM was present and this was consistently found to apply for all price acceptability levels. The market context for the experiments was that of a tourism service, a Group Package Tour in Japan. We present the study’s implications for practitioners in this type of market, as well as the contribution to the research literature on word-of-mouth influence on consumer response to prices.
Microalgae-based food is a source of proteins that, in comparison to meat, offers significant environmental and health-related benefits. A successful market introduction largely depends on consumer acceptance of this food.
The current study investigates the motivational drivers and barriers of the adoption of Spirulina (a specific type of micro-alga)-enhanced food. By means of two qualitative studies and a quantitative survey with 1325 Belgian participants, early adopter consumer segments of Spirulina-enhanced food are identified (sporting individuals, vegetarians and foodies), and compared with a contrast group (life enjoyers). The motivational drivers and barriers to the adoption of eco-friendly Spirulina-enhanced food across the identified consumer segments is assessed. The results show that health consciousness and the willingness to compromise on taste are major motivational drivers of the adoption intention for sporting individuals, vegetarians and foodies. Neophobia only has a negative effect on this adoption intention for the foodies, while it does not play a role for sporting individuals and vegetarians. Neither food involvement nor environmental concern is a significant driver of Spirulina-enhanced food adoption intention.
Implications for marketers and for policy makers are proposed.
We develop and describe a framework for research in digital marketing that highlights the touchpoints in the marketing process as well as in the marketing strategy process where digital technologies are having and will have a significant impact. Using the framework we organize the developments and extant research around the elements and touchpoints comprising the framework and review the research literature in the broadly defined digital marketing space. We outline the evolving issues in and around the touchpoints and associated questions for future research. Finally, we integrate these identified questions and set a research agenda for future research in digital marketing to examine the issues from the perspective of the firm.
Purpose
This paper aims to examine metropolitan Chinese Generation Xers' attitude toward advertising and to determine whether the ranking for ad likeability and dislikeability attributes are the same across Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Design/methodology/approach
A telephone interview of 200 respondents in each city was conducted using a strategy of matched samples. Generation Xers residing in Hong Kong and Shanghai were selected as these two segments are politically more uniform now than before, share similar economic and business structures, and are exposed to the same goods and services. Respondents were first asked to recall three television advertisements they liked/disliked and give as many reasons as possible to explain why they liked/disliked them. They were also asked about their beliefs in advertising.
Findings
The results show that the respondents from both cities find advertising “interesting and entertaining”, but “devious”. In terms of likeable attributes, they like “entertaining”, while “style” is the most disliked attribute. The main difference between the two groups was found in attribute rating. The study concludes by offering several explanations for these variations.
Originality/value
In this study, instead of requesting respondents to interpret what had appeared in the prints or commercials, it examines respondents' verbal descriptions of how they perceived television commercials. This method affords an opportunity to have respondents more freely express their thoughts and feelings about the topic under investigation.
Application of Research winner: Christmas lIVe -Aldi shoppers' journey to Christmas
Market Research Society (2018) Application of
Research winner: Christmas lIVe -Aldi shoppers'
journey to Christmas;
Public Policy/ Social Research winner: Measuring the socio-economic impact of changes to PIP eligibility criteria for people living with MS: A participatory approach
Market Research Society (2018) Public Policy/ Social
Research winner: Measuring the socio-economic
impact of changes to PIP eligibility criteria for
people living with MS: A participatory approach; ICM
Unlimited (agency), accessed at https://www.mrs.
org.uk/resources/awards-case-studies-2018 on 15
May 2019.