ArticlePDF Available

New areas of research in marketing strategy, consumer behavior, and marketing analytics: the future is bright

Authors:

Abstract

In the last fifty years, marketing theory and practice has made significant advances toward becoming more scientific and rigorous. This paper reviews significant past developments in marketing strategy, consumer behavior, and marketing analytics. The second half of the paper articulates new areas of research in marketing strategy, consumer behavior, and marketing analytics. In the past, techniques were in search of data; in the future data will be in search of techniques including video analytics.
1/18
By Jagdish Sheth February 9, 2021
New Areas of Research in Marketing Strategy, Consumer
Behavior, and Marketing Analytics: The Future is Bright
jagsheth.com/consumer-behavior/new-areas-of-research-in-marketing-strategy-consumer-behavior-marketing-
analytics/
ABSTRACT
In the last fifty years, marketing theory and practice has made significant advances toward becoming more
scientific and rigorous. This paper reviews significant past developments in marketing strategy, consumer
behavior, and marketing analytics. The second half of the paper articulates new areas of research in
marketing strategy, consumer behavior, and marketing analytics. In the past, techniques were in search of
data; in the future data will be in search of techniques including video analytics.
Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to catalog past achievements of marketing practice and theory
and suggest new areas of research in the decade of the twenties. The past has been bright
and the future looks even brighter.
Marketing as a discipline (definition, description, and explanation) is about a hundred years
old. Modern marketing practice is about 200-years old. It began with Thomas Barrett at
Pears Soap Company in England. Barrett invented the techniques of awareness, persuasion
2/18
and promotion, and focused on how Pears Soap was unique (translucent) as compared to
other brands of soaps. This was quickly followed by Unilever in England and by Procter and
Gamble (P&G) in the United States.
Roots of marketing practice go back to trading between buyers and sellers. Organized
trading is about 2500 years old. It began with the famous Silk Route for exchanging Chinese
silk with western products of various trading posts or markets supported by local kings and
tribes. Trading was truly international. Because of its roots in trading, marketing even today is
perceived as selling and buying. Selling is, of course, as old as the civilization.
The evolution of marketing discipline
Marketing discipline was organized around three things: around channels, which led to the
institutional school; around products which led to the commodity school; and around
functions or activities which is referred to as the functional school of marketing (Sheth et al.,
1988).
Marketing as a discipline became unified by the 4Ps of marketing (product, price, place, and
promotion) with a focus on the packaged goods industry (grocery products, which are
consumables as opposed to durables). The 4Ps of marketing concept was further reinforced
by segmentation, positioning, and targeting (SPT) as well as by the concept of differential
advantage.
American Marketing Association (AMA) was established in 1936. It provided the definition of
marketing and further unified the discipline. Three decades later, Marketing Science Institute
was established in 1961. It was a collaboration between the industry (mostly consumer
goods companies) and the academics to jointly explore and discover answers to current and
future real-world problems. MSI provided seed money to marketing scholars to conduct
research on what is referred to as “MSI Research Priorities.”
Marketing both as a practice and a discipline grew enormously in the fifties and sixties. This
was partly due to the post-war boom in demand for branded packaged goods and the
emergence of large regional and national supermarkets such as A&P and Kroger.
At the same time, growth in demand for durable goods such as appliances (refrigerators,
washing machines, dishwashers) as well as the automobiles added to the evolution of
marketing both as a discipline and a practice. Finally, and probably more importantly, the
popularity of television and its almost universal penetration shifted advertising and promotion
from the print to the broadcast media and from the local to the national markets.
Consumers also began to eat out more often with the growth of franchise-based quick-
service restaurants (QSR), such as McDonald’s, KFC, and Pizza Hut.
3/18
Each of the four Ps of marketing became more professional and institutionalized through
processes and systems. For example, product management became a science as did
branding and brand management. Pricing became more sophisticated and price
management across locations and markets emerged as a science than as an art. Universal
product barcodes standardized supply chain and product information. Airlines began to
utilize large-scale computers and yield management became more scientific.
As we will discuss later in the paper, in the quest to become a science, marketing began to
embrace econometrics from economics; longitudinal panels from sociology and political
science; behavioral experiments from psychology; and operations research techniques from
the engineering sciences.
The break up phase
Starting in the sixties, marketing began to diverge into three distinct subdisciplines:
Marketing Strategy, Consumer Behavior, and Marketing Analytics. Each sub-discipline
offered its own courses and their own textbooks. Finally, each sub-discipline has its own
membership associations (AMA, ACR, and INFORMS/ISMS) with their own academic
journals(Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer
Behavior, and Marketing Science).
The rest of the paper will examine the evolution of each sub-discipline and suggest future
research opportunities. We should take pride in how far the discipline of marketing has
come, especially after the second World War.
Evolution of marketing strategy
As mentioned before, managerial marketing began to evolve into marketing strategy. This led
to a shift from consumers to competition soon after the first energy crisis of 1972–1974.
Competition became the focus because of the collapse of companies, especially in the airline
and trucking industry.
President Carter, under lots of economic pressure, decided to deregulate the airline and the
trucking industry. Both industries experienced a great deal of mergers and acquisitions.
Private equity ruled the world and Warren Buffett became a billionaire. GE’s PIMS databases
housed at Harvard Business School led to hundreds of papers on competitive strategy as
opposed to marketing operations (Szymanski et al., 1993).
Marketing strategy research expanded into services marketing and relationship marketing.
Economic growth emerged from the service industries (cell phone networks, utility services,
healthcare, etc.). The focus shifted from the acquisition of new customers to retaining
existing customers. Loyalty programs, key account management, and customer centricity
4/18
became the new mantra. The biggest boost in the strategy area came from the market-
orientation perspective (Kohli & Jaworksi, 1990). It became a popular construct and
generated significant empirical research.
In my view, marketing strategy has run its course and is now struggling with the midlife crisis.
Recently, it has discovered new areas of research such as social media, emerging markets,
and societal marketing. However, it is still searching for a new paradigm or perspective. One
promising perspective is customer centricity.
New frontiers of research in marketing strategy
It appears that marketing strategy will go back to its roots and focus back on managerial
marketing. There are six new areas of research which look very promising toward
revitalization of marketing strategy. All of them are anchored to shifting the focus back on
customers. They are:
(1) Creating Value for Customers. A customer is a buyer and an user. The buyer is looking
for service value; a user is looking for performance value; and a payer is looking for the price
value. In other words, you can always win customers if you offer a superior product with a
reasonable price in a customer-friendly service (Sheth & Mittal, 2001).
(2) Brand Value. A second area of research is developing the intangible asset (or goodwill)
through brand value linked directly to market value of the company. Brands independent of
the products are becoming more and more real and it is resulting in earning royalties through
licensing the brand. Examples include Disney, Harley-Davidson, and most franchise brands.
(3) Discipline of Selling. While selling is as old as the civilization, and we have many books
on sales management as well as what makes someone a good sales person, there is not as
much scientific research on selling. This is about to change. Selling is gaining respect in
marketing as a field of scientific inquiry. This is likely to range from behavioral experiments in
campus laboratories to field experiments in cooperation with companies such as
Salesfroce.com, to key account performance and impact of influencer marketing in social
media.
Selling as a persuasion process can also learn from several disciplines in behavioral
sciences, public opinion, and political sciences. The latest research on nudging by Thaler
and Sustein (2008) is a good example of this new research. What we need is a
comprehensive model of selling as a process similar to the model of buyer behavior (Howard
& Sheth, 1969; Sheth, 2020a).
(4) Science of Pricing. As mentioned before, industry leads in pricing research. It has
resulted in concepts of psychological pricing; price deals (two for one, for example); and
dynamic pricing in many services such as the airlines and the ridesharing services. Pricing in
practice also includes financing and leasing for capital goods in industrial markets and
durable goods in consumer markets in industrial markets. In the academic research, pricing
5/18
has been anchored to economic theories of price elasticity (willingness to pay and ability to
pay), and price as on entry barrier for customers to make a purchase. More recently, pricing
has been a focus of research in behavioral economics including research on risk-taking and
price–quality relationships (Kahneman & Tversky, 2000; Kahneman et al., 1982).
Kent Monroe has been a pioneer in marketing on pricing research using Weber’s concept of
just noticeable difference (JND) in perception (Monroe, 2003). However, more exciting
research in pricing is possible today in the world of digital marketing and social media.
Fundamentally, price is looked upon as an inhibitor in between intention and purchase. Price
as an indicator of quality is another major area of research. Finally, it is possible to do macro
research at a nation level to measure the price image of nations. For example, China is
perceived as a cheap goods manufacturer as were Japan and South Korea at one time. An
index of price-based ranking of nations anchored to quality and performance is a great
opportunity of research at a macro level.
(5) Reverse Marketing. Reverse marketing was coined by Leenders and Blenkhorn (1989),
Blenkhorn and Banting (1991), and Plank and Francis (2001) nearly two decades ago,
specifically for B to B marketing. It is also referred to as demand-driven making
(manufacturing) as opposed to making the product, storing it in the warehouse, displaying at
the retail outlet, and waiting for customers to shop and buy it. Today, with growing online
procurement and shopping on Amazon, AliBaba and Flipkart as well as online sites of all
major brick and mortar retailers (Macy’s, J.C. Penney, Target), the process of buying is
reversed. The order is placed and paid for first and the product or service (airline tickets,
concerts, etc.) is delivered at home, office, or the factory. In fact, most B to B procurement
today is online. This means marketing and supply chain need to be integrated and hopefully
in real time (Sheth et al., 2009).
Reverse marketing is another instance where marketing practice is leading the theory. For
example, is reverse marketing contextual or universal? What are the side effects, such as
stock out or return of merchandise? Should companies integrate supply chain into the
marketing function? What outcomes (cycle time, cost reduction, productivity gain, revenue
growth or cross-selling) are useful to measure for in reverse marketing’s efficiency and
effectiveness? Finally, what impact reverse marketing is likely to have on advertising,
promotion, and salesmanship?
(6) Role of Marketing in Society. Interdependence between marketing and society is the
heart of research in macro marketing including the impact of public policy on consumption
(demand) and on production (supply). Examples include demarketing of harmful products
such as cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption by public policy and regulations. Indeed,
most industries are regulated with respect to product safety, product disclosure, product
labeling, and truth in advertising and lending laws. Marketing, also on the other side, has an
enormous impact on society through social and celebrity-led aspirations as well as peer
group influences. Marketing can and does enhance consumers’ willingness to pay even in
6/18
segments of the society where there is no ability to pay. It is interesting to note that in
consumer markets both the low income and the high-income segments, consumers prefer
and actually buy premium brands while the middle class buys and consumes value brands.
Impact of marketing in encouraging overconsumption is another area of serious concern
especially with respect to obesity and the environment. Social critics often blame marketing
for climate change and sustainability (plastic bottles and packaging materials). Often market
failures are attributed to bad marketing. This has resulted in reviving research on the role of
marketing in society, Can marketing be a force for a better world? What is the role of the
chief marketing officer (CMO) in a company? Does marketing have a role in creating value
for all stakeholders including the community and the planet in addition to delivering revenue
growth and profitability for investors?
Social activism with respect to climate change and the environment is not only growing
worldwide but it is also led by the next generation of young adults. The most obvious
example is the popularity of Greta Thunberg, a teenager from Sweden, who is invited on the
world stage and challenge the business and government leaders about their lack of
commitment to climate change.
Similarly, the United Nations has established the new millennium’s goals of triple bottom line
(profit, people, planet) and is strongly urging both business leaders and policymakers to
embrace the goals and advocate them to the masses and the markets. In my view, marketing
strategy is likely to revert to managerial marketing. In the process, it will focus more on
customers and community and the planet and less on competition.
Evolution of consumer behavior
As mentioned before, Consumer Behavior (CB) as a discipline is only 50 years old. Just as
marketing began to separate itself from economics (with focus on channels of distribution),
consumer behavior began to separate itself from market research. The biggest change took
place when CB borrowed both explanations as well as research methods of behavioral
sciences (social and clinical psychology). George Katona’s classic paper (1951) on the
distinction between the rational consumer advocated in economics versus the behavioral
consumer observed in psychology became key to the start of CB as a stand-alone discipline.
It was referred to as economic psychology. This was further led by several behavioral
scientists including Herbert Simon 1956 (Satisficing vs Maximization), Leon Festinger 1959
(Cognitive Dissonance), and Raymond Bauer 1960 (Risk Reduction).
However, it was the publication of the Howard–Sheth Theory of Buyer Behavior (1969) which
catapulted CB as a separate disciple. This was followed by separate courses in CB with a
popular textbook by Engel et al. (1968). It was further cemented by the establishment of the
Association of Consumer Research (ACR) and later on by its top tier journal, Journal of
Consumer Research (JCR).
7/18
Consumer behavior has evolved overtime. I have identified several stages of its evolution. It
began with a focus on motivation research anchored to Freudian psychology to explain
nonrational or abnormal behavior of the consumers. Motivation research was popularized by
Ernest Dichter (2009). However, it was quickly taken over by social psychology and its multi-
attribute attitude models. In other words, consumers develop predispositions and intentions
based on past experiences as well as information provided by marketers, friends, and
reference groups.
A number of models of attitude formation were advocated including what is referred to as the
disjunctive, conjunctive, lexicographic, and linear additive attributes. This multi-attribute
attitude model culminated in the use of Fishbein and Azjan (1975) model of reasoned
actions.
Multi-Attribute models led to information processing. In other words, how do consumers
process information about brands and products? It led to focus on perception and memory. It
also generated interest in information overload (Jacoby et al., 1974) active search for product
or brand information and perceptual bias (Howard & Sheth, 1969). Information processing
also shifted research methods from field surveys to laboratory experiments in an effort to
establish cause and effect relationship between the outcome and the marketing stimuli such
as an advertisement. Information processing also focused on several biometric and
physiological measures such as galvanic skin pressure, tachistoscope, and pupil dilation.
The underlying objective was to make it more objective by observing actual behavior as a
reaction to the advertisement.
In the eighties, CB began to shift away from the laboratory to the real world. Anchored to
anthropology and sociology, CB scholars began what is referred to as “odyssey research” in
which the researcher is deeply immersed in the field as an observer of how people consume
products and services. Rusell Belk (2014), led the way by organizing the field studies. The
main mission of odyssey research was not to rely on any prior perspective with a priori
hypotheses but to just observe, codify, and validate the observations. The hope was to
develop a theory in use about how consumers behave without any explanation of why they
behave the way they do. Unfortunately, several early pioneers of odyssey research moved
on to other research interests. Consequently, it did not realize its full potential.
In the meanwhile, economics began to embrace the behavioral aspects of consumption soon
after Herbert Simon received the Nobel Prize in economics even though he was not an
economist. This was followed by Kahneman and more recently Richard Thaler. Behavioral
economics became the new buzzword in economics. Economics began to accept the
laboratory methods and the behavioral concepts and theories. In marketing, several scholars
such as Robert Hallaway and Sheth and Venkatesan (1968) carried out similar research
nearly 50 years ago.
8/18
Today, CB is expanding the scope of research into areas which were neglected in the past.
These include low-income consumers and poverty reduction. This is referred to as
transformative consumer research (TCR). It also includes study of the art, music, theater,
and films.
New frontiers of research in consumer behavior
In my view, the biggest new frontiers of research in CB will be user experiences. This is
mostly due to the spectacular growth of social media such as Facebook, WhatsApp,
Instagram and Twitter, as well as Weibo and WeChat (Sheth, 2020b). Social media and
ecommerce are generating large data for research which is unprecedented. Furthermore,
social media are borderless because of their global reach. The largest nations today are not
China and India but Facebook and WhatsApp, each has more than two billion subscribers.
Every political leader today has a Twitter handle and some of them have as many as 50
million followers. The same is true of celebrities from the entertainment and the sports fields.
Today, influencer marketing expenditures have exceeded 6 USD billion dollars and the
largest consumers of social media are China, Japan, and South Korea. Below are seven
areas of new frontiers of research.
1. Focus on User Experiences
The biggest shift in marketing and especially in consumer behavior is the shift from the buyer
to the user. Today, what matters most is consumer experience and engagement. The focus is
on post purchase comments and reviews. The old word of mouth (WoM) which was
predominantly local (neighborhoods) has become global. Online WoM is no longer limited to
people known as friends and family. Today anyone in the world with experience can be a
source of information and influence.
As CB shifts from the buyer to the user, it is inevitable that research techniques and
protocols will also change. It will require learning how to use natural language processing
(NLP) to organize and analyze text data. What was the old qualitative research in the days of
motivation research will become more sophisticated and scientific. Since Facebook and
Instagram data are available everywhere (also from WeChat and Weibo) one would expect
scholars from all over the world including the emerging markets will undertake research and
publish in top academic journals. In short, the democratization of scholarship in CB is
inevitable. It will help the discipline to have cross-cultural perspectives and contexts.
2. Mindful Consumption
As stated before, both public policy and business enterprises are coming to the same
conclusion that sustainability is a key strategic issue of the twenty-first century. With the rise
of the brand-conscious middle class in large emerging markets such as China, India, and
now Africa, there is a strong consensus that planet earth cannot renew and reproduce fast
enough to sustain modern consumption (Apte & Sheth, 2017). One solution is mindful
9/18
consumption. In other words, informing, educating, and enforcing laws and regulations on
consumption is the only way to cope with the tsunami of consumption. It also makes sense
because more than 70% of the carbon footprint comes from the consumer sector and more
specifically from the home and the automobile.
Consumption also impacts water and vegetation. In addition to the three R’s of mindful
consumption (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) it is very likely that different nations will enact
and enforce laws which restrict consumption as well as offer incentives and disincentives for
mindful consumption. Conscious consumption is an excellent area of future research
especially if it is linked to the triple bottom line (people, planet, and profit).
3. Shared Consumption
There is an increasing worldwide trend for sharing such as ridesharing (Uber and Lyft), room
sharing (Airbnb), furniture sharing, as well as garment sharing. This seems especially true
among the well-educated millennial generation in urban areas where they don’t have enough
cash flow to own real assets such as homes and cars.
Sharing consumption is a new phenomenon. While it can be explained by the traditional
economic theories of ability vs willingness to pay or propensity to consume vs propensity to
save, I believe it may also benefit from new perspectives anchored to societal changes in
what consumers do today versus a century ago. It may also require to think through the side
effects of ownership including the stress and the loss of property due to externalities such as
hurricanes and earthquakes. At a macro-level, it will be interesting to analyze the future of
capitalism which is anchored to ownership of material possessions such as homes, cars, and
appliances. Are consumers becoming less materialistic? Russell Belk (1988) in a seminal
paper had provided an excellent framework about material possessions as reflections of the
self and the extended self. As society shifts from kinship to friendship for social interactions,
materialism may get redefined altogether.
4. Cross-Cultural Consumption
Another area of consumer research is cross-cultural differences in consumption of basic
needs such as food, clothing, and shelter. Interest in cross-cultural consumption is growing
for two reasons. First, since the liberalization of trade and creation of economic regional
trade blocks such as USMCA (NAFTA) and regional integration such as the European Union,
product and people mobility has been increasing between nations. Consequently, in most
parts of the world, there are more cross-cultural differences within the country as much as or
more than between the countries. The best representation is the United States where cultural
diversity has grown significantly over time. In California, Texas, and Florida, the majority are
the minorities collectively. Social media and ecommerce have provided access to foreign
products and services which has resulted in more diversity of consumption within each
nation. This has led to fusion in music, concerts, foods, clothing, and films.
10/18
Finally, Sheth (2017) in his book Genes, Climate, and Consumption Culture has documented
that most cultural differences can be explained by the migration and adaptation of genes to
local climate (arctic, temperate, and tropical) for sourcing calories, protein, and fat in foods
and local sourcing of materials such as wool, leather, and cotton for garments and wood,
stone, and clay for homes. The North-South axis not only explains differences in food,
shelter, and clothing but also differences in cultural traits such as punctuality, friendship, and
uncertainty avoidance.
5. Low-Income Consumers
A growing area of interest in consumer behavior is the low-income consumers, defined as
those who earn less than two dollars a day in income. The interest in low-income consumers
began with C. K. Prahalad and his seminal book, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid
(2005). It advocated that there is a great market opportunity if the marketer can make the
product or the service more affordable and accessible.
It is estimated that low-income consumer market is at least 5 USD trillion annually and
growing faster than the global GDP. It is also highly concentrated in Africa and South Asia.
With the cell phone revolution in both continents, access has become more possible through
eCommerce and market exchanges along with online payment systems such as Paytm in
India and Mpesa in Kenya. In other words, what is local, unorganized and unbranded
consumption is transformed into branded and organized. This is especially true for cell
phones, television, and other consumer electronics. It is becoming increasingly true for
garments and personal care products such as toothpaste, soaps, and shampoos.
6. Consumption of Free Goods
Another growing but neglected area is consumption of “free” goods. They are free in the
sense that the user does not pay for the product or the service when making a purchase or
using it. There are three types of “free” goods. The first and the most obvious are social
media and search engines. Facebook, Weibo, WeChat, WhatsApp, Youtube, Twitter,
Instagram, and Google are obvious examples. However, there are also millions of free apps
on everything ranging from dating sites to entertainment and news. In all these cases, the
user does not pay and the marketer has to figure who will pay such as advertisers and the
investors.
The second category of “free” goods are parks and recreation places; museums and public
libraries; and of course highways and freeways. The size of the free goods market is not
documented but it will be safe to assume that globally it may exceed trillions of dollars.
The third category of “free” goods are products and services that are subsidized by the
governments and the world organizations. These include school meals, public transit, non-
thermal energy (solar, wind, electric) water, and other municipal services.
11/18
Since price is not the regulator of demand, it will be replaced by time as a scarce resource.
Time is a perishable asset unlike money. Also, most of the “free” goods are services which
also cannot be stored. Finally, time constraint may result in more peaks and valleys
(weekend vs weekdays and evening vs day time) in demand of free goods.
7. Digital First
The seventh and probably the biggest new frontier of research in CB will be the permanent
shift from the physical first to digital first. Consumers will use their cellphones and laptops
first for information, recommendations, new uses of existing products and services, and learn
the use of new products and services. This has enormous implications for shopping malls
and brick and mortar retail stores. Just as farmers’ markets and flea markets were replaced
by grocery stores and shopping centers, we will see both of them replaced by information
malls and market place exchanges. What was peripheral will become core and what is core
will become peripheral. This has happened before when print media conceded to broadcast
media which are now displaced by social media.
There are several interesting observations and implications of this transformation. First, this
is truly a global phenomenon, whether it is China, India, Europe, or America. Since massive
data are available in the public domain, access to data will no longer be a “data divide”
between the advanced and the emerging market scholars. Second, discontinuity of
generations and succession of family values will make the consumer more dependent on
influencers and peer groups across the globe.
Finally, and most importantly, family or households as a consumption unit will be displaced
by the individual as the unit of analysis, and understanding, and influence.
If the last half-century was exciting in consumer behavior, the next half-century will be even
more exciting for research. Equally important, scholarship in consumer behavior will be more
democratized and equalized between the United States and Europe and between advanced
economies and the emerging markets. Finally, CB will become more mainstream in
behavioral and social sciences including psychology, economics, sociology, and
anthropology. This will lead to further separation of consumer behavior from marketing.
Evolution of marketing science
The roots of today’s marketing analytics go back to the late fifties and early sixties when
several market research companies offered their household panel data for academic
research. Just as PIMs database and Porter’s competitive strategy framework shifted the
marketing discipline from descriptive to predictive science, these longitudinal panels with
actual buying behavior (as reported by panel members) shifted marketing research from
opinions and preferences to analyzing real buying behavior at a brand level. This was further
augmented by Paul Samuelson’s advocacy for “Revealed Preferences” as a basis for data
analysis with the use of econometrics Marketing was also criticized as a “feely touchy”
12/18
science with weak measures. It needed to become more scientific. There were numerous
debates and discussions whether marketing is (or should be) an art or a science. At the
same time, operations research techniques such as linear programming, queing theory,
game theory, and stochastic models became accessible through software platforms such as
BIOMED, SPSS, and SAS. Large-scale data analysis became feasible albeit expensive and
slow in the legacy era of mainframe computers.Several scholars in quantitative marketing
including Alfred Kuehn, Robert Buzzel, Frank Bass, Michael Pessemier, William Massey
(and his students), David Montgomery and Don Morrison, and John D.C. Little and his MIT
colleagues became dominant scholars in marketing’s evolution as a science (Winer & Neslin,
2014).
This was a golden era of operation research across all disciplines of business including
marketing. New journals such as Operations Research Quarterly and Management Science
became dominant academic journals for quantitative papers. In marketing, there was also
the birth of the Journal of Marketing Research (JMR) published by the American Marketing
Association.
In the 1970s and all through the 1990s, operations research techniques began to give way to
multivariate methods (Sheth, 1977) such as factor analysis and discriminant analysis. These
were further augmented by conjoint analysis, multidimensional scaling (MDS), and cluster
analysis.
Paul Green at the Wharton School and several of his former students notably Vithala Rao
evangelized conjoint analysis and multidimensional scaling. Marketing discipline and market
research began to shift from econometrics to psychometrics. This ultimately culminated in
the use of structural equation modeling and LISREL as a comprehensive method to model
cause and effect. Richard Bagozzi became a strong proponent of LISREL as an overarching
conceptual as well as a quantitative method for research in marketing.
In parallel, motivation research anchored to focused groups, in-depth interviews, and
projective techniques began to embrace more physiological measures such as pupil dilation,
tachistoscope, and more recently, brain imaging. Just as operations research shifted
analyzing and understanding consumer preferences to actual buying behavior, biometrics
shifted consumer’s verbal responses to physiological measures. Unfortunately, due to high
cost and long cycle time, biometrics did not become mainstream in marketing science. It
faded away in history and may be rediscovered sometime in the future.
Since the late nineties, there has been resurgence of marketing models anchored to
economics and choice models. Most of the research is large-scale empirical research on
scanner data. Equally popular has been the use of customer lifetime value (CLV) analysis
following theory development anchored to relationship marketing and loyalty programs. The
best-known scholars include V. Kumar, Peter Fader, Scott Neslin, Fred Feinberger, and
Werner Reinhartz. The formation of ISMS and its research journal, Marketing Science
enabled this shift to empirical research and marketing models.
13/18
More recently, there has been a significant shift toward research on big data (non-numerical
data such as text messages) on social media using natural language processing (NLP). A
special focus has been the impact of online word of mouth (WoM) influence of users and
influencers. Social media is now becoming advertising media with user-generated content
surpassing marketer content. For example, YouTube adds millions of userproduced videos
each day. Video is now also a reality on Facebook and WhatsApp. Research on non-
numerical data (qualitative data) has also changed the vocabulary from marketing models to
marketing analytics. In the process, marketing science is less anchored to any one theory.
Instead, it is becoming a discovery science.
The sheer magnitude of big data and its inherent diversity (text, numbers, emoji, video) are
making traditional techniques obsolete. In the past, techniques such as Markov chains and
linear programming were in search of data. In the future, data will be in search of techniques,
most of it not invented yet.
New frontiers of research in marketing analytics
There are at least six new frontiers of research in marketing analytics.
1. Text Mining
The most obvious and the growing field is text mining with the use of natural language
processing (NLP). NLP is becoming a more mature technique and it is converging toward an
agreed-upon methodology of transforming text and other non-numerical data into quantifiable
data suitable for statistical analysis and inference. The potential in text mining is enormous,
ranging from user experiences on a brand, product, or service to spread of false news and
brand rumors. Another major area of text mining is a crosscultural comparison on user-
generated content and product or service experiences. This is especially useful for large
global enterprises such as Starbucks, McDonald’s, Walmart, and Amazon. The third area of
growing research based on text mining is crisis management. How do you cope with such
black swan (Taleb, 2007) events such as the coronavirus? Finally, social media and
especially Twitter data are becoming mainstream for research in political marketing.
2. Emoji Analytics
Emojis have grown significantly as a part of large messy data. We have not yet discovered or
invented a technique to analyze and provide consumer insights anchored to emojis. The
number of emojis has grown exponentially in recent years. While one can use our knowledge
of ideography, we are still at an infancy stage in the analysis of emoji data. Fortunately,
unlike the text data, emojis are well defined and there is a dictionary of meanings for each
emoji. This should enable scholars to analyze the data and discover the emotive dimensions
in user-generated content.
3. Video Analytics
14/18
Probably the biggest wave of information on the worldwide web and social media will be the
video content. This is led by YouTube today but it will be on every major social media
platform. While we know the art and science of video editing from the entertainment (movies
and television) industries, we have no clue how to analyze video content.
Video content is also exploding with online learning through MOOCs such as Courseara and
Edex as well as holding remote conferences and classrooms as we are experiencing now
due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. Platforms such as Zoom and Facetime are
becoming mainstream. Finally, the cost of digital storage is very low. It is almost free as
compared to storage of print documents. What we need is syndicated services such as A.C.
Nielsen panel of television viewing so that the methodology and representations are
standardized for analysis and prediction.
4. Imaging Research
As mentioned before, while biometrics is out of favor in marketing analytics, there is still an
interest in brain research (brain scanning). Brain research is becoming a more mature
science and fMRI is becoming more mainstream. At the same time, facial recognition
techniques are becoming a reality, especially in homeland security. As communities install
more cameras and other surveillance devices and as personal devices such as cellphones
can be accessed by facial recognition. There will be a growing interest in retailing and other
location-based services. The movie, Minority Report, articulated how facial recognition can
be used in shopping as well as in homeland security. Again data will be in search of
techniques.
5. Fuzzy Logic
It is surprising to note that fuzzy logic developed in mathematics more than 40 years ago is
still not used as a technique in marketing. Fuzzy logic is pattern recognition with partial or
insufficient information about an object or an incident. It is a technique embedded in cell
phones and in many manufacturing industries. It is often embedded as a chip in most
imaging devices. Fuzzy logic seems very useful in facial recognition and personal
identification.
6. Forensic Research
Probably the most exciting field of research in marketing analytics is forensic research.
Despite prior market tests, new product failures are still very high. Similarly, most advertising
campaigns do not generate incremental revenue as forecasted despite prior pretests and
consumer feedback. In order to improve the science of marketing, it is maybe more important
to analyze and identify why some products flourish and others fizzle. This is especially
important in emerging markets, where many multinationals fail for the same product or
service they are successful in advanced countries (Immelt et al., 2009). Forensic research is
15/18
a well-established science in criminal investigations. It is becoming more and more common
in accounting to investigate fraud and embezzlement. It is conspicuously absent in marketing
analytics despite the availability of historical data.
As mentioned before, fifty years ago when marketing science emerged as a special field of
research, the techniques were in search of data. In the future, data will be in search of
techniques. Hopefully, scholars in marketing analytics will invent or develop new techniques
to analyze these new types of data.
Drivers of convergence
As mentioned before, over the last fifty years, marketing discipline has diverged into three
subdisciplines: marketing strategy, consumer behavior, and marketing analytics. Each has its
own academic associations, journals, and courses. In both marketing management and
consumer behavior, there are standard textbooks. Marketing analytics is still subsumed
under market research. It is, however, a matter of time before a stand-alone textbook for
marketing analytics will be published, especially in light of offering specialized Master’s
Degree programs in marketing analytics.
After 50 years, it seems that there are four external drivers (forces) which may drive more
convergence among the three sub-disciplines. The first is social media and the user-
generated content. Each discipline now analyzes data from social media for managerial,
methodological, and consumer insights, respectively.
A second external force-driving convergence is the growth of emerging markets. Emerging
markets are transforming from the traditional societies anchored to the agricultural age into
more contemporary societies as they transition the agriculture sector to the manufacturing
sector (China) or the services sector (India). This has led to the rise of a brand-conscious
middle class. The traditional unorganized channels of distribution offering unbranded
products and services are replaced by branded products and services and offered by
organized retailing. Examples include Walmart in India, China, and Mexico, Alibaba in China,
and Flipkart and Amazon in India. Each sub-discipline of marketing (managerial, analytics,
and CB) is all doing research on emerging marketing.
The third external force is the rise of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on a worldwide
basis with a focus on environmental sustainability and climate change. Once again, scholars
in each of the three subdisciplines are doing research on CSR and public policy. Finally,
automation of consumption is now a reality. At the start of the industrial age, there was the
automation of production. This was followed by automation of distribution, which was in turn
followed by automation of commerce culminating today into full-blown ecommerce and
electronic market exchanges. This is now migrating to automation of consumption including
the use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and virtual reality. For example, today it is
possible to have a robot as a companion at home and virtual robots becoming personal
digital assistants (PDA) to carry out most of the daily chores. Alexa and Siri are emerging as
16/18
voice-activated routinization of daily chores from the time a consumer wakes up to the time
he or she goes to sleep. This automation of consumption will encourage each of the three
sub-disciplines of marketing to explore the fundamental shift from the consumer going to the
market to the market coming to the consumer’s home or office.
Concluding remarks
The state of marketing has been bright in the last fifty years as marketing began the
transition from a descriptive to a predictive science. The divergence of marketing into
separate subdisciplines of consumer behavior and marketing analytics has encouraged more
scholars from other disciplines to focus on marketing. The future of marketing in the next 50
years will be even brighter in each of the three sub-disciplines. I admire the younger scholars
and wish them well in ensuring that marketing is well respected by other disciplines as well
as the society at large. Indeed as a discipline, marketing will be even more exciting in the
future.
References
Apte, S., & Sheth, J. N. (2017). The sustainability edge. University of Toronto Press.
Bauer, R. A. (1960). Consumer Behavior as Risk Taking. In R. S. Hancock (Ed.), Dynamic
marketing for a changing world, proceedings of the 43rd conference of the American
Marketing Association (pp. 389–398).
Belk, R. (1988). Possessions and the extended self. Journal of Consumer Research, 15(2),
139–168. https:// doi.org/10.1086/209154
Belk, R. (2014). The labor of the Odysseans and the legacy of the Odyssey. Journal of
Historical Research in Marketing, 6(3), 379–404. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHRM-09-2013-
0056
Blenkhorn, D., & Banting, P. (1991). How reverse marketing changes buyer-seller roles.
Industrial Marketing Management, 20(3), 185–191. https://doi.org/10.1016/0019-
8501(91)90016-9
Dichter, E. (2009). The handbook of consumer motivations. McGraw-Hill.
Engel, J., Kollat, D., & Blackwell, R. (1968). Consumer Behavior. Dryden Press.
Festinger, L. (1959). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford University Press.
Fishbein, M., & Azjan, I. (1975). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior.
Prentice Hall.
Howard, J., & Sheth, J. N. (1969). The theory of buyer behavior. John Wiley and Sons.
17/18
Immelt, J., Govidarajan, V., & Trimble, C. (2009, October). How GE is disrupting itself.
Harvard Business Review, 87, 56–65. Jacoby, J., Speller, D., & Kohn, C. (1974). Brand
choice beha-
vior as a function of information overload. Journal of Marketing Research, 11(1), 63–69.
https://doi.org/10.1177/ 002224377401100106
Kahneman, D., Slovic, P., & Tversky, A. (1982). Judgement- under uncertainty. Prentice Hall.
Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (2000). Choices, values, and frames. Cambridge University
Press.
Katona, G. (1951). Psychological analysis of economic behavior. McGraw Hill.
Kohli, A., & Jaworksi, B. (1990, April). Market-orientation: The construct research
propositions and managerial implications. Journal of Marketing, 54(2), 1–18.
https://doi.org/10.1177/ 002224299005400201
Leenders, M., & Blenkhorn, D. (1989). Reverse marketing: The new buyer-supplier
relationship. Journal of Marketing, 53(2), 129–131.
Monroe, K. (2003). Pricing: Making profitable decisions (3rd ed.). Irwin professional
Publishing.
Plank, R., & Francis, D. (2001). Does reverse marketing reduce conflict in buyer seller
relations? American Business Review, 19(1), 76–83.
Prahalad, C. K. (2005). The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid: Eradicating poverty through
profits. Pearson Education.
Sheth, J. (2017). Genes, climate, and consumption culture: Connecting the dots. Emerald
Group Publishing.
Sheth, J. & Mittal, B. (2001). Valuespace: Winning the battle for market leadership. McGraw
Hill Publishing.
Sheth, J. N. (1977). Multivariate methods for market and survey research. American
Marketing Association.
Sheth, J. N. (2020a). The Howard-Sheth theory of buyer behavior. John Wiley & Sons
(India).
Sheth, J. N. (2020b). Media without borders: Implications for international markets. Journal of
International Marketing, 28(1), 3–12. https://doi.org/10.1177/1069031X19897044
Sheth, J. N., Gardner, D., & Garrett, D. (1988). Marketing theory: Evolution and evaluation.
John Wiley and Sons.
18/18
Sheth, J. N., Sharma, A., & Iyer, G. (2009). Why integrating purchasing with marketing is
both inevitable and beneficial? Industrial Marketing Management, 33(8), 865–871. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2008.12.021
Sheth, J. N., & Venkatesan, M. (1968, August). Risk reduction process in repetitive
consumer behavior. Journal of Marketing Research, 5(3), 307–311. https://doi.org/10.
1177/002224376800500311
Simon, H. (1956). Rational choice and the structure of the environment. Psychological
Review, 63(2), 129–138. https:// doi.org/10.1037/h0042769
Szymanski, D., Bharadwaj, S., & Varadarajan, P. R. (1993, July). An analysis of the market
share-profitability relationship. Journal of Marketing, 57, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/
002224299305700401
Taleb, N. N. (2007). The Black Swan: The impact of the highly improbable. Penguin.
Thaler, R., & Sustein, C. (2008). Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth and
happiness. Yale University Press.
Winer, R., & Neslin, S. (2014). The history of marketing science. World Scientific Publishing.
... Listening to foreign contemporary music is a gateway to culturally diverse experiences (Sheth, 2021). This study defines 'foreign [contemporary] music' as songs currently recorded in non-English languages and performed by musicians whose careers are based outside of the U.S. The term encompasses other related terms such as "world music" and "global music" (Byrne, 1999;Kalia, 2019;Till, 2020;Gillett, 2024). ...
... Young online consumers of digitalized experiential goods represent primary consumers in the music business (Sheth, 2021, p. 8;. With the rise of online business in the post-pandemic era, marketers need to view consumers as users rather than buyers, who value holistic experiences in online consumption of digital content (Sheth, 2021). Online digital content fosters social experiences, enabling individuals to construct their self-identity and establish connections with others online (Hamari et al., 2020;Li et al., 2023), as a form of narcissistic behavior among younger generations (conspicuous or hedonistic experiential consumption driven by the need for uniqueness or novelty) (Kim and Cake, 2024;Nixon, 2006). ...
... Thus, simultaneous and separate examinations of gender and generation in the moderation test are a prerequisite for avoiding generalization errors in examining sociodemographic differences (Fromm, 2023). Thus, it is important to investigate concurrent investigation of generation and gender concurrently (Ameen et al., 2021;Sheth, 2021;Fricke and Herzberg, 2017). ...
Article
Purpose This study aims to examine the younger generations’ experiential consumption of foreign contemporary music online (i.e. digital music streaming services) by generation and gender in the US market. Design/methodology/approach The author proposes a sequential experiential consumption model by applying Jacoby’s refined stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) theory to better understand the experiential sequences in foreign music consumption among young generations in the US market. The proposed model, using structural equation modeling (SEM), examines a cognitive permeable role and a hierarchical affective mediating role. Also, moderating roles of generation and gender are simultaneously tested in overall and specific causal relationships. Findings The refined S-O-R framework is superior to a linear one in better understanding young consumers’ online experiential foreign music consumption behavior. Moreover, hierarchical sequenced affective organismic behavior is crucial to enhance young consumers’ online music consumption experiences to regulate subsequent behavioral responses. Furthermore, gender differences but no generational differences exist in the experiential consumption process among young consumers. Nevertheless, the strength of S-O-R factors affecting experiential consumption seems idiosyncratic simultaneously in gender and generation. Practical implications The study suggests foreign music streaming services boost profitability by focusing on young consumers' psychological ownership and tailored experiences, encouraging a shift from freemium to premium subscriptions. Also, the findings recommend adopting phygital experiences using technologies like AR, VR and MR to enhance engagement and create unique, emotionally resonant experiences for young consumers, thus fostering a more profitable business model. Originality/value The authors address under-researched topics relevant to young generations by applying Jacoby’s refined S-O-R framework to foreign music consumption through online streaming. This approach delves into a lesser-explored consumer behavior framework, highlighting young generations’ musical trends. The model reveals cognitive and affective roles, offering advantages over traditional linear S-O-R models. It also uniquely incorporates the moderating effects of generation and gender in music consumption studies, addressing a gap in music-related studies.
... Richers (1984) describes consumer behavior as the set of mental and emotional activities related to the selection, acquisition, and use of products/services to meet needs and desires. Sheth (2021) underscore the relevance of understanding buying behavior, as marketing aims to satisfy these consumer needs and desires. Therefore, the study of consumer behavior plays a pivotal role in analyzing the rapid consumption cycle of fast fashion, driving a disposable culture and contributing to increasingly fleeting consumption patterns. ...
... Administração de Empresas em revista unicuritiba› The second cluster was composed of the keyword "consumption behavior", encompassing physical and mental activities undertaken by consumers of consumer and industrial goods resulting in decisions and actions, such as purchasing and using products and services, as well as paying for them (Sheth;Mittal;Newman, 2001). ...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the international literature addressing the themes of consumption, sustainability, and fast fashion, focusing on the profile of the studies and their main contributions. Theoretical framework: The theoretical framework relies on a mixed research approach utilizing bibliometric methods via Scopus to analyze articles from 2012 to October 2022. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed research approach was applied, filtering articles from 2012 to October 2022, utilizing bibliometric methods via Scopus. Findings: Results highlight 2022 as a peak year for Scopus-indexed articles on these themes. Notable contributors include the UK, Australia, and the US, with affiliations like Chalmers University of Technology, The New School, and Queensland University of Technology. The journal 'Sustainability' received the most articles. Findings emphasize that fast fashion cultivates a disposable clothing outlook, ignoring environmental consequences. Growing attention to sustainability and social concerns is evident for both consumers and fashion companies. Research, Practical & Social implications: The study sheds light on the growing attention to sustainability and social concerns within the realm of fast fashion. It highlights the need for more sustainable practices in the fashion industry and the potential social impacts of consumer behavior. Originality/value: The study's main contributions lie in its analysis of the international literature on consumption, sustainability, and fast fashion, providing insights into the current trends and highlighting areas for further research. Keywords: Consumption. Fast fashion. Sustainability.
... The study introduces real-time analytics in Marketing 5.0 to enhance customer engagement through personalized experiences [35]. ...
... New trends in marketing development provide real-time analytics for customer value and for evaluating customer behavior. This can further increase customer satisfaction [35]. ...
Article
Full-text available
In today's environment, the connections between Marketing 5.0, Industry 5.0, and Society 5.0 are gaining increasing attention. Governments and businesses are eager to explore how they can boost both economic competitiveness and societal well-being through strategic initiatives. It is important to ensure that technology adoption, ethical governance, and human capital development all align and are in-sync. This review dives into this challenge, aiming to create a theoretical model that provides significant insight on how Marketing 5.0 influences Society 5.0 through Industry 5.0. By analyzing a broad range of literature, the aim was to offer practical suggestions and guidelines for enhancing competitiveness and societal welfare. 48 studies were analyzed studies to discuss the complexities of the relationships between these three domains. The findings suggest actionable steps and strategies for both businesses and policymakers. Finally, the paper serves as a foundation for future research in this area, exploring the synergy between Marketing 5.0, Industry 5.0, and Society 5.0.
... O atual consumidor está mais informado, mais ativo, mais seletivo, com relação ao o que comprar, onde comprar e como comprar. Isso se deve ao cenário atual, com o mundo globalizado e com o uso cada vez maior de ferramentas tecnológicas ao alcance dos clientes (Jagdish Sheth, 2021). Fica, portanto, evidente a importância de um conhecimento mais profundo e prático das estratégias de marketing para o mundo empresarial. ...
Article
Full-text available
Inspirado pela importância das estratégias de marketing para diversas organizações, este estudo visa analisar a prática e efetividade das estratégias adotadas de Marketing de Experiência da Heineken Experience, espaço histórico da cervejaria Heineken, localizada em Amsterdam, nos Países Baixos, com o objetivo de proporcionar uma experiência positiva aos frequentadores. Trata-se de um estudo de caso, feito com metodologia qualitativa e descritiva. Para melhor fundamentar a pesquisa, foi realizada uma entrevista semiestruturada e um tour da empresa. Diferente do que poderia-se esperar com base na literatura da teoria vigente, foi constatado que as estratégias de marketing usadas pela Heineken Experience são implementadas de maneira heterodoxa. À luz desta aplicação inovadora da teoria vigente, percebe-se uma possível lacuna no que se refere à interface da teoria e da prática do conhecimento das estratégias de marketing. Por um lado a análise das estratégias de marketing da Heineken Experience confirmam em boa parte a teoria vigente, mas, por outro lado, foi verificado que a empresa não utiliza segmentação de mercado e que a maneira específica de aplicação das estratégias dos 4Ps foge do padrão esperado, sendo implícita e não explícita.A análise apresentada aqui aponta um possível caminho para melhor entender, e portanto ensinar, a aplicação prática da teoria de marketing. Esse avanço contribui também para recontextualizar certos aspectos teóricos do pensamento convencional. Ressalta-se a primazia da eficácia do marketing, independentemente de sua adequação ou não aos moldes teóricos tradicionais.
... Operationally, these figures indicate a pervasive deficiency in the customer support function. At a more fundamental level, such trends signify existential challenges for marketing philosophy and practice since customer satisfaction is its central tenet (Sheth, 2021). More specifically, while firm-directed voicing is generally regarded as the hallmark of a functional and healthy relationship (Henthorne et al., 2018;Istanbulluoglu et al., 2017), such appeals to third parties unequivocally signal heightened dispute-severity and impairment (Singh, 1989). ...
Article
To form a common platform for research on the impact of digital transformation of the economy, theoretical, methodological aspects of interaction marketing and relationship marketing in the system of economic mechanism of enterprises, business entities, it is logical to turn to their genesis, since the economic situation in Ukraine and its regions demonstrates the origins of all modern problems of production and services. The relevance of the topic is due to a wide range of competing marketing concepts, the inconsistency of which has only increased over the past 20 years of the XXI century. The analysis of scientific positions carried out in this work showed their limitations, focus on solving specific problems and insufficiency for the formation of a common research platform. The work sets and substantiates the following tasks of linkage marketing and relationship marketing: aspects of the formation and development of the concept of holistic interaction marketing within the framework of using linkage marketing and relationship marketing (partnership marketing) are considered; the stages of marketing evolution in the context of digitalization are substantiated, components of marketing in authoritarian and market systems are presented; the client-model of the life cycle of relationships with the buyer is shown; the author’s conceptually deployed model of the relationship with the buyer is developed. It also considers a client-model of influence of information technologies upon interaction between a seller and a buyer and reveals discrepancies between the desired and actual degree of satisfaction of the parties with relations, which arise as a result of introduction of an information system when using information and communication technologies, by the method of R. Vlosky and D. Winston. It is concluded that with a certain variety of scientific positions of domestic and foreign scientists, including: H. Hokasin, J. Johansson, K. Gronros, L. Stern and Anne Coughlan, G.L. Bagiev, I.M. Akimova, E. Gumesson, R. McKenna, V.P. Pleskach, N.S. Struk, V.V. Stadnik, T.B. Reshetilova and T.V. Kuvaeva, I.O. Tarlapov, etc. common to all is a value-oriented approach, long-term mutually beneficial cooperation of the enterprise, company, firm with consumers using the tools of interaction marketing, relationship marketing in the process of joint creation of economic value in combination with the formation of consumer utility.
Article
Full-text available
تهدف الدراسة الى اختبار العلاقة بين تداول المنتجات المقلدة عبر الانترنت وتأثيرها على سلوك المستهلك العراقي اذ يعاني السوق العراقي من انتشار وازدياد المنتجات المقلدة، ركزت الدراسة على تشخيص سلوك المستهلك العراقي تجاه المنتجات المقلدة ومدى مساهمة الانترنت ومواقع التواصل الاجتماعي في نشر وتداول هذه المنتجات، تأتي هذه الدراسة مختلفة بكونها تناولت جانب تداول المنتجات المقلدة عبر الانترنت وخلال فترة جائحة Covid-19 والتي شهدت ازياد الطلب على شراء المنتجات عبر الانترنت خلال فترة الجائحة، وقد ساعدت الدراسة في تحليل سلوك المستهلك العراقي اتجاه المنتجات المقلدة وبيان العوامل التي تؤثر في شراءه لهذه المنتجات، اعتمدت الدراسة على الاستبيان الالكتروني كأداة لجمع البيانات تم جمع بيانات (469) فردا جرى اختيارهم بصورة عشوائية من مستخدمي السلع الاستهلاكية (الاجهزة الكهربائية) في البيئة العراقية، استمرت فترة جمع البيانات من 12-11-2021 ولغاية 2-1-2022 وقد اعتمد المنهج التحليلي الوصفي في تحليل اجابات افراد العينة، اظهرت نتائج البحث ان شبكة الانترنت ومواقع التواصل الاجتماعي قد ساهمت بانتشار المنتجات المقلدة خلال فترة الجائحة كما بينت الدراسة ان سلوك المستهلك العراقي اتجاه هذه المنتجات ينظر لها كبديل مناسب منخفض التكلفة مستعد لشرائها ما دامت تؤدي الغرض المطلوب ولا تسبب ضرر له وما ساعد من انتشار المنتجات المقلدة في السوق العراقية هو ضعف الرقابة الحكومية وقد ساهمت مواقع الانترنت وشبكات التواصل الاجتماعي من اتساعها خصوصا خلال فترة جائحة Covid-19.
Article
Full-text available
The study aims to test the relationship and impact between the counterfeit products via the Internet and behavior of the Iraqi consumer, as the Iraqi market suffers from the spread and increase of counterfeit products. The study is different in that it dealt with the aspect of trading counterfeit products via the Internet and during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic, which witnessed an increase in the demand for purchasing products via the Internet during the period of the pandemic. The study was based on the electronic questionnaire as a data collection tool. The data of (469) individuals were randomly selected from users of consumer goods (electrical appliances) in the Iraqi environment. The data collection period lasted from 11-12-2021 until 1-2-2022. The analytical approach was adopted. Descriptive In analyzing the answers of the sample, the results of the research showed that the Internet and social networking sites have contributed to the spread of counterfeit products during the pandemic period. The study also showed that the behavior of the Iraqi consumer towards these products is viewed as a suitable, low-cost alternative ready to buy them as long as they serve the required purpose and do not cause harm. What has helped the spread of counterfeit products in the Iraqi market is the weakness of government control, and websites and social networks have contributed to its expansion, especially during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Article
Full-text available
Impulse buying behaviour (IBB) in online context is becoming increasingly popular with new emerging technologies (AI-based) such as chatbots, virtual recommendation agents, and personalised user interfaces. However, the scarce in literature in this domain shows the need for more explorations of this field. We compile the OIBB literature using a bibliometric study of 174 papers to bridge this gap. Five major themes emerged from our review: (a) Purchase intention and OIBB; (b) Online Store features and OIBB; (c) Technology & OIBB; (d) AI & OIBB; and (e) Customer relation & OIBB. Four major vital areas were also identified: (a) Online Purchase Intention: Role of technology and trust; (b) Factors leading impulsive internet purchases; (c) Individuals' motivation to perform impulse buying behaviour; and (d) Methodology involving Behavioural Research. Finally, we provide a set of methodical research recommendations based on the TCCM framework.
Article
Full-text available
This article focuses on the impact of digital platforms on international marketing. It describes the evolution of social media and its influence on marketing. After identifying a typology of context for international marketing, the author identifies and describes five dimensions of value creation in marketing: access, affordability, acceptance, awareness, and activation. Finally, this article provides future implications for areas of research in social media and international marketing.
Article
Full-text available
This experimental study of consumer decision making over time explored risk-reduction processes of information seeking, prepurchase deliberation, and brand loyalty. Perceived risk was manipulated by creating low-risk and high-risk groups. The task was to choose among brands of hair spray. Results showed that information seeking and prepurchase deliberation declined over time and brand loyalty increased over time.
Chapter
This book presents the definitive exposition of ‘prospect theory’, a compelling alternative to the classical utility theory of choice. Building on the 1982 volume, Judgement Under Uncertainty, this book brings together seminal papers on prospect theory from economists, decision theorists, and psychologists, including the work of the late Amos Tversky, whose contributions are collected here for the first time. While remaining within a rational choice framework, prospect theory delivers more accurate, empirically verified predictions in key test cases, as well as helping to explain many complex, real-world puzzles. In this volume, it is brought to bear on phenomena as diverse as the principles of legal compensation, the equity premium puzzle in financial markets, and the number of hours that New York cab drivers choose to drive on rainy days. Theoretically elegant and empirically robust, this volume shows how prospect theory has matured into a new science of decision making.
Article
An issue debated frequently in the international marketing literature centers on whether a business should pursue a strategy that is standardized across national markets or adapted to individual national markets. Of the two aspects relating to standardization of marketing strategy across national markets—(1) standardization of the pattern of resource allocation across marketing mix variables integral to a business's marketing strategy and (2) standardization of the strategy content with respect to individual marketing mix variables—the latter has been the subject of numerous conceptual articles. However, there is a relative dearth of empirical studies on both issues. To partially fill this void, this study addresses empirically the question of the standardization of the pattern of resource allocation among marketing mix variables across national markets. The question is addressed by examining whether competitive strategy and industry structure variables affect market share and business profits similarly or dissimilarly across Western markets, that is, the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Western Europe. The results reveal that with few exceptions, the effects of competitive strategy and market structure variables generalize across these markets. The study findings provide insights into both the merits of standardizing the strategic resource mix across Western markets and the competitive strategy and market structure variables that are major explanators of business performance across Western markets.
Article
The literature reflects remarkably little effort to develop a framework for understanding the implementation of the marketing concept. The authors synthesize extant knowledge on the subject and provide a foundation for future research by clarifying the construct's domain, developing research propositions, and constructing an integrating framework that includes antecedents and consequences of a market orientation. They draw on the occasional writings on the subject over the last 35 years in the marketing literature, work in related disciplines, and 62 field interviews with managers in diverse functions and organizations. Managerial implications of this research are discussed.
Article
A currently popular position among consumer advocates and many public policy makers is that more product information is better. A 3 (number of brands) × 3 (number of items of information per brand) factorial experiment which tested this contention revealed that, while consumers do feel more satisfied and less confused, they actually make poorer purchase decisions with more information.
Book
The book is all about how the genes adapted to local climate for food, shelter and clothing resulting in sharp cultural differences in consumption. These differences are very pronounced between northern and Southern Europe. And within a country where there are climate differences between arctic, temperate and tropical climates. For example, there are iffremces between northern and southernItaly as there are between northern and southern India. The same theory also provides explanations of differences among cultures with respect punctuality, individualism, territorialism and technology preference.