infonet-economy

One-to-one marketing has become increasingly popular in the consumer product and service industry. Customization emerged as a marketing trend and allows consumers to proactively participate in the configuration or production process by choosing one or more elements of the marketing mix (Arora et al. 2008). Today, consumers can customize a wide variety of products and services. For example, Dell Computers allows customers to choose the hardware components (e.g., processor, RAM, hard drive, etc.) which best fits their needs when buying a new laptop. By offering consumers the opportunity to tailor products and services to their individual preferences, needs, and budgets, firms aim to differentiate themselves from competitors, increase customer satisfaction, and generate loyalty (Arora et al. 2008). During the customization process of a service bundle (e.g., smartphone plan), consumers typically have to make a series of choices, one for each bundle component (e.g., a choice for minutes, SMS, and data). In this research, we will provide evidence that consumers' satisfaction with the final bundle configuration, bundle price perceptions, and overall spending amounts are determined by (1) whether the choice options for the bundle components are presented all at the same time and decision are made simultaneously versus sequentially (i.e., only the options of one bundle component are presented and choices for each component are made step-by-step) and (2) the price framing used in the configuration process (aggregate bundle price as a running total versus aggregate bundle price together with the detailed option prices). The results of two online experiments show that consumers' are more satisfied with the outcome of the customization process and less price sensitive if only the aggregate bundle price (i.e., the running total) is advertised in simultaneous (versus sequential) customization processes. In contrast, when decisions for each bundle component were made step-by-step, consumers' are more satisfied and less price sensitive if detailed option prices are provided in addition to the aggregate bundle price. Our two studies also shed some light into the psychological process that underlies consumers' different reactions. Besides contributing to consumer decision making and behavioral pricing research, our findings have important implications for service providers on how to design a bundle configuration process that increases both customer satisfaction and spending at the same time.

Slogans such as "Buy Now, Pay Later" or "Same as Cash Financing" are found at many retailers and for a wide variety of products (cars, furniture, toys, jewelry, consumer electronics etc.). For example, Apple offers interest-free financing for 12 (6) months on purchases of US$999 and above (<US$999). Similarly, Europe's leading consumer electronics retailer Media Markt uses interest-free financing to boost sales. By advertising the aggregate selling price (e.g. "€1199.00") together with the monthly installment (e.g. "Only €49.99 per month"), Media Markt hopes to make their products appear more affordable and entice reluctant consumers to buy. Though interest-free deals can save money (cf. time-value-of-money-concept), they are often regarded as consumer traps because they encourage impulsive buying and because of their exorbitant penalty interest rates (up to nearly 30%) for defaults. This is dangerous for financially constrained households and may have contributed to the rise in personal bankruptcies. So far, however, there has been no academic research on consumers' reactions to interest-free deals. Therefore, this research investigates consumers' reactions to interest-free financing deals and shows in four laboratory experiments that evaluative judgments, emotions, behavioral intentions (purchase and financing intentions), and product choices depend on (1) consumers' personal financial situation, (2) how the interest-free deal is framed, and (3) consumers' impulsivity. Our findings are not only relevant for retailers but also for public policy because of the potential negative effects of interest-free deals on consumer welfare.

This research contributes to the psychology of money by showing that merely thinking of money can influence peoples' health risk perceptions. We provide an emotional account for why thoughts of money make people feel more optimistic about health risks and identify boundary conditions for the effects of money priming.

Sleep Deprivation (SD) is a widespread phenomenon. This research investigates the effect of SD on imagery appeals. Imagery appeals urge consumers to imagine additional information to support the target advertisement message and are an influential part of persuasion. Study 1 found that low SD individuals express higher brand attitudes after exposure to an imagery appeal relative to a non-imagery appeal. However, the opposite result was found for high SD individuals. High SD individuals showed increased brand evaluations after exposure to a non-imagery appeal relative to an imagery appeal. Potential underlying mechanisms are discussed.

Assessing subscription models in retailing, we seek to identify the drivers that influence consumers’ attitude towards product
subscriptions. Using Prospect Theory, we find that consumers prefer subscription boxes with surprise content in lower frequencies and
subscription boxes with predefined content in higher frequencies.

Product subscription models have grown in popularity among retailers and consumers. We show that risk perception plays a central role in consumers’ evaluation of product subscriptions. Contrasting with predefined subscriptions, where contents are known to consumers prior to delivery, surprise subscriptions, where contents are unknown to consumers prior to delivery, carry an inherent risk for consumers to receive unwanted products. Surprise-related research, however, has not yet touched upon surprise as a retailing mechanism. Based on Prospect Theory, we delineate that consumers prefer predefined subscriptions in shorter and surprise subscriptions in longer delivery intervals. The degree of perceived risk thus caps the frequency in which consumers prefer recurring subscription deliveries. We show how retailers can manipulate associated risk through the introduction of a free-return option in order to increase consumers’ propensity to select surprise subscriptions in higher frequencies.

Very light jets are designed to constitute a new category of small, cost efficient private jets. Their introduction to the market has been planned for almost a decade and could induce significant changes to the business aviation industry. Among the most discussed effects is the possible emergence of very light jet air taxi operators. Those operators plan to create a new value proposition for passengers by offering on-demand, point-to-point connections at considerably reduced costs in comparison to traditional private jet companies. However, their introduction has been delayed and the market environment in the after-math of the subprime crisis remains challenging. In this context, very light jet air taxi operators will need to prove their business model by offering superior customer value to potential passengers. In order to maximise customer value in the face of trade-offs, operators need to understand their customers’ preferences and how they interact with each other. By adapting the customer value model for very light jet air taxi passengers, this thesis aims at helping practitioners by presenting a useful tool for strategic planning. Further, the adapted customer value model is also intended to present a basic framework for further research on the customer preferences of very light jet air taxi operators.

Ganz ohne Zweifel stellt der Preis einen zentralen Marketing-Parameter dar. Dies hat verschiedene, plausible Gründe: Zum einen wirkt die Preispolitik direkt auf den Deckungsbeitrag und zeitgleich auf die Absatzmenge. Preiserhöhungen bzw. Preissenkungen stehen daher oft in einem progressiven bzw. degressiven Verhältnis zum Gewinn. Zum anderen ist die Wirkungsgeschwindigkeit preispolitischer Massnahmen aussergewöhnlich hoch. Beide Wirkungen haben ihren Ursprung darin, dass der Preis aus Kundensicht einen zentralen Parameter der Kaufentscheidung darstellt. Erscheint dem Kunden der Preis zu hoch, verweigert er den Kauf. Findet er den Preis günstig oder angemessen, wird das Produkt gekauft.

http://www.marke41.de/sites/default/files/media/autoren-pdf/behavioral-p...

Pricing research has traditionally analyzed e.g. consumers judgments of price fairness in terms of consumers' relationship to retailers. This investigation is one of the first that explores the biological correlates of raised insulin levels on buying decision behavior in a price fairness task in order to provide new findings for marketing researchers. The analysis of our data revealed that the perceived price fairness and willingness to pay changed after glucose manipulation. The estimated effects could confirm our assumption that glucose stimulates the monoamine serotonin which finally results in neural activation and in different consumer behavior.