The purpose of this paper is to investigate how frontline employee self-disclosure influences consumers’ reciprocal behavior. To investigate the effects of frontline employee self-disclosure, two experiments were conducted with a total sample of 475 participants. The results show that when frontline employees disclose personal information in one-time encounters, they are perceived as less competent and more superficial. The results also show that self-disclosure negatively affects reciprocal behavior, but that this is mediated through liking, competence, superficiality, and satisfaction. These findings suggest that it is not always beneficial for employees to use self-disclosure as a strategy for garnering a consumer's trust or satisfaction, which counters previous research that suggest that disclosure of personal information is a good way to positively influence consumers in the retail environment.

This study concerns the effect that music has on consumer behavior in two different retail contexts during regular opening hours. Two studies were conducted in a field setting with consumers (N=550). Consumers were recruited to answer questions regarding behavioral measures, attitudes, and mood during days when background music was played. The conclusions from the two studies are that music affects consumer behavior, but also that the type of retail store and gender influences both the strength and direction of the effect

Planning policies in several European countries have aimed at hindering the expansion of out-of-town shopping centers. One argument for this is concern for the increase in transport and a resulting increase in environmental externalities such as CO₂-emissions. This concern is weakly founded in science as few studies have attempted to measure CO₂-emissions of shopping trips as a function of the location of the shopping centers. In this paper we conduct a counter-factual analysis comparing downtown, edge-of-town and out-of-town shopping. In this comparison we use GPS to track 250 consumers over a time-span of two months in a Swedish region. The GPS-data enters the Oguchi’s formula to obtain shopping trip-specific CO₂-emissions. We find that consumers’ out-of-town shopping would generate an excess of 60 per cent CO₂-emissions whereas downtown and edge-of-town shopping centers are comparable.

Consumers face considerable frustration when purchasing structurally and/or semantically complex

high-involvement products online. Reliance on computer-mediated communications for their

information needs may result in functional and emotional frustration from information overload

and lack of personal trust. This paper proposes a responsive real-time information system as a proxy for

a perceptive sales representative who assesses customer needs based on information exchanges and

then offers appropriate responses. By tracking and analyzing a consumers online activity, vendors can

offer information relevant to the consumers real-time needs, facilitating their purchase process. In

essence, this is a real-time value co-creation process based on the consumer offering cues to vendors

through their key strokes and mouse click activity. This allows for differentiated information offerings

for inexperienced and more experienced consumers, creating value by dynamic information serving.

Where appropriate value is created, consumers will experience less frustration and continue online,

rather than possibly moving offline or to alternative vendors. In examining the bases of consumer

information needs in complex purchases, this paper identifies the data required to enable a responsive

dialog between vendors and consum

Gibrat's Law predicts that firm growth is a purely random effect and therefore should be independent of firm size. The purpose of this paper is to test Gibrat's law within the retail industry, using a novel data-set comprising all surviving Swedish limited liability companies active at some point between 1998 and 2004. Very few studies have previously investigated whether Gibrat's Law seems to hold for retailing, and they are based on highly aggregated data. Our results indicate that Gibrat's Law can be rejected for a large majority of five-digit retail industries in Sweden, since small retail firms tend to grow faster than large ones. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

The effects of in-store music on consumer behavior have attracted much attention in the marketing literature, but surprisingly few studies have investigated in-store music in relation to employees. By conducting a field experiment in eight Filippa K fashion stores in Stockholm, Sweden, we investigate whether it is beneficial for store owners to give employees more opportunities to influence the in-store music. We randomly assigned the stores into a treatment group and a control group, with the employees in the treatment stores having the opportunity to influence the in-store music through an app developed by Soundtrack Your Brand (SYB). The experiment lasted 56 weeks and sales data were also gathered 22 weeks before the experiment, resulting in a total of 4626 observations. Our results show that sales decreased by 6% when the employees had the opportunity to influence the music played in the store, and the effect is driven by a reduction in sales of women's clothing. Interviews with the employees revealed that they had diverse music preferences, frequently changed songs, and preferred to play high-intensity songs. Employees thus seem to make choices regarding the in-store music that reduce sales, implying that store owners might want to limit their opportunities to influence the background music.

Gibrat’s Law predicts that firm growth is a purely random effect and therefore should be independent of firm size. The purpose of this paper is to test Gibrat’s law within the retail industry, using a novel data-set comprising all surviving Swedish limited liability companies active at some point between 1998 and 2004. Very few studies have previously investigated whether Gibrat’s Law seems to hold for retailing, and they are based on highly aggregated data. Our results indicate that Gibrat´s Law can be rejected for a large majority of five-digit retail industries in Sweden, since small retail firms tend to grow faster than large ones.

Gibrat's Law predicts that firm growth is a purely random effect and therefore should be independent of firm size. The purpose of this paper is to test Gibrat's law within the retail industry, using a novel data-set comprising all surviving Swedish limited liability companies active at some point between 1998 and 2004. Very few studies have previously investigated whether Gibrat's Law seems to hold for retailing, and they are based on highly aggregated data. Our results indicate that Gibrat's Law can be rejected for a large majority of five-digit retail industries in Sweden, since small retail firms tend to grow faster than large ones.

The effects of in-store music on consumer behavior have attracted much attention in the marketing literature, but surprisingly few studies have investigated in-store music in relation to employees. By conducting a field experiment in eight Filippa K fashion stores in Stockholm, Sweden, we investigate whether it is beneficial for store owners to give employees more opportunities to influence the in-store music. We randomly assigned the stores into a treatment group and a control group, with the employees in the treatment stores having the opportunity to influence the in-store music through an app developed by Soundtrack Your Brand (SYB). The experiment lasted 56 weeks and sales data were also gathered 22 weeks before the experiment, resulting in a total of 4626 observations. Our results show that sales decreased by 6% when the employees had the opportunity to influence the music played in the store, and the effect is driven by a reduction in sales of women's clothing. Interviews with the employees revealed that they had diverse music preferences, frequently changed songs, and preferred to play high-intensity songs. Employees thus seem to make choices regarding the in-store music that reduce sales, implying that store owners might want to limit their opportunities to influence the background music.

The effects of in-store music on consumer behavior have attracted much attention in the marketing literature, but surprisingly few studies have investigated in-store music in relation to employees. By conducting a field experiment in eight Filippa K fashion stores in Stockholm, Sweden, we investigate whether it is beneficial for store owners to give employees more opportunities to influence the in-store music. We randomly assigned the stores into a treatment group and a control group, with the employees in the treatment stores having the opportunity to influence the in-store music through an app developed by Soundtrack Your Brand (SYB). The experiment lasted 56 weeks and sales data were also gathered 22 weeks before the experiment, resulting in a total of 4626 observations. Our results show that sales decreased by 6% when the employees had the opportunity to influence the music played in the store, and the effect is driven by a reduction in sales of women's clothing. Interviews with the employees revealed that they had diverse music preferences, frequently changed songs, and preferred to play high-intensity songs. Employees thus seem to make choices regarding the in-store music that reduce sales, implying that store owners might want to limit their opportunities to influence the background music.

Can a simple point-of-purchase (POP) shelf-label increase sales of organic foods? We use a random-effects׳, random-coefficients׳ model, including a time adjustment variable, to test data from a natural experiment in a hypermarket in Gävle, Sweden. Our model incorporates both product specific heterogeneity in the effects of labeling and consumer adjustment to the labels over time. We find that the introduction of POP displays leads to an increase in sales of organic coffee and olive oil, but a reduction in sales of organic flour. All targeted products became less price-sensitive. The results reveal that product specific differences have to be accounted for, and in some cases consumers adjusted to labeling over time.

Socially constructed marketing imageries (e.g. e-atmospherics) help consumers while making choices and decisions. Still, human and retailing technology interactions are rarely evaluated from a social practice perspective. This article explores the potential impact of socially constructed e-atmospherics on impulse buying. A framework with three interrelated factors, namely social acoustic, co-construction and mundane language enactment is analysed. The way these allow for e-social norms to organically emerge is elaborated through a set of propositions. Retailing implications are subsequently discussed.

Socially constructed marketing imageries (e.g. e-atmospherics) help consumers while making choices and decisions. Still, human and retailing technology interactions are rarely evaluated from a social practice perspective. This article explores the potential impact of socially constructed e-atmospherics on impulse buying. A framework with three interrelated factors, namely social acoustic, co-construction and mundane language enactment is analysed. The way these allow for e-social norms to organically emerge is elaborated through a set of propositions. Retailing implications are subsequently discussed.

While personal data is invaluable to firms, the drivers of e-commerce customers' willingness to disclose their personal data remain tenuous. Using social exchange theory, we develop a model that explores the impact of consumers' perceived benefit, and relative power, on store trust, in turn driving their willingness to disclose their personal data. We collected our empirical data using a representative online survey, with the results being analyzed by using structural equation modeling. The results corroborate that (a) consumer-perceived e-commerce store trust drives their willingness to disclose their personal data, and (b) perceived e-commerce provider reciprocity outweighs consumers’ perceived data disclosure benefit, suggesting the existence of symbolic (vs. purely instrumental) social exchange.

The purpose of this paper is to unearth the bi-directional and stratified nature of service encounter interactions. Drawing on a detailed empirical study of service demeanour in mobility service seen from a customer perspective, we outline a classification of 6 overarching demeanour practices, 20 sub-activities, and interactional sequences, explaining how value co-formation is realized. We suggest that value derives from bi-directional activities mutually combined in congruent ways, avoiding counterproductive interactions.

The purpose of this paper is to unearth the bi-directional and stratified nature of service encounter interactions. Drawing on a detailed empirical study of service demeanour in mobility services, seen from a customer perspective, we outline a classification of 6 overarching demeanour practices, 20 sub-activities, and interactional sequences, explaining how value co-formation is realized. We suggest that value derives from bi-directional activities mutually combined in congruent ways, avoiding counterproductive interactions.

The structural transformation of retail is challenging for many small cities. Rather than seeing the retailer as a sole player, this article considers retail in small cities to be shaped in a retail eco system consisting of many different actors besides retailers such as municipalities, landlords, business/city organisations, customers/citizens. The key contribution of the article is to provide new perspectives on the challenges and management of retail in small cities by applying a metaphor from the culture and fine arts sector, orchestration. The article is based on a combination of in-depth interviews and participant observation at three small cities in Sweden. In total, 38 interviews have been conducted with representatives of retailers, municipality, business/city associations and landlords. The general aspects of retail eco system as an orchestra are presented according to Klein and Kozlowski, (2000) multilevel constructs: compiled (bottom-up), composite (top-down) and emergent (culture, history). Thereafter, a number of orchestration techniques, structured around Pine and Gilmore, 1999 dimensions of experiences are presented. The article shows that the future of retailing in small cities is not merely dependent on the retailers, but on collaborations with other retailers, landlords and municipalities. An understanding of consumer culture and development of entrepreneurship culture and networks is crucial for survival and prosperity. Furthermore, rather than copying strategies developed both in and for metropolitan areas, there is a need to build on and strengthen the characteristics of the local retail eco system and the community brand identity.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore the relationship between frontline employees' service orientation, negative emotions and handling strategies during situations of customer incivility involving phubbing. In such situations, the logic and the practical implications of service orientation are challenged. Drawing on a survey of 2,940 employees in the Swedish retail sector, the paper shows that service orientation impacts upon how situations involving difficult customers are handled, and that this impact is mediated by employees’ negative emotional reactions. The paper contributes to retail management by pointing to the limitations of solely relying on service orientation and similar ideals in situations of customer incivility.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore the relationship between frontline employees’ service orientation, negative emotions and handling strategies during situations of customer incivility involving phubbing. In such situations, the logic and the practical implications of service orientation are challenged. Drawing on a survey of 2,940 employees in the Swedish retail sector, the paper shows that service orientation impacts upon how situations involving difficult customers are handled, and that this impact is mediated by employees’ negative emotional reactions. The paper contributes to retail management by pointing to the limitations of solely relying on service orientation and similar ideals in situations of customer incivility.

The purpose of this paper is to explore expectations among front-line employees regarding their customers and how these expectations can be understood in relation to strategies of customer participation and value co-creation. Two categories of expectations are identified; operative and interactive. In particular, the operative expectations reveal a service practice that is heavily structured by large-scale systems and ideals of rational efficiency. It is argued that co-creation needs to be discussed on both the strategic level, i.e. in terms of what the “customer”/market wants, and on the operative level, where the customer’s direct contribution to the value-creating process has its focus.

Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered autonomous vehicles (AVs) are one of the most disruptive technologies with potentially wide-ranging social implications, including improvements in passenger/driver safety, environmental protection, and equity considerations. The current research extends the UTAUT2 model in the context of fully AVs (level 5 automation) to determine and rank determinants of intention to adopt AVs. Collected data from 378 respondents were analysed by a hybrid approach employing partial least squares (PLS) complemented by the Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference Systems (ANFIS) technique. According to the findings, five major determinants emerged: trust, hedonic motivation, social influence, compatibility, and effort expectancy. Furthermore, compatibility positively moderates the association between performance expectancy and intention to use AVs. The findings shed light on determinant factors, their level of importance, and the potential interplay between them in shaping individuals’ intention to adopt and use AVs. Furthermore, the current research provides valuable insights to carmakers, technology developers, and practitioners on determinants of AVs adoption, assisting them in devising effective AVs-related strategies.

A mail survey was conducted to investigate factors affecting public transport users´ satisfaction with the service. The respondents were residents of a metropolitan area of Sweden. A model was proposed and estimated using the maximum-likelihood method available in LISREL VIII. In the model, overall cumulative satisfaction is positively related to attribute-specific cumulative satisfaction which in turn is negatively related to the remembered frequency of negative critical incidents. In addition, measurement models indicated that both attribute-specific satisfaction and the frequency of negative critical incidents are related to treatment by employee, reliability of service, simplicity of information, and design.

New digital food platforms are being launched accompanied with the promise of also promoting more sustainable food consumption. However, despite some success, many of these efforts to digitally reconfigure consumers food practices fail. The aim of this paper is to empirically explore, conceptualize and explain such failures. Taking a practice theory approach, and drawing on a field experiment using the Karma app – an anti-food waste app – the paper shows that the inability of this app to promote a new way of acquiring food is due to glitches - app failures of different sorts - but also practice conflicts. Two types of practice conflicts, practice mismatch and practice competition, make the fostering of a new sustainable food provisioning practice difficult.

Retailers are the gatekeepers between consumers and eco-friendly products. As such, they can influence green shopping behavior. The results of an eye-tracking experiment show that retailers can attract consumers’ visual attention and increase the green premium through various practices such as providing relevant information, orienting consumers inside the store, and offering an eco-friendly product assortment. Managerial implications are to use green-colored price tags to signal eco-friendly products, while avoiding greenwashing practices that can distract consumers from finding the eco-friendly products they look for.

This paper empirically measures the potential spillover effects of big-box retail entry on the productivity of incumbent retailers in the entry regions, and investigates whether the effects differ depending on 1) if the entry is in a rural or urban area, and 2) if the incumbent retailers are within retail industries selling substitute or complement goods to those found in IKEA. To identify the IKEA-entry effect, a difference-in-difference model is suitable, but traditionally such estimators neglect the possibility that firms’ sales are determined by a process with spatially interactive responses. If ignored, these responses may cause biased estimates of the IKEA entry effect due to spatial heterogeneity of the treatment effect. One objective of this paper is thus to propose a spatial difference-in-difference estimator accounting for possible spatial spillover effects of IKEA entry. Particular emphasis is placed on the development of a suitable weight matrix accounting for the spatial links between firms, where we allow for local spatial interactions such that the outcome of observed units depends both on their own treatment as well as on the treatment of their neighbors. Our results show that for complementary goods retailers (or one-stop shopping retailers) in Haparanda and Kalmar, productivity increased by 35% and 18%, respectively, due to IKEA entry. No statistically significant effects were found for the entries in Karlstad and Gothenburg, indicating that it is mainly incumbents in smaller entry regions that benefit from IKEA entry. Also, for incumbent retailers selling substitute (or comparison shopping) goods no significant effects were found in any of the entry regions, indicating that it is mainly retailers selling complementary goods that benefit from IKEA entry. Finally, our results also show that ignoring the possibility of spatially correlated treatment effects in the regression models reduces the estimated impact of the IKEA entries in Haparanda and Kalmar on productivity in one-stop shopping retail firms with 3% and 0.1% points, respectively. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd

This paper explores the effects of multi-sensory congruent cues om shoppers’ emotions and purchase behavior in designing retail store atmosphere. Prior research suggests atmospheric stimuli to contribute to establish an appealing atmosphere and studies have confirmed that shoppers react to different stimuli. However, extant studies have not examined how multi-sensory congruent cues added to a visually dominant store atmosphere might impact shopper emotions and purchase behavior. The findings demonstrate a positive effect of multi-sensory congruent cues on shoppers’ emotions, through valence, and purchase behavior, through time spent and purchase. It is evident that shoppers perceive multi-sensory cues, such as auditory and olfactory ones, to be more effective in a dominant visual store atmosphere compared to only adding new visual stimuli. For retailers, a visually dominant store atmosphere should be designed more in the direction of a multi-sensory atmosphere in offering shoppers more appealing experiences of the retail setting.

This study creates a framework for evaluating the sales impact of adding an online channel to an existing network of physical stores. Using a unique database consisting of pooled customer data from a Swedish retailer's online and offline stores, it investigates the purchase behavior of customers before and after the introduction of an online channel. The data overcome a crucial obstacle present in previous studies in that they permit matching of individual-level customer data for both online and offline behavior. The results show significant and substantial effects of online channel introduction on customer acquisition as well as on cannibalization of physical stores.

The aim of this paper is to explore how a company can create a compelling brand meaning by orchestrating what is said in different points of contact with the brand. A case study of Scandinavia's largest store suggests that, in order to create a compelling brand meaning, a retailer need to manage oral and written stories, as well as stories told by facilities, goods, and services. It is argued that all stories need to be coherent in the sense that they all fit the brand meaning, and that it sometimes may require expansion of the retailer's control boundary. The case study also suggests that reality shows can be important points of contact, very much due to their ability to tell credible stories that can humanize the brand, and that individual employees can constitute important assets in these stories.

The aim of this paper is to explore how a company can create a compelling brand meaning by orchestrating what is said in different points of contact with the brand. A case study of Scandinavia's largest store suggests that, in order to create a compelling brand meaning, a retailer need to manage oral and written stories, as well as stories told by facilities, goods, and services. It is argued that all stories need to be coherent in the sense that they all fit the brand meaning, and that it sometimes may require expansion of the retailer's control boundary. The case study also suggests that reality shows can be important points of contact, very much due to their ability to tell credible stories that can humanize the brand, and that individual employees can constitute important assets in these stories

The purpose of this study is to understand how gamification contributes to customers’ value creation in a retail context and how this value creation relates to brand engagement. The study builds on a field experiment using a two-group between-subjects design combined with correlational research. The experiment involved 378 participants recruited at a major European sports retailer. Participants were exposed to one of two conditions: one with a gamified activity in a store, and one in which the participants performed the same activity without being exposed to any game elements. The findings show that gamification affects the hedonic value of an activity and that this effect can be partly explained by positive affect. When this hedonic value was compared to the satisfaction with a reward, the hedonic value was found to be a better predictor of continued engagement intention. Finally, gamification through continued engagement intention is positively associated with brand engagement.

This study investigates the effect of gamification on in-store mobile advertisement. More specifically, it investigates the effect of gamification on the inclination to act on offers gained at point of purchase. For this purpose, a field experiment was conducted at a supermarket, where real customers were recruited. Eye tracking, smartphone activity logging and choice were used to investigate the customers’ behaviour. The results reveal that gamification is not always useful for increasing the tendency to act on offers. In fact, engagement in a gamified shopping task is needed; otherwise, the tendency to act on offers might even decrease when gamifying.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the process of customization by investigating how retailers and consumers interact in bicycle retailing. The paper focuses on three high-end bicycle retailers. Building on qualitative data gathered through interviews and netnography, this study takes both retailers’ and consumers’ processes into account. The results show that retailers capitalize on external and internal opportunities for co-creation, including new technologies, production and distribution innovations, and social media. Retailers’ planning for co-creation plays a significant role in providing a unique shopping experience for consumers. This includes supply chain solutions such as effective inventory and warehousing systems, partnerships and outsourcing, tracking, and postponement, which facilitate simplicity. Retailers rely on feedback from consumers to improve their planning and implementation processes. In terms of consumer processes, several emotions are evident, including the sense of standing-out and self-esteem, fun and coolness, creativity and imagination, and most importantly, the possibility of reflecting one’s personality in self-designed bikes. Systems that are easy to interact with, such as interactive online configurators, contribute to consumers’ cognitive processes. Loyalty and positive word-of-mouth turns out to be a common manifestation of the behavior associated with such co-creation processes. We also reflect on how, by what means, and why consumers and retailers engage in co-creation through customization, mainly pertaining to learning and innovation. Our results also point to various possible outcomes from such processes for consumer and retailers; including expressing ones personality and individuality for consumers, and providing product variety efficiently, and boosting brand image for retailers.

This article applies a configurational approach to study the fit between retail format, business strategy, and multi-channel setup. Its empirical material consists of five case studies, and a data set of 74 sporting goods retailers in Sweden. Our results show that a retailer can create strategic advantages when its multi-channel setup fits with its business strategy, and that retail format is important for explaining differences in growth and profit, the former being assigned to E-commerce and the latter to physical stores. Moreover, the study reveals that to some extent online channels also have positive performance implications for physical store retailers.

This article applies a configurational approach to study the fit between retail format, business strategy, and multi-channel setup. Its empirical material consists of five case studies, and a data set of 74 sporting goods retailers in Sweden. Our results show that a retailer can create strategic advantages when its multi-channel setup fits with its business strategy, and that retail format is important for explaining differences in growth and profit, the former being assigned to E-commerce and the latter to physical stores. Moreover, the study reveals that to some extent online channels also have positive performance implications for physical store retailers.

This study explores if, how and through what channels millennials' sustainability values translate into action when it comes to fashion garments. By testing a research model on 448 European millennials, it contrasts extant theories of planned behaviour, finding that purchase intent is often guided by unintentional, non-linear processes wherein trust in intermediaries such as celebrity influencers, rather than the fashion retailers’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach condition behaviour. For fashion retailers, it suggests the strategic use of influencers to (un)consciously market sustainable garments. Its novelty is built on sustainably sustaining fashion consumption in a post-pandemic world, characterised by increased online sales.

This study explores if, how and through what channels millennials' sustainability values translate into action when it comes to fashion garments. By testing a research model on 448 European millennials, it contrasts extant theories of planned behaviour, finding that purchase intent is often guided by unintentional, non-linear processes wherein trust in intermediaries such as celebrity influencers, rather than the fashion retailers’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach condition behaviour. For fashion retailers, it suggests the strategic use of influencers to (un)consciously market sustainable garments. Its novelty is built on sustainably sustaining fashion consumption in a post-pandemic world, characterised by increased online sales.

Online gambling is a fast-growing phenomenon reflected in an industry experiencing rapid growth rates. Effective marketing in the industry requires a better understanding of what drives online gambling intention of recreational gamblers. This study introduces and considers the concept of anticipated enjoyment which, together with perceived fairness and social norm, impact online gambling intention. The resultant research model is tested using mediated-moderated regression among a sample of 270 respondents from an online gambling firm. Results indicate that anticipated enjoyment is an important driver of online gambling intention. Implications for management are discussed and limitations noted.

This study examines the impact of social isolation on risk-taking behavior in highly uncertain environments with the potential for significant gains and losses. We uncover both direct and indirect effects of social isolation on risk-taking behavior, mediated through perceived stress, sense of control, and neuroticism. The COVID-19 pandemic provides a pertinent context to explore these dynamics, while the volatile cryptocurrency market serves as a topical context for investigation. The analysis based on covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) of survey responses from 216 consumers reveals that social isolation significantly increases risk-taking behavior, primarily mediated by heightened perceived stress. Contrary to expectations, sense of control and neuroticism did not mediate this relationship, indicating specific pathways through which isolation affects risk decision. This finding suggests that while social isolation intensifies perceived stress, yielding riskier purchase decisions, it does not universally impact other psychological aspects like resilience (sense of control) or vulnerability (neuroticism). The observed direct (main) and indirect (mediation) effects highlight the importance of targeted interventions to address psychological well-being, particularly at times of enforced isolation. Understanding these dynamics can help advisors (e.g., financial consultants), marketers, and policymakers (e.g., government agencies/lawmakers) formulate strategies to curb excessive risk-taking among isolated individuals, particularly in high-risk financial settings.

In the retail grocery business, new competitors such as pure e-commerce players are growing fast, and, in order to compete, ‘brick and mortar’ stores such as supermarkets need to become more professional at providing excellent customer service, and to use the physical servicescape as the main competitive advantages. However, supermarkets also face a challenge to offer consumers high quality products while at the same time providing a pleasant and functional servicescape. Products like groceries often need to be stored in cabinets due to strict regulations and in order to maintain correct temperatures. Some of these cabinets have doors which make them more energy-efficient (Evans et al., 2007 ;  Faramarzi et al., 2002), reduces costs, and contributes to grocery quality, but it can also affect the perceived servicescape, and risk a negative impact on sales (Waide, 2014; Kauffeld, 2015). For example, moisture from the atmosphere that condenses on the inside of the door glass (Fricke and Bansal, 2015) may make the cabinets less transparent, and doors can obstruct consumers from passing by. Thus, having chilled groceries in cabinets with doors can be both beneficial and problematic. However, no studies have been conducted on how open (no doors) or closed (with doors) cabinets for chilled groceries impact consumer perception and behavior. Hence, the purpose of the study is to contribute to an understanding of how consumers behave and what they perceive when shopping chilled groceries from cabinets with doors and without doors in the supermarket.

Based on a qualitative research approach, combining in-store observations and focus group interviews, and focusing on Bitner's (1992) three environmental variables in the servicescape, i.e. (1) ambient condition, (2) space and functions, and (3) signs, symbols and artifacts, the study investigates the question: do open or closed cabinets for chilled groceries in the supermarket impact consumer perception and behavior, and if so, how?

Our results indicate that consumers’ behavior and perceptions of the foodscape differ when there are doors or no doors on the cabinets. The paper thereby contributes to servicescape research by focusing on a particular part of supermarkets – the foodscape for chilled groceries–and by enhancing the understanding of environmental variables in the servicescape. The results further show how doors lead to different forms of approach or avoidance behavior in terms of accessibility and that consumers’ vision, olfaction and tactility all influence consumers’ perceptions of freshness and cleanliness in relation to doors or no doors. Our results also have practical implications for retailers who are designing new stores or considering changes in existing store layouts.

In the retail grocery business, new competitors such as pure e-commerce players are growing fast, and, in order to compete, ‘brick and mortar’ stores such as supermarkets need to become more professional at providing excellent customer service, and to use the physical servicescape as the main competitive advantages. However, supermarkets also face a challenge to offer consumers high quality products while at the same time providing a pleasant and functional servicescape. Products like groceries often need to be stored in cabinets due to strict regulations and in order to maintain correct temperatures. Some of these cabinets have doors which make them more energy-efficient (Evans et al., 2007 ;  Faramarzi et al., 2002), reduces costs, and contributes to grocery quality, but it can also affect the perceived servicescape, and risk a negative impact on sales (Waide, 2014; Kauffeld, 2015). For example, moisture from the atmosphere that condenses on the inside of the door glass (Fricke and Bansal, 2015) may make the cabinets less transparent, and doors can obstruct consumers from passing by. Thus, having chilled groceries in cabinets with doors can be both beneficial and problematic. However, no studies have been conducted on how open (no doors) or closed (with doors) cabinets for chilled groceries impact consumer perception and behavior. Hence, the purpose of the study is to contribute to an understanding of how consumers behave and what they perceive when shopping chilled groceries from cabinets with doors and without doors in the supermarket.

Based on a qualitative research approach, combining in-store observations and focus group interviews, and focusing on Bitner's (1992) three environmental variables in the servicescape, i.e. (1) ambient condition, (2) space and functions, and (3) signs, symbols and artifacts, the study investigates the question: do open or closed cabinets for chilled groceries in the supermarket impact consumer perception and behavior, and if so, how?

Our results indicate that consumers’ behavior and perceptions of the foodscape differ when there are doors or no doors on the cabinets. The paper thereby contributes to servicescape research by focusing on a particular part of supermarkets – the foodscape for chilled groceries–and by enhancing the understanding of environmental variables in the servicescape. The results further show how doors lead to different forms of approach or avoidance behavior in terms of accessibility and that consumers’ vision, olfaction and tactility all influence consumers’ perceptions of freshness and cleanliness in relation to doors or no doors. Our results also have practical implications for retailers who are designing new stores or considering changes in existing store layouts.

With the ever-growing popularity of live-streaming commerce, it is crucial for marketers to understand how live-streaming contributes to sales. While prior studies mainly focused on customer motivations for using live-streaming commerce, few studies, to date, elucidate consumers' decision-making process in this context. Addressing this gap, we adopt the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of persuasion to examine how live-streaming influences customers’ engagement and impulse buying behavior, as moderated by their deal proneness. To explore these issues, we analyzed data collected from 735 Millennials in China using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings show that factors characterizing the ELM-informed central (i.e., product information quality, streamer interaction quality, and streamer credibility) and peripheral (i.e., review consistency) routes exert positive effects on customer engagement and impulse buying. Moreover, deal proneness was found to moderate the relationship between engagement and impulse buying. The findings offer valuable insight for e-tailers seeking to encourage impulsive buying among millennial shoppers. Specifically, they highlight the role of central- and peripheral route factors in promoting customer engagement and impulsive buying, with the effect of customer engagement on impulsive buying being contingent on deal proneness-based differences among millennial shoppers.

With the purpose of testing the hypothesis that households' intentions to replace their old car have a direct negative relationship to its perceived quality ('current level') and a direct positive relationship to their aspirations for a new car ('aspiration level'), a rotating panel of car owners were interviewed every fourth month during 2 years. In this data set the hypothesis received support. In addition the results showed that the age of the car, the total number of miles driven, and the number of anticipated repairs affected the current level, whereas marital status, the number of children, consumer confidence, and environmental concern affected the aspiration level.

This study applies complexity theory to explain how a cognitive-affective model indicates canal boat tour participants' desired behaviour. An in-situ survey was administered to collect data from 202 boat tour participants following a tour of the Canal du Faux-Rempart in Strasbourg, France. The study applies an asymmetrical analysis to investigate the cognitive-affective factors deriving participants’ intentions to recommend canal boat tours. This study uses an asymmetrical approach to explore causal recipes from three configurations of socio-demographic factors with prior experience and cognitive and affective factors, leading to both high and low scores of recommendation intention. An analysis of necessary conditions was performed to identify the factors required to achieve the expected outcome. The results revealed that complexity theory supports causal interactions, leading to intention to recommend. Overall image, perceived quality, emotion and satisfaction are necessary factors to recommend canal boat tours. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications.

Robotics significantly influence retail and consumer services. The COVID-19 pandemic further amplified the rise of service robots (SRs) through social distancing measures. While robots are embraced widely by retailers and service providers, consumers’ interaction with SRs remains an intriguing avenue of research across contexts. By taking a relative social power perspective, we report on a series of pre- and intra-COVID-19 studies. Our findings suggest that Gen-Z consumers hold more positive attitudes towards SRs perceived as lower in power vis-à-vis the human user. The longitudinal nature of our study also reveals that while attitudes towards such low-power services turned more negative during the COVID-19 pandemic, attitudes towards SRs that are high in power vis-à-vis the human user remained stable. In practical terms, while Gen-Z consumers hold more positive attitudes towards low-power robots, such service providers also face the challenge of relatively changeable attitudes towards them, especially during crisis times.

Uncovering customer insights (CI) is indispensable for contemporary marketing strategies. The widespread availability of user-generated content (UGC) presents a unique opportunity for firms to gain a nuanced understanding of their customers. However, the size and complexity of UGC datasets pose significant challenges for traditional market research methods, limiting their effectiveness in this context. To address this challenge, this study leverages natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) techniques to extract nuanced insights from UGC. By integrating sentiment analysis and topic modeling algorithms, we analyzed a dataset of approximately four million X posts (formerly tweets) encompassing 20 global brands across industries. The findings reveal primary brand-related emotions and identify the top 10 keywords indicative of brand-related sentiment. Using FedEx as a case study, we identify five prominent areas of customer concern: parcel tracking, small business services, the firm's comparative performance, package delivery dynamics, and customer service. Overall, this study offers a roadmap for academics to navigate the complex landscape of generating CI from UGC datasets. It thus raises pertinent practical implications, including boosting customer service, refining marketing strategies, and better understanding customer needs and preferences, thereby contributing to more effective, more responsive business strategies.