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Journal of International Consumer Marketing

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EDITORIAL
Erdener Kaynak

Editor
Published online: 28 Jan 2011.

To cite this article: Erdener Kaynak (2011) EDITORIAL, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 23:2, 79-82, DOI:
10.1080/08961530.2011.543050
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08961530.2011.543050

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Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 23:7982, 2011

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ISSN: 0896-1530 print / 1528-7068 online
DOI: 10.1080/08961530.2011.543050

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EDITORIAL

The objective of the study by Rajagopal is

to analyze the impact of customer attractions
in shopping malls and the routes to shopping
of urban shoppers on consumer behavior. The
study also examines the retailing patterns in
urban areas in reference to customer orientation
strategies, product search behavior, and enhancing value for customers. Interrelationships
among urban retailing, marketplace ambiance,
conventional shopping wisdom of customers,
long-term customer services, and technologyled selling processes are discussed in the study,
based on an empirical survey. Broadly, this study
makes contributions to the existing research
in urban retailing about factors determining
shopping attractions, routes to shopping, and
establishing firms customer-centric strategies.
This article presents a set of hypotheses, describes the sampling method and data, explains
the construct of measures, and discusses the
model specification and estimation, results, and
findings of the study. Finally, some limitations of
the study are presented and directions for further
research is presented.
Shopping malls are dynamic business centers
that attract many urban customers who want
to experience modern shopping pleasure. A
categorically planned assortment of stores in a
mall provides diversity, arousal, and propensity
to shop around the mall. Accordingly, mall managers may develop appropriate tenancy policies
for retailing firms regarding the sociodemographic factors of customers to satisfy different
segments. An appropriate mix of anchor tenants
and new age tenants who have different target
groups would better attract customers to shop-

ping malls, and such an assortment of stores

could coexist in a shopping mall successfully
without any conflict of interest. Managers of
shopping malls and retailing firms should understand customer reaction to economic and
relations factors determining their perceptions
and attitude toward shopping in an urban retail
setting. Shopping motivation is one of the key
constructs of research on shopping behavior
and exhibits a high relevance for formulating
retail marketing strategies. Managers can take
advantage of the positive linkage between Web
site design features and product search behavior by tracking online consumers expectation.
Accordingly, customers may be enticed to buy
products either online or physically at the store.
Increased consumer wealth and purchasing
power in emerging countries such as India
offer market opportunities to global retailers
from developed countries, who are struggling
in their homeland due to matured markets and
sluggish population growth. The growing size of
the Indian retail market, consumer wealth, and
consumer desire for foreign brands that convey a
cosmopolitan, sophisticated, and modern image
have attracted significant attention from global
retailers. Such developments in India have increased lifestyle spending options in the Indian
market. In such a scenario, the main challenges
that global retailers face are to determine how
to establish and maintain relationships between
Indian consumers and their brands and what
factors foster opportunities for brand loyalty
and repurchase of these brands. Understanding
Indian consumers should begin by having a
closer look at their standard of living and
79

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80

JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER MARKETING

well-being because these factors might create

their needs and wants for global branded products. This is an area that has been rarely studied
and hence offers an opportunity to be explored.
The study by Vertica Bhardwaj, Hyejune
Park, and Youn-Kyung Kim considers these
challenges and looks at life satisfaction as
an important influencing factor of consumer
behavior toward global brands. Life satisfaction reflects individuals life conditions, either
improved demographic and physical conditions
(e.g., income, employment, health, age, marital
status, and housing) or reduced psychological
constraints (e.g., optimism for the future). The
approach of this study is to look at the impact
of life satisfaction on brand-specific factors (i.e.,
brand consciousness, emotional value, perceived
quality, and brand loyalty).
This study evaluates the relationship between
life satisfaction and brand-specific factors for
a U.S. global brand (Levis) for Indian consumers. The findings reveal that emotional value
plays a key role in mediating the relationship
between life satisfaction and loyalty toward
global brands. The best suggested strategy for
global retailers is to employ emotional branding
with inspirational storytelling (about Indian
consumers lifestyles, dreams, and goals) in
their branding and promotion strategies. Taking
such an approach can help Indian consumers
to relate the global brands to their success and
achievement in life.
There has been increased interest of late in
consumers in emerging markets, particularly
those at the bottom of the pyramid. The study
by Kerry Chipp, Nicola Kleyn, and Thando
Manzi, however, seeks to address the sporadic
attention more affluent consumers in those
markets receive. Newly affluent consumers in
emerging economies have evidenced spikes
in prominent consumption behavior, which
have been attributed to typical nouveau riches,
status seeking (Belk 2000), and general social
mobility (Frijters and Leigh 2008). Literature
of conspicuous consumption concurs: Increased
visible consumption is viewed as reflective of
newly acquired or desired status (OCass and
Frost 2002; Page 1992). Some studies in the field
have, however, linked a sense of powerlessness

(Fitzmaurice and Comegys 2006; Mowen 2004;

Rucker and Galinsky 2009; Wong 1997), exposure to social networks, and susceptibility to
reference-group influence as related constructs
(OCass and McEwen 2004; Wong and Ahuvia
1998; Zhou and Wong 2008) to drivers of
conspicuous consumption.
Notions of powerlessness and referencegroup influence play a large role in the study
of relative deprivation; therefore, the field itself
has potential to provide an alternate explanation
for rampant consumerism, that of a means to
redress past imbalances (the catch up) and
to keep pace with the global society (see Belk
2000). Relative deprivation theory, nevertheless,
has tended to view its impact in terms of
current behavior rather than longitudinal; thus
there is scant review of the long-term impact
of structural imbalances across time once these
imbalances have been ostensibly redressed. The
current study, thus, seeks to review the impact
of past deprivation on current consumption of
affluent consumers in a developing society.
Prior experiences of relative deprivation were
explored and found with a judgmental sample
of 15 respondents. The relative deprivation
was initially experienced as fraternal, or group
based, sparking the desire to catch-up; such
deprivation became egoistic in nature as individuals compared themselves to other reference
individuals in their business or social networks
and felt the need to keep up. Both types of
relative deprivation have resulted in increased
consumption, particularly of the conspicuous
kind, with the majority of respondents expressing desire for more possessions to affirm their
social status and newfound place in society.
Although increases in conspicuous consumption
have been observed in many emerging-market
contexts, our findings suggest that where relative
deprivation has been experienced, an emerging
market will exhibit a consumption spike as the
consumers seek to catch up with other markets,
followed by ongoing attempts to maintain status
through the rituals of conspicuous consumption.
Can a new brand from a country with a weak
image benefit, in terms of consumer attitude
toward the brand and purchase intentions, by
locating its manufacturing in a country with a

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Editorial

strong image? Conversely, what happens when

a new brand from a country with a strong image
is manufactured in a country with a weak image?
Are the country-related brand associations still
relevant when the brand has strong (weak)
product attributes? Sergio W. Carvalho, Sridhar
Samu, and Subramanian Sivaramakrishnan examined the answers to these questions in their
research using two studies.
In study 1, the authors find that when the brand
is from a strong-image country, it can benefit
by being manufactured in another strong-image
country. Consumers response to the brand is
not as favorable when it is manufactured in a
weak-image country. When the brand is from
a weak-image country, consumers response
to it is unfavorable regardless of where it is
manufactured. Therefore, they find that brands
from weak-image countries do not improve
consumers brand perceptions simply by being
manufactured in a strong-image country.
In study 2, when the brand has strong
attributes, consumers response to the brand is
most positive when either the brand origin or
country of manufacture is a weak-image country. Interestingly, when both the brand origin
and country of manufacture are strong-image
countries, consumers evaluation of the brand
is not as positive. For this country combination,
consumers evaluation of the brand is not much
different even when the product attributes are
weak. That is, when both the brand origin and
country of manufacture are strong, consumers
evaluation of the brand is average, regardless of
the strength of product attributes. This seems to
indicate that consumers dont give much weight
to the strength of product attributes when both
the brand origin and country of manufacture are
strong-image countries. The strength of product
attributes seems to matter only when either
the brand origin or country of manufacture is
a weak-image country, but not when both are
strong-image countries.
Findings from this research have important
implications for the global management of
unfamiliar brands. Overall, the results indicate
that the decision to inform consumers about
the country of brand origin or manufacture is
an important one. When a brand is from a
strong-image country, it makes sense to inform

81

consumers about a strong country of manufacture only when the product attributes are not
strong. If the brand origin is a strong-image
country and product attributes are also strong,
our results indicate that the firm should inform
consumers about the country of manufacture
only if it is a weak-image country. The study
2 results indicate that when all three are strong,
the combination actually results in a less-positive
attitude. In the case of a weak-image brand
origin, a strong-image country of manufacture
does not help when product attributes are weak.
What does help in the case of a weak-image
brand origin is strong product attributes. The
data indicate that the brand from a weak-image
country may be able to overcome this weakness
by shifting the focus to the tangible attributes,
provided they are strong. If the product attributes
are also weak, it may be prudent to make the
choice of country of manufacture on economic
criteria rather than on consumers perceptions.
Sales promotions occupy a major role in the
integrated marketing communications programs
of firms of all sizes. According to Joshy Joseph
and Bharadhwaj Sivakumaran, marketing literature classifies promotions into Consumer
Franchise Building (CFB) and Consumer nonFranchise Building (non-CFB). The authors,
in addition to looking at these issues, also
examine if hedonic (utilitarian) products use
hedonic (utilitarian) promotions and what types
of persuasion cues are used in hedonic/utilitarian
promotional ads within an Indian context. It
was discovered that non-CFB promotions are
used more than CFB promotions in print advertisements announcing promotional offers in
the market place. Furthermore, the study results
indicated that irrespective of the nature of the
product (utilitarian/hedonic), utilitarian promotions were used extensively in the Indian market.
Erdener Kaynak
Editor

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