Online Consumer Psychology addresses many of the issues created by the Internet and goes beyond the topic of advertising and the Web to include topics such as customization, site design, word of mouth processes, and the study of consumer decision making while online.

The theories and research methods help provide greater insight into the processes underlying consumer behavior in online environments.

Broken into six sections, this book:

• focuses on community and looks at the Internet's ability to bring like-minded individuals from around the world into one forum;
• examines issues related to advertising, specifically click-through rates and advertising content placed within gaming online and wireless networks;
• provides readers with reasons why consumers customize products and the benefits of customization;
• discusses the psychological effects of site design;
• asks the question of whether the Internet empowers consumers to make better decisions; and
• discusses research tools that can be used online.

In this book distinguished theorist and author Shelby D. Hunt analyzes the major controversies in the "philosophy debates" raging throughout the field of marketing. Using an historical approach, Hunt argues against relativism and for scientific realism as a philosophy for guiding marketing research and theory. He also shows how the pursuit of truth and objectivity in marketing research are both possible and desirable. Specific controversies analyzed in the book include: Does positivism dominate marketing research? Does positivism imply quantitive methods? Is relativism an appropriate foundation for marketing research? Does relativism imply pluralism, tolerance, and openness? Should marketing pursue the goal of objective research? An ideal companion to Hunt's classic text, Foundations of Marketing Theory, this volume will be equally useful on its own in any graduate level course on marketing theory.

In this book distinguished theorist and author Shelby D. Hunt analyzes the major controversies in the "philosophy debates" raging throughout the field of marketing. Using an historical approach, Hunt argues against relativism and for scientific realism as a philosophy for guiding marketing research and theory. He also shows how the pursuit of truth and objectivity in marketing research are both possible and desirable. Specific controversies analyzed in the book include: Does positivism dominate marketing research? Does positivism imply quantitive methods? Is relativism an appropriate foundation for marketing research? Does relativism imply pluralism, tolerance, and openness? Should marketing pursue the goal of objective research? An ideal companion to Hunt's classic text, Foundations of Marketing Theory, this volume will be equally useful on its own in any graduate level course on marketing theory.

The Principles of Islamic Marketing fills a gap in international business literature covering the aspects and values of Islamic business thought. It provides a framework and practical perspectives for understanding and implementing the Islamic marketing code of conduct. It is not a religious book. The Islamic Economic System is a business model adopted by nearly one fifth of the world's population. Baker Alserhan identifies the features of the Islamic structure of International Marketing practices and ethics. Adherence to such ethical practices elevates the standards of behaviour of traders and consumers alike and creates a value-loaded framework for firms, establishing harmony and meaningful cooperation between international marketers and their Muslim target markets. His book provides a complete guide to the requirements an organization needs to follow when managing its entire marketing function within the Muslim market or when adapting part of its offering to that market. It addresses the challenges facing marketers involved in business activities with and within Islamic communities, the knowledge needs of academic institutions, and the interest of multinationals keen on tapping the huge Islamic markets. Along the way, Baker Alserhan provides insights into the various aspects of promoting to the Islamic markets such as franchising, distribution channels, and retailing practices, branding, positioning, and pricing issues; all within the Muslim legal and cultural norms. Above all, The Principles of Islamic Marketing will lay the foundation of, and advance, Islamic Marketing as a new social science.

This book demonstrates that marketing scholarship has much to contribute to our understanding of consumer vulnerability and potential solutions. It brings to the fore ways in which so-called vulnerable consumers navigate various marketplace and service interactions and develop specific consumer skills in order to empower themselves in such exchanges. It does so by exploring how consumer vulnerability is experienced across a range of different contexts such as poverty and disability, and the potential impact of vulnerability from childhood to old age. Other chapters extend focus from the consumer to the organisational perspective or consider more macro issues such as socio-spatial disadvantages. The fundamental aim of many of the contributors is to produce work that can benefit individual and societal well-being. They draw on various methodological approaches that generate both marketing management and policy-focused implications. A series of commentaries are also included to stimulate critical reflection and new insights into consumer vulnerability. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Marketing Management.

How Your Business Can Use the Science That Helped Win the White House The average conversion rate the rate at which visitors convert into customers across the web is only 2%. That means it's likely that 98% of visitors to your website won't end up converting into customers. What's the solution? A/B testing. A/B testing is the simple idea of showing several different versions of a web page to live traffic, and then measuring the effect each version has on visitors. Using A/B testing, companies can improve the effectiveness of their marketing and user experience and, in doing so, can sometimes double or triple their conversion rates. Testing has been fundamental in driving the success of Google, Amazon, Netflix, and other top tech companies. Even Barack Obama and Mitt Romney had dedicated teams A/B testing their campaign websites during the 2012 Presidential race. In the past, marketing teams were unable to unleash the power of A/B testing because it required costly engineering and IT resources. Today, a new generation of technology that enables marketers to run A/B tests without depending on engineers is emerging and quickly becoming one of the most powerful tools for making data-driven decisions. Authors Dan Siroker and Pete Koomen are cofounders of Optimizely, the leading A/B testing platform used by more than 5,000 organizations across the world. A/B Testing: The Most Powerful Way to Turn Clicks Into Customers offers best practices and lessons learned from more than 300,000 experiments run by Optimizely customers. You'll learn: * What to test * How to choose the testing solution that's right for your organization * How to assemble an A/B testing dream team * How to create personalized experiences for every visitor * And much more Marketers and web professionals will become obsolete if they don't embrace a data-driven approach to decision making. This book shows you how, no matter your technical expertise.

Context and Cognition in Consumer Psychology is concerned with the psychological explanation of consumer choice. It pays particular attention to the roles of perception and emotion in accounting for consumers' actions and their interaction with the desires and beliefs in terms of which consumer choice is frequently analyzed. In this engaging book, Gordon Foxall extends and elaborates his theory of consumer action, based on the philosophical strategy of Intentional Behaviorism. In doing so, he introduces the concept of contingency-representation to explore the ways in which consumers mentally represent the consequences of past decisions and the likely outcomes of present consumption. The emphasis is on action rather than behavior and the manner in which the intentional consumer-situation, as the immediate precursor of consumer choice, can be reconstructed in order to explain consumer actions in the absence of the environmental stimuli required by behaviorist psychology. The result is a novel reaffirmation of the role of cognition in the determination of consumer choice. Besides the concept of contingency-representation which the author introduces, the analysis draws upon psychoanalytic concepts, theories of cognitive structure and processing, and the philosophy of perception to generate a stimulating synthesis for consumer research. The book will be of interest to students and researchers in consumer behavior and economic psychology and to all who seek a deeper interdisciplinary understanding of the contextual and cognitive interactions that guide choice in the market place.

As the effectiveness of traditional marketing techniques continues to diminish, contemporary marketing increasingly becomes the most reliable method of expanding outreach and reflecting the needs of the modern consumer. When implemented, these contemporary strategies offer the greatest support for their client base, with a product range that adapts to the desires of the target market. The channels used to underpin these strategies are also radically different from traditional methods - placing emphasis upon platforms such as social media. Designed for both undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as those in executive education and general business, The Essentials of Contemporary Marketing covers a wide range of themes, including: - Consumer behaviour - The latest marketing research - Services marketing - Brand management - Global marketing, and - Ethics in marketing. Each chapter includes case studies to illustrate and contextualise the topics covered, featuring companies as diverse as Amazon, McLaren, Unilever, UBS and Virgin Money. In alignment with its subject matter, The Essentials of Contemporary Marketing prioritises practicality over theory-based content - providing a comprehensive and contextualised insight into how marketing is developing in the 21st century.

The key to marketing is understanding and satisfying consumer needs, thus a knowledge of consumer behavior is essential to any organization dealing with customers, users, or clients. This book promises to be a contemporary classic. It brings together an international set of scholars, many of whom are "household names", to examine the diverse approaches to consumer behavior topics. The editors employ a micro to macro structure, dividing each topic into three parts: one reflecting foundational work, one focused on emerging trends, and one covering practical applications. Each part examines the relationship between consumer behaviour and motivation, including well-being, gender, social class, and more, and concludes with practitioner perspectives on the challenges and opportunities that come with understanding customers. Readers will gain insight into how drives that are constantly in flux relate to other aspects of human cognition and behavior, allowing them to reach customers successfully, and to meet their needs. With contributions from leading scholars, including Sidney Levy and Jagdish Sheth, this volume sets the standard as the most comprehensive, cutting-edge resource on the subject of consumer behavior. Students of consumer behaviour and marketing will find this a useful exploration of a fast-moving field, fundamental to the welfare of companies, government, non-profits, and consumers. It will also benefit new and established academic researchers as well as practitioners who want to stay on top of current knowledge.

The goal of this book is to help business managers and academic researchers understand the means-end perspective and the methods by which it is used, and to demonstrate how to use the means-end approach to develop better marketing and advertising strategy. The authors discuss methodological issues regarding interviewing and coding, present applications of the means-end approach to marketing and advertising problems, and describe the conceptual foundations of the means-end approach.
This book is of interest to academic researchers in marketing and related fields, graduate students in business, marketing research professionals, and business managers. It is intended as a reference book containing ideas about the means-end approach and its applications.

This major reference book provides an authoritative analysis and survey of consumer research and economic psychology. It provides an international, in-depth overview of the present state of knowledge and theory which will be indispensable to students, researchers and practitioners. The Companion presents over 100 specially commissioned entries on important topics in consumer research and economic psychology from behaviourism and brand loyalty to trust and the psychology of tourism. Leading scholars in the fields provide stimulating insights into the area as well as summarising existing knowledge. Readers will find entries both on new topics that have rarely been considered in the framework of consumer research or economic psychology and on topics that have long been considered important in these disciplines. The book will ably meet the needs of undergraduate and graduate students in business administration, economics, marketing and psychology, as well as informing researchers and practitioners in those disciplines.

As innovation moves from the lab to the market, a new research phase begins for the entrepreneur: the market research phase. Inspired by a new technology that can change the world, critical questions need to be addressed. Is there a market for my innovation? Who are my clients? What do they need? Is my innovation filling that gap in the market? Who are my competitors? How are they approaching the market? If these questions are unaswered, entrepreneurs meet potential investors or partners with only a basic understanding of their market. The objective of this book is to fill this gap. It is a practical manual that gives entrepreneurs real-world advice and tools to build a solid market model. The book provides tips, models and tools entrepreneurs can use to collect, interpret and present their market and integrate it into their business plan. What the entrepreneur learns in this book will help him throughout his journey. After going over the market research process, he will learn how to design and use a number of market research tools, and how to adapt them in a life science context. From building a web survey to preparing interviews to doing your own secondary research, this handbook will help him gain a comprehensive understanding of how to perform his own market research activities and how to analyze his data. Finally, a number of frameworks (such as the TAM-SAM-SOM as well as the KANO Model) are described so that he can efficiently share what he has learned, using models that simply yet effectively shares findings.

This is a user-friendly textbook that covers qualitative, quantitative and social media methods, providing tourism, hospitality and events students and course leaders with an accessible guide for learning and teaching marketing research. The book contains essential information on how to conduct research on visitor trends, experiences, preferences and lifestyles, shedding light on customer preferences, product changes, promotional efforts and pricing differences to ensure the destination is successful. It offers guidance on how to write, conduct and analyze the results of surveys, or use qualitative methods such as focus groups, interviews, projective techniques and observation. It also illustrates how social media can be used as a new means to determine visitor preferences by analyzing online data and conversations. Other content includes suggestions and examples on turning research data into actionable recommendations as well as advice on writing and presenting the final report. Integrated with a wide range of case studies per chapter, this short and accessible textbook is essential reading for all students wishing to gain knowledge as to what visitors want from the travel, hospitality and/or event experience.

This is a user-friendly textbook that covers qualitative, quantitative and social media methods, providing tourism, hospitality and events students and course leaders with an accessible guide for learning and teaching marketing research. The book contains essential information on how to conduct research on visitor trends, experiences, preferences and lifestyles, shedding light on customer preferences, product changes, promotional efforts and pricing differences to ensure the destination is successful. It offers guidance on how to write, conduct and analyze the results of surveys, or use qualitative methods such as focus groups, interviews, projective techniques and observation. It also illustrates how social media can be used as a new means to determine visitor preferences by analyzing online data and conversations. Other content includes suggestions and examples on turning research data into actionable recommendations as well as advice on writing and presenting the final report. Integrated with a wide range of case studies per chapter, this short and accessible textbook is essential reading for all students wishing to gain knowledge as to what visitors want from the travel, hospitality and/or event experience.

An accessible, unintimidating introduction to the focus group research project. For students in research methods or market research courses within mass media, communication studies, marketing, advertising, and public relations programs.

Series Information:
Routledge International Studies in Money and Banking

Consumer Value is one of the few books which attempts to define and analyse exactly what it is that consumers want. The theme of 'serving' the customer and customer satisfaction is central to every formulation of the marketing concept.
The major types of value are identified and related to one another through an innovative framework based around the following eight concepts:
* efficiency
* excellence
* status
* esteem
* play
* aesthetics
* ethics
* spirituality
With an international range of contributors and a highly individualistic approach, this book is guaranteed to provoke controversy.

As shoppers, what factors influence our decision to purchase an object or service? Why do we chose one product over another? How do we attribute value as part of the shopping experience?
The theme of 'serving' the customer and customer satisfaction is central to every formulation of the marketing concept, yet few books attenpt to define and analyse exactly what it is that consumers want. In this provocative collection of essays, Morris Holbrook brings together a team of the top US and European scholars to discuss an issue of great importance to the study of marketing and consumer behaviour.
This ground-breaking, interdisciplinary book provides an innovative framework for the study of consumer value which is used to critically examine the nature and type of value that consumers derive from the consumption experience - effiency, excellence, status, esteem, play, aesthetics, ethics, spirituality.
Guaranteed to provoke debate and controversy, this is a courageous, individualistic and idiosyncratic book which should appeal to students of marketing, consumer behaviour, cultural studies and consumption studies.

Series Information:
Routledge Interpretive Marketing Research

Consumer research has traditionally focused on issues of epistemology in the collection and analysis of data. As a consequence, the crisis in representation which has radically reshaped understanding in the social sciences, has, so far, had very little impact on consumer research. This book redresses the balance with an investigation of representation and constructions of 'truth' in consumer research. Subjects covered include:
* construction of the researcher and consumer voice
* quantitative tools and representation
* advertising narratives
* poetic representation of consumer experience
* the crisis in the crisis concept
* consumer-oriented ethnographic research.
The essays are written by experts from Britain and the United States and draw on a broad range of theoretical approaches.

In recent years, luxury goods markets have faced significant changes that have influenced both the dynamics of the competition, as well as their strategies. The principal changes include the following: new geographical market development, such as in the Far East, India, and some parts of Africa (these countries are added to a list of already relevant countries that are involved in luxury goods consumption, such as the Emirates, Russia, and South America); diffusion of new media and new technologies in communication, which is characterized by a high degree of interaction; the evolution of distribution channels is underway - these channels are moving towards new forms of integration that utilize both physical digital channels. This has forced firms to revise their strategies and implement multichannel marketing strategies to continue to operate in increasingly international markets that are characterized by increasingly more demanding and informed consumers. This book will enable readers to gain a clear insight into how the luxury goods market operates and amongst other things, focuses on: recent internet and social media strategies adopted by luxury companies and their brands; how luxury companies manage their communication and distribution channels to compete in the market and the impact of digital marketing on their competition; the main models of direct and indirect distribution in the digital channels; how consumers react to multichannel strategies; trends, social commerce and CSR and how luxury companies react; identifying the different social media strategies for luxury companies.

In recent years the study of consumption has become one of the most important areas of knowledge in the social sciences. In business studies and marketing, the nature of consumer research has undergone a profound change. Postmodern perspectives which challenge and undermine previously held notions of consumer identity, belief and decision-making have radically altered our understanding of consumer practice and marketing theory.
Consumer Research: Postcards from the Edge is a collection of cutting-edge essays by leading exponents of postmodern consumer research from Europe and America. Topics covered include:
* chronicle, composition and fabulation in consumer research
* postmodern approaches to pluralism in consumer research
* marketing in cyberspace
* poststructuralism in marketing
* semiotics in marketing and consumer research.
Original and ground-breaking, Consumer Research: Postcards from the Edge is an invaluable resource for all those interested in new directions in business and marketing.

In recent years the study of consumption has become one of the most important areas of knowledge in the social sciences. In business studies and marketing, the nature of consumer research has undergone a profound change. Postmodern perspectives which challenge and undermine previously held notions of consumer identity, belief and decision-making have radically altered our understanding of consumer practice and marketing theory. This volume is a collection of essays by exponents of postmodern consumer research from Europe and America. Topics covered include: chronicle, composition and fabulation in consumer research; postmodern approaches to pluralism in consumer research; marketing in cyberspace; poststructuralism in marketing; and semiotics in marketing and consumer research.

Many of the environmental and social problems we face today are symptoms of a deeper systemic failing: a dominant cultural paradigm that encourages living in ways that are often directly counter to the realities of a finite planet. This paradigm, typically referred to as 'consumerism,' has already spread to cultures around the world and has led to consumption levels that are vastly unsustainable. If this pattern spreads further there will be little possibility of solving climate change or other environmental problems that are poised to dramatically disrupt human civilization. It will take a sustained, long-term effort to redirect the traditions, social movements and institutions that shape consumer cultures towards becoming cultures of sustainability. These institutions include schools, the media, businesses and governments. Bringing about a cultural shift that makes living sustainably as 'natural' as a consumer lifestyle is today will not only address urgent crises like climate change, it could also tackle other symptoms like extreme income inequity, obesity and social isolation that are not typically seen as environmental problems. State of the World 2010 paints a picture of what this sustainability culture could look like, and how we can - and already are - making the shift.