The equilibrium structure of packaged goods markets in Japan resembles that in Western economies: brands compete against each other in largely unsegmented markets, with the extent of consumers’ brand‐switching and divided loyalties between brands largely predictable from the differing...

Purpose – As one rewinds the clock to the early days of the twenty‐first century, it can be quite surprising to realise how much the consumer landscape has changed from what it is today. This paper aims to introduce the special issue and attempts to take stock of the last decade and reflect...

Although market segmentation is widely described as a major marketing tool, questions whether brands which are broadly similar and competitive are bought by identifiably different consumer segments. Notes that few, if any, examples of marked brand segmentation are cited in the literature....

Customer loyalty presents a paradox. Many see it as primarily an attitude‐based phenomenon that can be influenced significantly by customer relationship management initiatives such as the increasingly popular loyalty and affinity programs. However, empirical research shows that loyalty in...

Purpose – Aims to review, update, and extend the understanding of country‐of‐origin (COO) effects in China. This involves examining the nature and extent of the COO effect amongst urban Chinese consumers and the impact of COO on actual purchase behaviour. Design/methodology/approach – A...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the main reasons driving the anti‐vaccination movement (AVM) and relate similarities and differences of the AVM with the anti‐consumption of other products. Design/methodology/approach – The paper conducts thematic analysis of various...

Purpose – This study aims to examine grocery shoppers' beliefs about store attributes as antecedents to shopping value by exploring whether dimensions of store attribute beliefs have differential effects (i.e. strength and direction) on hedonic versus utilitarian shopping value....

Purpose – This paper aims to examine consumption behavior to understand how individuals become culturally plural consumers through exploratory research conducted in one of the world's most urban multi‐cultural environments, the UAE. As a starting point consumption was deemed as...