Journal of Interactive Marketing

Consumers often consider multiple alternatives from the same product category prior to making a purchase. Uncovering the predominant patterns of such co-considerations can help businesses learn more about the competitive structure of the market in the mind of the consumer. Extant research has shown that various types of online and offline consumer activity data (e.g., shopping baskets, search and browsing histories, social media mentions) can be used to infer product co-considerations. In this paper, we study a case of uncovering co-consideration patterns using a massive dataset of online price quote requests from U.S. auto shoppers. The main challenge we face is that, for privacy protection, no unique individual identifier (anonymous or otherwise) is contained in the data. Such a data deficiency prevents us from using existing methods such as affinity analysis for inferring co-considerations. However, by leveraging spatiotemporal patterns in the data, we manage to probabilistically uncover the predominant patterns of co-considerations in the U.S. auto market. As a validation and illustration of its usefulness, we embed the inferred market structure in a sales response model and show a substantial improvement in predictive performance.

The spread of branded entertainment video online relies on the consumer's referral decision, an initial decision to share the video. This study investigates how brand prominence and brand disclosure timing in a branded entertainment video interact with each other and affect viewers’ persuasion knowledge, sharing intention, and visual attention. The study finds that when the branded nature of the video was disclosed prior to viewing the video content, prominent placement generated greater conceptual/attitudinal persuasion knowledge compared to subtle placement. Accordingly, greater persuasion knowledge resulted in less sharing intention and active avoidance in visual attention to the brand in the video content. On the other hand, when the brand was disclosed after the video content, there were no significant effects of brand prominence on conceptual or attitudinal persuasion knowledge, or on sharing intention. Further, the study shed light on the underlying mechanism of interaction effect by demonstrating the mediating role of attitudinal persuasion knowledge and enjoyment. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

Similar to in-store displays in brick-and-mortar stores, house ads promote a set of specific products for customers who have reached the website. In contrast to general display advertising whose primary goal is to bring traffic to the website, these self-promotional ads are aimed to highlight specific products and enhance conversion. We analyzed more than 300 house ad campaigns to study the effect of this type of promotional display on customer behavior across channels. We included not only direct effects on SKU sales in all channels, but also the promotional effect at the category level. Our model uses aggregated data that are easy to collect for most multichannel retailers, facilitating its implementation in similar settings. We found that (1) despite observing positive cross-channel effects, the primary effect occurs on online sales, (2) the effects are usually short-lived, and (3) there are no spillover effects on the corresponding category. We characterize the effects that house ads have on the whole system in terms of design variables such as type of display, and scope and duration of the campaign. Our evidence suggests that the effectiveness depends on the product category and that regular banners are the most effective in generating traffic. Interestingly, the depth of the promotion plays no role on the effect of the house ads’ effectiveness. Based on the results, we provide suggestions for improving routine promotional planning.

Given technological advances, consumers’ sensitivity around personal information is shifting, whereby information once considered innocuous, is now considered more sensitive and warrants more protection. This research examines the self-concept and exchange context as a new lens to understand consumer sensitivity to anonymous and personal identifying information exchange. Two studies examine the role of the public and private self in predicting attitudes toward sharing PII and non-PII items, and across different information exchange contexts. Implications for business and policy makers are provided.

We develop a model of dyad calling behavior as the outcome of asymmetric power between the initiating and receiving callers and the strength of their tie. Using a unique mobile phone service dataset, we estimate the model which encapsulates the evolving relationship between pairs of callers. We find that, first, the initiating callers enjoy more power than the receiving callers in determining the call volume. Second, the call volume between a pair of callers increases with the number of their common contacts. Finally, the reciprocity effect is prevalent in mobile phone service consumption. We discuss and demonstrate the implications of our results on firms’ telecommunication service pricing decisions.

Unlike other interorganizational relationships, such as joint ventures, franchisors commonly display information on their websites with the objective of attracting franchisee entrepreneurs and having them sign standardized contracts. This paper analyses, for the first time, how franchise brands disclose both functional and symbolic benefits and their effect on franchise chain growth. Our empirical study, based on an in-depth analysis of 106 websites, suggests that both types of benefits are intertwined in advertising franchise opportunities. Information on financial requirements, contact facilities and recruiting processes are positively related to franchise chain growth, whereas information on business potential (financial expectations) is negatively related to growth. Moreover, information on continuous assistance is relevant for service-type franchisee candidates. Finally, our observations show that information available in all the categories is far from exhaustive and that influential information is frequently absent from franchisor websites.