Product Features (product + feature)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Consuming the authentic Gettysburg: How a tourist landscape becomes an authentic experience

JOURNAL OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR, Issue 2 2008
Athinodoros Chronis
While authenticity pervades everyday consumption in museums, restaurants, theme parks, gift shops, and heritage attractions, among other commercial milieus, academic work on the concept of authenticity remains vague both in terms of its definition and its marketing relevance. In this study, we unpack the concept of authenticity in a Civil War battlefield and we provide insight as to its theoretical relevance for consumption. Our findings elucidate the distinction between authenticity as a product feature and authenticity as an experience. We show that consumer perceptions of a site's authenticity are articulated in five distinct ways: object related, factual, locational, personage, and contextual. We also point out the contribution of each notion of perceived authenticity in sparking consumer imagination and connecting them with the Civil War narrative. We suggest avenues that marketing managers can use to stage authenticity in a commercial environments at both substantive communicative levels. Our study reveals consumers as active agents who participate in the marketplace construction of authenticity in multiple ways. It is also shown that authenticity partakes in the construction of a national imaginary as a negotiated, collective act. We also provide insight as to the distinction between "authentic" and "inauthentic" commercial sites and the way in which even fictitious sites can be perceived as authentic. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


How regulatory focus influences consumer behavior

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 1 2007
Lioba Werth
According to Higgins (1997) the theory of regulatory focus says that in terms of both information processing and motivation it makes a difference whether people have a promotion or prevention focus. In this paper, this theory will be applied to the area of consumer psychology. In three experiments we show that consumer's regulatory focus either measured or induced in a given situation influences product evaluations. Study 1 shows that consumers are interested in different product features depending on their focus; whereas in the prevention focus they are more interested in safety-oriented aspects, in the promotion focus they concentrate more on comfort-oriented qualities. In Study 2, a typical prevention product and a typical promotion product are compared with one another and data shows that focus compatible products are evaluated more positively. In Study 3 we demonstrate that advertisments that correspond to the focus of the consumer lead to more positive evaluations of the product than advertisments that are incompatible with the focus of the consumer. Theoretical and practical implications will be discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


WHAT FEATURES DRIVE RATED BURGER CRAVEABILITY AT THE CONCEPT LEVEL?

JOURNAL OF SENSORY STUDIES, Issue 1 2004
JACQUELINE BECKLEY
ABSTRACT This paper deals with the analysis of drivers for self-defined craveability assessed in an Internet-based, conjoint analysis task. The stimuli comprised 36 descriptions of restaurant hamburgers, including product features, benefits, restaurant names, and emotional reactions that might ensue after eating the hamburger. Elements were combined into concepts by experimental design, and the resulting concepts evaluated by 145 respondents, on the attribute of craveability. Models relating the presence/absence of concept elements to ratings revealed that statements about the hamburger itself were the most powerful, but that no single element was highest across all the respondents. Segmentation of the 145 individuals by the pattern of their individual utilities revealed four key segments. These are Elaborates who may be sensory-oriented and respond strongly to product descriptions; Classics who like the notion of a grilled hamburger; Imaginers who respond to restaurant name and advertising copy; and Emotionals who respond to statements about food to descriptions how the eater feels after consumption. [source]


Features of Kansei Engineering Characterizing its Use in Two Studies: Men's Everyday Footwear and Historic Footwear

QUALITY AND RELIABILITY ENGINEERING INTERNATIONAL, Issue 6 2006
Carolyn van Lottum
Abstract The consumer goods sector is increasingly competitive with many manufacturers now operating in a global market. The growing numbers of on-line stores and product review Web sites have given the consumer new ways to compare and contrast product features before making a choice. The need for manufacturers to understand and interpret the wishes of their target consumer has led to the development of a number of techniques aimed at bringing the ,voice of the customer' into the design process. These have been successfully used by European manufacturers to identify quality and functional features critical to their customer base. However, an approach called Kansei engineering developed in the Far East uses the voice of the customer in a different way, identifying subjective emotional requirements as opposed to quality/functional requirements. Using Kansei engineering, it is possible to incorporate consumer emotion into the product design process, creating products that appeal to customers on a subjective level. This paper outlines the results of two field studies carried out as part of KENSYS, a Fifth Framework European project examining the use of Kansei engineering and product semantics as a suitable tool for European small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


A comparison of quality function deployment and conjoint analysis in new product design

THE JOURNAL OF PRODUCT INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 5 2002
Madeleine E. Pullman
In this work, we compare two product design approaches, quality function deployment (QFD) and conjoint analysis, by applying each to the design of a new all-purpose climbing harness for the beginning/intermediate ability climber that would complement a leading manufacturer's existing product line. While many of the optimal design features were the same under both approaches, the differences allow us to highlight the strengths of each approach. With conjoint analysis, it was easier to compare the most preferred features (i.e., ones that maximized sales) to profit maximizing features and also to develop designs that optimize product line sales or profits. On the other hand, QFD was able to highlight the fact that certain engineering characteristics or design features had both positive and negative aspects. This tradeoff could point the way to "out of the box" solutions. QFD also highlighted the importance of starting explicitly with customer needs, regardless of which method is used. Rather than competing, we view them as complementary approaches that should be conducted simultaneously; each providing feedback to the other. When the two approaches differed on the optimal level or importance of a feature, it appeared that conjoint analysis better captured customers' current preferences for product features while QFD captured what product developers thought would best satisfy customer needs. Looking at the problem through these different lenses provides a useful dialogue that should not be missed. QFD's ability to generate creative or novel solutions should be combined with conjoint analysis' ability to forecast market reaction to design changes. © 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved. [source]