Marketing
Refine
Year of publication
- 2019 (41) (remove)
Document type
- Bachelor Thesis (41)
Is part of the Bibliography
- No (41)
Keywords
- Marketing (3)
- Brand management (2)
- Consumer behavior (2)
- Neuromarketing (2)
- SEO (2)
- Social media (2)
- Tourism (2)
- Willingness to pay (2)
- Automotive industry (1)
- Awareness (1)
Course of studies
How value is perceived has a large influence on the purchase decisions of customers. Previous studies have focused mainly on the value perception of customers, but which role does the value perception of a seller play and what impact does it have on a sales conversation? Is the value of a product or service perceived equally by the seller and the customer or is there a significant difference?
In this research we will specifically focus on the tourism industry and find out how sellers and customers perceive the value of a package holiday. A total of 50 sellers and 100 customers participated in our survey and the results show, that there is a significant difference in the perceived value of the offered package holiday between sellers and customers. The sellers tend to perceive value lower than the customers and in addition, the sellers’ value perception is characterized by a lower variability. Furthermore, when it comes to estimating how the other side perceives value, our results show the opposite of what the respondents expected.
This research has the potential to provide an insight into the mind of the sales person and lead to a better understanding of sales psychology.
Trade shows are a major marketing tool for B2B companies due to its effectiveness by reaching all key players in the industry at one place in one point of time. However, this is combined with a high cost factor making a cost justification crucial. For this purpose, an objective explanation on the results of the trade show performance is compulsively necessary. The following research focuses on a single multinational B2B company within the safety, security and communication industry. It aims to convey an understanding of how to evaluate the trade show participation of Bosch Building Technology. Hereby, theoretical deliverables will be compared to explain relevant success factors of the B2B market and the industry while identifying trade show dimensions. This research includes expert interviews to gather information from professionals in the field of trade show organization. Subsequently to an internal survey research, the example of a best practice measurement model is analysed in a case study.
The relationship between health care practitioners and the pharmaceutical industry is increasingly drawing public attention due to misguided behaviour. Practices like gift giving, holding luxurious conferences or allowences for research are under scrutiny. With all these influences, how can practicioners stay neutral and have the interest of patients in mind? And what is the level of emotions and data used by the pharma industry when marketing drugs to a physician? In order to find out, we targeted pharmaceutical industry managers and directors to participate in an eleven question online questionnaire. For example, participants were asked to rate the best approach between data and emotions to persuade physicians. The results show tendencies in the data, but fail to show significant evidence for our hypotheses. Further research is needed in order to clarify which factors influence the decision for an emotional or data driven approach.
Search engines such as Google are an important information platform for international society. By actively applying Search Engine Optimization (SEO), website operators can influence their positioning in search engines and thus increase the visibility of their website. This thesis deals with search engine optimization in the context of digital marketing. The result of this work is the structural development of a search engine optimization strategy for international websites. This strategy is not limited to specific markets or industries, but its validity is tested by applying it to the practice-oriented case study of the Spanish website of sevDesk.
First of all, an overview of the search engine as a digital channel First of all, an overview is given and its functionality and significance for digital marketing is explained. The needs of search engine users are identified by analyzing the characteristics of search queries and search intentions and then classified according to the AIDA formula into different phases of the modelled purchasing process.
In addition to the analysis of the search engine users, a closer look is taken at the specific ranking algorithm of the search engine Google, a second important component of search engine optimization. Various studies are compared in order to work out influencing factors of the ranking algorithm. These are explained in more detail in the context of the disciplines of search engine optimization. The next step is a closer look at the international context and technical and cultural peculiarities of the optimization of international websites.
In the following, strategic process flows from the existing technical literature are considered and extended to the international market under appreciation and critical consideration of the literature search. The developed strategy will be implemented using the case study of a Spanish website. The data will be collected and first results will be presented and evaluated.
This paper explores the different techniques used by search engine optimizers to increase a website ́s ranking, thus visibility. The author focuses on modern methods from the areas of On-Page and Off-Page SEO. Findings, gathered through a literature review, conclude that SEO has become a more complex process, as search engines algorithm have advanced; transforming from a pure technical optimization to a more user-oriented optimization. Furthermore, the paper identifies several areas that a webmaster can use to collect data to monitor a website ́s performance. In addition, insights into what the data can have for a meaning, are given. The paper finales with a brief overview of various ways to monetize a website.
The present bachelor dissertation deals with the increasing popularity and attractiveness of fitness studios in the German market, the resulting competition and the possibility to differentiate oneself by adapting various marketing measures. The classical marketing mix and its existing instruments are explained in detail, and the possibility to use them in the area of sport and explicit fitness is reviewed. The effectiveness and application of the instruments are then explained using the example of McFIT, which has become the current market leader through their successful use. A competition analysis comparing McFIT and two competitors in the German market helps to identify existing strengths and weaknesses and compare the companies.
Global warming provokes our climate and the world how we know it today to change severely. The production of food together with its consumption is responsible for 19-29% of world’s greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activities and further rises are
expected. As a response to this phenomenon, the assessment of a product’s carbon footprint has awaken huge interest with the purpose of controlling food’s environmental impact during its life-cycle. In order to involve individuals in the target of reducing harmful emissions, besides governmental and business efforts, CO2 labels have been developed to communicate a product’s carbon footprint and enabling consumers to make more climate-friendly purchase decisions. However, it has been shown that a successful
implementation of CO2 labels on grocery products still confronts barriers from the consumer side.
For a better understanding of the meaning of mentioned labels, this thesis deepens the theoretical backgrounds of greenhouse gas emissions and the carbon footprint related to the food industry. In a second step, the acceptance and effectiveness of carbon labels on
groceries will be analysed critically by using contextual literature reviews and a case study on German purchase behaviour.
Die Bedeutung preispsychologischer Effekte bei Events - Aktueller Forschungsstand und Perspektiven
(2019)
Die Preispsychologie trägt maßgeblich zur Erklärung des menschlichen Kaufverhaltens bei. Zahlreiche empirische Studien zur Wirkungsweise preispsychologischer Effekte zeigen, dass eine gezielte Beeinflussung der Preiswahrnehmung des Kunden möglich ist. Demzufolge liegt es nahe, dass diese auch bei Events Möglichkeiten zur Steigerung der Zahlungsbereitschaft und Verbesserung der Gewinne bieten können. Die Eventbranche kennzeichnet sich durch eine zunehmende Professionalisierung und Diversifizierung, daher nimmt auch der Preis sowohl aus Nachfrage- wie auch Anbietersicht eine zunehmend wichtige Rolle ein. Mittels einer Befragung von zwölf Eventmanagern untersuchen wir empirisch, welche Überlegungen zur Preisgestaltung von Events einfließen und inwieweit preispsychologische Effekte in der Bepreisung berücksichtigt werden. Die Ergebnisse bestätigen eine Lücke zwischen der theoretischen Kenntnis der Effekte einerseits und der praktischen Anwendung anderseits. Daraus ergeben sich konkrete Ansatzpunkte für eine verstärkt am Kundennutzen orientiere Preisgestaltung sämtlicher Einnahmequellen von Events.
Online commerce is growing rapidly. With the wide accessibility of the internet, e-commerce is becoming the most important ways or medium for doing business globally. The growth of e-commerce business provides companies a great opportunity to invest online so as to position their brand.
This thesis observes the elements of online brand positioning. Furthermore, it analyses whether these elements can be applied to an online business. For this Zalando the online fashion retailer, will be taken as an example. It starts with a literature review on e-commerce definition, important factors for e-commerce business, advantages of e-commerce business, brand positioning, importance of brand positioning and online brand positioning elements. The chosen brand positioning elements are then applied to analyse the online brand positioning of Zalando. Furthermore, it observes the influence of brand positioning elements on their competitive advantages.
The brand positioning elements are benefits and feature, price and value statements, competitive advantages, information on product and services, processes, partnering and relationship, leadership claims and corporate power, corporate social responsibility and credibility. All these brand positioning elements are addressed by Zalando and these elements have played an important role for the positioning of Zalando`s brand.
In the economy, it is always important to respond adequately to the wants of customers in order to satisfy their needs. The fashion industry in particular is strongly affected by the fast pace of life, which is why it is particularly important for companies in this sector to adapt their brands and their products to the current market. In order to work successoriented, the companies have to align themselves with the existing generations, whereby the companies increasingly adapt their products to the generation Y. However, Generation Y will soon be outnumbered by Generation Z. Therefore, the aim of this work is to find a suitable future-oriented marketing strategy for the fashion industry in Germany that successfully targets Generation Z while taking social milieus into consideration for defining the target audience. The first part of the thesis comprises the presentation of different theories to elucidate Generation Z and to present various approaches to milieu research. In order to answer the research question, an empirical research was conducted with Generation Z as the target audience. The study relies on quantitative data collection via primary research. The analysis of the collected data shows the current perception of Generation Z towards fashion companies, their brands and the use of social media channels. As a result, an improved social media strategy combined with appropriate communication between companies and customers is needed to reach Generation Z more widely, create brand loyalty and strengthen the company's position in the market.
Digitalization is one of the major challenges for companies today. Well-established “traditional” companies have to adapt and develop new business models to stay competitive. Digitalization, connected services and alternative drive technologies are identified as key trends in the automotive industry. New competitors from different industry segments, e.g. IT industry, enter the automotive industry. Therefore, the automotive industry faces new challenges due to digitalization. These challenges are identified in the scope of this thesis. One major is a transformation of the classic sales process of a vehicle. Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks developed a new certified partner program. Bodybuilders, who are working with the model series Econic, can apply for the partner status.
Furthermore, Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks will launch a product information platform. Bodybuilders have the opportunity to market themselves and their products on the platform. Therefore, this thesis aims to identify the theoretical factors of the success of a digital platform and to transfer these factors to the automotive industry. Qualitative research methods were conducted to examine the practical relevance of these factors. By analyzing already existing platforms in the automotive industry, it turned out that many industry-specific success factors are already implemented. Thereby a series of recommendations for actions, regarding the design and optimization of the EconicPartner Portal, were derived.
The interest in topics such as consumer behavior, consumer psychology, and decision-making in the context of marketing has increased in recent years, due to the rise in marketing spending, ineffective marketing campaigns, and product failures, giving way to the growing scientific field of neuromarketing.
This bachelor thesis proposes the implementation of a neuroscientific foundation in order to improve conventional marketing mix models. Firstly, this work intends to offer an overall understanding of the characteristics and techniques of conventional marketing and neuromarketing. Secondly, it explores the for marketing relevant brain areas in association with the importance of emotions. In addition, it analyses the connection between marketing activities and consumer behavior by putting forward the different arguments for its effectiveness of a neuromarketing foundation. Finally, the key learnings regarding the successful implementation of neuromarketing are discussed, based on the application of neuromarketing techniques as well as based on the Limbic® model from Hans Georg Häusel. The application of these two approaches is illustrated based on the 4Cs.
This thesis employed academic literature from several scientific fields and findings from brain research to develop a theoretical foundation for understanding the concept of neuromarketing in a business context. Various examples were used to identify the potential of neuromarketing and to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of conventional marketing methods and those of neuromarketing. The vivid examples and discoveries from brain research and the problems of conventional marketing support the statement that there is a need for something innovative to face the current issues. The thesis proposes the implementation of a neuromarketing foundation with the Limbic® model or with neuromarketing techniques such as eye-tracking to obtain greater insights into the consumer in order to improve marketing performance. The findings from brain research and consumer neuroscience indicate that there is significant scientific evidence to suggest that the application of neuromarketing would be an effective complement for conventional marketing methods and can create a competitive advantage.
Companies operating in the grocery industry are facing low customer loyalty, resulting in strong customer switching behaviour. Additionally, the high similarity of the products predominantly prevents them from deriving benefits from switching barriers. As these issues represent decisive interfering factors for a sustainable and successful business, we intend to examine possible customer retention strategies, which target an increase in customer loyalty. We aim to identify the most appropriate reward strategy in the context of customer loyalty for direct sellers in the grocery industry.
In order to compare and evaluate different possibilities, we conducted an empirical study. Our study focuses on the concrete case of bofrost*, a representative of direct sellers. A total of about 430 bofrost* customer panel members participated in an online survey. With four different survey versions, four customer groups were influenced by different specific customer retention strategies. After being confronted with unfavourable situations, participants had to state how likely they would recommend the company, intend to stay loyal to the company and abstain from competitive offers.
The survey data reveals no significant differences among the four groups. Therewith, based on the study results, we cannot diagnose the best strategy. Nevertheless, based on the theory of cognitive dissonance, we highly recommend bofrost* and other direct sellers to surprise the customer with a present, namely with a T-shirt, discreetly embroidered with the company logo. Furthermore, this research highlights the specific potential of direct sellers - especially in the grocery industry - to reinforce relational switching costs by implementing this suggested customer retention strategy. Thereby, companies can strengthen customer loyalty in the long-term and are able to prevent customers from churning. Moreover, company-specific recommendations of action are provided to bofrost*.
This research creates value to direct sellers, specifically of the grocery industry, by offering a foundation for decisionmaking regarding the design of a sustainably effective customer retention strategy. This takes companies a step closer to the increase of customer loyalty, which is essential in the light of a highly competitive market in which own customers are likely to get attracted from competitors.
The topic of sexism in advertising has attracted the attention of many scholars for more than four decades now. It is 2019, and the topic remains current and open to debate.
This study explores the relationship between sexism in advertising and society’s views on the roles of men and women on the basis of German dwellers. The investigation has been conducted based on significant theories and current examples and reinforced with empirical data collected from a survey. The results showed that most of the participants surveyed thought that men and women were not being accurately pictured in advertising. In addition, those who have cataloged an ad as sexist disagreed with that content reflecting their opinion about the roles that men and women play within society. Moreover, it was observed that factors like age and occupation have an influence on both the recognition of sexism in advertising and the conception on gender roles.
The use of social media for marketing purposes has already begun replacing virtually all traditional marketing practices in order to cater to a generation of digital natives and young festival goers – a trend that can be especially observed in the music industry today. For all that, not all marketers of music festivals are fully informed about the necessity of a well-developed and multifaceted social media strategy. The goal of this study was to explore the topic of strategic social media in music festival organizations and to derive a model upon which music festival organizations can establish and form their social media strategy more effectively. For this purpose, a literature review was conducted and a combined social media model for assessing social media strategies of music festival organizations was proposed. Six prevailing themes pertaining to social media strategy that were identified constitute the model: 1. Channel selection and evaluation, 2. Audience analysis, 3. Communication style, 4. Social media content, 5. Social monitoring and risk management, and 6. Roles and responsibilities. In the second part of this study, a qualitative research design employing interviews and a case study was used in order to explore strategic social media use in leading festivals in Serbia, Croatia and North Macedonia. The findings of this study reveal about the impact of specific social media platforms, the use of analytics tools for gathering audience insights, the two-way interactive communication with the fans, the efficiency of content resulting from co-creation, the role and importance of PR in social media, as well as the position of social media in the organization and the staffing approach for social media marketing.
Mit einer Wiederbelebung und Wiedereinführung von zahlreichen alten Marken und Produkten in den vergangenen Jahren und Jahrzehnten sind Retro-Produkte ein gewichtiger Teil der Produktpalette in vielen Branchen geworden. Auch in der Videospielbranche haben Retro-Produkte in den letzten Jahren große Aufmerksamkeit erfahren, mit der Einführung von offiziellen Neuauflagen alter beliebter Spielekonsolen mit vorinstallierten Spieleklassikern und dem erneuten legalen Verkauf zahlreicher alter Videospiele bzw. der Veröffentlichung von Remakes dieser Videospiele.
Das Themengebiet des Retro-Gamings wird in der Literatur und Forschung bisher selten aus wirtschaftlicher Perspektive behandelt. Dies gilt besonders in Bezug auf eine gezielte Betrachtung spezifischer geografischer Einzelmärkte. Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich daher, bezogen auf den deutschen Absatzmarkt, mit einer Untersuchung des Wettbewerbsumfelds und der strategischen Potenziale von Retro-Gaming-Produkten anhand von drei unterschiedlichen Arten von Retro-Games. Dies geschieht auf Basis der von Michael E. Porter beschriebenen Wettbewerbskräfte, der Unternehmensvorteile durch das Angebot von Retro-Games, der Eignung der unterschiedlichen Arten als Produkt und offener Marktchancen. Diese werden auf Basis von Informationen aus der Fachliteratur, Markdaten und einer Befragung innerhalb der lokalen Zielgruppe für Retro-Gaming Produkte erforscht.
Die Eigenschaften des Wettbewerbsumfelds unterscheiden sich dabei je nach der betrachteten Art von Retro-Games. Es zeigen sich die Vorteile einer Verlängerung des Produktlebenszyklus und der Möglichkeit der Anziehung zusätzlicher Kunden bzw. Retention alter Kunden. Weitere Ergebnisse indizieren eine je nach untersuchter Art von Retro-Games unterschiedliche Eignung als Produkt, und Interesse an einem erhöhten kommerziellen Angebot von Retro-Games innerhalb der Zielgruppe.
Diese Bachelorthesis diskutiert die Bedeutung eines nachhaltigen Produktmanagements, um langfristig die Kaufbereitschaft von Waschmittel bei Schweizer Konsumenten zu steigern. Aufgrund der derzeitigen Umweltthematik ist es notwendig, dass sowohl Unternehmen als auch Konsumenten nachhaltiges Verhalten annehmen können. Diese Arbeit erschließt Handlungsempfehlungen für den Waschmittelmarkt in der Schweiz. Bezogen auf die Unilever Schweiz GmbH, soll verstanden werden, welche Erfolgsfaktoren Konsumenten zu einem nachhaltigen Kauf animieren. Basierend auf einer Literaturrecherche, die sich auf gegenwärtige Theorien bezieht, werden Preisstrategien, Produktauslobungen, PoS Kommunikationen, das Markenmanagement sowie die Einschränkung von Entscheidungsfaktoren berücksichtigt. Durch eine Wettbewerbsanalyse sowie durch einen Konsumententest werden Erfolgsfaktoren verifiziert. Diese quantitative und qualitative Erhebung ermöglicht eine ganzheitliche Betrachtung des Waschmittelmarktes, wobei Strategien gezielt für die Unilever Schweiz GmbH implementiert werden können.
Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit der Steigerung der Markenbekanntheit im Körperpflegemarkt. Verschiedene Problemfaktoren erschweren kleinen Marken mit einem begrenzten Budget eine erfolgreiche Positionierung zur Steigerung der Bekanntheit in den Bereichen der Distribution und Kommunikation. Deshalb werden in dieser Arbeit verschiedene Marketingmaßnahmen, die den Erfolg einer bekannten Marke beeinflussen, aufgezeigt. Den Rahmen der Arbeit stellt die Zusammenarbeit mit dem Unternehmen MANN UND SCHRÖDER COSMETICS und der Marke VANDINI. Die Analyse der aktuellen Literatur und die Abgrenzung der zentralen Begriffe bilden die theoretische Basis der Arbeit. Bezugnehmend auf das Modell des Marketing-Mixes werden anhand der Bereiche Distribution und Kommunikation Möglichkeiten zur Steigerung der Markenbekanntheit im Körperpflegemarkt untersucht. Anwendungsbeispiele des Wettbewerbs und die empirische Erhebung Qualitativer Daten durch Experteninterviews, dienen der Erörterung spezifischer Erfolgsindikatoren zur Steigerung der Markenbekanntheit. Hierbei wird vorwiegend ein explorativer Forschungsansatz verfolgt.
Das Ergebnis sind Handlungsempfehlungen für die Marke VANDINI. Diese umfassen ausschließlich die Bereiche Distribution und Kommunikation. Eine flächendeckende Drogeriemarktdistribution und die Priorisierung von digitalen Kommunikationsmaßnahmen sind von besonderer Relevanz zur Steigerung der Bekanntheit der Marke VANDINI und stellen die Grundlage weiterer operativer Planungsprozesse des Unternehmens dar.
This thesis is assigned by Carestream Dental in order to implement a launch plan of the Showpad (A Sales Enablement Platform) application in the EMEA region for the sales and marketing teams. To ensure successful implementation, a thorough analysis was conducted in order to review and established the necessity of the Showpad application. It was imperative to build an implementation plan before the launch. The application was structured and tested among the sales and marketing team to examine the benefits of the application before making any decisions about the Launch. The purpose of this thesis was:
To understand the full capabilities of the platform for sales and marketing.
To define and build a structure that fits the EMEA sales needs.
To this effect, build an implementation plan for a successful launch of the platform. Studying whether the application would add value to the sales and marketing team processes. This thesis was executed as quantitative research collecting data through primary research. A survey was conducted to find out whether the marketing and sales team found the platform useful for them and how they experienced the built-in structure and layout. The purpose of Showpad was to enable our sales and marketing work more efficiently when it comes to having materials for their working needs and the platform was intended to replace previous system, the decision to launch was based on their opinions and experiences. A workshop was organized with the sales and marketing representative as part of implementation plan to discuss internal and external processes of usage. The first step was to roll-out for internal marketing and sales and the second step to launch for external dealers. The overall look and feel of the platform was created in alignment with the Carestream Dental branding guidelines. The structure of the platform was built based on the sales needs and information collected during the workshop. The structure was clear, and content found easy to access in comparison to the platform already in place like Sharepoint. The platform improved the alignment and communication between the marketing and sales team to a good extent.
Sales promotional tools are of significant importance in attracting potential customers and retaining current customers. We can already have access to many studies in examining and comparing the causes and effects that different sales promotional strategies could bring to various aspects, such as, sales, brand name and brand loyalty. Several researches have also explained the irrational buying decisions and behaviors consumers have when they are given framed promotional message. Researches have shown that, in many cases, consumers tend to go for a free offer (bonus pack) instead of a discount offer although the economic value is equal. It is also shown by previous studies from students of Hochschule Furtwangen University have concluded that in Germany, for non-durable goods, consumer’s willingness to pay is higher with BOGOF offer then that of discount’s. They have also conclude that the effects that promotional tools could bring are long term by designing the survey with situation that the promotion has expired. It is known that BOGOF is preferred over discount, but how good is BOGOF compared to when there is no promotion given? And are there any changes in consumer’s perception towards product’s quality with different promotion applied? This study will be focusing on two promotional strategies: discount and BOGOF in the non-durable goods industry in Europe and in China. There will be a Baseline Test and an A/B survey. A total of 1061 participants were randomly selected to participate in an online survey. The questions of the Baseline Test are under a situation with no promotion, while A survey’s questions are under a situation of ended discount and B surveys are under a finished BOGOF offer. The survey results indicated that, both in Europe and China, the willingness to pay for non-durable products in BOGOF offer is higher than that of the discounts, while the baselines are close with the result of discounts. This study has the potential to contribute to academics and marketers in the non-durable goods industry as it consolidates previous findings and provides insights of the relationship between baseline and promotional tools.
Programmatic Advertising has been proven to cause privacy concerns amongst its recipients. Various research points out the fact that heavy use of data for personalized advertisements can have a disturbing and scaring effect on the users. This thesis takes a closer look on the privacy concerns of users and whether these concerns are connected to a lack of awareness about the topic Programmatic Advertising.
Since there is a big research gap about this topic, it was essential to collect primary data. For this matter, a combination of qualitative and quantitative data-gathering has been utilized.
The outcome of this research has helped to come up with managerial implications that provide advertisers with a deeper understanding about the users’ privacy concerns and whether these are linked to a lack of awareness and knowledge about Programmatic Advertising.
Die Neukundenakquise ist für jedes Unternehmen unabdinglich. Unabhängig von Branche, Produkt oder Serviceleistung ist jedes Jahr eine bestimmte Anzahl an Neukunden zu akquirieren. Die Aktualität der telefonischen Kaltakquise zu hinterfragen ist endscheidend, da diese weit verbreitet und als Erstkontaktmethode maßgebend am Aufbau der Kundenbeziehung beteiligt ist. Mit dem Aufkommen der Nutzung der sozialen Medien im Business-to-Business-Bereich hat sich ein weiterer Zweig in der Neukundenakquise ergeben. Anhand der Betrachtung der literaturbasierenden Einflussfaktoren in der telefonischen Kaltakquise, wie beispielsweise die Kommunikationsfähigkeit, die Vertrauenswürdigkeit, die Erfahrung, das Unternehmensimage, etc., einer durchgeführten Expertenumfrage zur Gewichtung der Einflussfaktoren und Fragen zur Aktualität der telefonischen Kaltakquise und Social Selling, wurde ein Vergleich der beiden Erstkontaktmethoden ausgearbeitet. Aus diesem resultiert, dass das Social Selling die Durchführung der telefonischen Kaltakquise nicht ersetzten kann, jedoch eine Kombination der beiden Methoden sinnvoll erscheint.
Die vorliegende Bachelorarbeit beschäftigt sich mit der gezielten Ansprache des Seh- und Tastsinns in deutschen Supermärkten. Zunächst werden anhand einer Literaturanalyse der Mehrwert und die möglichen Einflussfaktoren einer visuellen und haptischen Marketingstrategie erörtert. Durch das Mittel der Beobachtung werden daraufhin Umsetzungsbeispiele aus der Praxis ermittelt und analysiert. Darüber hinaus werden, durch Experteninterviews mit den zuständigen Filialleitern, die Erfolgswirkungen der jeweiligen visuellen und haptischen Gestaltung erfasst. Die erhaltenen Aussagen werden durch die Ergebnisse einer Kundenbefragung bezüglich der Erfolgswirkungen ergänzt. Im Anschluss werden anhand der erhobenen Daten Optimierungsmöglichkeiten in der Umsetzung visueller und haptischer Reize im Supermarkt bestimmt.
Die Umsetzung visueller Reize findet vor allem in der Nutzung von natürlichen Materialien und Produktbildern statt. Haptische Reize ergeben sich dagegen im Angebot von Selbstbedienung und loser Ware. Die sensorischen Elemente bieten den Supermärkten die Möglichkeit, durch die Hervorhebung von Waren, die Erzeugung positiver Emotionen und Assoziationen, sowie der Erstellung eines Einkaufserlebnisses, den Umsatz zu steigern und sich von Wettbewerbern zu differenzieren. Dennoch beschränkt sich die Gestaltung der Märkte noch stark auf den Sehsinn. Da Kunden ebenso Wert auf den Tastsinn legen, sollten auch haptische Reize gezielt genutzt und in einer stimmigen sensorischen Strategie eingebunden werden.
After the Second World War and especially in the early 70s a new phenomenon arose – today widely known as globalization. It eliminated barriers and thus increased international competition. Companies such as Siemens, General Electrics and Procter & Gamble were forced to act globally in order to stay competitive and therefore they had to redefine their businesses in a strategic and internationally oriented manner. As one of a company’s most essential departments, human resources was tremendously forced to adapt to the changed business environment. Language skills, cultural awareness and global mobility were only a few new requirements in human resources.
Early in the beginning of globalization, large companies recognized the opportunity to outsource specific departments with the goal of cost-saving and resource bundling. Manufacturing was and still is a predestined department to make use of outsourcing, whereas the situation for other departments including IT, procurement and human resources is more complex. The main fear is losing control to the outsourcing partner. Main departments with a strategic importance for the overall success are therefore only conditionally suitable for outsourcing. Companies need to ask themselves, how much control over their human capital they are willing to sacrifice for saving costs and staying competitive. With the purpose to evade this conflict of objectives, companies seek for a hybrid model, which allowed them maintaining control and cutting costs at the same time.
In the early 70s, first companies found the solution in the Shared Service Center model, which then rapidly spread throughout a number of countries and industries. Human Resources Shared Service Centers can be defined as a hybrid model, combining advantages and avoiding disadvantages of outsourcing and decentralization of Human Resources. The Shared Service Center model is expected to lower costs, improve efficiency and service quality, and enable organizations to better focus on core functions. Although the strategy seems only having advantages, there are many aspects to consider in the pre-implementation phase. Moving to the Shared Service Center model represents an immense strategic project, including high risk, costs and impact on the overall success. For this reason, the project needs to be well planned, designed, implemented, monitored
and evaluated from the right people, at the right time and at the right place. Any small mistakes made during the project might have an unpredictable and irreversible impact and prevent the company from benefiting of the Shared Service Center model or might even force the organization to stop the project completely. Before deciding to implement Shared Service Centers, companies need to accept that there is neither guarantee for success nor a universally valid success strategy. Best and worst practices will be discovered during the transition at the earliest and a success evaluation can only happen in the post-transition phase. Although the Shared Service Center model is not a recent trend as it found first-time application many decades ago, the topic remains relevant as many companies still hesitate implementing this risky strategy. Some organizations succeeded, others failed and returned to their old approach while some are currently in the transition phase.
Before deciding to move to the Shared Service Center model, one of the top pharma company’s was facing the same issues as other companies on such a scale. The management increasingly felt the pressure to offer the same or an even better service quality at a lower price. Changing the strategy and implementing Shared Service Centers across the globe was seen as the most promising solution. The large pharma company with employees of many nationalities worldwide offers a huge variety of cultures, which can be seen as a chance, but also as an obstacle on the way to a successful Shared Service Center implementation. Primarily, the company has to consider that the project might not work in the same pace, quality and method for all countries. Finding best practices for all countries is a desirable goal, yet not easy to achieve.
This essay takes a fresh look at the interactions between Germany and its halal food market by evoking the facts, challenges, and opportunities of a norm that sets the limit between lawful and unlawful. Moreover, following the steps of various conducted research papers that analyzed the halal food market in different ethnic societies, this study aims to find out some of the significant success factors within the halal supply chain management in a German business context.
Knowledge Sharing in Enterprise Social Networks - Exploring the use of the Aesculap GMS Magazine
(2019)
This study assesses the usage of the Aesculap GMS Magazine, an Enterprise Social Network dedicated to the employees of the Global Marketing and Sales area at the Aesculap division of the B. Braun Melsungen AG, with particular focus on knowledge sharing. To address this issue, the purpose of this study is to explore the users’ perceptions, as well as the strengths and weaknesses and usage enablers and barriers of the Aesculap GMS Magazine via a group discussion with four potential users, semi-structured interviews with two experts and an employee survey. The interviews and the group discussion were recorded and analyzed and the survey was assessed with descriptive statistics. Results show that the vast majority is satisfied with the Aesculap GMS Magazine and does not perceive any barrier that hinder them from engaging in knowledge sharing. This data was further processed in a Scoring Model which finally resulted in a prioritization of various alternative measures that will be useful for the future of the Aesculap GMS Magazine.
The interest in topics such as the environment, health and sustainability has increased dramatically in recent years, due to concerns about global warming and demographic change, giving way to the concept of “green branding”.
This bachelor thesis proposes the application of a green branding strategy in order to position Irish agri-food products in the German grocery retail market, and explores its potential effectiveness and current relevance. Firstly, this work intends to offer an overall understanding of the characteristics and implications of a green branding strategy. Secondly, it analyses the connection with Ireland as a country of origin for agri-food products, by putting forward the different arguments for its suitability for the respective products. Finally, the key learnings regarding the successful implementation of a green branding strategy are discussed, based on a real-life best-practice case.
This research employed previous academic and trade literature to develop a theoretical foundation for understanding the concept of green branding in a marketing context. Various forms of industry, consumer and retail insights were used to identify the extent of demand for green brands in Germany and to analyse strength and weaknesses of the Irish agri-food industry in this regard.
An expert interview with the Marketing Manager for Kerrygold in Germany was conducted to uncover points arising from the best-practice application of a green branding strategy.
The findings indicate that there is significant theoretical and practical evidence to suggest that the application of a green branding would be an effective positioning strategy for Irish agri-food in the German consumer market.
Purpose – To empirically examine the impact of a set of influencing factors on B-to-B sales call success from a buyer, salesperson and neuroscientific perspective
Design/methodology/approach – A literature review was conducted to find potential non-economic influencing factors and a set of hypotheses was generated. Subsequently, findings were verified through an expert interview. Then two surveys examining the buyer and sales perspective were carried out and hypotheses were tested. Lastly, results were aimed to be explained from a neuroscientific perspective.
Findings – The results show that trust, emotion and empathy are positively correlated to sales call success. However, communication, listening skills, empathy, appearance and personality variables were on average still perceived as somewhat important for sales call success by both survey groups. Neuroscientific literature could provide insights into the effects of trust, emotion, appearance and extroversion on sales call outcome.
Research limitations – The sample size permits only a general analysis and conclusions. Buyers participating in the survey tended to evaluate sales calls as rather successful, leading to an underrepresentation of “unsuccessful” sales calls in the data set. Neuroscientific literature provided insights but could not fully explain the suggested model.
Practical implications – Emotional and non-economic factors including trust, positive emotion and empathy should be part of a successful sales methodology so that the effects of these factors are considered to improve the outcome of sales calls
In the digital age, companies are increasingly asking themselves how to reach their customers. In recent years, chatbots and language assistants have opened up an innovative form of communication and provide an opportunity to interactively expand touchpoints. Their integration can take place on different communication channels and thus, directly address the users.
This paper discusses how chatbots and language assistants work and how they can be used. Expert interviews have been conducted for qualitative analysis. Based on the theoretical analysis and the expert interviews, the added value for companies when using bots and language assistants is determined. Subsequently, an assessment of the bots and language assistants is made and a recommendation for further research is given.
This research is exploring how companies can create the right brand image through marketing activities and brand management. We will determine all the components needed in luxury goods industry for a successful brand image establishment and how important this is in the luxury industry. We will start by discussing about the important aspects of brands, luxury and the luxury industry leading to a more practical chapter of the brand image creation methods in luxury goods industry with real life examples and finally concluding the brand image being a main ingredient in consumer-based brand equity creation. The conclusion is formulated with Aaker´s (1991) model of brand equity and Keller´s (2013) dimensions of brand knowledge and finally supported by Na et al. (1999) model of brand power.
Die SICK STEGMANN GmbH verkauft ihre Motor-Feedback-Systeme als Komponenten zum Einbau in Servo-, Linear- und Torquemotoren verkauft. Die Motoren werden wiederrum in Maschinen und Anlagen verbaut. Vor allem Motoren mit Einkabeltechnologie, die durch die Schnittstelle HIPERFACE DSL® von SICK bereitgestellt wird, gelten als entscheidender Vorteil für den Maschinenbauer, der dadurch letztlich einen geringeren Verkabelungsaufwand hat. Das Problem entsteht dabei, dass der Maschinenbauer nur den fertigen Motor sieht und die Produkte von SICK als Komponenten für ihn nicht ersichtlich sind. Weiterhin gewinnen umfangreiche Servicestrukturen immer mehr an Bedeutung, diese hatten in der Vergangenheit in der Business Unit „Motor-Feedback-Systeme“ einen geringen Stellenwert. Die Thesis soll klären, inwieweit der Wandel vom Komponentenhersteller hin zum Service- und Solution Provider vollzogen werden kann und welche Positionierungsmaßnahmen dafür notwendig sind. Im Rahmen von Experteninterviews und einer internen Kundenbefragung mit Hilfe eines standardisierten Fragebogens wird der Ist-Zustand beschrieben und daraufhin eine Soll-Analyse zur Klärung der Forschungsfragen abgeleitet. Die Analysen zeigen, dass Veränderungen auf Produkt- und Serviceseite notwendig sind, um vermehrt Maschinenbauer anzusprechen und hier einen Kaufwunsch zu platzieren. Im Detail beschäftigt sich die Thesis mit der Ausarbeitung neuer Positionierungsstrategien für Motor-Feedback-Systeme und Services. Ferner werden Handlungsempfehlungen zu weiteren strategischen Überlegungen beschrieben. Die Evaluierung schließt die Bachelorthesis ab.
Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht, ob und wie Gender-Marketing in der deutschen Automobilindustrie angewandt wird. Es wird der Zusammenhang zwischen biologischen Erkenntnissen und deren Implikationen für das Marketing hergestellt und untersucht, ob große deutsche Automobilhersteller diese auch in der Praxis anwenden.
Schließlich sind Frauen eine Käufergruppe mit noch viel ungenutztem Potenzial, die allerdings nicht unbedingt mit denselben, auf Männer ausgerichtete Marketingmaßnahmen begeistert werden können. Mit dem Einsatz von sozialen Bindungen und Emotionalisierung können bei vielen Frauen positive Reaktionen hervorgerufen werden.
Des Weiteren wird auch klar, dass Gender-Marketing ein komplexes Thema ist, dessen Erfolg schwer messbar ist, da es in Verbindung mit anderen Marketingaspekten steht.
The main focus of this thesis will be to shed light on the existence of cognitive biases. As many researchers, such as Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, have proven in the last five decades, people are not always as rational as they would like to believe. It is important to understand the origin of this irrational behaviour as well as its implications on judgements and decisions. Furthermore, cognitive biases also have a significant influence on consumers’ buying behaviour and decision-making. Through extensive research in secondary as well as primary data it will be shown how much of an influence the cognitive biases anchoring, hyperbolic discounting, loss aversion, endowment effect and decoy effect have on consumer buying behaviour. Additionally, recommendations of how these influences can be used in marketing will be given.
Creating effective cross-cultural advertising campaigns is one of the most challenging ongoing topics in international marketing. This paper aims to apply the insights of cross-cultural neuroscience of emotion to advertising in China and Germany.
Examining the differences in cross-cultural perception of emotions will be instrumental for models used in advertisements across China and Germany, help understand the role of consumer age for the emotional reaction to advertisements and elucidate the influence of emotions on cross-cultural prejudices and memory.
Based on an expert interview conducted with the neuroscientist Dr. Henning Beck, several hypotheses were generated. In order to investigate the hypotheses, a cross-cultural survey in China and Germany was conducted testing the influence of the own-race bias on emotional advertising using the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM). The results of the primary research suggest that the perception of emotions is culturally trained and can lead to a different emotional experience of advertising for Chinese and German citizens.
Promotional offers play a significant role in order to obtain and retain new and existing customers. There are already many researches comparing the performance and effectiveness of sales strategies during the promotional period. Results reveal that the framing of the saving message influences consumers’ perception of the price which in turn leads to an uncommon purchase decision. Even though the offers are mostly economically equivalent, people have preferences depending on the pricing practice. Data from previous researches shows that in many cases bonus packs are generally more preferred than a discount. Most commonly applied in-store strategies in Germany are price discount and buy one get one free. Will the value perception for BOGOF still be higher than price discount after the promotion expires? This study will specifically focus on BOGOF and price discount in the consumer nondurable goods industry. A total of 450 randomly selected people participated in the A/B survey. The A survey focusses on questions relating to price discount whereas the B survey includes questions regarding BOGOF. In both surveys, the promotion is no longer valid. The survey data reveals that the willingness to pay for consumer nondurable goods during the post-promotion phase is higher when promoting with BOGOF rather than with price discount. This research has the potential to form a crucial answer for academics and marketers in the consumer nondurable goods industry as it provides insight of the long-term influence of promotion on consumer psychology.
The impact of Social Media Marketing on consumer decision-making process in the tourism industry
(2019)
Decisions are defining our daily lives. Consumers are making decisions frequently. Since new technologies appeared, and globalization is rising, people are facing new challenges and are confronted with more decisions to make than it was two decades earlier.
Decisions are made in every industry. Likewise, it is in tourism.
The tourism industry is booming, and the necessity of the internet required more than ever. Simultaneously tourism industry is faced with a new consumer who is creating, commenting, sharing, liking and posting content. Hence, it is more complex to analyze and understand this form of consumer. Changing position from an offline to an online member of the internet have had a huge impact on consumers’ behavior. Adaptation of Social Media Marketing to the new consumers tend to be more difficult than it was earlier. Consumers are getting more communicative dispose of a wider range of information, as the internet became a tool to interact and communicate. It is now more important that the tourism industry acts in a successful and sustainable way to improve its Social Media performance and adapt communication processes to be able to influence decisionmaking and direct consumer to their touristic supply.
At this academic work, firstly, it is identified the term “tourism” to analyze the decisionmaking process adapted to the tourism industry. Moreover, critical phases, which can be strongly influenced by Social Media Marketing are defined, based on theoretical research.
Moreover, a model is going to be designed, which describes adequate Social Media applications which are influencing consumers’ decision-making process. This is based on a quantitative research in form of a questionnaire. The resulting model is proved and discussed later approached by a qualitative research, which will be designed as an expert discussion.
The age of connectivity has come with maximum convenience, variety and transparency for shoppers. In light of an increasingly informed consumer with a trained eye for inauthentic marketing, traditional brick-and-mortar retail has recognised the need for differentiation from online competitors. As a consequence, retailers are progressively moving away from transaction-focused retailing to the creation of multi-sensory and emotionally engaging customer experiences through experiential retailing.
As a means of showcasing the brand, experiential retailing is particularly gaining popularity among consumer electronics brands. However, considering the high cost and non-transactional focus of experiential retailing, the question arises whether this approach creates long-term benefits for the brand. Therefore, this bachelor thesis aims to identify whether experiential retailing constitutes a viable branding tool for consumer electronics. Upon establishing a relationship between the concepts of experiential retailing and branding based on literature review, this paper uses qualitative research to investigate the implications of this relationship as perceived by a brand representative and consumers. The analysis of the conducted expert and focus group interviews, identifies experiential retailing as a means of increasing brand awareness, whilst addressing other brand constructs such as brand experience and brand loyalty. With respect to this, this paper substantiates the applicability of experiential retailing as a branding tool for consumer electronics.
With information on corporate ethical behavior now more accessible than ever, consumers have become increasingly socially and environmentally aware, which has translated into a growing demand for ethically made products. For ethically minded consumers, certification labels such as fair trade or organic are simple indicators of whether a product meets their ethical standards. For companies that wish to become certified, which is a lengthy and sometimes expensive process, there are several pertinent questions to consider, such as how much customers really value particular labels and whether multiple labels yield significant added competitive benefits. One should also consider how best to collect this information, because simply asking customers via surveys isn’t guaranteed to return results that actually reflect or predict real-life behavior (Carrington et al. 2010). For this paper, we collected information on consumers’ willingness to pay for products with the organic and fair trade labels (both individually and in combination) using two different methods: a traditional questionnaire and a reaction-time based electronic research method designed to reveal subconscious value perceptions. The factors involved were product type and number of labels. We found little evidence to suggest that additional ethical labels significantly increase willingness to pay.
Die Textilbranche befindet sich im Umbruch: Der moderne Kunde sieht alles, weiß alles und konsumiert alles. Aufgrund der steigenden Übersättigung des Marktes bieten Unternehmen ihren Kunden heutzutage vermehrt ein emotionales Marken- und Einkaufserlebnis in Form einer ausgeklügelten Trademarketing Strategie.
Die vorliegende Bachelorarbeit beschreibt die Entwicklung und Implementierung einer Trademarketing Strategie für den russischen Markt. In Kooperation mit der Firma Marc Cain wird ein zur Initiierung der Strategie entworfenes Pilotprojekt geplant, entwickelt und organisiert. Die Bachelorarbeit basiert auf den konkreten Ausarbeitungen des Unternehmens zur Hinführung auf den strategischen Rollout. Es stellt sich heraus, dass eine termingerechte Implementierung der Strategie aufgrund personeller Umstrukturierungen in der russischen Tochtergesellschaft im Zuge dieser Arbeit nicht möglich ist. Dennoch werden alle Rahmenbedingungen für eine Strategieimplementierung im April 2019 geschaffen.
Digitalization is fundamentally changing business models, amongst others, the consumer purchase behavior. The changes in how people are gathering information and purchasing via the Internet nowadays is one of the major reasons why marketing is shifting to digital. Especially for B-to-B companies, whose purpose is to create customers and build long term relationships, it is crucial to set up digital touchpoints along the customer journey. Within this digital customer journey, the research focuses on the meaning of search engine marketing as an initial point for lead generation. The thesis aims to show how to take advantage of search engine marketing for lead generation from the example of the Grässlin company by examining theoretical framework and carrying out expert interviews such as a competitive analysis about search engine marketing in the industry. The findings of the research suggest recommendations for action regarding search engine optimization and search engine advertising in order to improve the digital presence of the company but also to enhance customer-centered communication according to Inbound Marketing.
Social media and social networks are terms which appear daily in all sort of different contexts. The importance of such online platforms is growing day by day. People spend an immense time of their everyday life in such networks. Therefore, it is not surprising that marketers have encountered the great opportunity coming along with this. This paper contributes to the little research on follower demographics and delivers an insight into the hotel industry in the Black Forest. It attempts to close the knowledge gap of comparing social media followers of hotels to actual hotel guests, shows how hotels can integrate social media in their marketing strategy and why it is relevant for different market participants. Moreover, a comparison of possible target groups was made.
For analysing social media followers of hotels, own primary data was collected in form of an email survey of hotels in the Black Forest. The findings were afterwards compared to actual tourist demographics derived from a former hotel guest survey in the Black Forest. According to responses of 85 hotels, the study found that hotel guests are usually from older generations (60+) and mainly male, whereas hotel social media follower tend to be younger (around 30) and female. This shows the possibility for hotels to target customers, different from their loyal customer base, via social media. Secondary data helped drawing further conclusions. Instagram clearly supports hotels to attract new customers. It has high relevance for hotels, as well as individuals, and can be integrated in each step of a marketing planning process. Target group analysis of current guests and potential new clients, who are present on social media, has made clear that both are coming with advantages and disadvantages. Hotels should enter new markets to enlarge their customer group, however, not at the dispense of loyal guests. Loyalty and customer relation management in the accommodation industry will always be an essential point.