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The purpose of this paper is to attempt to understand the extent to which price consciousness and quality consciousness influence attitudinal loyalty to store brands (SBs) in different segments of consumers: heavy, medium and light buyers of SBs. SBs are currently consolidated among price-conscious consumers, but less established among the quality-conscious consumers.

After reviewing the literature and constructing a theoretical model, the authors performed a study on Spanish food products, a sector in which SBs have achieved a significant market share. They collected data through a personal survey and analyzed it using structural equations modeling, and they performed a multigroup analysis of heavy buyers, medium buyers and light buyers of SBs.

The results obtained alert retailers to the tremendous importance of price vs quality in the formation of SB value and loyalty to SBs among heavy buyers of these brands, show the balance between price and quality as components of SB value and generators of loyalty among medium buyers and recognize the need to strengthen the image of SB quality to reinforce SBs’ value and smart shopping associations to increase light buyers’ loyalty to SBs.

The study contributes new evidence and knowledge on SB loyalty among consumers who show different usage of these brands (heavy, medium and light buyers). It then assesses the short- and long-term value of each segment of customers for the retailer and recommends retail strategies adapted to each segment.

The main aim of this research is to provide empirical analyses about the store brand management by manufacturers and retailers from the manufacturer's perspective, in the current context, which is one of intense competition between manufacturer and store brands. Particularly, this research pursues to analyse the profile of store brand manufacturers, their perceptions about the retail management of these brands and their own product management of the same.

A postal survey was carried out directed at manufacturing business units of mass consumer products in Spain. Multivariate techniques are used in the information analysis such as contingency tables, variance and principal component analysis.

The results highlight the differences between manufacturers and non‐manufacturers of store brands in their competitive position and in the type of manufactured product; the consensus of both groups regarding the perception of favourable merchandising for store brands; the greater number of production and market motivations versus the relational motivations in the manufacture of store brands; the no convenience of producing store brands for leading manufacturers, and the slight differences in the manufacturing process between manufacturer and store brands.

The main limitation of this research is the fact that only the manufacturers' perceptions have been considered. It would be beneficial in future research to consider the opinion of retailers about their own management of these brands.

The main value of the paper is the empirical analyse of the store brand management from the manufacturer's perspective. This subject has been analysed from a general and basically theoretical perspective until now.

Store brands have become consolidated in the food market and are currently considered real brands. The purpose of this paper is to determine the factors that contribute to consumers’ identification with store brands, as well as the possible effect of consumers’ identification with store brands on their loyalty to the retail establishment.

The paper achieves its goal by reviewing the academic literature on the topic and proposing and validating a theoretical model for consumer-store brand identification. The theoretical model is validated through an empirical study of the Spanish market for food products using data gathered from individuals responsible for shopping for their homes who claim to have purchased store brand food products at least once. Structural equations modeling is then used to estimate and perform a multigroup analysis for heavy and light buyers of store brands.

The results obtained reveal, first, that consumers’ store brand identification mediates the relationship between their value consciousness and their loyalty to the retail establishment that manages a broad, competitive portfolio of store brands. Second, the study demonstrates the effect of other variables, such as perceived risk associated with the purchase of store brands, their perceived value and consumer satisfaction. Finally, the results show important differences between heavy and light buyers of store brands.

The main limitations of this research derive from the factors conditioning the information. Store brand value was analyzed on an aggregate level, for the Spanish food products market. Future research should include other store brands (e.g. premium store brands), control for store brands with different labels and expand the area of application to new product categories and new countries.

The results obtained have interesting implications for food retailers. These implications concern the management of value store brands in the product portfolio to achieve loyalty to the retail establishment among value-conscious consumers (who constitute the main target of value store brands).

This paper analyzes consumer brand identification in an area that has not been studied to date: store brands. It contributes interesting and very useful findings for retailers who commercialize these brands in their establishments. The line of research on brand identification is quite new in academic research and has arisen due to the importance for companies of constructing close, lasting connections with the consumer.

This paper aims to analyze the relative importance of brand‐packaging, price and taste in the formation of brand preference for manufacturer and store brands in food product categories.

The authors first perform a blind taste test of the product using three brands (two manufacturer brands and one store brand) in two categories with differentiated characteristics (cola drinks and olives stuffed with anchovies). They then use conjoint analysis to analyze the influence of the intrinsic cue (taste) and the extrinsic cues (price and brand‐packaging) on consumers' preference for manufacturer and store brands. Finally, after telling the consumers which taste belongs to each brand, the authors study the influence of the extrinsic cues on the consumers' quality evaluations of the real stimuli.

The results show that not knowing the brand to which the taste tested belongs, leads consumers in general to order their preferences fundamentally by taste. However, the results differ by product category and consumer segment analyzed. Consumers who evaluate the taste of store brands as better change their preferences more when they know which brand belongs to which taste. Further, the change in preference when consumers know the brand‐taste correspondence is clearly greater in the most differentiated category.

The main limitations of this research derive from the factors conditioning the information. A greater number of categories and attributes would enrich the information. In addition, it would be useful to analyze more than one store brand.

The results obtained have interesting implications for manufacturers and retailers concerning management of the brands in their product portfolio and management of their relationships in the distribution channel.

The main contribution of this paper lies in the work methodology used. The paper offers a comprehensive analysis of how the relative importance of brand‐packaging, price and taste affect brand preference for manufacturer and store brands. The study also contributes evidence on how the consumer's knowledge of the correspondence between brand and taste can change his or her brand preferences, an issue of great interest for manufacturers and distributors in managing their product portfolios.

In the marketing process, the positioning effort exerted by manufacturers for their brands is slowed by the commercial objectives of intermediary firms. In addition, to act as buyers, retailers act as suppliers of demand segments. When they receive privileged conditions in their product purchasing contracts, they do not always transfer them, totally or partially, to the final consumers through prices. The purpose of this paper is to analyse price dispersion tools available to consumer goods manufacturers to obtain price consistency.

An empirical study was conducted that analysed the retail price dispersion of 66 manufacturer brands in the categories of packaged foods, drugstore products, personal care products, and cellulose derivatives marketed in 574 Spanish retail outlets in different cities.

In general, manufacturer brands achieve greater price‐consistency, and therefore less price dispersion, when the consumer's knowledge of the product category is greater and when there are considerable levels of differentiation.

One important limitation must be recognised. Manufacturers' prices offered to retailers were not controlled. Such data would have allowed one to check whether some price dispersion was caused by the discount strategy of the manufacturers themselves.

In this research the effect of retail competitive structure in Porter's model is incorporated. In addition, it is demonstrated that price consistency is more likely to occur for manufacturer brands, and that price dispersion is likely to be lower for such brands.

This paper aims to analyze the social media strategies of wineries from three quality Denominations of Origin (DOs): Alella, Empordà and Priorat (Spain). It explores how digitalization has become a crucial element in contemporary marketing communication strategies and examines the presence and use of social media by these wineries.

The study employs a quantitative methodology to identify the most commonly used social media platforms among the selected DOs. Additionally, a content analysis is conducted to understand the themes these DOs use to engage with their audience. The analysis focuses on the social media presence and content strategies of the wineries within the specified DOs.

The study reveals that an increased understanding and utilization of new technologies by local citizens could enhance the digital development of these wineries. The research identifies the prevalent social media platforms used by the DOs and examines the content themes that wineries use to connect with their audience.

The findings emphasize the need to improve digital literacy among local communities to support the digital growth of wineries. The study also highlights the importance of understanding which social media platforms and content themes are most effective for engaging target audiences. Future research could explore the impact of specific digital strategies on business performance and consumer engagement.

This research contributes to the understanding of social media strategies in the wine industry, particularly within Catalan DOs, by providing insights into the use of digital tools and content themes in winery marketing.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the relationship between information technology (IT) use and management innovation through the mediator role of knowledge-based resources.

The paper presents empirical evidence from a survey of 109 companies that run hotel establishments in the Spanish territory. A model of relationships is proposed and tested through a system of structural equations.

The use of IT favors the development of organizational knowledge and the ability to integrate this knowledge. Moreover, a positive and direct relationship was found between IT use and management innovation, and indirectly through organizational knowledge and knowledge integration capability.

The designed questionnaire did not include any questions related to specific IT tools that could contribute to better knowledge management practices in hospitality organizations, but rather generic questions about IT use. The large number of IT tools that can potentially support knowledge management practices in hospitality companies would make the questionnaire unwieldy for its target respondents.

This paper sheds light on a topic that has hardly been studied in the services literature. Specifically, it addresses the way organizations can facilitate management innovation through the use of IT, while considering the mediator role of knowledge-based resources.

El objetivo de este estudio es evaluar la relación entre el uso de las tecnologías de la información (TIC) y la innovación organizativa a través del papel mediador de los recursos basados en el conocimiento.

El trabajo presenta evidencia empírica a partir de una encuesta realizada a 109 empresas que gestionan establecimientos hoteleros en todo el territorio español. Un modelo de relaciones se propone y testa mediante un sistema de ecuaciones estructurales.

El uso de TIC favorece el desarrollo del conocimiento organizacional y la capacidad para integrar dicho conocimiento. Además, se encontró una relación directa y positiva entre el uso de TIC y la innovación organizativa, así como una relación mediada por el conocimiento organizacional y la capacidad de integración del conocimiento.

El cuestionario diseñado no incluyó preguntas relacionadas con herramientas de TIC específicas que pudieran contribuir a mejores prácticas de gestión del conocimiento en empresas de alojamiento turístico, sino preguntas genéricas sobre el uso de TIC. El gran número de herramientas de TIC que potencialmente pueden apoyar las prácticas de gestión del conocimiento en las empresas de alojamiento, complicaría la cumplimentación del cuestionario por parte de los encuestados.

Este estudio amplía el conocimiento sobre un tema escasamente estudiado en la literatura de servicios. En concreto, se aborda la forma en que las organizaciones pueden facilitar la innovación organizativa a través del uso de TIC considerando, simultáneamente, el papel mediador de los recursos basados en el conocimiento.

Purpose: This chapter explores the current hybridization between true crime and nonfiction investigative documentaries on Video on Demand (VOD) platforms. It would seem necessary to distinguish true crime productions from long-form journalistic documentaries in order to avoid confusion between different products that do not pursue the same ends, such as audiovisual products with highly emotive and engaging components versus a journalistic approach to the truth about what happened. Methodology/approach: The analysis is based on the specific theory of true crime developed by Punnett, who provides genuine narrative codes (Justice, Subversive, Geographic, Forensic, Vocative, and Folkloric) for true crime to distinguish it from the formal conventions and social objectives of journalistic documentaries. The case study (El crimen de Alcàsser) was selected because of its potential to drive a detailed and in-depth study on one of the most traumatic crimes in the country’s recent history: the kidnapping, rape, torture, and killing of three teenagers in 1992. Findings: Several scholars have identified journalistic elements in true crime productions in the digital context, adopted in an attempt to distance them from the true crime tradition of appealing to primitive instincts. Although it has been perceived also as a renewed formula for journalism to reach a wide audience and mainstream success, it banishes journalism from its origin and goals: to guarantee the citizenship’s right to be truly informed about crime. In this way, journalistic documentaries inspired by real crimes may play a crucial role in a democratic society, while true crime only exploits the empathy of viewers and places them in the active participation of determining the suspect-protagonist’s guilt as a mode of “clickable” entertainment in the digital culture. Research limitations: This is the first in a series of studies within a broader research project on true crime documentaries released on the VOD platforms in Spain. The findings are, in this case, preliminary. The analysis needs additional testing before its utility can be reasonably determined and a theory about true crime made in Spain could be developed. Originality: First, there is no specific research in the field of true crime in Spain, although crime stories already enjoyed a prominent place in Spain’s conventional TV programming. Second, the Punnett analysis model introduces an interesting way to complement existing theoretical references about the connections between true crime and journalism.

In this paper, price and promotional selling variations for non‐durable goods in Spain are tested. An overview of price discrimination and promotional strategies for non‐durable goods is offered. In this study, the objective is to analyse how prices and promotional sales of different product categories vary between different geographical areas within Spain. An idea of the implementation of geographical price strategies and the application of micro‐marketing in frequent purchase product categories is also offered. The results of the multivariate analysis of the variance indicated that there were no significant differences in mean prices between the areas tested. However, significant differences did exist between promotional selling and promotional selling percentage using only price discounts.

Consumers often face a dilemma regarding the purchase decisions of traditional handloom apparel because of the non-availability of information cues that would enable them to assess the quality of the product. The spread of counterfeit products in the market adds to information asymmetry. The study aims to examine factors influencing purchase intention of traditional handloom apparel that have Geographical Indication (GI) certification, which follows the certification procedure specified by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

A survey was conducted among 202 traditional handloom apparel consumers in India and the data was analysed using structural equation modelling. The purchase intention of GI certified handloom apparels was examined as the dependent variable, whereas quality consciousness, product diagnosticity, perceived information asymmetry were placed as independent variables. The mediating role of perceived quality and product trust in the relation between perceived information asymmetry and purchase intention was also looked into.

Results reveal that quality consciousness positively influences product diagnosticity (facilitated by the GI label certification) which in turn reduces perceived information asymmetry. Further, a reduction in perceived information asymmetry was found to increase the purchase intention of traditional handloom apparel, fully mediated by the perceived quality and product trust.

The customers who are facing a dearth of information while making purchase of traditional handlooms will be benefitted from the GI certification label which provides authenticity regarding product attributes confirming quality. Further, the study adds to the theory by establishing the relation between quality consciousness and perceived information asymmetry.

The findings imply that GI handloom apparel sellers should design marketing strategies that would project GI certification labels for traditional handloom apparel to effectively communicate product quality attributes, thus enhance product diagnosticity reducing information asymmetry. While organic certification for agricultural products is done at the individual producer’s level, GI certification is done under the producer’s collective label. Further, studies may be extended to agricultural products (Darjeeling tea, Alphonso mangoes, etc.), food items (rasgulla, Thirupathi laddoo, etc.) and handicrafts (Aranmula Mirror, Payyannur pavithra ring) that have acquired GI label in India. GI certification is adopted worldwide and studies may be extended to such products also [example Parma ham (Italy), Hessian wine (Germany)].

Empirical research on determinants of consumer purchase intentions of GI certified traditional handloom apparel is a novel attempt done in the context of a developing country such as India. The study brings out the importance of the GI certification label envisaged by the WIPO, which can serve as a tool for reducing uncertainties faced by consumer in framing purchasing intentions. This can be extended to any product type such as agricultural, food products and handicrafts that has acquired GI certifications in different countries. The study revealed that product diagnosticity (through GI certification) could reduce perceived information asymmetry that leads the consumer to the perception of quality and product trust which results in the purchase intention of traditional handloom apparel. The outcomes of the study can be instrumental in designing marketing strategies for capturing market share.