The smartest way to set and achieve your goals - stickk.com

http://www.stickk.com


stickK was developed by Yale University economists who tested the effectiveness of Commitment Contracts through extensive field research. 

We all need help to reach our goals - whether it's incentives, or support from others. Years of economic and behavioral research show that people who put stakes - either their money or their reputation - on the table are far more likely to actually achieve a goal they set for themselves.

Menu cost and the Internet

According to investopedia.com, menu cost is an economic term used to describe the cost incurred by firms in order to change their prices. How expensive it is to change prices depends on the type of firm. For example, it may be necessary to reprint menus, update price lists or retag merchandise on the shelf. Even when there are few apparent costs to changing prices, changing prices may make customers apprehensive about buying at a given price, resulting in a menu cost of lost sales.

Read more: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/menu-costs.asp#ixzz1fGHxRuqO

There are at least 360 categorizes of products at Walmart, and each category has at least 5 subcategories. In short, Walmart are selling numerous kinds of products. How long it will cost and take to change all kinds of products. Obviously, very much, and very long. 

For off-line retail stores, menu cost is usually very expensive, as a result, prices of their products do not change often. How about online stores? Menu cost might be close to Zero.

What does this mean to consumer behavior?

How does the internet change consumers behavior by reducing menu cost?

More analysis will be post soon!  

Truthful online shopping malls are more successful

http://pann.news.nate.com/info/252612588

◇Consumers trust negative reviews more than positive reviews

Word-of-mouth effect is a primary influence for online shopping. Some online stores provide consumers who write positive review of their products with incentives, such as discount and coupons. However, these incentives for positive reviews cause negative results in the long run, because consumers read negative reviews more thoroughly, and trust online stores with negative feedback without manipulating.


According to the research of Canada British Columbia University in 2007, consumers trusted Amazon more than eBay, because Amazon did not provide any incentives for positive feedback, but eBay recommended consumers to write positive reviews. In 2007, eBay totally changed its review system that was maintain for 11 years. 




Following is the original article of this posting

여성복 인터넷 쇼핑몰을 운영하는 김영현(33)씨는 최근 사이트를 개편했다. 옷을 입고 찍은 사진을 함께 올리는 '포토(photo) 상품평'을 쓰면 적립금 5000원을 주는 이벤트를 했는데 몇몇 고객들이 '호평 일색이어서 못 믿겠다. 샀는데 실망했다'는 의견을 보내왔기 때문이다.

다른 사이트를 분석해 봤더니 전문 모델이 아닌 평범한 사람들의 실제 측정 사이즈를 보여주고 호평·혹평을 동시에 실어주는 곳이 인기가 많았다. '여기는 믿을 만하네요' '반품할 필요 없는 정확한 사이트'라는 평이 눈에 띄었다.

김씨는 자신의 쇼핑몰에도 44~77사이즈까지 다양한 사람들이 제품 착용을 하고 '두꺼움' '신축성 적음' '비침' 등의 솔직한 반응을 그대로 올려놓았다. 그랬더니 반품이 크게 줄고 매출이 오히려 늘었다.

인터넷 쇼핑몰 운영자들은 소비자들의 부정적인 반응을 쇼핑몰 사이트에 공개하길 꺼리는 것이 보통이다. 하지만 소비자 불만이나 부진한 판매 실적도 가감없이 드러내야 오히려 판매 증대에 이롭다는 것이 과학적인 실험결과로도 확인됐다.

◇소비자는 비판적인 댓글 신뢰

인터넷에서 소비자가 다른 소비자들로부터 영향을 받는 과정은 크게 두 가지다. 먼저 다른 소비자의 사용 후기와 같은 댓글에 영향을 받는 이른바 '구전 효과(word-of-mouth effect)'다. 쇼핑몰은 구전 효과를 극대화하기 위해 소비자가 상품에 대해 후한 평가를 올리면 이후 구매할 때 할인 혜택 등의 인센티브를 제공하기도 한다.

하지만 이는 장기적으로 역효과를 낸다는 것이 전문가들의 분석이다. 소비자들은 쇼핑몰의 댓글을 볼 때 좋은 내용보다는 나쁜 내용을 유심히 보며, 그런 글이 가감 없이 실린 쇼핑몰을 더 믿는다는 것.

2007년 캐나다 브리티시 컬럼비아대 경영학과 연구진은 소비자들은 미국의 대표적인 인터넷 쇼핑몰인 아마존(Amazon)과 이베이(eBay) 중에서 상품이나 배송에 대한 불만을 싣지 않았던 이베이보다 호평과 불만을 가감 없이 공개한 아마존을 신뢰한다는 연구결과를 발표했다.

당시까지 이베이는 판매자와 구매자에게 인센티브를 주면서 긍정적인 상품평을 많이 올리도록 권장하고 있었다. 이에 비해 아마존은 구매자만 상품평을 올리게 했으며, 그 내용이 좋든 싫든 어떤 제약이나 인센티브도 주지 않았다. 이베이는 그해 11년간 유지해오던 상품평 시스템을 아마존 방식으로 완전히 바꿨다.

◇판매 실적 나빠도 과감하게 공개

인터넷에서 다른 소비자로부터 영향을 받는 두 번째 과정은 다른 사람의 구매 행동을 따라 하는 이른바 '관찰 행동(observational behavior)'이다. TV 홈쇼핑에서 판매 숫자가 계속 올라가 '매진 임박'이라는 글자가 뜨면 갑자기 주문 전화가 폭주하는 현상이 한 예다.

이세복 GS샵 EC기획팀장은 "인터넷 쇼핑몰 고객들의 경우 다른 사람이 많이 산 상품을 신뢰하는 경향이 강하다"면서 "전날 판매 상위 100개 제품을 소개하는'베스트100'은 가장 방문율이 높다"고 밝혔다.

GS샵 홈쇼핑 채널에선 '히트상품'을 발표할 때 판매 상품수, 구매고객수 등을 정확히 공개했다. 이들 상품을 모아서 홈쇼핑에서 일정 기간 동안 실시하는 특집 방송의 경우 평소 대비 15% 이상 매출이 증가하는 효과가 있다고 한다. 신세계몰도 최근 홈페이지 개편을 통해 랭킹 코너를 새롭게 오픈했다.

그런데 잘 팔리지 않는 상품의 판매 실적도 공개해야 할까. 미국 빙햄튼대 경영학과의 왕치(Wang Qi) 교수는 최근 '마케팅 연구 저널'에 "소수의 소비자를 대상으로 한 틈새 상품은 매출 실적을 공개해도 걱정할 필요가 없다"며 "구전 효과에선 나쁜 평가에 더 큰 영향을 받지만, 관찰 행동에서는 긍정적인 내용에만 관심을 기울이기 때문"이라고 밝혔다.

왕 교수는 미국의 아마존에서 실시간으로 판매 실적을 공개한 90종의 디지털 카메라에 대한 소비자 구매 행동을 분석했다. 예상대로 판매 숫자가 큰 제품은 소비자의 관찰 행동을 자극해 판매가 갈수록 늘었다. 하지만 실적이 저조한 제품은 그렇다고 역효과가 나타나지 않은 것으로 확인됐다.

  

Marketing for Singles in Korea - Mini Products

According to the Census 2010 Korea, 23.3% of entire household is one-person household. The term "one-person house" is not a strange word anymore. It has become more common form of household recently.

One-person household prefer products that save space and have various functions. One-person household also tend to purchase foods in smaller containers.

Companies focus on satisfying this new market. They provide one-person household with smaller products that occupy little space and help reasonable consumption.

Mini Rice Cooker

Smaller Sized Foods

Mini Coffee Maker

Culture and Subculture - University of Southern California

http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/cb_Culture.html

Culture and Subculture

Culture is part of the external influences that impact the consumer. That is, culture represents influences that are imposed on the consumer by other individuals.

The definition of culture offered in one textbook is “That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man person as a member of society.”  From this definition, we make the following observations:

• Culture, as a “complex whole,” is a system of interdependent components.
• Knowledge and beliefs are important parts.  In the U.S., we know and believe that a person who is skilled and works hard will get ahead. In other countries, it may be believed that differences in outcome result more from luck.  “Chunking,” the name for China in Chinese, literally means “The Middle Kingdom.”  The belief among ancient Chinese that they were in the center of the universe greatly influenced their thinking.
• Other issues are relevant.  Art, for example, may be reflected in the rather arbitrary practice of wearing ties in some countries and wearing turbans in others.  Morality may be exhibited in the view in the United States that one should not be naked in public.  In Japan, on the other hand, groups of men and women may take steam baths together without perceived as improper.  On the other extreme, women in some Arab countries are not even allowed to reveal their faces.  Notice, by the way, that what at least some countries view as moral may in fact be highly immoral by the standards of another country.  For example, the law that once banned interracial marriages in South Africa was named the “Immorality Act,” even though in most civilized countries this law, and any degree of explicit racial prejudice, would itself be considered highly immoral.

Culture has several important characteristics:  (1)  Culture is comprehensive.  This means that all parts must fit together in some logical fashion.  For example, bowing and a strong desire to avoid the loss of face are unified in their manifestation of the importance of respect.  (2)  Culture is learned rather than being something we are born with.  We will consider the mechanics of learning later in the course.  (3)  Culture is manifested within boundaries of acceptable behavior.  For example, in American society, one cannot show up to class naked, but wearing anything from a suit and tie to shorts and a T-shirt would usually be acceptable.  Failure to behave within the prescribed norms may lead to sanctions, ranging from being hauled off by the police for indecent exposure to being laughed at by others for wearing a suit at the beach.  (4)  Conscious awareness of cultural standards is limited.  One American spy was intercepted by the Germans during World War II simply because of the way he held his knife and fork while eating.  (5)  Cultures fall somewhere on a continuum between static and dynamic depending on how quickly they accept change.  For example, American culture has changed a great deal since the 1950s, while the culture of Saudi Arabia has changed much less.

Dealing with culture.  Culture is a problematic issue for many marketers since it is inherently nebulous and often difficult to understand.  One may violate the cultural norms of another country without being informed of this, and people from different cultures may feel uncomfortable in each other’s presence without knowing exactly why (for example, two speakers may unconsciously continue to attempt to adjust to reach an incompatible preferred interpersonal distance).

Warning about stereotyping.  When observing a culture, one must be careful not to over-generalize about traits that one sees.  Research in social psychology has suggested a strong tendency for people to perceive an “outgroup” as more homogenous than an “ingroup,” even when they knew what members had been assigned to each group purely by chance.  When there is often a “grain of truth” to some of the perceived differences, the temptation to over-generalize is often strong.  Note that there are often significant individual differenceswithin cultures.

Cultural lessons.  We considered several cultural lessons in class; the important thing here is the big picture.  For example, within the Muslim tradition, the dog is considered a “dirty” animal, so portraying it as “man’s best friend” in an advertisement is counter-productive.  Packaging, seen as a reflection of the quality of the “real” product, is considerably more important in Asia than in the U.S., where there is a tendency to focus on the contents which “really count.”  Many cultures observe significantly greater levels of formality than that typical in the U.S., and Japanese negotiator tend to observe long silent pauses as a speaker’s point is considered.

Cultural characteristics as a continuum.  There is a tendency to stereotype cultures as being one way or another (e.g., individualistic rather than collectivistic).  Note, however, countries fall on a continuum of cultural traits.  Hofstede’s research demonstrates a wide range between the most individualistic and collectivistic countries, for example—some fall in the middle.

Hofstede’s Dimensions.  Gert Hofstede, a Dutch researcher, was able to interview a large number of IBM executives in various countries, and found that cultural differences tended to center around four key dimensions:

• Individualism vs. collectivism:  To what extent do people believe in individual responsibility and reward rather than having these measures aimed at the larger group?  Contrary to the stereotype, Japan actually ranks in the middle of this dimension, while Indonesia and West Africa rank toward the collectivistic side.  The U.S., Britain, and the Netherlands rate toward individualism.
• Power distance:  To what extent is there a strong separation of individuals based on rank?  Power distance tends to be particularly high in Arab countries and some Latin American ones, while it is more modest in Northern Europe and the U.S.
• Masculinity vs. femininity involves a somewhat more nebulous concept.   “Masculine”  values involve competition and “conquering” nature by means such as large construction projects, while “feminine” values involve harmony and environmental protection.   Japan is one of the more masculine countries, while the Netherlands rank relatively low.  The U.S. is close to the middle, slightly toward the masculine side. ( The fact that these values are thought of as “masculine” or “feminine” does not mean that they are consistently held by members of each respective gender—there are very large “within-group” differences.  There is, however, often a large correlation of these cultural values with the status of women.)
• Uncertainty avoidance involves the extent to which a “structured” situation with clear rules is preferred to a more ambiguous one; in general, countries with lower uncertainty avoidance tend to be more tolerant of risk.  Japan ranks very high.  Few countries are very low in any absolute sense, but relatively speaking, Britain and Hong Kong are lower, and the U.S. is in the lower range of the distribution.

Although Hofstede’s original work did not address this, a fifth dimension of long term vs. short term orientation has been proposed.  In the U.S., managers like to see quick results, while Japanese managers are known for take a long term view, often accepting long periods before profitability is obtained.

High vs. low context cultures:  In some cultures, “what you see is what you get”—the speaker is expected to make his or her points clear and limit ambiguity.  This is the case in the U.S.—if you have something on your mind, you are expected to say it directly, subject to some reasonable standards of diplomacy.  In Japan, in contrast, facial expressions and what is not said may be an important clue to understanding a speaker’s meaning.  Thus, it may be very difficult for Japanese speakers to understand another’s written communication.  The nature of languages may exacerbate this phenomenon—while the German language is very precise, Chinese lacks many grammatical features, and the meaning of words may be somewhat less precise.  English ranks somewhere in the middle of this continuum.

Ethnocentrism and the self-reference criterion.  The self-reference criterionrefers to the tendency of individuals, often unconsciously, to use the standards of one’s own culture to evaluate others.  For example, Americans may perceive more traditional societies to be “backward” and “unmotivated” because they fail to adopt new technologies or social customs, seeking instead to preserve traditional values.  In the 1960s, a supposedly well read American psychology professor referred to India’s culture of “sick” because, despite severe food shortages, the Hindu religion did not allow the eating of cows.  The psychologist expressed disgust that the cows were allowed to roam free in villages, although it turns out that they provided valuable functions by offering milk and fertilizing fields.  Ethnocentrism is the tendency to view one’s culture to be superior to others.  The important thing here is to consider how these biases may come in the way in dealing with members of other cultures.

It should be noted that there is a tendency of outsiders to a culture to overstate the similarity of members of that culture to each other.  In the United States, we are well aware that there is a great deal of heterogeneity within our culture; however, we often underestimate the diversity within other cultures.  For example, in Latin America, there are great differences between people who live in coastal and mountainous areas; there are also great differences between social classes.

Language issues.  Language is an important element of culture.  It should be realized that regional differences may be subtle.  For example, one word may mean one thing in one Latin American country, but something off-color in another.  It should also be kept in mind that much information is carried in non-verbal communication.  In some cultures, we nod to signify “yes” and shake our heads to signify “no;” in other cultures, the practice is reversed.  Within the context of language:

• There are often large variations in regional dialects of a given language.  The differences between U.S., Australian, and British English are actually modest compared to differences between dialects of Spanish and German.
• Idioms involve “figures of speech” that may not be used, literally translated, in other languages.  For example, baseball is a predominantly North and South American sport, so the notion of “in the ball park” makes sense here, but the term does not carry the same meaning in cultures where the sport is less popular.
• Neologisms involve terms that have come into language relatively recently as technology or society involved.  With the proliferation of computer technology, for example, the idea of an “add-on” became widely known.  It may take longer for such terms to “diffuse” into other regions of the world.  In parts of the World where English is heavily studied in schools, the emphasis is often on grammar and traditional language rather than on current terminology, so neologisms have a wide potential not to be understood.
• Slang exists within most languages.  Again, regional variations are common and not all people in a region where slang is used will necessarily understand this.  There are often significant generation gaps in the use of slang.

Writing patterns, or the socially accepted ways of writing, will differs significantly between cultures. 

In English and Northern European languages, there is an emphasis on organization and conciseness.  Here, a point is made by building up to it through background.  An introduction will often foreshadow what is to be said.  In Romance languages such as Spanish, French, and Portuguese, this style is often considered “boring” and “inelegant.”  Detours are expected and are considered a sign of class, not of poor organization.  In Asian languages, there is often a great deal of circularity.  Because of concerns about potential loss of face, opinions may not be expressed directly.  Instead, speakers may hint at ideas or indicate what others have said, waiting for feedback from the other speaker before committing to a point of view.

Because of differences in values, assumptions, and language structure, it is not possible to meaningfully translate “word-for-word” from one language to another.  A translator must keep “unspoken understandings” and assumptions in mind in translating.  The intended meaning of a word may also differ from its literal translation.  For example, the Japanese word hai  is literally translated as “yes.”  To Americans, that would imply “Yes, I agree.”  To the Japanese speaker, however, the word may mean “Yes, I hear what you are saying” (without any agreement expressed) or even “Yes, I hear you are saying something even though I am not sure exactly what you are saying.”

Differences in cultural values result in different preferred methods of speech.  In American English, where the individual is assumed to be more in control of his or her destiny than is the case in many other cultures, there is a preference for the “active” tense (e.g., “I wrote the marketing plan”) as opposed to the passive (e.g., “The marketing plan was written by me.”)

Because of the potential for misunderstandings in translations, it is dangerous to rely on a translation from one language to another made by one person.  In the “decentering” method, multiple translators are used. 

The text is first translated by one translator—say, from German to Mandarin Chinese.  A second translator, who does not know what the original German text said, will then translate back to German from Mandarin Chinese translation.  The text is then compared.  If the meaning is not similar, a third translator, keeping in mind this feedback, will then translate from German to Mandarin.  The process is continued until the translated meaning appears to be satisfactory.

Different perspectives exist in different cultures on several issues; e.g.:

• Monochronic cultures tend to value precise scheduling and doing one thing at a time; in polychronic cultures, in contrast, promptness is valued less, and multiple tasks may be performed simultaneously.  (See text for more detail).
• Space is perceived differently.  Americans will feel crowded where people from more densely populated countries will be comfortable.
• Symbols differ in meaning.  For example, while white symbols purity in the U.S., it is a symbol of death in China.  Colors that are considered masculine and feminine also differ by culture.
• Americans have a lot of quite shallow friends toward whom little obligation is felt; people in European and some Asian cultures have fewer, but more significant friends.  For example, one Ph.D. student from India, with limited income, felt obligated to try buy an airline ticket for a friend to go back to India when a relative had died.
• In the U.S. and much of Europe, agreements are typically rather precise and contractual in nature; in Asia, there is a greater tendency to settle issues as they come up.  As a result, building a relationship of trust is more important in Asia, since you must be able to count on your partner being reasonable.
• In terms of etiquette, some cultures have more rigid procedures than others.  In some countries, for example, there are explicit standards as to how a gift should be presented.  In some cultures, gifts should be presented in private to avoid embarrassing the recipient; in others, the gift should be made publicly to ensure that no perception of secret bribery could be made.

http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/cb_Culture.html