In the 1990s many companies have acknowledged the critical importance of being customer-oriented. However, as retailers contemplate the higher costs and higher revenues of increased customer service levels, they need to understand the relative importance to consumers of various aspects of customer service, particularly those delivered by salespeople. This research investigates the impact of selected salesperson service attributes and levels on consumer patronage intentions in a consumer electronics store setting. The study uses conjoint analysis to measure consumer priorities. The results indicate that salesperson's respect for the customer, knowledge, and responsiveness are the most important attributes. Where three service levels are presented, there is a greater difference in impact between the lowest and middle levels than between the middle and highest levels. This suggests that retailers do not necessarily have to offer the best service levels to satisfy customers, but must avoid poor service levels.

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Realization of the long-term goals of any organization ultimately must revolve around customer satisfaction. This is particularly true in restaurants, where failure to satisfy customers will quickly lead to an early termination of the business. General levels of consumer dissatisfaction with service quality at restaurants are very high -in 1995 over 50 percent of restaurant patrons surveyed cited no aspect of service as being excellent. This finding is consistent with the high levels of failure among restaurants. Given the intense competition and demanding consumers, a reasonable concern revolves around what restaurants can do to maintain customer satisfaction. This paper is focussed on one suggested approach to the problem -the offering of service guarantees. Recently, service guarantees have been offered by an increasing number of industries. These include cable television providers, long distance providers, banking, health care and dental services. We address the issue of the role that service guarantees may fill in demonstrating to potential customers that the restaurant delivers a satisfying dining experience. For example, would a guarantee of satisfaction serve to overcome any doubts of consumers caused by bad dining experiences in the past?There are two basic streams of relevant literature that begin to address the issue of consumer perceptions of service guarantees in restaurants. First are studies of what choice criteria customers use in choosing restaurants. Second are studies of the theoretical role of service guarantees on satisfaction. Restaurant choice criteria studiesA few published studies have been done investigating the key criteria used by customers in choosing restaurants.

Purpose -The purpose of this study is to determine whether reported nutritional knowledge and the acceptance of benefit claims for a fresh produce item is related to changes in preference in order to provide food marketers insight and guidance into giving consumers more information to change beliefs and preferences, using health-benefit claims to position their brands as offering ingredients, e.g. Lycopene which may prevent serious illnesses such as heart disease and cancer. Design/methodology/approach -The sample was drawn from an internet panel maintained by Markettools, Inc, a respected market research company in the USA. A total of 594 respondents were surveyed. Besides demographic questions, respondents were asked about their knowledge of nine nutrients. Basic nutrient knowledge was estimated through a one-sample t-test tested against a value of two on a 1-4 scale. Respondents evaluated eight benefit statements regarding the health benefits of mushrooms. After reading each statement, respondents indicated their likelihood of purchasing fresh mushrooms and were asked about the believability, favorability, and uniqueness of each statement. Findings -The results indicate that health-related food benefit claims are better accepted by female respondents who claim to be nutritionally knowledgeable and who are older. Three hypotheses related to nutritional knowledge and beliefs showed that knowledge and beliefs have an effect but the effect varied by nutrient and nutrient cluster. In particular, knowledge of esoteric nutrients such as Pantothenic Acid was associated with acceptance of health-related claims. Practical implications -Food marketers are spending millions of dollars/pounds/euros on informing people of the nutrient content and health benefits of their foods. However, this money can be better spent if one first understands the existing levels of nutritional knowledge and the specific nutrients that motivate change in preference or buying intention. Originality/value -This paper builds on the existing body of knowledge using additional statistical techniques to cluster nutrients and to provide a demonstration on a fresh produce food group not currently investigated in the literature. It suggests that food marketers need to gather more information on their consumers to target their health and nutrition message to the proper (more receptive) audience.

Purpose -This study aims to examine factors that influence consumption of vegetables in the USA. Design/methodology/approach -Discrete choice methodology is used to measure the relative importance of health benefits and other attributes when choosing food to be eaten at home, cluster analysis to identify segments, and analysis of variance to analyze differences between clusters. Findings -The results show that, for food in general, nutrition and impact on weight are more important than value for money, ease of preparation and taste. However, for vegetables, while the nutrition and weight benefits are very positive factors, taste, cost and ease of preparation inhibit consumption. Results of the cluster analysis suggest that marketing strategies should be adapted for different consumer segments.Research limitations/implications -The sample size is fairly small -250. Practical implications -The results can be used to help food marketers increase consumption of vegetables. Social implications -More effective marketing of vegetables should increase consumption, enhancing consumer welfare and reducing health care costs. Originality/value -Discrete choice analysis has not previously been used in studies of this topic.

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this research is to investigate the relative importance to consumers of different health benefits of food. Design/methodology/approach -This study uses conjoint analysis to investigate the relative importance of five health benefits to consumers in their intention to buy a food. Findings -The results suggest that the single most important health benefit influencing purchase intentions is high nutritional value. If two health benefits are to be promoted, for the total sample the most effective combination would be high nutritional value and the potential to reduce cancer, followed by high nutritional value and proven to reduce the risk of heart disease. However, for those respondents with less than a college education, the most effective combination would be high nutritional value and the potential to reduce arthritis.Research limitations/implications -The sample size is small -238 respondents. Practical implications -The results can be used to help food marketers offer and promote health benefits of their products. Social implications -More effective marketing of health benefits of foods should increase consumption of healthy foods, which will enhance consumer welfare. Originality/value -Conjoint analysis has not previously been used in studies of this topic. The advantage of conjoint analysis over other analytical techniques is that it incorporates realistic trade-offs when measuring consumer preferences.

New forms of retailing present different pricing challenges. The selling of college textbooks over the Internet represents an ideal case study of the different elements that enter into consumer’s price equation. College students were asked to rate the likelihood of purchase of a text given different profiles of sellers and their offerings. Using conjoint analysis, estimates of consumer tradeoffs were calculated. In‐stock status at the college bookstore was the most important variable, followed by buy‐back policies/guarantees. Price of the text was the third most important variable. Implications for both bookstores and on‐line retailers are presented.

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