Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to identify factors influencing customers' willingness to purchase new store brands. Design/methodology/approach-The paper develops a 3 £ 3 design to investigate the impact of price and quality positioning on the willingness to purchase new store brands in five product groups. A total of 990 respondents completed a questionnaire about store brand perception, aspects of purchasing behavior and willingness to buy. Data are analyzed with analysis of variance and partial least squares. Findings-The paper finds that customers' willingness to buy new store brands differs between different product groups. It is lowest for product groups associated with high social risk. Accordingly, premium store brands are preferred for these categories. The influence of price is small and nonlinear. Furthermore, the attitude towards a specific store brand has a large impact on customers' willingness to purchase, while the attitude toward store brands in general is less important. The drivers influencing customers' attitude towards specific store brands depend on the respective product group. Practical implications-The results indicate that price is not the only factor influencing customers' willingness to buy new store brands. Therefore, the results encourage retailers to position store brands also in premium segments, especially for product groups where social acceptance is important. Originality/value-This paper differs from other papers in the literature in that it analyses factors influencing the success of new store brands. Furthermore, it analyzes many different potential influencing factors, namely product group, price and quality positioning, store brand perceptions, attitudes and aspects of purchasing behavior.

E-mail address: alet.erasmus@up.a.za (A. C. Erasmus) | P a g e Consumers' perception of the complexity of selected household purchase decisions ABSTRACTThis study provides evidence of consumers" perception of the complexity of a variety of product/service decisions in terms of a complexity continuum and indicates how such categorization is influenced by specific demographic characteristics, specifically gender, age and education level that are predominant in terms of consumer socialisation.A survey which was conducted in a major city and involved 461 respondents. The multiple section structured questionnaire were completed by willing spouses/partners of participating households. Complexity values were calculated in terms of a specific anchoring product, namely major household appliances. It became evident that the most expensive purchases that households ever make, namely purchasing a home and a car, which were perceived to be the most complex by all while grocery purchases was on the least complex divide of the continuum. Also on the more complex divide of the continuum were service related decisions such as insurance. Particularly noteworthy is the confirmation of significant differences in perceived complexity within product categories that are perceived to be the most-and the least complex by all. This confirms the vulnerability of certain segments of the consumer society and the need for concerted effort to communicate with them in appropriate media and on a level that would enhance informed consumer decision-making. Underlying reasons probably relate to consumers" risk perception and affordability issues that could be explored in future research. Interestingly the findings of the gender comparison shifted the focus to different product categories than those elicited in the age-, income and level of education comparisons. Findings therefore confirm the relevance of demographic characteristics in media communication and consumer facilitation as well as in research. Retailers and marketers should therefore be cognisant of the characteristics of their target markets and be very selective and cautious when identifying communication media. <300 wordsThis study provides evidence of consumers" perception of the complexity of a variety of product/service decisions in terms of a complexity continuum and indicates how such a categorization is influenced by specific demographic characteristics, specifically gender, age and education level that are predominant in terms of consumer socialisation.A cross-sectional survey was conducted and 461 useful questionnaires were collected. Complexity values were calculated in terms of a specific anchoring product, namely major household appliances. Particularly noteworthy is the confirmation of significant differences in the perceived complexity within the most and least complex product 3 | P a g e categories. Gender comparisons indicated to different product categories than those concerning the age, income and level of education comparisons. <100words

Due to an increasing demand, companies have started producing recycled products. However, little is known about the specific purchase behavior. Hence, this study analyses the factors influencing purchase intention for recycled products including differences related to different types of products and between Germany and South Africa. A quantitative study in Germany (n = 603) and South Africa (n = 692). shows that purchase intention is significantly higher in South Africa. The influencing factors (individual, product, and context related constructs) are the same in both countries, but they differ regarding their strength. Thus, the factor “attitude/environmental concern” has the strongest influence in South Africa, while it is “value/accessibility” in Germany. Furthermore, purchase intention for mobile phones is generally smaller than for t‐shirts and toilet paper. Purchase intention for recycled t‐shirts is significantly higher in South Africa than in Germany.

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