Worldwide organic food consumption has registered a consistent rise in recent years. Despite the relevant body of literature on the topic, it is necessary to further understand the antecedents of purchase intention. This article aims to identify the factors that influence the consumer’s intention to purchase organic food. It extends the theory of planned behavior model by including environmental concerns, health concerns, and perceived quality as determinants of attitude toward organic food products. Additionally, it considers the effect of product availability on consumers’ perceived behavioral control. This article includes a quantitative study that was conducted in Portugal in 2020 (n = 206). Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed set of research hypotheses. In line with extant literature, this study confirmed that attitude toward organic food is the main determinant of purchase intention. Additionally, it demonstrates that health concerns and perceived quality have a significant impact on attitude toward organic food. The impact of environmental concerns on attitude was not confirmed by this study. Based on these findings, it is recommended that managers stress health benefits and quality of organic food in order to foster positive attitudes and consequently leverage purchase intention.

No abstract

Manuscript type: Research paper Research aims: This study aims to shed light on the factors that facilitate online purchase of perfume. It specifically: 1) explores the antecedents of online purchase behaviour in the case of experience goods; 2) analyses the motivations, perceived benefits and perceived risks associated with online purchase of perfume; and 3) identifies perfume e-shoppers’ profiles. Design/Methodology/Approach: A qualitative research approach involving interviewing 27 perfume e-shoppers from Brazil, Iran and Portugal was adopted. Research findings: The findings of this study reveal that there are three types of perfume e-shoppers: 1) experienced e-shoppers, 2) bargain e-seekers, and 3) expert e-shoppers. Competitive prices, enjoyable online experiences and greater varieties of perfumes are among the perceived benefits that motivate the online shoppers. The inability to test the perfumes, particularly those that are never tried before, appears to be the major drawback. Theoretical contribution/Originality: This study provides interesting cues on a topic that has so far been disregarded by the literature despite its growing importance as a business sector—online purchase of perfumes. It offers the categorisation of three e-shopper profiles, based on consumers’ narratives, and highlighted the importance of further addressing the dynamic nature of consumer behaviours, particularly in the online context. Practitioner/Policy implications: The findings show that the main trigger of buying perfume online is the price discounts, which is particularly important to less experienced Web shoppers. This indicates that experience goods such as perfume should, at the initial stage, be sold in stores that offer an assortment of products. Online perfume stores should consider alternatives to provide perfume testing. Research limitation/Implications: Purposive sampling does not allow results’ generalisation; hence future research is needed to further validate the findings.

Literature has highlighted the challenges of selling experience (vs. search) products online. In addition, the role of celebrity endorsers in purchase intention and attitudes towards brands has been emphasized by scholars. This article argues that celebrities provide cues on products' sensorial characteristics that have been so far disregarded by extant literature. By choosing perfume as a complex experience product, twenty-seven participants from three countries were interviewed in order to find how endorsers could assist e-shoppers to identify fragrant characteristics in the absence of the real scent. The results of the qualitative content analysis reveal that endorsers' personality traits and lifestyle could act as predictor of the type of scent. Scent categorization based on such traits are presented. This article provides valuable contributions to both researchers and practitioners interested in online sales of experience goods. Limitations and avenues for future search are also provided.

Despite its popularity, search engine advertising is a particularly complex and demanding technique. One of the main challenges for Google Ads managers is to adequately monitor performance. Indeed, the literature identifies a plethora of metrics to measure the success of a search engine ads campaign. One research question arises: What are the metrics adopted by small and medium-sized companies to measure the performance of a Google Ads campaign? This chapter includes a mixed-method study with digital marketing professionals experienced in managing Google Ads campaigns for Portuguese SMEs. Interviews helped highlight the main difficulties faced by SEM's Google Ads' managers and to identify the performance measures they mostly control. Then, a survey enabled to analyse the association between performance measures and campaigns' perceived success. The insights produced by this chapter are particularly interesting for researchers, teachers, business managers, and digital marketing professionals, as it presents important clues on measuring the effectiveness of Google Ads campaigns.