This study aims to identify and explain perceived benefits and barriers for the use of digital channels by tourism companies in Swedish Lapland. Data were collected through exploratory interviews and an online survey to tourism companies in the region, most of which are small firms. Through factor analysis, we identified four barriers (Financial risk, Time constraints, External environment, and Lack of IT expertise and strategy) and three benefits (Internal efficiency, Marketing and competition, and Financial benefit) connected to the use of digital channels for customer communication. Results suggest that having staff with work time specifically reserved for working with digital channels, rather than trying to manage this alongside other tasks, increases the perceived benefits and decreases barriers related to Information and Communication (ICT) use. Moreover, analysis shows that the most important factors explaining tourism firms’ intentions to use digital channels are the perceived benefits connected to marketing and competition, as well as the perceived financial risk, which works as a barrier. Contrary to expectations, time constraints had a significant positive correlation with the intention to use digital channels. This implies that tourism firms in Swedish Lapland increasingly recognize the necessity of investing time in online communications in order to attract more visitors.

Artists of all genres express their emotions through their creations and market their works online. We argue that in marketing their work online, it is important to understand not only the emotional responses of the artistic works themselves but also that the sentiment evoked on their websites matters. Developing the correct website sentiment can have favorable consequences. It can increase the interest of potential consumers, assure that appropriate expectations are set for the actual consumption experience, and lead to increased sales and word of mouth marketing. Online sentiment that is ill-aligned to the emotions the actual offering evokes can have adverse consequences, including disappointment with the actual offering and buyer's remorse. To better understand the online sentiment of artists' websites, we begin by briefly revisiting the interplay between art, emotions, and the issue of online “sentiment.” Then, we describe a study of a sample of artists' websites that had the objective of gauging both the nature of and the extent of the emotions present in its text, as well as gaining an indication of the sentiment of the website. We describe the use of a relatively new content analysis tool to do this. Following this, we explore the data gathered, with the specific purpose of determining whether the emptions expressed on artists' websites can significantly predict sentiment, if so, which emotions tend to be the strongest predictors. We conclude by discussing some managerial implications of the results and by identifying avenues for future research.

Purpose

Calculating brand equity, the price differential that a branded product is able to charge compared to an unbranded equivalent, often suffers from a lack of a means to truly determine equivalence. Luxury wines have the benefit of an established measure of equivalency – the Parker score. Robert Parker’s influence as a tastemaker provides a point of comparison across brands. This study looks at brand equity of Bordeaux classified growth wines considering château brands, growths and vintages to illustrate the intangible value for the consumer.

Design/methodology/approach

Using price and wine-specific data from Wine-Searcher.com, an online database and search engine, an initial sample of 393 wines with Parker scores ranging from 72 to 100 is presented. A subset of perfect wines, with 100-point Parker scores, is also reviewed focusing on the great vintage of 2009.

Findings

The results indicate that brand equity in the luxury wine market exists. Not only is this true for the brand of a specific château, but there is also equity associated with the vintage and the growth.

Practical implications

This offers practical implications for brand managers in positioning their wines.

Originality/value

An analysis of luxury wines supports the financial perspective on brand equity, especially when there is a viable means of determining equivalence, such as the Parker score.

Internet as we know it, has entered a spiral of decline while mobile Apps are gradually taking over and are steadily changing the way we go about our individual daily lives. This study examines the fact that certain financial services Apps are far more successful than others, specifically by looking at what makes a user think that an App may be great, and give it a favorable review, or that it is rather ghastly, and give it an unfavorable review. Next, we describe a study of six of the most popular financial services Apps on the iTunes App Store, for which reviews were analyzed using DICTION software. Employing Diction variables, ambivalence and temporal terms were prevalent in negative reviews while accomplishment, motion, optimism and certainty, were predominantly expressed in positive reviews. Human interest, on the other hand, seemed to be uniformly distributed between both types of reviews.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to characterize consumers with high impulse buying tendency (IBT) by comparing them with low-IBT consumers in an online shopping context.

Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected through a postal survey to a random sample of Swedish citizens, resulting in 144 responses, which were analysed statistically.

Findings: Results indicate that high-IBT consumers, compared to those with low IBT, are on average younger, more likely to be female and more frequent online shoppers with higher levels of trust in the internet. However, they seem more likely than low-IBT consumers to abandon their online shopping carts before completing the purchase, often because of need uncertainty.

Practical implications: The findings can give retailers a better understanding of consumers with high IBT and thereby increase the possibility to target and communicate with them more effectively. This is an interesting opportunity as both multi-channel shopping and impulse buying behaviour is likely to become even more common in the future.

Originality/value: The study contributes to the understanding of impulsive consumers, as it addresses the role of situational and socio-demographic attributes of high-IBT consumers compared to low-IBT consumers. The differences in online purchases, intentions to buy fashion online, shopping cart abandonment and trust in the internet suggest that even if IBT is a relatively stable and general personal trait, the tendencies to act on buying impulses may be more context-specific.

Retailers are facing major changes, including intensified competition, increased internationalization, and technological advances, which are transforming the competitive landscape at a fast pace. Simultaneously we see an emerging paradigm shift in consumers’ buying behavior. Digital devices such as smartphones and tablets allow consumers to search and shop online, irrespective of time and place and without geographical boundaries. While these devices originally were used mainly for information search, mobile purchases are becoming a natural part of many consumers’ shopping habits.