Financial compensation: Handwritten messages & banknotes are better received

Money is money: so why should we care how it is given? A new study on complaint handling, recently published in the renowned Journal of Service Research, delivers fresh insights: People who complain react differently, depending on how the financial compensation is presented.

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Lucky 8: What effect do price-endings have in Asia?

While prices in the Western world tend to end in 0, 5 or 9, many prices in Asia end in the number 8. A new study has explored the effects of the “lucky number” 8 in pricing practices.

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Proven effect: Music, scent and colour influence customers

For many years, retail and service industries have deployed atmospheric stimuli such as music, scent and colour in order to influence consumer behaviour. Until recently, the results of scientific studies investigating the effects have been inconclusive, impeding the formulation of conclusive generalisations. Now, following the meta-analytic recalculation of data from 66 distinct studies, a research team has successfully demonstrated that the presence of music, scent and colour produces significant positive effects on customers’ shopper behaviour.

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„Premiumhandelsmarken sind ein zweischneidiges Schwert“


ad astra hat Holger Roschk im Klagenfurter Delikatessengeschäft Jäger getroffen und mit ihm über die Chancen und Risiken von Premiumhandelsmarken gesprochen und nachgefragt, welche Bedeutung sie für den Lebensmitteleinzelhandel haben.

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