Search results for "consumer"
showing 10 items of 880 documents
Fashion and Eroticism Men's Underwear in the Context of Eroticism
2001
What is the process when historically obviously neutral things are becoming loaded with mental meanings, associations and qualities, getting a new turn of expression? The article deals with the changing of men’s underwear from garments of pure utility to high fashionable, visible things. The context in which the change has taken place, the language which supports the new meanings, the forms, colours and use of the “unmentionable” are studied from an ethnological viewpoint. The author emphasises the aspects of new adaptations of the meaning of fashion in relation to changing gender roles, new ideals of the body and new mechanisms in consumer culture.
Museums, consumers, and on‐site experiences
2010
PurposeOne conclusion is widely shared by professionals in the cultural sector: consumer motivations have changed and in particular their relations with cultural products and services. This paper seeks to analyze different trends applied to museums in order to improve the understanding of this “new” cultural audience.Design/methodology/approachFor this trend marketing analysis, seven consumer orientations have been identified (without claiming they are at all exhaustive) after an extended review over the shape of contemporary consumer habits. Besides, the authors wanted to know the opinion of the cultural managers. Each consumer orientation has been evaluated by taking a sample of French pr…
Perceived value, customer attitude and loyalty in retailing
2008
Customer perceived value has a subjective nature, since it means an evaluative judgment. In the literature, it has been noted that the value received by the consumer has a number of components that together determine its significance. The literature has also highlighted the existence of a relationship between perceived value and customer attitude, considering this variable an important determinant of customer loyalty. This paper tries to analyse the influence of the major components of perceived value on customer attitude and loyalty in several retail activities.
Retail IT and customer loyalty: The moderating role of customer age
2010
Information technology (IT) may represent a source of competitive advantage for retailers. Notwithstanding, there is debate in the literature about the way in which IT influences supplier–customer relationships. In addition, the conclusions regarding the influence of consumer age on attitudes towards the retailer's IT solutions have been mixed. This article proposes and tests a model for the influence of the retailer IT on customer loyalty towards the retailer, evaluating the role of consumer age as a moderator of this relationship. Our results provide evidence of the existence of a two-way positive influence of IT solutions on customer loyalty towards the retail store, that is, through att…
Drivers and outcomes of consumer engagement : Insights from mobile money usage in Ghana
2019
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the drivers of consumer engagement and its consequences via the experiences of mobile money services’ users in Ghana and to discuss its implications for the society, financial service innovation, delivery and operations. Design/methodology/approach A pre-tested survey instrument was used with a sample of 595 mobile money services users in Ghana. SmartPLS application was used to analyze the data and report findings. Findings The study shows that perceived risk, consumer empowerment, subjective norm, performance expectancy and effort expectancy influence the affect component of consumer engagement and explain around half of its variance. The ef…
Carbon dioxide in effervescent wines: influence on descriptive analysis, discrimination and consumer liking
2008
National audience
Quantification of Listeria monocytogenes in salads by real time quantitative PCR
2005
Abstract A real time quantitative PCR (RTQ-PCR) was carried out purifying DNA extracts of Listeria monocytogenes using a High Pure Listeria Sample Preparation Kit and quantifying in a LightCycler system with hybridisation probes. A standard curve was constructed with serial dilutions. A range linear relationship, from 10 to 10 5 L. monocytogenes colony forming units (CFU), was observed between threshold cycle ( C t ) and logarithmic concentration of the serial dilutions. The assay was linear in a range from 10 to 10 5 L. monocytogenes CFU and the coefficient of determination ( r 2 ) was > 0.98. RTQ-PCR presented an efficiency of > 85%. The accuracy of the PCR-based assay, expressed as % bia…
Staphylococcal food poisoning case and molecular analysis of toxin genes in Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from food in Sicily, Italy.
2014
A case of staphylococcal food poisoning was observed in two individuals of the same family after consumption of primosale, a semiripened sheep cheese produced in Sicily. Staphylococcus aureus isolated from the cheese produced enterotoxin C (SEC) and carried both the enterotoxin C (sec) and the toxic shock syndrome toxin (tsst-1) gene. Following this case, an extensive survey was conducted on 971 food samples (raw milk, cheese, meat, and food preparations). S. aureus was detected in 102 of 971 food samples, from all types of food with the exception of ricotta cheese. The tsst-1 gene was present in 42% of the strains, either alone or in combination with other toxin genes. The enterotoxin C ge…
Real-time quantitative PCR of Staphylococcus aureus and application in restaurant meals.
2006
Staphylococcus aureus is considered the second most common pathogen to cause outbreaks of food poisoning, exceeded only by Campylobacter. Consumption of foods containing this microorganism is often identified as the cause of illness. In this study, a rapid, reliable, and sensitive real-time quantitative PCR was developed and compared with conventional culture methods. Real-time quantitative PCR was carried out by purifying DNA extracts of S. aureus with a Staphylococcus sample preparation kit and quantifying it in the LightCycler system with hybridization probes. The assay was linear from a range of 10 to 10(6) S. aureus cells (r2 > 0.997). The PCR reaction presented an efficiency of >85%. …
Cost-Oriented Recommendation Model for E-Commerce
2012
Contemporary Web stores offer a wide range of products to e-customers. However, online sales are strongly dominated by a limited number of bestsellers whereas other, less popular or niche products are stored in inventory for a long time. Thus, they contribute to the problem of frozen capital and high inventory costs. To cope with this problem, we propose using information on product cost in a recommender system for a Web store. We discuss the proposed recommendation model, in which two criteria have been included: a predicted degree of meeting customer’s needs by a product and the product cost.