Volume 4 Issue 2

Companies are increasingly recognizing the value of social media marketing for their implication in developing and increasing the value of a brand in online environments. As a result, companies devote time and effort to engage with current and potential consumers on social media platforms and co-create of value with brand advocates. This study focuses on social media marketing as part of digital inbound marketing, its uses for organizations and its potential for branding in online settings. These brand-related social media tactics and strategies involve initiatives such as ongoing business-to-consumer conversations, content that is created and shared on social media, consumer engagement experiences, and a brand persona that invites consumers to co-create the brand in online settings, it promotes interaction, participation, and collaboration with consumers. This study concludes with some recommendations on future research.

The web channel is increasingly a central aspect of the second-hand economy and, as such, favours also more sustainable post-consumption processes. This is why the field of online reselling appears increasingly important. Besides, the ever broadening scope of online reselling is key to the success of new online intermediaries that position themselves in the broader movement of collaborative consumption. While, consumers' attachment for secondhand exchanges is not new, they have largely embraced its online declination. In response to these evolutions in the online retail environment, traditional retail companies have therefore started to create online consumer marketplaces in which consumers exchange goods by themselves. In order to best adapt such online marketplaces to consumers, it is therefore critically important to gain a better understanding of the driving forces behind online reselling. At present, knowledge about what motivates consumers to resell products online is limited. This article outlines the development and validation process of an online resale motivation (ORM) scale via three studies involving 1,119 respondents. Study 1 presents the ORM scale development process and resulting multi-dimensional construct, including protester, economic, generative, recreational, practical and social facets. Study 2 replicates the scale and investigates its predictive capabilities. More specifically, the ORM scale predicts successfully online resale frequency. Consumers who are more highly motivated to resell online, will indeed resell more often online. Study 3 examines the mediating role of ORM on the relationship between planned resale intentions (PRI) and online resale behaviour. The fact that consumers plan to resell a product prior to its purchase, will not directly lead them to increase the frequency at which they resell online. Rather, it is because they perceive positive economic, practical and recreational outcomes associated with online reselling that they resell more frequently online the goods which they intended to resell prior to their purchase.

The mobile telecommunications in Ghana is a highly competitive market which faces a problem of retaining their customers due to low switching cost. The purpose of this study was to investigate sales territory management and distributor performance of Vodafone in Sunyani. The population for the study was staff and retailers of Vodafone product and services. Multi-Stage sampling approach was employed for the study. A well-structured questionnaire and interview guide were used in collecting data from the respondents. Descriptive statistics, One Sample t-test, Kendall's Coefficient of Concordance and Pearson Correlation Matrix were used to analyse the data. Results revealed that there was effective supervision of the sales territory representatives by the sales managers. The retailer's confirmed the receipt of their requested orders from the distributor when the need arose. The sales territory representatives confirmed that sales managers involved them in developing new or adjusted territory plans for effective distribution. This study suggests that the key distributor should restructure their distribution strategy for better market penetration. Vodafone should do more to support the distributor in terms of logistics and intensify sales training for the sales territory representatives. Furthermore, the study prescribed five generic factors to serve as best practices for distributor management of any organisation.

The marketing of the financial services by financial institution is regarded as an easier job. This is due to the fact that, in most cases, when a client is gained, he/she remains loyal to the institution on a long term. Nowadays, taking into consideration the needs of the consumers – clients who are undergoing a constant change – financial institutions are faced with a necessity to have the required knowledge and information regarding what and how to meet the needs of their clients. Financial institutions have reached a stage of adapting their daily activities with the demands of their clients. Thus, this is due to the available information which deals with the needs of the clients, opportunities of financial institution themselves, structural changes in the services provided, and the changes in the market which includes competition. This paper will strive to present the stages of the marketing development in financial institutions through the acquisition of knowledge regarding the finances and marketing of these services. It also involves the current concept and approach towards marketing by financial institutions in Kosovo. Adopting new approaches would satisfy the client and would strengthen the position of financial institution. In addition, through this analysis, we will try to show the importance of including the concept of marketing in the operations and strategies of financial institutions for a successful business.

The purpose of this study is to investigate a model of brand personality and the effect of a halal brand on purchase intentions, particularly, by highlighting of religious commitment mediated between brand personality, and purchase intentions on a Halal brand. This study uses a path analysis with the main concepts of brand personality, religious commitment, and purchase intentions. The sampling method used non-probability sampling. Data were collected from 120 respondents at several supermarkets in North Sumatera, Indonesia. Findings of the study indicated that brand personality does not have a significant and positive effect on the purchase intention of a Halal brand. However, the role of religious commitment is significant in mediating the relationship between brand personality and purchase intentions of a Halal brand. Finally, the results of this study also showed the total effects between brand personality, purchase intentions, and religious commitment. Dimensions of brand personality were not always relevant on the dimensions of a Halal brand.