Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the behavioral outcomes and effectiveness of organizational response to open complaints by consumers following a dissatisfactory service experience. Design/methodology/approach Three natural communities (WhatsApp groups) were used with reference to online food and grocery retailing. The respondents comprised community members sharing negative experiences on the group. A scenario implanted in a survey was used as the research approach. Findings Consumer advocacy, a form of complaining, is a way to help other community members. The relationship between consumer advocacy and community usefulness strengthens the argument of consumers’ collective concern as one of the motivational frames for consumer advocacy. Consumer advocates show stronger reactions, resulting in brand avoidance following voice complaining. An effective organizational response can mitigate brand avoidance. Practical implications Finding ways to restrict and alleviate brand avoidance is an area that is of major interest to practitioners. The study finds that prospective explanations could be a very effective antidote to brand avoidance. Originality/value The social side of complaining is a relatively under-researched area. This study examines the relationship between consumer advocacy, community usefulness and brand avoidance. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the moderating effect of organizational response on consumer advocacy and its outcomes in the virtual context.

A two warehouse inventory model for deteriorating items is considered with exponential demand rate and permissible delay in payment. Shortage is not allowed and deterioration rate is constant. In the model, one warehouse is rented and the other is owned. The rented warehouse is provided with better facility for the stock than the owned warehouse, but is charged more. The objective of this model is to find the best replenishment policies for minimizing the total appropriate inventory cost. A numerical illustration and sensitivity analysis are provided.

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