PurposeConsumers' willingness to pay premium (WTPP) for two different types of agricultural brand labels (enterprise and regional), are evaluated through a non-hypothetical Random n-price auction experiment during the online purchase of fresh agricultural products. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the two WTPP, compare their differences, and explore their sustainability.Design/methodology/approachData were collected in July–August 2020 from a sample of 310 consumers in Liaoning Province, China. A nonhypothetical random n-price auction experiment was implemented in a simulated online shopping environment.FindingsThe results show that WTPP exists, and WTPP level of regional brand labels is higher than that of enterprise brand labels. Consumers' WTPP is sustainable. Consumers with low WTPP for enterprise brand labels and consumers with high WTPP for regional brand labels have stronger willingness to repurchase.Practical implicationsThe results have direct practical implications for developing brand agriculture and encouraging “brand consumption”. The results can provide theoretical reference for policymakers, enlightenment for the development and effective dissemination of agricultural brand labels and important information to e-retailers on how to sale agricultural products with agricultural brand labels.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, no previous study has related WTPP and its sustainability for agricultural brand labels in China. We try to fill a gap in literature on consumers' WTPP for agricultural brand labels. And the authors explore the sustainability of WTPP by analyzing the impact of WTPP on repurchase intention and recommendation intention respectively.

Most consumers read online reviews before making online purchase decisions. Online reviews of a product usually include positive and negative contradictory online reviews (CORs). Previous studies have confirmed the impact of CORs on consumers’ online purchase decisions. However, literature review showed that most of the conducted studies on the dimension of CORs are single dimension. Therefore, this study examined how CORs affected consumers’ online purchase decisions from two dimensions: proportion of positive and negative reviews and emotional arousal. The results of a two (proportion of positive and negative reviews: high vs. low) × 2 (emotional arousal: calm vs. arousing) inter group experiment from 306 Chinese consumers showed that CORs have a significant negative impact on consumers’ purchase online decision, and CORs affect consumers’ online purchase decision by affecting perceived risk. The results of this study enrich literature of online reviews. Findings of this study provide important information to e-retailers on how CORs affect consumers’ online purchase decisions. The theoretical and practical implications of the proposed study are also discussed.