The sustainable consumption and integration of digital solutions with respect to sustainable consumption have been encouraged by the new European circular economy action plan. Digital adoption has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic; companies have been challenged to rapidly adapt to the constant evolution of consumer needs and expectations, leading to valuable insights into the advancement of green business practices and a consequent rethinking of their business model. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the major shifts in sustainable consumer behavior on the Romanian retail market within the context of the Green European Deal, and retailers’ priorities in agilely adapting to these significant evolutions. Based on a comprehensive literature review on these major shifts and significant evolutions at the national and international levels, a quantitative study was carried out to evaluate the Romanian retail market and identify the major challenges faced by retailers in dealing with the new set of priorities. The data collection was conducted via a survey used in the retail environment, applied within a Romanian supermarket chain. The Romanian retail sector has a particular configuration, which may have an impact upon the study’s generalizability. Located in Central and Eastern Europe at the crossroads of the EU, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and the Middle East, Romania is a leading destination for foreign direct investment, and it is recognized for the similarities of its distribution and sales channels, the range of its retail outlets, and the local retail market dominance on the Big Box segment by reputed major retailers. A spectacular evolution is recorded in Romania’s e-commerce market, including from the point of view of the long-standing and memorable traditional relationship between Romania and China which was confirmed more recently by Romanian consumers who prefer to buy online from stores in China. Our consumer research provides retailers with deep consumer insights with regard to their priorities in their agile adaptation. According to our research, Romanian consumers are environmentally concerned consumers, displaying an increased awareness about the important role they play with respect to impacting sustainable production and consumption by adopting green purchase behavior. Our study also points to the fact that retailers, although faced with challenges in targeting consumers with customized messages to reinforce their brand perception on sustainability issues, do pay considerable attention to sustainability as a personal value embraced by consumers and are willing to focus on digitizing their business processes to enable new, sustainable business models.

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The evolution of technology brings closer the endless possibilities of education, allowing a human to learn something new anywhere and anytime. With the crisis created by the pandemic situation for the last two years, new ways of education have taken form to maintain the flow of learning and qualification; thus, the term “distance learning” has been implemented in all types of learning, from primary education all the way to tertiary education. This paper covers the image of tertiary education, mostly at the level of universities. Many changes took form at this level, such as developing new ways for the distance learning implementation by creating new programs dedicated for this new method of education. We will present to you how these changes took form and how they can evolve with the help of various technologies such as Blockchain and XR, and other strategic learning methods such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and gamification. Universities start to create new programs based on their unique crypto coin, which help students pay for their studies, such as articles, new disciplines, and exchange programs. The gamification of these programs raises the interactivity that students have during class hours, thus motivating them and creating an optimal curve of learning, combined with the implementation of XR technology.

Brand communities have the potential to increase the loyalty of those consumers who are members, to generate oppositional loyalty towards the brands of competitors and also to influence new product adoption behaviour. Moreover, this concept contributes to a better understanding of the relationships between consumers and a specific brand and thus presents an interest not only for marketing researchers, but also for brand managers. Starting with the 21 st century, brand communities have been conceptualized and studied many times in the marketing literature, which has explored both the positive and negative consequences of these consumption communities. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the most important findings related to this marketing topic. Therefore, the article begins with the review of the most relevant definitions given to brand communities which are then analysed. Secondly, there is a section dedicated to the characteristics and particularities associated with these consumer communities, which were identified by previous research. Subsequently, another section focuses upon the emergence process of such communities, the way they are constructed by customers and also upon the factors and steps that allow the formation and organization of brand communities. Finally, some implications for brand management are offered, as well as some directions for future research.