Research background: Because of the rapid improvements in advanced technological tools and widely usage of the Internet among the world, most of SMEs in various countries have become able to apply their marketing activities through online marketing and social media platforms that are less costly for them. Since SMEs encounter many financing constraints, these marketing options might be very beneficial for them to use for their marketing activities. However, socio-economic and cultural factors differ in each corner of the globe. Purpose of the article: This paper aims to investigate international differences between usage of online marketing and social media platforms by SMEs. Methods: The authors of this paper have selected 1156 Czech, Slovakian and Hungarian SMEs from Cribis database by employing random sampling method. An online questionnaire was directed by the researchers to have responses from managers and owners of SMEs. To find differences in selected variables, the researchers perform ANOVA analyses with Post-Hoc tests in SPSS statistical program. Findings & Value added: Regarding the size of businesses, Hungarian SMEs in both size categories: micro and small-medium sized, apply social media platforms in their operations more than Czech and Slovakian SMEs. When it comes to marketing activities, some similarities are in existence depending on size and age of SMEs. In detail, propensities of Slovakian and Hungarian older SMEs (that have been operating more than 10 years) and microenterprises to apply online marketing channels are higher than Czech older SMEs and Czech microenterprises. Corresponding to social media usage, Czech and Slovakian SMEs and older enterprises do not differ. But Hungarian SMEs and older Hungarian firms are more prone to apply social media channels than Czech and Slovakian SMEs and older Czech and Slovakian enterprises. This paper is a unique study that makes comparison between some Central European countries’ SMEs that are in the Visegrad Group regarding their usage of their online marketing and social media tools. Thus, this paper also fulfills some gap in the marketing literature.

Although there were many consumer behavior studies, their focus was on traditional brands. Despite that, their conclusions and recommendations can serve as a model for private label research. This paper aims to find out the influence of packaging on consumer purchasing decisions in the yoghurt segment. Attention was drawn to Slovak consumers under the age of 25 years. To achieve the aim, survey, structured questionnaire (549 randomly chosen respondents) and blind test (20 respondents) methods were used. For a deeper analysis, four hypotheses were set out and tested using statistical methods of Pearsons’ Chi-Square Test, Friedman test, Mantel-Haenszel Chi-Square Test, Phi Coefficient, Cramer’s V Coefficient and correspondence analysis. The results proved that almost 58% of respondents bought private labels sporadically, over 20% of respondents bought them multiple times a week, and over 18% of respondents bought them once a week. In terms of perceived quality, it can be said that quality of private label products is perceived as good and adequate, they evoke impression of adequate quality at a reasonable price, the decisive factor for their purchase is a combination of reasonable price and quality, and the reasons not to buy are high price, low quality and lack of information about the producer. Regarding the impact of packaging on respondents’ purchasing decisions, it is found that less than 34% of respondents believe that packaging of private label products is unattractive, and up to 33% of respondents think that packaging does not affect them. AcknowledgementThe paper was supported by the research project GA SUA No. 8/2019 “Private labels as the alternative to purchase”, which is solved at the Department of Marketing and Trade, Faculty of Economics and Management, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra.

Advertising as the dominant tool of marketing management and marketing communication has become an inextricable part of culture and society. Its influence significantly affects its immediate surroundings. The current period, characterized by a communication boom, allows for a more aggressive application of advertising in public contexts as well as in managerial solutions. Advertising thus penetrates all aspects of life and its setup can be found in both commercial and non-commercial spheres. Thanks to perception, advertising becomes an incentive that stimulates purchase of products, services, but also ideas. Perception reflects reality through the sense organs, and each instance of perception is complemented by subjective factors, a process linked to past experiences. The study presents partial results of research that examined perception of commercial and social advertising by the Generation Y customer segment in the Czech Republic. The research used the method of data collection by questionnaire with implementation of the semantic differential method with a seven-point rating scale to find out what denotative and connotative meanings Generation Y respondents attach to the terms commercial and social advertising. The research data were processed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The resulting findings are related to perception of the terms commercial and social advertising by the examined Generation Y group in their semantic space. The findings show that the concept of commercial advertising is perceived in predominantly negative connotations for the entire research group, and to absence of distinction on their part between the terms commercial and social advertising.

The objective of the research was to identify statistically significant differences in selected engagement indicators on Facebook – likes and shares in relation to the different types of content that brands on this platform add to. The analysis was performed on a sample of three global companies from the top 25 most valuable brands in the world and their posts. Using quantitative statistical methods – MANOVA (Multivariate analysis of variance) and Gammes-Howell post hoc test, a total of 1,280 brand posts were analyzed in order to differentiate the liking and sharing of content types. Data collection was carried out in the first half of 2018. The findings pointed to two statistically significant differences that were also interpreted in the discussion of the research. The findings have shown that in case of liking, in two cases out of three, there is a statistically significant difference in terms of the type of content added, when photos came out as those with the greatest potential to get like from Facebook users and fans. At the same time, the same finding appeared in the case of sharing, which is an even stronger form of engagement. Likewise, photos were shown to be the most promising in terms of potential content sharing by Facebook users and fans. The study provided some clues as to where this research should go further and explore the relationship more deeply in view of the more extensive quantitative research, and also the potential qualitative approach. The future research directions include analyzing companies of different types and sizes and also taking into account the contribution from other social networks with the same or similar engagement indicators.