Enhancing consumer empowerment

Abstract

Purpose – Much of the literature on consumer empowerment focuses on consumers' efforts to regain control of their consumption processes from suppliers. The purpose is to argue that many suppliers achieve success by trying hard to empower consumers. The mechanism by which this takes place consists of researching and providing what consumers want. Consumers feel empowered when they are able to enjoy the consumption process. This is of particular note in shopping, which is not simply obtaining products but also experience and enjoyment. Design/methodology/approach – Research is examined into the links between firms' efforts to understand what consumers want, atmospheric stimuli, emotions and buying behaviour. Findings – The paper finds that successful firms' try hard to understand what consumers want and to improve consumer satisfaction and empowerment by providing pleasant marketing environments and apt, relevant information. Research limitations/implications – The approach is based on prior literature. The paper examines marketing to consumers in company locations, e.g. stores, malls, restaurants and banks to examine specific evidence of the effects of atmospheric stimuli such as aroma, music and video screen media. Practical implications – The paper contends that firms can and do become successful in a competitive arena by providing pleasant environments and information that people want. Originality/value – The paper shows how consumer empowerment is an important concept. This paper contributes since there is a dearth of writings specifically about consumer empowerment in the marketing literature. Far from the popular view of consumers being manipulated by firms, successful firms try hard to and succeed in empowering consumers in their marketing activities

Consumer Empowerment in the Digital Economy: Availing Sustainable Purchasing Decisions

“…The findings do not confirm the evidence supplied by other studies on the topic [23,27,[42][43][44][45][46]52]. A possible explanation on this front may refer to the narrower scope of the consumer engagement construct, which only addressed the actual behavior when touching on problems for which there is a legitimate cause for complaint.…”

“…. ) These are consumer empowerments" [46] (p. 926). Whenever online consumers exercise their skills and ability to compare the unit prices and specification of products, supported by EU law, they step towards optimal decision-making as regards sustainable purchasing [32] (p. 10).…”

“…I buy products online because I trust in the other customers' experiences and reviews. [32,[43][44][45][46][47][48]52,53] A final section addressed the respondents' characteristics in terms of gender, age, level of education and their experience in online consumption measured by means of the period of time they have been purchasing online and through the number of online providers they have purchased from). A synopsis in this respect is presented in Table 2.…”

Lack of Consumer Awareness: A Major Challenge for Electricity Consumer Protection in Nigeria

“…In deregulated markets, private firms commit a lot of malpractices in pursuit of greater profits at the expense of the consumer (Ho & Sin, 1988). In fact, evidence of market manipulations by private firms at the consumers' expense abounds (Andrews-speed et al, 2014;Evans, 2015;Jansson, 2010;Tiu Wright, Newman, & Dennis, 2006). How different are business enterprises in Nigeria?…”

“…Information is a means of consumer empowerment (Thøgersen, 2005) but too much information leads to information overload and affects effective consumers' decision. Requisite consumer information is, however, vital for consumer empowerment and proper functioning of markets (Hayek, 1945;McKecnie & Akinbami, 2011;Keller & Staelin, 1987;Tiu Wright et al, 2006;Herbig & Kramer, 1994;Schmitz, 2013). Howells (2005) believed that information plays a great role in consumer protection.…”