Issue #3 (Volume 18 2022)

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant change in customer behavior, including in the luxury product business. One crucial part of customer behavior is purchase intention. Understanding purchase intention is an essential basis for developing various marketing innovations. This study aimed to establish a model of the interaction of factors that influence purchase intention in luxury products today, especially in Indonesia. The study used a cross-sectional study approach. This study’s respondents were social media users who would buy luxury products. The research sample size was 381 users. The Lime Survey was applied to collect data and was accessed online. The questionnaire statement items used a Likert scale from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree), including Perceived Value (9 items), Social WoM (3 items), Brand Attitude (3 items), and Purchase Intention (3 items). The model validation was analyzed using bootstrapping to process the Structural Equation Model (SEM) under Smart-PLS software. The analysis results show that the three variables simultaneously (R-square = 0.419) moderately can be used to explain Purchase Intention. However, the factors that affect Purchase Intention are only Perceived Value (p-value = 0.000) and Brand Attitude (p-value = 0.000), but not Social WoM (p-value = 0.203). This study concludes that marketing innovation is critical to focus on the prestige of luxury product users through perceived value and brand attitude. Information from other users is not reliable enough to build purchase intention because luxury product users tend not to trust products from other users. Still, they believe more in the perceived prestige.

Acknowledgments
Faculty of Economics and Business of Universitas Negeri Sebelas Maret facilitates using LIME Survey software for this research.

Many apparel retailing brands use e-service marketing tools such as a chatbot (a system that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week) to increase their competitive advantage in today’s world of digitalization. During the COVID-19 pandemic, chatbots gained more power to serve as a communication tool that provides information and maintains customer experience. Therefore, this study is conducted to investigate the influence of chatbot e-service agents’ marketing efforts (involving interaction, entertainment, trendiness, and problem-solving) on Thai customers’ perceived communication credibility and satisfaction in apparel retailing, as research in this area is limited. In order to test the hypotheses, the paper employed structural equation modeling using Amos. In addition, an online survey of 400 Thai consumers who had previously used chatbots in the apparel retailing industry was conducted. The results showed that chatbot e-service marketing efforts, including interaction, trendiness, and problem-solving, affected customer satisfaction without entertainment elements. Beyond this, a chatbot, viewing interaction and entertainment, was found to have an insignificant effect on communication credibility. Thus, the coefficient value proved that information regarding communication credibility is more dominant in customer satisfaction. Therefore, the chatbot e-service marketing effort is essential in motivating communication credibility in customer satisfaction. These findings delivered managerial implications for understanding consumers in the field of digitalization.

The most crucial key to successfully approaching customers is enhancing the interaction experience between customers and retailers. This study explores the motivations for adopting augmented reality (AR) in retailing small and medium-sized retailers in Vietnam. A structured questionnaire was delivered to a total sample of 302 Vietnamese retailers and got 215 clean and valid responses. The survey was conducted both online and offline for ten months, from February 2021 to December 2021. The chosen surveyors are retailing managers and owners of retailing firms. These firms sell fashion products, technology gadgets, and household products. The data were statistically analyzed using Smart PLS software and the partial least equation structural model. The findings indicate three direct, positive, and significant factors that influence the retailer’s AR adoption, including (1) organizational attitude toward AR, (2) organizational innovativeness, and (3) competition pressure in which organizational attitude toward AR and organization innovativeness are two critical motivational drivers. The competition pressure has been identified as the challenge barrier. The cost barriers affect organizational attitude toward AR but do not significantly influence AR adoption. Along with theoretical contributions, this paper also gave some theoretical and practical implications for retailers who have the intention to adopt AR and integrate AR into their current retailing system.

The purpose of this study is to critically examine the effect of relationship marketing (such as trust, commitment, communication effectiveness, and conflict handling) on customer loyalty in the telecommunication service delivery sector. The data for this study were gathered through a questionnaire. In addition, a survey of two hundred and twenty-five (225) customers of telecommunication services in Nigeria supports the investigation. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22 was employed to analyze the data gathered. The findings of this study show that trust, commitment, communication effectiveness, and conflict handling directly affect customer loyalty. In addition, all four variables directly influence customer loyalty. Hinging on the study’s discoveries, the paper suggested that organizations should strategically implement relationship marketing as this will help build and increase loyal customers. This study contributes to the body of knowledge in this field, which adds significant value. Moreover, the study provides valuable details on the telecommunication sector, possibly new to many readers.

Acknowledgment
The authors wish to appreciate the management of Covenant University for the full sponsorship of this publication in this journal.

The war in Ukraine dealt a crushing blow to the country’s economy. The relevance of the topic is due to the marketing ability to be an effective tool for restoring and developing business in Ukraine. The paper aims to define the state and prospects for developing business and its marketing component during the war in Ukraine. The research analysis demonstrates that the share of business representatives who completely or partially ceased their activities during the first three months of the war decreased from 75.3% in March to 49.0% in May (compared to February 24, 2022), which is indicative of the gradual resumption of business in Ukraine. At the same time, it was found that in May 2022, the food retail, non-food retail, household appliances, and electronics sectors partially resumed their work. The best renewal rates are observed in the jewelry sector, and the worst – in the entertainment sector. A study of marketing activities in Ukraine shows that the most positive changes regarding gradual renewal are observed in digital marketing. The paper highlights the key consequences of hostilities for Ukrainian business and its marketing activities: supply chain disruption, reduced purchasing power, changes in consumer demand, stockpiling, and a state of uncertainty among business representatives. In addition, the study offers general approaches to adapting marketing and SMM during the war to preserve, restore, and further develop business in Ukraine.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant influence on decreasing hotel consumption levels. To survive and compete in the market, hotels must be able to maintain their brand power and performance. This study aims to determine the relationship between customer experience, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty toward brand power and brand performance in the hotel industry. The focus is on the importance of the role of the three consumer constructs on brand value. The paper uses a descriptive research design and a quantitative approach where data is collected by distributing online questionnaires to respondents through Google Forms. The selected population is tourists who have stayed in 4-5 star international hotels in Indonesia, with a sample size of 240 respondents. The collected data is then processed using SmartPLS v.3.3.3 to examine the results of the outer and inner models. The results show that from the customer’s perspective, customer experience has an impact on customer satisfaction, which influences customer loyalty. In addition, customer loyalty is a factor that affects brand value, including brand power and performance. Therefore, customer loyalty is a strong predictor of brand value in the hospitality and tourism industry. By strengthening this sphere, a company will have great resources and opportunities to build brand power and brand performance.