Category: Consumer Behavior

Introduction

Adaptive software development is a design principle for the creation of software systems. The principle focuses on the rapid creation and evolution of software systems. The adaptive development method grew out of the rapid application development method. Adaptive Software Development replaces the traditional waterfall cycle with a repeating series of speculating, collaborate, and learn cycles. ASD is made of three steps (speculate, collaborate, and learn). So, here those steps described briefly: Speculate –> Initiation and Planning Collaborate –> Concurrent future developmentLearn –> Quality Review

Methodologies

A strategy that will be used to work along the business, such as a certain model and for example charts are used to show and define the requirements. Basically, methodologies explain how the business will either expand and overcome failures with proper strategy. The communication between client and customer is one of the most vital parts of any business, with methodologies strategy, we prepare our team to overcome any miscommunication and how the product can be best described to give business the boost it requires. There are three philosophies that are used in everyday business ventures, they are XP, and Scrum most commonly used. All are based on application programming.

Advantages

Make discussion

After the organization was given the task of completing the whole of a system, the manufacturer will make a detailed study of the system and will hold discussions to seek agreement with what has been planned to build the system. After agreeing with what is planned, the manufacturer will make a little later to discuss, the process is repeated until all players are satisfied with what is required and the mission and vision have been achieved.

Get ideas

From discussion can produce a good product because before these products have a lot of ideas given by the customer or anyone associated with the project. In addition, cost savings for using the same prototype when to make changes in the product.

Make demonstrate

Make a demonstration for the customer to show the results that have been made, if not satisfied with the results of the specific reasons, allowing the manufacturers to improve existing shortcomings.

Able to maintain good quality work

By using the iterative cycle, this will take care of good quality work. In addition, developers plan more carefully and systematically to ensure the success of the system.

Disadvantages

Requires that public employees

In completing a project that requires many workers. This will cause many problems, especially in the planning of projects and conflict of ideas between them. Besides that, the problems arise in terms of division of tasks to carry out a project.

Time-consuming

In this methodology, developers need time more to complete a project. This is because each is already planned. Before implementing any parts of the project, it is agreed especially by the manager. Every change takes time to change some parts of the project. This will be difficult for all involved to complete the project with a defined time

Scrum

Scrum is an agile framework for completing innovative projects. Scrum originally was formalized for software development projects but works well for any complex, innovative or new product development scope of work. The possibilities are endless. The Scrum framework is deceptively simple.

The Scrum Software Development Methodology / Framework

A product owner creates a prioritized wish list called a product backlog. During sprint planning, the team pulls a small chunk from the top of that wish list, a sprint backlog, and decides how to implement those pieces. The team has a certain amount of time, a sprint, to complete its work – usually two to four weeks – but meets each day to assess its progress (daily scrum). Along the way, the Scrum Master keeps the team focused on its goal. At the end of the sprint, the work should be potentially shippable, as in ready to hand to a customer, put on a store shelf, or show to a stakeholder. The sprint ends with a sprint review and retrospective. As the next sprint begins, the team chooses another chunk of the product backlog and begins working again.

Advantages

• Scrum can help teams complete project deliverables quickly and efficiently.
• Scrum ensures effective use of time and money.
• Large projects are divided into easily manageable sprints.
• Developments are coded and tested during the sprint review
• Works well for fast-moving development projects
• The team gets clear visibility through scrum meetings
• Scrum, being agile, adopts feedback from customers and stakeholders
• Short sprints enable changes based on feedback a lot more easily
• The individual effort of each team member is visible during daily scrum meetings

Disadvantages

• Scrum often leads to scope creep, due to the lack of a definite end-date
• The chances of project failure are high if individuals aren’t very committed or cooperative
• Adopting the Scrum framework in large teams is challenging
• The framework can be successful only with experienced team members
• Daily meetings sometimes frustrate team members
• If any team member leaves in the middle of a project, it can have a huge negative impact on the project
• Quality is hard to implement until the team goes through the aggressive testing processXP(Extreme programming)

Extreme programming is basically software development procedures designed and created to improve software quality as well as the ability it has to adapt to the ever-changing needs of users of that particular software. The first to develop the Extreme Programming Methodology was Ken Beck around the mid and even late nineties. At the time, software used to manage the payrolls in large organizations known as Chrysler Comprehensive Compensation Systems is what he was working on. Extreme Programming and Agile processes of development have a few similar characteristics. One of them is that they both aim at producing frequent and iterative small releases during the course of the project. This allows both the clients and team members to review and examine the software project’s progress during the entire process. This type of programming prescribes a set of daily practices that developers and managers should adhere to.

The main objective of these practices is to encourage and embody some particular values. Experts believe when you exercise these practices, they will inevitably lead to developing procedures that are much more responsive to client needs while still creating and designing software that is of better or similar quality.

Advantages

• The main advantage of Extreme Programming is that this methodology allows software development companies to save costs and time required for project realization.
• Time savings are available because of the fact that XP focuses on the timely delivery of final products.
• Extreme Programming teams save lots of money because they don’t use too much documentation. They usually solve problems through discussions inside of the team.
• Simplicity is one more advantage of Extreme Programming projects. The developers who prefer to use this methodology create extremely simple code that can be improved at any moment.
• The whole process in XP is visible and accountable. Developers commit what they will accomplish and show progress.· Constant feedback is also the strong side. It is necessary to listen and make any changes needed in time.
• XP assists to create software faster thanks to the regular testing at the development stage.· Extreme Programming contributes to increasing employee satisfaction and retention.

Disadvantages

Some specialists say that Extreme Programming is focused on the code rather than on design. That may be a problem because good design is extremely important for software applications. It helps sell them in the software market. Additionally, in XP projects the defect documentation is not always good. Lack of defect documentation may lead to the occurrence of similar bugs in the future.· One more disadvantage of XP is that this methodology does not measure code quality assurance. It may cause defects in the initial code. XP is not the best option if programmers are separated geographically.

Recommendation

There are small and often subtle differences between Scrum and XP. However, they can have a profound impact on the team. My typical advice to teams is “start with Scrum and then invent your own version of XP.” The XP practices are wonderful but they work best and teams commit to them the most stridently if they discover them themselves rather than having them mandated. I help teams do this in my coaching by asking questions like, “Would this bug have happened if we’d been doing test-driven development?” and “Would we have made that mistake if we were pairing?”I find true XP to be a small target off in the distance. If a team can aim at that and hit the bull’s eye, wonderful. If not, however, they are likely hacking (e.g., refactoring without any automated testing or TDD). Scrum is a big bull’s eye that on its own brings big improvements simply through the additional focus and the time boxed iterations. That’s a good starting point for then adding the XP practices.

Companies and organizations continuously want to create value for customers and build strong customer-relationships in order to capture value. For ages, firms and organizations have been seeking to shape their target audience’s thoughts, attitudes and behavior so that they can attract more customers and build brand awareness. One way brands are promoting their products and services is through social media influencers.

Social Media influencers are normal people, like you and me, who happen to have a passion for a certain field, such as cooking, fashion or beauty. Through posting about their passion on social media platforms, they gain internet popularity letting them act as an external stimuli to their audience’s opinions, decisions and behavior. This position is strengthened by a large number of followers and likes to provide the target audience with a form of social proof. As a benefit of their promotions, influencers either get paid for promoting and talking about the products, or they get sample of promotional products and services.

Social Media Marketing is a new quick and effective approach to reaching a wide audience and increasing brand awareness; specially the younger age group, a demographic that is difficult to reach for marketers. They place strong value on forming their own identity, which is linked to social identity theory: part of psychology that deals with how people view themselves as belonging to a group of similar individuals, which affects part of their personal identity. In return affecting their needs and wants, and eventually their purchasing decision.

Social Media Marketing is considered to be a form of subconscious marketing. Subconscious Marketing relates to the touch-points between a company and a purchaser that is often ignored, until there is purchasing need. Unlike celebrities, influencers promote through a sense of trust, reliability and attractiveness. In the digital age, influencer marketing is becoming more relevant; as the customer perceives the influencer one of his/her in-group and which ultimately affects his/her purchasing decision.

Attractiveness Bias is defined as “subconsciously attributing attractive or charismatic people with many other qualities simply because they are good looking.” This bias can lead to positive associations between the influencer and the brand, as by using attractive personas, the brand will influence the subconscious of the viewer, potentially briefing them when faced with a product-related decision. Influencers are not only expected to be good looking, they are expected to be relatable, but appealing. It is shown in a study that 56% of customers rely on friends’ recommendation, and 43% rely on influencers, which is relatively close. These numbers show that influencers are just as valuable as friends and family when it comes to purchasing. Why? Because people trust who they trust, they follow public figures because they trust their wisdom and they believe in their authenticity.

Due to high demand of Social Influencer Marketing, a whole industry was created with intermediaries’ agencies acting as matchmakers between companies and influencers.

The ability to evaluate long-term consequences is essential to successful financial decision making. Teens develop financial behaviors that can influence their actions as adults (Martin and Oliva 2001), such as making the strategic choice to delay gratification by saving and avoiding a debtor’s prison (Bernthal, Crockett, and Rose 2005). Teens experience stress from school, family, and finances at higher levels than their parents realize (APA 2009).

Teenagers in the United States possess significant spending power ($116 billion; Youth Pulse 2010), with increased access to cosigned or parent’s credit cards (Jumpstart.org). Teenagers also frequently visit shopping centers and are tar- gets for luxury goods (Dunleavey 2006). However, 48% of U.S. teenagers have low financial literacy (Mandell 2008), and ethnic and female teens lag further behind (Lusardi, Mitchell, and Curto 2010). This combination of access to money or credit, being presented with offers, and low financial literacy and high stress can be problematic. Under- standing which factors may improve this segment’s financial decision making could help inform the design of financial education interventions and regulatory policy and guide companies that market to teenagers to improve industry self-regulation

Family influences teenager’s buying behavior by acting as the reference group. Reference group is a term from social psychology identifying that group to which people refer or make reference in evaluating themselves (Kotler, 2008). Reference groups expose a person to new behaviors and lifestyles, influence the person’s attitude and self-concept, and create pressures to conform that may affect the person’s product and brand choice. The group influence tends to be strongest when the product is visible to others whom the buyer respects. As cited by Martin and Bush (2004) in the journal article ‘Do role models influence teenagers’ purchase intention and behavior?’, Moschis (1985) claimed that family influence on consumption patterns and attitudes often overrides any other form of influence. Besides that, teenagers tend to follow family’s perception in terms of economic and social status. The background of family a child being brought up contributed in this situation. A teenager will have a positive perception towards a product if the parents are satisfied with the product. Besides that, Hogg and Bruce (2003) cited that the family influence relates clearly to perception of brands as Hite and Hite (1994) indicated. Reflecting on child development theory it is suggested that children’s behavior is absorbed at very young ages from familial examples (Hite and Hite, 1994). Teenagers may imitate certain buying pattern of the family. For instance, they may purchase the product according to the amount and quantity the family used to make. For example buying the product in bulk, in value pack or individually. They may also follow the buying pattern of the family for example the duration and frequency in using and purchasing a product. An example will be making the purchase of daily product in weekly or monthly basis.

Family has a significant effect in teenager’s buying behavior in terms of self-concept. Self-concept is one’s own perception of own self. According to Kamaruddin (2006), self-concept is formed through the social interaction of an individual with his or her environment. As a result of the interaction with significant people, mainly the family members, the personality and self-concept are formed. The self-concept summarizes the beliefs a person holds about his own attributes and how he evaluates the self on these qualities. (Solomon, 2009) Teenager’s self-esteem is being built up by family through the process of growing up. It refers to the positivity of a person’s self-concept. Teenager tends to make purchase decision depending on their self-esteem. The most significant area will be one’s physical appearance.

Since the moment we were born, our consumerist society has been making an enormous effort to convince us that we’re not good enough simply by being the way we are. The advertising industry has made us believe that the only way to feel comfortable with ourselves is to buy products that are an unnecessary luxuries, that we’re convinced are necessities. Just look around and you will see billboards of models that none of us will ever look like, but we have to strive to do so by using sexuality and social status. There are advertisements everywhere trying to persuade us to buy stuff and have succeeded in doing so by. We must get out of the trap of consumerism and materialism, as it has societal and environmental consequences. Consumerism is closely related to intercultural communication because it has affected our culture and has forever changed the way society views each other.

If we feel unattractive, we can spends hundreds of dollars on makeup in hopes of attracting attention of others like a magnet. If we feel unimportant we can buy an expensive shiny car in an attempt to climb the social totem pole. Having fallen victims to manipulative advertising, most of us spend our hard earn money on products we can’t even afford. We believe that by obtaining these items that we will achieve happiness and confidence. Little do we realize that no amount of products will ever quench our emotional thirst because what we truly crave for such as intimacy, connections, and creativity, cannot be bought.

In order to truly be aware of how consumerism has gotten to where it is today, we must know what it is and how it started. Consumerism can be understood as a theory that spending money and consuming goods is good for the economy. For most of history, people relatively owned very little. However, starting in the eighteenth century, economies in the countries of northwestern Europe began to expand and wages rose. People began to have more money than just the amount they needed to survive, and started shopping for small luxuries. As Consumerism in World History by Peter N Stearns states, “People in the Mediterranean cherished Chinese silks. The Roman Empire organized regular trips to India to pick up spices to please aristocratic palates. Arabs used African gold to make jewelry.”

This created a cycle; the more people spent, the more businesses grew and the more wages rose. Countless industries were made in order to keep up with the demand for goods. Styles for clothes and hair which has previously gone unchanged for decades, now altered every year. Several value systems in the eighteenth century were hostile towards consumerism. Major religions pushed their followers to focus on other worldly goals and feared that these goods would distract from the true purposes of life (Stearns, 2006). In Britain, clergyman gave sermons against this new materialism that they called vanity, which was a sin. Eventually, shopping for pleasure was seen as a “great” way to make countries rich.

It’s clear through the history of consumerism that the degradation of moral values was never taken into account. The sole purpose of mass producing goods that are necessary is for economic growth. Of course at the time it probably seemed like a solution to poverty as the demand for goods require more labor which meant more jobs. This is perhaps the only benefit of consumerism. People were always aware that these materialistic pleasures would only be a distraction from spiritual goals. In the early 1700s, a Dutch philosopher called Bernard Mandeville published a book called a The Fable of the Bees where he argued that the only way to generate wealth was to ensure high demand for unnecessary goods. Mandeville implied the two choices you had: to be intellectually refined, spiritually intact, and dirt poor, or you can be a slave to luxury and materialistic goods and be wealthy; an ultimatum that the world still struggles with three centuries later.

Besides the fact that these unnecessary products only offer a temporary substitute of what we really long for, we fail to realize the impact our consumer behavior has on the environment. In the article “As Consumerism Spreads, Earth Suffers, Study Says” by Hillary Maywell, it states that in the United States there are more cars on the road then licensed drivers, which increases pollution and use of fossil fuels. The consumption of highly processed food has led to a worldwide epidemic of obesity. As much as we are manipulated into believing that we need these products, ironically they are causing our planet and health to deteriorate as well as making us spend more time away from things that truly matter such as family. The more time we spend working to get money to afford these products, the longer amount of time we spent communicating and creating connections with others.

In another article “Consumerism and Environment: Does Consumption Behaviour Affect Environmental Quality?” by Carlo Orecchia and Pietro Zoppoli states that consumption can affect the environment in many ways: large amounts of consumption equal larger inputs of energy and material and generate larger quantities of waste by products. Our ecological footprint can also be thought of as our environmental impact, is measured by our consumption behaviors. “Every good, process or service requires energy and material to be produced, consumed and waste disposed” (Orecchia & Zoppoli, 2007). The more we consume, the more we also throw away. Most of our garbage cannot be recycled so it just goes to landfills. Although we take up only 8% of the population, North Americans account for 50% of the garbage all around the world (Brummet, 2004).

In a study called “Environmental Impact Assessment of Household Consumption” by Diana Ivanova, shows that the stuff we consume is responsible for up to 60 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and between 50 and 80 percent of total land, material, and water use. These products and services would not be produced if it were not for so much demand for it. What we should be concerned with is the increase of demand for natural resources such as gas that are unsustainable and try to minimize depletion and pollution as much as possible.

Not only is consumerism harming our planet, it has harmed our cultural values as well. The consequences of consumerism can alter our quality of life. There has been a drastic materialistic shift in our society. We are now suddenly defined by the clothes we wear or the car we drive. Everything nowadays revolves around economic profit. Children from an early age are encouraged to go to school so that one day they can get a job that makes a lot of money. We need to make more and more money to be able to satisfy our consumer “needs”. The average card holder with debt owes an average of $5,100 according to the 2010 US Census. Although in today’s society we can afford a lot more than our grandparents, we aren’t any happier. According to the article “Consumerism and its discontents” by Tori DeAngelis, it states that “In simple terms, a strong consumerist bent–what William Wordsworth in 1807 called ‘getting and spending’–can promote unhappiness because it takes time away from the things that can nurture happiness, including relationships with family and friends, research shows.” The research in this article shows that the unhappiest people were those who reported high materialistic values.

Nowadays, young adults that have grown up with so much possessions have a greater risk of depression and other social disorders. We are convinced to purchase products through means of advertising. The encouraging of consumerism through means of advertising goes a lot deeper than just trying to get us buy to things. The goal of these ads is of course to make the company money, but as a society we mentally compare ourselves to these ads and see them as a way that we should act like or look like. These ads sell us values and images of who we should strive to be. Gender roles are largely exploited by consumerism for profit. One can examine anorexia (a disorder common in women) as a case study for how consumerism may reinforce being skinny as an important culture value. These physical traits come to represent attractiveness and anything less is seen as ugly and shameful.

In the documentary Killing Us Softly 4 featuring Jean Kilbourne, shows shocking patterns in ads about what it means to be a woman in American culture. Advertising tells women that what’s most important is how they look, and ads surround us with the image of ideal female beauty. However, this flawlessness cannot be achieved; it’s a look that’s been created through mostly photoshop. The more insecure these companies make women, the more money they make. Consumerism doesn’t directly cause this type of objectification of women, but it encourages it, it makes others feel like it’s okay to view women in this manner. In Kilbourne’s powerful statement, “Ads create an environment. Just as it’s difficult to be healthy in a toxic physical environment, if we’re breathing poisoned air or drinking polluted water, it’s difficult to be healthy in a ‘toxic cultural environment’ that surrounds us with unhealthy images and constantly sacrifices our health and well-being for the sake of profit” shows how consumerism has shaped the values this country has today.

For the purpose of this paper, I analyzed myself and tried to figure what it is that I constantly spend money on that does not benefit me at all. Ultimately, nothing I buy can truly make me happy, but most of the things I do purchase make me feel confident. I think I do a fairly good job at informing myself on clothing brands so that I don’t contribute to these companies that have sweat shops in third world countries. Something that I realize I hate spending money on is waxing. It causes me nothing but pain and gives me no confidence, it’s just something that I feel like I have to do as a woman. Since I was a young teenager I was exposed to the media that convinced me that women had to be hairless. It didn’t help that one time I was made fun of for having hair on my hands. Ever since I got my first job, I have been getting my body waxed. For this paper, I went over my credit card statements for the past year and calculated that I spent about $572 on just waxing services. This was truly shocking to me, that I’ve paid this much just to get rid of hair that will always come back! After doing my research on consumerism, I don’t plan on letting it make me feel insecure about myself anymore.

I offer a couple of ways to not be manipulated by consumer messages: try to limit your exposure to media outlets and focus more , if you believe you are materialistic try to understand what causes you to be that way. We also have to be more aware of what we are consuming and that companies don’t really care about our wellbeing, they just want to maximize their profits. I don’t believe materialistic things themselves are bad, they do create a sense of individualism and being able to express yourself, it’s just that you have to find balance. You have to know what you need and what you don’t. You can treat yourself to things you believe you deserve, as long as you don’t achieve it at the expense of things that really matter like your relationships with yourself, your family, and your community.

Post-war America was characterized by a major shift to the suburbs. The spoils of the war allowed people to live large, and one way of doing that was relocating from urban centers to the much quieter and peaceful suburbs. Suburbs offered numerous conveniences to their dwellers. One instance would be malls. Malls allowed suburban dwellers to shop conveniently and have a place to have fun. The malls also employed thousands of people. Unfortunately, over the past few years, their popularity has waned as shopping continues to move online. Today, shopping in online stores and getting one’s goods delivered to their address is one of the most convenient modes of shopping. It has made physical stores obsolete, and most of them are closing shop, leaving most malls empty leading to their deterioration. They have also left a lot of people jobless. The closure of shops of many renowned stores has left most malls with vacant space and the threat of deterioration. However, they can be repurposed to serve other needs that could help maintain the excellent condition of the malls while reinstating some of the jobs lost.

The Issue

As shopping shifts to the Internet, more and more malls are losing customers leaving them with large vacant spaces. Currently, retailers are closing down thousands of stores around the United States. In 2017, retailers abandoned 102 million square feet of space in malls (Peterson 1). In 2018, that increased by another 155 million square feet. The trend continued to 2019, with more than 8600 store closures being announced in the year. These figures are touted to grow further in the coming years. The major reason for the closures is the reduced foot traffic in malls resulting from increased online shopping. People now prefer shopping online and having their goods delivered to their homes. This has been necessitated by the busy lives they live and the convenience that online shopping offers. Due to the reduction in customers, stores have been forced to close down while others move their shops online. Stores closing down have left many malls with an uphill task of filling the vacated spaces. Many are deteriorating and turning to unappealing structures. Fortunately, however, a revival is possible for them. Current developments show that malls could be repurposed to serve other functions.

Current Developments in Mall Repurposing and Revival

According to Greg Petro, malls are not dying. Instead, they are evolving. Essentially, that is true. The closure of stores has led to the rethinking of how malls work and the services and amenities they offer. As Petro notes, malls are considered a destination that offers an experience to people. The experience people are seeking today is not similar to that which others sought a few years ago. Previously, friends could meet up in a mall and shop all day. Today, that is not the case. People no longer meet up in malls to shop all day and interact. Social media and online shopping have transformed that aspect of their lives. Individuals seek fun experiences nowadays. As a result, instead of malls offering more shops, they are offering such amenities as recreational places. Malls now have cinemas, bars, and restaurants, which offer people other fun experiences. Millennials today are more concerned about the experiences they have rather than the things they have. As such, they are spending their money purchasing experiences in place of material things. Malls are therefore shifting to offering those experiences.

Abandoned malls are also being turned into offices. As stores close their shops in malls, companies are moving in to set up their offices in the abandoned space. The “death” of malls did not start recently. Malls have been in America for more than half a century, and some of them began and completed their deaths several decades ago. One of those is the Mayfield Mall in Northern California, which met its demise in 1984 (Handy 1). After Mayfield Mall’s demise, newer, shinier, and better malls emerged in the region to replace them. Not long after its closure, Hewlett Packard (HP), the computer company, moved in and set up offices in the space. HP later vacated, and Google took over the space for its Google Glass Headquarters and purchased the building in 2016 (Handy 1). This is one of the ways the malls that are being abandoned today could transform themselves. Instead of letting the facilities rot and decay, the malls could be redeveloped into office spaces to attract new businesses and even ensure traffic for stores.

Another way of reviving dead malls that have been adopted is by turning them into academic facilities and art galleries. The Hickory Hollow Mall in Antioch, which was replaced by The Global Mall at the Crossings was redeveloped to include a library, a satellite campus for a community college, and an ice-skating rink (Handy 1). This brought new life into the abandoned mall. Such facilities could be included in other malls that are on the brink of death. Although a library would not raise much rent, it would ensure foot traffic in the malls. This would enable other businesses in the mall to thrive instead of fleeing. Reduced foot traffic has been one of the leading causes of mall death, increasing it through setting up public libraries would help other businesses stay and continue honoring their leases. Thus ensuring the continuity of the malls. A children’s library could also help revive a mall. For instance, one of the large abandoned stores in Chesterfield Mall in St. Louis, Missouri was turned into an illustrated children’s book museum (Garfield 1). Also, as seen in other malls, dying malls could open up art galleries to attract people. This could help resuscitate the dying malls.

Another revival tactic has been repurposing malls into dwelling places and hotels. America’s oldest indoor mall, Westminster Arcade in Providence, was turned into a living space after its decline, which began in the late 20th century (Handy 1). The mall now consists of a mix of micro-lofts and other businesses such as boutiques, and coffee shops. The businesses benefit from housing facilities offered in the mall since they bring in traffic. Affordable housing is a growing need in the United States. This is a need that malls could help meet. The success of a business hinges on identifying and meeting a consumer need. Aging baby boomers and millennials are increasingly seeking convenient places to live. By 2035, more than one in five people will be 65 years or older, and in three houses, one will be headed by a person in this age bracket (Danziger 1). Malls’ popularity, on the other hand, is decreasing and by that time, a lot of mall spaces will be vacant. That space could be used to develop housing facilities including condos and apartments to meet the housing needs of the aging baby boomers and millennials. Hotels are also another way malls could revive themselves. Food joints in malls are helping attract traffic that is keeping some business in malls.

The Effectiveness of What is Being Done

Several approaches are being used to revive the dying malls. They are being turned into libraries, residential facilities, hotels, recreational centers, and offices. However, what is working among these? Everything! All these approaches are working effectively to revive the dying malls. As noted, some malls have been converted into office facilities in their entirety while others have offices occupying some space available. Others have libraries within them and other academic facilities that occupy abandoned spaces. Most importantly, some are offering living places that could help mitigate the effects of the continued abandonment of mall space. If malls continue to provide housing facilities as they are, they are going to help meet the needs of aging baby boomers and millennials whose need for affordable housing is growing every year. Malls can help provide convenient as well as affordable housing for them. Also, the shift from a traditional mall to a mall that offers memorable experiences among people has been instrumental in the revival of some dying malls. Decidedly, all these approaches have been effective. When used together with the traditional mall shops, they have helped maintain traffic in malls and keep some businesses from closing due to traffic reduction.

Conclusion

Notably, the popularity of malls has been dwindling over the past few years. Although this is not new, the popularity decline has been phenomenal in the past five years. More and more stores are closing their shops in malls, leaving the malls with large vacant spaces that are hard to fill. This has resulted in some collapsing altogether. However, there are available approaches that have already been adopted that could help revive the malls. As noted, most of them include repurposing the malls to include housing facilities, office, recreational, and academic amenities, among others. This has helped the malls regain traffic that is helping the shops within them thrive. However, it is important to note that these new developments are not cheap. Most of them involve the deconstruction of large parts of the mall. For instance, for houses, the malls have to be redeveloped significantly since such things as plumbing in malls do not meet the requirements of a house. Nonetheless, these approaches are the way forward for dying malls.  

The main focus of this research study was to study the phenomenon of price discrimination in the business universities. For this purpose Dainora Grundey & Ingrida Griesiene selected two business universities of Lithuania (Europe). A comparative analysis of both universities discloses that pricing strategies differ from university to university. They targeted the tertiary education (post-secondary education), as governors and administrators seek profitability as well, taking into account various important factors, such as

• Economic crisis;
• Demographical crisis i-e shrinking educational market in most developed countries, including Europe;
• Shortage of economic resources (labor, land and capital)
• Deficiency of population’s interest in higher education;
• Increasing fees for tertiary education;
• Lack of government’s funding to insure free tertiary education (for at least a proportion of population);

The research objective of this study is price discrimination, which necessitated the solution of the following research tasks

• To define price discrimination in general terms (as applied in marketing, economics and management sciences)
• To determine and identify the levels of price discrimination of two business universities in Lithuania at the theoretical level.

Main Findings

Four different perspectives of price discrimination are referred as micro-economic, marketing, economic, and money & business. The overview of price discrimination cases in the tertiary education (higher education) sector pointed out that ‘third-degree price discrimination’ is the most common case in practice. The factors of price discrimination in higher education could be summarised as follows:

• Situation # 1: The price discrimination in higher education lies in charging different fees for different customer segments (fee concessions); or charging no fees.
• Situation # 2: The pricing policies of colleges and universities normally based on costing model, which incorporates this year’s salaries, fixed costs, and variable costs need to be offset by revenues generated by tuition fee, property tax, apportionment and other general funds.
• Situation # 3: The overview of price discrimination cases in the tertiary education (higher education) sector pointed out that third-degree price discrimination is the most common case in practice, such as university national and international rankings, institutional prestige, need-based admissions, need-based financial aid policies; quality of studies, merits and awards for students. (Dainora Grundey, 2011)

Explores the interaction between inequality status and discriminating bases. Outcomes reveal that discriminating bases affect all three responses for disadvantaged consumers, but only influence perceived unfairness for advantaged consumers. Direct discrimination conforms to social norms for disadvantage consumers and induces the weakest unfavorable responses. While direct discrimination against social norms generates the highest perception of negative emotions and unfairness but has similar effects on store choice to indirect discrimination.

Investigates the impact of data revelation of information disclosure order by examining pre and post-purchase disclosure. Outcomes reveal that post-purchase revelation of discrimination data induces higher negative emotions for indirect discrimination, but is quite insignificant for direct discrimination or indirect discrimination.

The most significant factor possibly affecting consumer responses is the timing to disclose the price discrimination information. Some supermarkets mark membership costs right the retail shelves, whereas others charge discounted prices only when consumers show their member cards to the cashiers. Similarly, airline companies adopt sophisticated dynamic pricing schemes that change ticket prices hourly. In this case, consumers only know whether or not they overpaid for their tickets if they chat with other passengers after the fact. Thus, information disclosure timing crucially affects consumer acceptance of the pricing policies and constitutes an important strategic decision for sellers

The central argument of this study is that a consumer confronted with price discrimination evaluates both prices: the one offered to the consumer and the one offered to others. A consumer cares not only about distributive justice in terms of equality rule, need rule, and transaction utility, but also about procedural justice regarding whether having the freedom to choose to be advantaged or disadvantaged. (Chi-Cheng Wu, 2012)

Conclusion

The above research studies show that buyers are discriminated and that this discrimination is correlated directly with the behavior of the buyers and indirectly with their personal characteristics. As the market gets far from the absolutely competitive market conditions, the distinction between the market value and also the incremental cost will increase. Then, this causes the market effectiveness to decrease. In a different way to extend the market effectiveness during which markets it’s not possible to extend the competition by increasing the amount of corporations is to implement the value discrimination. Value discrimination will increase the output, decrease total weight lessen close monopoly. Value discrimination may decrease value at low financial gain market and bars this market to pack up. As a result value discrimination will increase market potency.

Recommendations

• Based on the above discussion, dealers and retailers are recommended to carefully discriminate prices keeping in view the consumers buying behavior patterns, which is one of the most successful ways to know consumers’ interests when making a purchase decision.
• The effective use of marketing strategy and the marketing mix will ultimately leads to profitable customer relationships and to set suitable prices to their items as pricing has a direct impact on a company’s revenue.
• Moreover, a sophisticated software of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) can be used to maximize customers loyalty, which will ultimately leads to a company success.

References

1. Alan Kirman, S. M. (2008, December Sunday). Price Discrimination and Customer Behaviour:. 43. Marseille, France.
2. Chi-Cheng Wu, Y.-F. L.-J.-J. (2012). Consumer responses to price discrimination: Discriminating bases, inequality status,. Journal of Business Research, 106-116.
3. Dainora Grundey, I. G. (2011, June). PRICE DISCRIMINATION:A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF BUSINESS UNIVERSITIES IN LITHUANIA. Economics & Sociology, 64-77.

Throughout the years, media has proven to be a very powerful tool for influencing a large number of audiences from different walks of life. Most of the time, people are unaware that the digital media is already manipulating their purchasing behavior and buying decisions by creating appealing advertisements on different media platforms, which is part of their goal to attract more consumers.

According to a website of Scotch and Ramen, a media agency that works on reporting business tips and articles, business companies should always consider their consumers’ expectations, such as what they want and need. It is an effective way for them to find the business more appealing than other companies, and they also suggested that there are several studies that claimed that companies have been using a combination of psychology and the power of digital media to create a great effect on the consumer behavior.

Also, the pace of change that society is experiencing today is having an effect on how people consume things. With the help of technology, people have an easier way to buy products through online shops that can easily be accessed on their phones and computers, and this is why technology plays an important role in shaping the way how companies will conduct their business from now on.

Social media advertisements

Since social media became accessible to a lot of people, businesses have been using its different platforms to influence a lot of audiences to buy their products. Most, if not all, of them have created accounts on various social media in order to reach their target audiences much easier and for the public to have some kind of access to them, especially when they want to voice out their concerns and suggestions to the companies with respect to the products or services they paid for.

Digital Marketing Institute, a company that provides professional certification to marketing educators, compared the interaction between potential customers and businesses to a spinning roulette wheel, where the ball acts as the company’s message, which will spin and bounce as the roulette wheel turns before landing on a space (i.e. a customer). The roulette wheel is the social media that allows the companies to have an interaction with the people in a larger public venue.

In the United States, Americans spend an average of 23.6 hours online every week, and they usually spend this time checking and updating their social media accounts. MDG Accounts, a creative marketing company, elaborated on their website that social media enables the advertisers to spend less on their advertisements when it comes to print media. In 2018, they reported that brands devoted 33% of advertisement spend on digital platforms.

Social media is also a way for businesses to engage new customers with the help of popular hashtags and targeted ads. They are also making sure that their advertisement is very pleasing to their audiences so that they could effectively attract them to try new products and services and keep them loyal to the brand.

Online shops

Shopping could be a therapeutic activity for a lot of people, but most of the time shopping in a crowded store with everyone rushing to get what they want to buy could be very stressful, not to mention the long lines at the checkout counters. This kind of scenario is common during the holiday season where almost everyone is busy buying gifts for the people closest to them. Thus, one of the benefits that digital media has brought to humanity is the rise of online shops.

According to a blog called anilasnook, online shops provide consumers with the convenience of avoiding standing in a long queue just to buy the things they need. There are now a lot of online shop apps that are downloadable to the smartphones and let the customers compare the prices and search for the lowest one or the top-rated products.

Because of this, the competition between the sites to attract customers brings great benefit to the customer since most of these online shops offer deals and discounts in order to attract potential customers, especially on special holidays, national holidays, and important festivals. Customers are also attracted whenever reputed brand names announce deals and promos on their website despite the reality that they’re still offering expensive products despite the supposedly slashed-down prices.

Encourages innovation

Due to the innovations that technology allows social media platforms to have, various companies continue to work harder in creating products and advertisements aimed to generate a lot of profit for their company. Most of these businesses also require their employees to stay abreast of the latest technologies and social media trend in order for them to have a fighting chance in the digital competition.

It is advisable to have a skilled workforce that will be able to work on the latest and most relevant technologies, strategies, and techniques, which they could use to put their brands ahead of the competition.