The marketing practice in several industries, including fashion and luxury goods, increasingly relies on the utilization of shared product platforms across different brands (Halman, Hofer, & Van Vuuren, 2003; Krishnan & Gupta, 2003; Luo, 2011; Sawnhey, 1998). For instance, manufacturers of products ranging from automobiles (di Benedetto 2012) to wines (Beverland, 2004) offer consumers several products under different brand names, but partly based on the same product components or architecture. However, while such platform branding practices have been increasingly adopted by companies and studied by marketing research, less is known about the consumer behavior implications of such branding. In particular, the few extant studies on the consumer behavior implications (e.g., Sullivan, 1998; Strach and Everett, 2006; Olson, 2008) do not take into account consumer heterogeneity, i.e., the potentially different behavior towards platform brands by different consumers. This issue is, in essence, the focus of the present study. Specifically, as the focal consumer trait, we concentrate on the role that consumers’ general cognitive ability, i.e. intelligence, may play in their choices of platform vs. independent brands. While intelligence has been shown to affect consumers’ financial decisions in the stock market (Grinblatt, Keloharju, & Linnainmaa, 2011, 2012), we are unaware of studies that would have directly examined the link between intelligence and brand choices in the product market. Our contribution is to report such an investigation with over 200,000 consumers’ purchase choices of cars in Finland. As the car brands studied differ in price points, higher-income individuals can, on the baseline, better afford the higher-premium platform brands (and, possibly, independent brands). Intelligence, in turn, correlates with income, possibly giving rise to a spurious, overall correlation between intelligence and higher-premium platform brands through income. Therefore, to study the ceteris paribus association between intelligence and brand choice, independent of income, we estimated an ANCOVA of the mean intelligence of individuals possessing cars of different brands, controlling for income and the other control variables. As to results, the least squares mean intelligence of individuals possessing higher-premium platform brands was lower (M = 5.55, s.e. = 0.01) than individuals possessing lower-premium platform brands (M = 5.64, s.e. = 0.01; pairwise comparison significant at p < .0001 level). Furthermore, the mean intelligence of independent, non-platform brand owners resulted even higher (M = 5.76, s.e. = 0.02) than that of the low-premium platform brand owners (M = 5.64, s.e. = 0.01; comparison significant at p < .0001 level). Ordered probit regression analysis of purchased brands, provided consistent results. In summary, the results support our hypotheses that controlling for income, greater intelligence is associated with the preference for lower-premium platform brands over higher-premium platform brands and, further, with the preference for independent platform brands over platform brands. Managerially, the results demonstrate that smarter consumers may have suspicions towards higher-priced platform brands. Correspondingly, such consumers may be more predisposed either to seek lower-priced brands of equal quality, or to pursue brands of independent posture. To attract these consumers to higher-premium platform brands, marketers may need to provide convincing information on which tangible quality aspects are distinctive in the products of the higher-premium platform brand, as opposed to the lower-premium brand that is based on the same platform. At the same time, the independent brands may face a harder marketing task among less smart consumers, who seem to have more trust in the larger platform constellations of brands.

This paper examines the dining tendencies of Koreans toward meat dishes and their related factors, with 301 people residing in Korea as subjects. We questioned this population on their restaurant choices, eating habits, preferences and a dislike with respect to method of cooking. All age groups, with the exception of 50~60 year-olds, were found to consume meat dishes in specialized restaurants. The selection factor for restaurants varied, depending on the age group: affordable cost was the most important factor for whom under 20 year-old. Whereas 20-40 year-old people considered taste and ambience the most for choosing restaurant. The 50-60 year-old people found to seek for convenient restaurant. In terms of the most preferred parts of beef, 20-30 year-old people preferred tenderloin (42.3%) while 40-60 year-old people preferred sirloin (45.6% and 41.2% each). All the other age groups preferred ribs the most (It was also found that) men preferred the rib parts and women preferred tenderloin. With respect to pork, all age groups preferred pork belly, with the highest response rate in the under 20 age group. When consuming meat dishes, 91.0% of respondents pointed to roasting as the most frequent preparation method, the reason being good taste was deemed the highest number of responses. In a survey on preference for stewed meats, 74.8% of the sample pool was found to prefer stew dishes but 24.9% of respondents provided negative answers, the reason for dislike was found to be poor taste for women, and both a long preparation time and poor taste for men. In fact, regardless of marital status, a high number of responses were given for poor taste as the reason for disliking stew dishes. Based on the examined factors for inconveniences in preparing meat dishes, the most common inconvenience factor was the odor of meat left on clothes after the dining experience, followed by the smoke generated in roasting meat, and the safety risk involved with changing the grill. In terms of stir fry preparation, the negative thoughts were due to the splashing of food and spices while cooking, followed by the meat odor left on clothes after dining experience, and the sanitation level of the cooking containers. For deep frying the sanitation level of cooking containers was the biggest reason for dislike, followed by splashing of food when preparing. Lastly, it was indicated that the problem of steaming method was a difficulty of judging the portion, on the top of this, people found that the sanitation level of cooking container and a long preparation time were also the problem of this cooking method.

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that cause consumers to frequently visit large – Super Store and goods for large – scale retailers using Super Store. Research design, data, and methodology – The purpose of this study is to present the empirical analysis of 53 adult males and females living in the Mokpo area on the relationship between perceived level of satisfaction and loyalty of the large – scale marts. The results were analyzed. The statistical data of the questionnaire were verified by the SPSS. Results – In the empirical analysis of this study, four variables were found to be the main loyalty factors, which were found to affect the satisfaction of Super Store and the decision to return again. Therefore, in this study, the quality of goods, price, diversity, and image were analyzed as loyalty factors, and it was analyzed as factors influencing satisfaction. It was confirmed that loyalty factors were important. In particular, consumers’ perception of behaviors such as local specialties and community service that can be distinctly differentiated from other distribution agencies was very low. Conclusions – It is necessary to construct a comprehensive systematic system to analyze the detailed factors influencing the satisfaction and loyalty of users of Mokpo ticket consumers and to systematically manage and evaluate them. In order to raise awareness of consumer loyalty factors, consumer satisfaction and loyalty survey should be regularly conducted. Consumers should look for ways to improve them and develop improvement plans. The various direct and indirect services provided by Super Store to consumers include price, quality, assortment, customer service, accessibility, and feelings for large marts. However, since the services provided by the Super Store are different from those of the consumers, the loyalty factors for the different factors can be different. Therefore, in order to differentiate them from traditional markets or other distribution centers, it It should be used as a weapon of competition. In this study, it is generally recognized that the services provided by Super Store are very simple and inexpensive, so that consumers are not aware of the difference of particular stores.