IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/zag/market/v32y2020i2p205-220.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Athletic Looking Sales Personnel: Do Men Buy More from Men?

Author

Listed:
  • Raju Rosha

    (Department of Commerce and Management, Tara Vivek College Gajjanmajra)

  • Navdeep Kaur

    (Department of Business Administration, Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College)

Abstract

Purpose – This empirical study explores the influence of physical prominence of t he sales personnel on the purchase behavior of male customers at health supplement and nutraceuticals retail stores. The researchers carried out a first-hand study to investigate the impact of advertisements featuring models “with six-pack abs holding dietary supplement boxes” on customer purchases. Design/methodology/approach – The experimental research method with the observational technique of data collection was employed to study how subjects respond to various stimuli. The data collected through this technique was analyzed by using IBM SPSS 21. The data was collected by applying the area sampling technique at 12 dietary supplements retail stores in different cities and villages in India from 1 November 2019 to 15 January 2020. The sample consisted of 24 male employees of dietary supplement retail stores and 40 male customers who purchased dietary supplements. Findings – This research study empirically explores the positive influence of physical prominence (salesman with six-pack abs working at health supplement and nutraceuticals retail stores) on male customer purchase behavior. Its findings support the fact that there is a statistically significant difference between preference levels of customers in the presence and in the absence of advertisements showing models “with six-pack abs holding dietary supplement boxes”. Limitation – As the research area was restricted to India only, a larger sample may provide clearer data for an assessment. There may be other variables to be considered in further empirical research studies because the role of a significant influence of other factors cannot be ruled out. Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there has been no research to date highlighting such customer behavior in India. This makes the present paper novel and useful for the scientific community working in this research field. Previous research studies have affirmed the impact of body shape of athletic looking female sales personnel on purchase patterns, but very little is known about the male-to-male sales interactions.

Suggested Citation

  • Raju Rosha & Navdeep Kaur, 2020. "Athletic Looking Sales Personnel: Do Men Buy More from Men?," Tržište/Market, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, vol. 32(2), pages 205-220.
  • Handle: RePEc:zag:market:v:32:y:2020:i:2:p:205-220
    DOI: 10.22598/mt/2020.32.2.205
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.22598/mt/2020.32.2.205
    Download Restriction: None

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22598/mt/2020.32.2.205?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kaveh Peighambari & Setayesh Sattari & Arash Kordestani & Pejvak Oghazi, 2016. "Consumer Behavior Research," SAGE Open, , vol. 6(2), pages 21582440166, April.
    2. Berggren, Niclas & Jordahl, Henrik & Poutvaara, Panu, 2006. "The Looks of a Winner: Beauty, Gender and Electoral Success," Ratio Working Papers 104, The Ratio Institute.
    3. Imran Khan & Han Dongping & Muhammad Abdullah & Zeeshan Ahmad & Tauqir Ahmad Ghauri & Sidra Ghazanfar, 2017. "Men’s attitude and motivation toward consumption of grooming products: A comparison of Chinese and Pakistani male consumers," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 1309783-130, January.
    4. Green, Paul E & Srinivasan, V, 1978. "Conjoint Analysis in Consumer Research: Issues and Outlook," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 5(2), pages 103-123, Se.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Winfried Steiner & Harald Hruschka, 2002. "A Probabilistic One-Step Approach to the Optimal Product Line Design Problem Using Conjoint and Cost Data," Review of Marketing Science Working Papers 1-4-1003, Berkeley Electronic Press.
    2. Merja Halme & Kari Linden & Kimmo Kääriä, 2009. "Patients’ Preferences for Generic and Branded Over-the-Counter Medicines," The Patient: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Springer;International Academy of Health Preference Research, vol. 2(4), pages 243-255, December.
    3. Dufhues, T. & Buchenrieder, G., 2004. "Der Beitrag der Conjoint Analyse zur nachfrageorintierten Entwicklung des ländlichen Finanzsektors in Vietnam," Proceedings “Schriften der Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften des Landbaues e.V.”, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA), vol. 39.
    4. Martinovici, A., 2019. "Revealing attention - how eye movements predict brand choice and moment of choice," Other publications TiSEM 7dca38a5-9f78-4aee-bd81-c, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    5. James Agarwal & Wayne DeSarbo & Naresh K. Malhotra & Vithala Rao, 2015. "An Interdisciplinary Review of Research in Conjoint Analysis: Recent Developments and Directions for Future Research," Customer Needs and Solutions, Springer;Institute for Sustainable Innovation and Growth (iSIG), vol. 2(1), pages 19-40, March.
    6. Mahesh Balan U & Saji K. Mathew, 2021. "Personalize, Summarize or Let them Read? A Study on Online Word of Mouth Strategies and Consumer Decision Process," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 627-647, June.
    7. Shin, Jungwoo & Hwang, Won-Sik, 2017. "Consumer preference and willingness to pay for a renewable fuel standard (RFS) policy: Focusing on ex-ante market analysis and segmentation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 32-40.
    8. Haaijer, Marinus E., 1996. "Predictions in conjoint choice experiments : the x-factor probit model," Research Report 96B22, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    9. Ha, Jinkyung, 2018. "Consumer valuation of Fintech: The case of Mobile Payment in Korea," 22nd ITS Biennial Conference, Seoul 2018. Beyond the boundaries: Challenges for business, policy and society 190341, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    10. P. A. Ferrari & S. Salini, 2008. "Measuring Service Quality: The Opinion of Europeans about Utilities," Working Papers 2008.36, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    11. Steinhorst, M.P. & Bahrs, E., 2013. "Renditansprüche im Kontext gleichmäßiger Rückflüsse – Ergebnisse eines Experiments mit Stakeholdern des Agribusiness," Proceedings “Schriften der Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften des Landbaues e.V.”, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA), vol. 48, March.
    12. Yavuz Taşcıoğlu & Mevlüt Gül & Metin Göksel Akpınar & Bahri Karlı & Bektaş Kadakoğlu & Bekir Sıtkı Şirikçi & Musa Acar & Hilal Yılmaz, 2023. "Optimum Support Policy Component for the Development of Agricultural Production: Potato Producer," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-13, April.
    13. Luisa Menapace & Gregory Colson & Carola Grebitus & Maria Facendola, 2011. "Consumers' preferences for geographical origin labels: evidence from the Canadian olive oil market," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 38(2), pages 193-212, June.
    14. Srinivasan, V. Seenu & Netzer, Oded, 2007. "Adaptive Self-Explication of Multi-attribute Preferences," Research Papers 1979, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    15. Fusco, Elisa, 2023. "Potential improvements approach in composite indicators construction: The Multi-directional Benefit of the Doubt model," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    16. Xue, Hong & Mainville, Denise Y. & You, Wen & Nayga, Rodolfo M., Jr., 2009. "Nutrition Knowledge, Sensory Characteristics and Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Pasture-Fed Beef," 2009 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, 2009, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 49277, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    17. Amy King & Andrew Leigh, 2009. "Beautiful Politicians," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 579-593, November.
    18. Barbara Baarsma, 2003. "The Valuation of the IJmeer Nature Reserve using Conjoint Analysis," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 25(3), pages 343-356, July.
    19. Robert S. Wigton & Vincent L. Hoellerich & Kashinath D. Patil, 1986. "How Physicians Use Clinical Information in Diagnosing Pulmonary Embolism," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 6(1), pages 2-11, February.
    20. Kowalska-Pyzalska, Anna & Michalski, Rafał & Kott, Marek & Skowrońska-Szmer, Anna & Kott, Joanna, 2022. "Consumer preferences towards alternative fuel vehicles. Results from the conjoint analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zag:market:v:32:y:2020:i:2:p:205-220. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Tanja Komarac (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fefzghr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.