Holistic Marketing Management, Volume 13, Issue 4, Year 2023

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Embr ac i ngAI Dr i v enTr ans f or mat i onasaCompr ehens i v eMi nds et , Bet t erSer v i ngCus t omer s TheodorPURCĂREA

TheI nf l uenceofSoc i al Medi aonCont empor ar yCons umer Behav i or :Par tI I ,Res ear c hMet hodol ogy Domi ni cEl enaMAGNO andTudorEDU

ECommer cePer s onal i z at i onandDi gi t al Mer c handi s i ng St r at egy I oanMat ei PURCĂREA

‘ Mar k et i ngSc i enceandI ns pi r at i ons ’ :Bet t erUnder s t andi ng Cons umer ’ sMi nd DanSMEDESCU

HMM Per sonal i aCor ner Romani anCompet i t i onCounc i l Conf er ence,Nov ember6,2023, att heNat i onal Mi l i t ar yCi r c l e,Mar bl eHal l

Editorial Board of “Holistic Marketing Management” (A refereed journal published four times annually by the School of Management-Marketing of the Romanian-American University)

Editor-in-Chief Theodor Valentin PURCĂREA

Bernd HALLIER

John SAEE

John L. STANTON

Léon F. WEGNEZ

William PERTTULA Levent ALTINAY

Andrew KILNER Dana ZADRAZILOVA Riccardo BELTRAMO Sinisa ZARIC Gabriela SABĂU Hélène NIKOLOPOULOU Vasa LÁSZLÓ Peter STARCHON John MURRAY

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President of European Retail Academy; President of EuCVoT; Member of the Astana Economic Scientists Club; Former Managing Director EHI Retail Institute, Germany, Chairman of the Advisory Board of EuroShop, Chairman of the Board of the Orgainvent, Trustee of EHI Retail Institute at GLOBALG.A.P. President - Association of Global Management Studies (USA); Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues & Former Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Management Systems, USA; Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship, the Faculty of Business and Enterprise, Swinburne University of Technology; Member of France’s National Academy of Scientific Research (CNRS); Director - ESB International Teaching and Research Exchanges, Reutlingen University, Germany Professor of Food Marketing, Erivan K. Haub School of Business, Saint Joseph’s University Philadelphia, USA; Director, Institute of Food Products Marketing, Editor, Journal of Food Products Marketing; Hall of Fame of the European Retail Academy, Honored Personality 2016 Secretary General, International Association of the Distributive Trade, AIDA Brussels; Member of France’s Academy of Commercial Sciences; Doctor Honoris Causa of NUPSPA (SNSPA) Bucharest; Hall of Fame of the European Retail Academy, Honored Personality 2015; Administrator Secretary General of the Diplomatic Club of Belgium Internet Marketing Professor, College of Business, San Francisco State University, USA Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Research Area Leader, Oxford School of Hospitality Management, Faculty of Business, Oxford Brookes University, UK First MBA Director at the Rennes Graduate School of Business in France; Director of RAFME Research into Management Excellence; PhD (Cambridge), MBA (City, London) Faculty of International Economic Relations, University of Economics, Prague, Czech Republic University of Turin, Italy University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia Memorial University, Grenfell Campus, Corner Brook, Canada University of Lille 3, France Szent Istvan University, Hungary Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia Faculty of Business, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland

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Kamil PÍCHA Irena JINDRICHOVSKA Norbert HAYDAM Hans ZWAGA Roxana CODITA Valeriu IOAN-FRANC Dumitru MIRON Costel NEGRICEA Iacob CĂTOIU Virgil BALAURE Gheorghe ORZAN Luigi DUMITRESCU Marius D. POP Constantin ROŞCA Petru FILIP

Ion VOICU SUCALA Virgil POPA Alexandru NEDELEA Olguța Anca ORZAN Ana-Maria PREDA Ovidiu FOLCUȚ Doinița CIOCÎRLAN Tudor EDU Alexandru IONESCU Andreea Elisabeta BUDACIA Marius Dan DALOTĂ Mihai PAPUC Gheorghe ILIESCU Oana PREDA Olga POTECEA Nicoleta DUMITRU Monica Paula RAȚIU Alexandra PERJU-MITRAN

Faculty of Economics, University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice Deputy Head of Department of Business Economics, University of Economics and Management, Prague, Czech Republic Faculty of Business, Marketing Department, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa Kemi-Tornio University of Applied Sciences, Finland Technische Universität München, TUM School of Management Corresponding Member of the Romanian Academy, General Deputy Director, National Institute for Economic Research “Costin C. Kiriţescu”, Romanian Marketing Association; Romanian Distribution Committee Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, President of RAFPEC (FRAPEC) Romanian-American University Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca President of Romanian Scientific Society of Management - SSMAR Dimitrie Cantemir University, Bucharest Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Management and Economic Engineering Department; University of Glasgow, UK, College of Social Sciences, School of Social & Political Sciences; Managing Editor, Review of Management and Economic Engineering Valahia University of Târgovişte Ştefan cel Mare University of Suceava Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy Bucharest Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University

Associate Editors Dan SMEDESCU Irina PURCĂREA Art Designer Director Alexandru BEJAN Holistic Marketing Management

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“Holistic Marketing Management” (A refereed journal published four times annually by the School of Management-Marketing of the Romanian-American University)

Volume 13, Issue 4, Year 2023

Contents

Theodor PURCĂREA - Embracing AI-Driven Transformation as a Comprehensive Mindset, Better Serving Customers......................................................................4

Dominic Elena MAGNO - The Influence of Social Media on Contemporary Consumer and Tudor EDU

Behavior: Part II, Research Methodology.........................................9

Ioan Matei PURCĂREA - E-Commerce Personalization and Digital Merchandising Strategy............................................................................................14

Dan SMEDESCU - ‘Marketing Science and Inspirations’: Better Understanding Consumer’s Mind.............................................................................................................23

HMM Personalia Corner ● Romanian Competition Council Conference, November 6, 2023, at the National Military Circle, Marble Hall.........................................................................30 The responsibility for the contents of the scientific and the authenticity of the published materials and opinions expressed rests with the author.

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Editorial: Embracing AI-Driven Transformation as a Comprehensive Mindset, Better Serving Customers

In our last two HMM issues we ascended the ladder of Marketing Progress and striving for excellence, better understanding its development, and expressed the belief that we should continue along that path and support the Romanian-American University (RAU) Marketing Initiatives, valorizing collaborative learning (Purcarea a, 2023). Also, we highlighted RAU engagement in bridging and broadening perspectives, considering both digital transformation, and digital resilience (Purcarea b, 2023).

It would be fair to say that RAU leadership understood McKinsey’s experts’ opinion regarding ensuring continuous development and performance based on institutionalizing business building not as an activity that is done only once, but as a mindset embracing all elements of its portfolio and capabilities so as to identify and leverage the opportunities going to be the most successful (Berger-de León et al., 2023). According to this expert opinion, in response to disruptive forces, such promising opportunities can be captured by organizations by adopting specific approaches (fully embracing AI and automation, reimagining the business model to embrace ‘everything as a service’, taking control of the value chain, transforming the business into a green leader, and leveraging superior information to access new ‘embedded’ revenue streams), with regard to speed and impact this kind of business building attracting the attention.

It is well-known marketing leaders’ rising focus on measuring their activities and programs performance, using the data obtained this way in budget allocation and marketing mix Holistic Marketing Management

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decisions-making, while paying attention to performance metrics’ so as to avoid (Dodd, 2023) the so-called surrogation (unintended consequences’ production in performance management system). So, it is important avoiding to be no longer able to see the real objective (for instance, outstanding CX provided by the company) and focus almost entirely on the metric targeting performance measurement (for instance, high CX survey scores’ gaining) against the real objective. That is why it is recommended, for example, to use multiple metrics in significant programs’ performance measurement when trying to keep in equilibrium several competing performance dimensions.

As shown by Dai and Ke (2022), as AI becomes more and more applicable for learning purposes, we are witnessing education transformation on the basis of AI potential to transform the social exchanges among teachers, learners and technologies. They used in starting their systematic mapping review of AI educational applications in simulation-based learning the table below, and highlighted, among other aspects, significant research and pedagogical implications, as well as two frequently mentioned distinct challenges (small datasets in educational research and ethical issues).

Table no. 1. Topics, relevant literature, and mapping search terms used in review

Source: Dai, C.-P., Ke, F., 2022. Educational applications of artificial intelligence in simulation-based learning: A systematic mapping review, Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, Volume 3, 2022

More recently, talking about organizations’ future and the impact on organizational change brought by technological change, Mollic (2023) described the challenge of rebuilding organizations for AI, being involved in helping lead a startup “devoted to transforming education through AI-powered simulations”, thinking about from the very beginning to regrow the organizational tree after cutting it down. And trying to redesign team meeting process in order to incorporate AI both as a tool and as an intelligence adding to this process, it was resulting an interesting imaginative version, as shown in the figure below. Mollic underlined that every organization needs to discover its best way to use AI, and proposed some principles (developing teams’ own methods, aligning incentives and culture accordingly; building for the oncoming Holistic Marketing Management

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future, considering future versions of AI; acting based on guidelines for short-term experimentation), taking into account that a reaction to exponential change must be done without any delay.

Figure no. 1: Redesigning team meeting process in order to incorporate AI both as a tool and as an intelligence adding to this process Source: Mollick, E., 2023. Reshaping the tree: rebuilding organizations for AI, One Useful Thing, 27 Nov. 2023 (Work cited)

And as higher education is being under pressure to carefully reconsider its relationship with employment also from this point of view of the whole impact of AI, it is useful to note the significant recent survey conducted (globally and traditionally) by Salesforce (2023), within its Generative AI Snapshot Research Series (latest iteration), ‘The Promises and Pitfalls of AI at Work’. This research findings revealed the penetration of the workplace by the Gen AI tools but without watchful and responsible care, consequently businesses being forced to ensure that this disruptive technology is not only enterprise-ready, but also used responsibly, providing trustworthy guidance accordingly and avoiding risks.

The above-mentioned research findings made us think to the ideas recently expressed by an expert in CX, Colin Shaw (a, 2023), while commenting on a submission by Tom Martin, CEO at Glance, regarding “Unleashing the Power of AI vs. Human Touch: Which Delivers a Superior Customer Experience?”. Shaw highlighted in conclusion as follows: “So, to summarize why leading with humans is a better AI strategy, we have the following points: The best-case scenario would be to reduce the repetitive tasks so employees can do better customer-centric work for customers and the company… Every organization should have a strategy in place for AI. You need to know the areas where you’re going to invest… Organizations don't know what they don’t know…”

It is also worth remembering that Colin Shaw (b, 2023) – his consulting company Beyond Philosophy was recognized by the Financial Times as ‘one of the leading consultancies’ – recently stated that the most powerful tool of a marketer is regret (as emotional response Holistic Marketing Management

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influencing considerably human behavior), people feeling it differently, both in the short-term (regretting their actions, for example) and long-term (tending to bitterly regret their missed opportunities). Show underlined that the best way to address to regret resulting from an action is to focus on new activities making it less severe, and relieve customers’ feelings of regret, learning from the authentic customer feedback obtained, and acting on it. Also, as framing (how information is presented in order to elicit an expected response) is mastered by marketers, past regret feedback can be used to make future regret less severe, by anticipating customers’ regret (based on recognized causes of regret, and better understanding of companies’ target segments’ internal standards), and carefully avoiding, for instance, cancellations or returns.

Allow us to end by making reference to a suggestive episode of the McKinsey’s Inside the Strategy Room podcast (Lamarre, 2023), the central topic of discussion being what must companies do for digital and AI transformations to succeed: “(Sean Brown, the global director of communications for McKinsey’s Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice, Boston office) What should be the starting point for a digital and AI transformation?”; (Eric Lamarre, a senior partner in McKinsey’s Boston office) “It should always start with the business problem you want to solve. When it starts that way, there is usually a good ending because the problem eventually ties back to serving customers better and delivering more value for the company”.

So, let us think carefully about the above-mentioned valuable recommendations, developing critical thinking and making better judgements based on evidence and reasoning!

Theodor Valentin Purcărea Editor-in-Chief References Berger-de León, M., Jenkins, P., Libarikian, A. and Ulmer, L., 2023. New-business building: A winning strategy in uncertain times. [pdf] McKinsey & Company, Leap by McKinsey, December 2023, pp. 1-5. Available at: <newbusiness-building-a-winning-strategy-in-uncertain-times> [Accessed 7 December 2023].

Dai, C.-P., Ke, F., 2022. Educational applications of artificial intelligence in simulation-based learning: A systematic mapping review, Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, Volume 3, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2022.100087.

Dodd, D., 2023. Why You Need to Choose and Use Performance Metrics Carefully and Beware of . . ., CustomerThink, December 8, 2023. Available at: <https://customerthink.com/why-you-need-to-choose-and-useperformance-metrics-carefully-and-beware-of/#google_vignette> [Accessed 9 December 2023 Lamarre, E., 2023. In digital and AI transformations, start with the problem, not the technology, McKinsey & Company, Podcast, November 22, 2023. Available at: <https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-andcorporate-finance/our-insights/in-digital-and-ai-transformations-start-with-the-problem-not-the-technology?> [Accessed 27 November 2023].

Mollick, E., 2023. Reshaping the tree: rebuilding organizations for AI, One Useful Thing, 27 Nov. 2023. Available at: <https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/reshaping-the-tree-rebuilding-organizations?> [Accessed 3 December 2023].

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Salesforce, 2023. More than Half of Generative AI Adopters Use Unapproved Tools at Work, Artificial Intelligence, 15 Nov. 2023. Available at: <https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/ai-at-work-research/?> [Accessed 3 December 2023].

Shaw, C., 2023. Unleashing the Power of AI vs. Human Touch: Which Delivers a Superior Customer Experience?

Why Customers Buy, Newsletter, LinkedIn, Tue, Dec 5, 11:17 PM. Shaw, C., 2023. What’s a marketer’s most powerful tool? Surprisingly, it’s regret! CustomerThink, November 27, 2023. Available at: <https://customerthink.com/whats-a-marketers-most-powerful-tool-surprisingly-its-regret/?> [Accessed 4 December 2023].

Purcarea, T., 2023. Rewriting the Rules, 17 Years from the Launch of RAU Marketing Initiative Regarding New Skill Sets, Holistic Marketing Management, vol. 13(3), pp. 04-10, September.

Purcarea, T., 2023. RAU Engagement in Bridging and Broadening Perspectives – Promoting Romania’s Brand Through University Study Programs, Holistic Marketing Management, vol. 13(3), pp. 53-58, September.

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The influence of social media on contemporary consumer behavior: Part II, Research Methodology Dominic Elena MAGNO and Tudor EDU Abstract The significance of social media in today’s world cannot be understated. It has significantly altered how we connect, communicate, and obtain information. Regardless of distance, online communication has made it simpler for people to stay in touch with friends and family. Today's society is heavily reliant on social media, with billions of users regularly using sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Customers are once again in the forefront in the business world thanks to the widespread usage of social media, which also provides marketers with a brand-new set of tools for connecting with customers and inventively integrating them into businesses. In essence, marketers need to be aware of the impact social media has had on customers' buying behavior. Understanding how social media affects consumer behavior can offer useful insights on consumer tastes, inclinations, and decision-making processes, which can guide marketing initiatives and promote company expansion. Businesses can more effectively communicate with customers, better focus their marketing campaigns, and keep on top of consumer trends by researching the effects of social media. Additionally, companies that comprehend how social media affects consumer behavior are at a competitive edge over rivals.

Overall, social media has both positive and negative consequences on society, but it has unquestionably altered how we connect and communicate with one another, and it is sure to continue to develop and have potentially interesting implications on our daily lives. Recognizing that consumer behavior is a fairly comprehensive and broad topic, it would be difficult to gather, examine, and draw all relevant data and findings into single research; consequently, the research has concentrated on how decisions are made as it applies to social media marketing. The study’s goal is to identify the causes, timing, and ways in which social media’s influence on consumer decision-making. Additionally, possibly with this specific perspective, the research can help identify the chances and problems businesses are confronting with this impact on customers’ decision-making in order to capture and embrace the opportunities in the new marketing era. Our study used two research questions within this context: 1. How do consumers receive, interpret, and choose the information before making a decision? 2. How social media today affects on consumer behavior? This paper is divided into four chapters, as follows. Part I contains Introduction and Chapter II, the relevant literature review with regard to the consumer decision making process, social media, social media and consumer behavior, and figures about social media. Part II presents the research methodology (qualitative research; research variables connected to the discussion topics). Part III contains research findings and discussion, and Part IV presents the research conclusions.

Keywords: Social media; Consumer behavior; New marketing era JEL Classification: D10; D80; L81; L82; M31 Holistic Marketing Management

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Chapter III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This study’s main objective is to ascertain whether social media influences consumers' purchasing decisions in any way. With the help of this study, businesses and consumers will be better able to comprehend the extent to which social media influences consumer choice. The theoretical framework serves as the basis for this study and is used as secondary data.

Primary source of data aims to fulfill the research objectives and provide evidence to support secondary data. The primary information used in this research was gathered through qualitative research by interviewing 20 respondents via an interview guide, answering ten open-ended questions. Open-ended questions enable the researcher gather insightful qualitative data and information for more in-depth analysis.

3.1 Qualitative research Qualitative research is a type of research that explores and provides deeper insights into realworld problems (Moser A, Korstjens 2017). The qualitative method aids in the generation of hypotheses as well as the further investigation and understanding of quantitative data, as opposed to gathering numerical data points or intervening or introducing treatments as in quantitative research. In qualitative research, participants' experiences, viewpoints, and actions are gathered.

Instead of addressing how many or how much, it addresses how’s and why’s.

One of the strengths of qualitative research is its ability to explain processes and patterns of human behavior that can be difficult to quantify (Foley G., Timonen V.). While it can be challenging to correctly quantify phenomena like sensations, attitudes, and actions, a qualitative method allows participants to describe how, why, or what they were feeling, thinking, and experiencing at a specific time or during an event of interest.

There is no doubt that qualitative data can be quantified, but at its core, qualitative data seeks themes and patterns that can be challenging to quantify. The sample size is adequate for qualitative research (Agaman, A.K., & Wutich, A. 2017), in qualitative research, sample sizes are typically smaller compared to quantitative studies. The focus is on obtaining in-depth, rich insights rather than achieving statistical representativeness. The appropriate sample size will vary depending on the objectives, questions being investigated, method of inquiry, data saturation, and desired level of analysis.

Although there is no predetermined formula for determining an appropriate sample dimension in qualitative study design, the seminal study by Guest, Bunce, and Johnson (2006) shows that 16 or fewer interviews were sufficient to uncover common themes from locations with reasonably homogeneous populations, though, their research shows that in order to obtain data saturation for meta themes that span all sites, greater sample sizes — between 20 and 40 interviews — were required. However, the suitability of the sample size ultimately depends on the specific research

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context and objectives. Researchers should prioritize the depth and richness of data rather than focusing solely on the sample size.

3.2 Research variables connected to the discussion topics An interview guide was used to collect data in the format of a google form. The table (see table 1) provides a conceptual and operational definition of the research variables. The collected data were analyzed by using content analysis. For operational purposes, Microsoft Excel spreadsheet program was used.

Table 1. Variables Holistic Marketing Management

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References 1. Another perspective on Guest Bunce and Johnson’s (2006) landmark study.

2. Association for Psychological Science, 2008. Complex Decision? Don’t Think About It. ScienceDaily. (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081209154941.htm [Retrieved May 25 2013]).

3. Bakker D. (2018) Conceptualising influencer marketing. Journal of emerging trends in marketing and management 1(1) pp.79– 87.

4. Barefoot D. & Szabo J. (2010). “Friends With Benefits: A Social Media Marketing Handbook” San Francisco: No Starch Press.

5. Bruner, J. S., Goodnow, Jacqueline J., and Austin, G. A. (1956). A Study of Thinking. New York: John Wiley & Sons publications in psychology; Association for Psychological Science, 2008.

6. Chintan H Rajani and Dr. Ashvin Solanki Motivations For Using Social Media: An Exploratory Study. International Journal of Management 7(4) 2016, pp.123–129.

7. D. Lakshmanan and Dr. S. Rabiyathul Basariya, “The Role of Social Media On Enhancing Advertising Effectiveness”, International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology 8(9) 2017, pp. 1042–1047.

8. Di Pietro Loredana, Eleonora Pantano (18-29, July/September 2012). “An empirical investigation of social network influence on consumer purchasing decision: The case of Facebook” Journal of Direct Data and Digital Marketing Practice, 14, 18-29.

9. Drury G.N., 2008. “Social Media: Should marketers engage and how can it be done effectively”.

10. Edelman D.C. (2010) Branding in the digital age: You’re spending your money in all the wrong places, Harvard Business Review. [Online] Available: http://hbr.org/2010/12/branding-in-the-digital-age-youre-spending-your-money-in-all-the-wrongplaces/ar/1 [15 11. Figure 1. Cox et al., 1983. The five-stage model, Planning, search, certainty and satisfaction among durables buyers: a.

12. Longitudinal study. Advances in Consumer Research X:394-399.

13. Figure 2. Steps between evaluation of alternatives and a purchase decision. Kotler P. & Keller K. L., 2009. Marketing management. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Prentice Hall.

14. Figure 3. Social media components. Dann S. & Dann. S., 2011. E-Marketing: Theory and Application. London U.K: Palgrave Macmillan.

15. Figure 5 Four types of buying behavior Clootrack 2020, https://www.clootrack.com/knowledge_base/types-of-consumerbehavior.

16. Foley G., Timonen V. Using Grounded Theory Method to Capture and Analyze Health Care Experiences. Health Serv Res. 2015 Aug;50(4):1195-210. 17. Global Instagram influencer market size from 2017 to 2020. https: //www.statista.com/statistics/748630/global-instagram-influencer-market-value.

18. Hoyer W.D. & Macinnis D.J. (2008). “Consumer Behaviour”, 5th edition, Cengage Learning. 19. http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/sectors/sport/nike-takes-social-media-in-house/4005240.article.

20. https://www.clootrack.com/knowledge_base/types-of-consumer-behavior.

21. Hudson S. (2008). “Tourism and Hospitality Marketing: A Global Perspective”, SAGE Publications.

22. Jepsen A.L. (2007) ‘Factors affecting consumer use of the internet for information search’, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Vol. 21, No. 3, pp.21–34.

23. Joseph S. 2013. Nike Takes Social Media In-House.

24. Kacen. J. J. and Lee. J. A. (2002). “The influence of culture on consumer impulsive buying behaviour”, Journal of consumer psychology. 12(2) pp. 163-174.

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25. Kotler P. & Keller K. L. (2015). Marketing management. Boston: Pearson. 26. Kotler P.; Wong V.; Saunder J.; Armstrong G., 2005. Principle of Marketing, 4th European edition. Pearson Education Inc. 27. Loudon D. L. & Della Bitta A. J. (1993). Consumer Behaviour: Concepts and Applications (4th ed.). New York: McGrawHill.

28. Maslow A. H. (1970). Motivation and Personality (2nd ed.). New York: Harper & Row. 29. Matter Communications 2020. Survey Methodology: Matter collected responses from 1000 U.S.-based consumers in May 2020 via a third-party provider to determine the findings of this survey.

30. Moser A Korstjens I. Series: Practical guidance to qualitative research. Part 1: Introduction. Eur J Gen Pract. 2017 Dec;23(1):271-273.

31. O’Reilly T. 2006. Web 2.0 Compact Definition: Trying Again. (http://radar.oreilly.com/2006/12/web-20-compact-definitiontryi.html.

32. Ofir C. and Simonson I. (2005). “The Effect of Stating Expectations on Customer Satisfaction and Shopping Experience” Stanford Graduate School of Business 44p.

33. Punj G. (2012). ‘Consumer decision making on the web: a theoretical analysis and research guidelines’, Psychology and Marketing, Vol. 29, No. 10, pp.791–803.

34. Sadia Afzal Javed, Rabbani Khan (2015). Impact of online and conventional advertisement on consumer buying behaviour of branded garments. Asian Journal of Management Sciences & Education.

35. Silverman G., 2001. The Secrets of Word-of-Mouth Marketing. USA: AMACOM. 36. Smith Adam, 1776. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. London: Methuen & Co (Book IV chapter 8 49).

37. Soloman M.; Bamossy G. & Askegaard S., 2002. Consumer Behavior: A European Perspective. Upper Saddle River N.J: Pearson Prentice Hall.

38. Sternthal B. & Craig C. S., 1982. Consumer Behavior: An Information Processing Perspective. Englewood Cliffs N.J: Prentice Hall Inc. 39. Vinerean Simona, Iuliana Cetina, Luigi Dumitrescu, Mihai Tichindelean. “The Effects of Social Media Marketing on Online Consumer Behavior”, International Journal of Business and Management; Vol. 8 No. 14; 2013.

40. Weber L. 2009. Marketing to the Social Web: How digital customer communities build your business. Second Edition. N.J USA: John Wiley and Sons.

41. Weinberg T., 2009. The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web. Sebastopol CA. 42. Zarrella D., 2010. The Social Media Marketing Book. Sebastopol CA: O’Reilly Media Inc. [Original source: https://studycrumb.com/alphabetizer].

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E-Commerce Personalization and Digital Merchandising Strategy Ioan Matei PURCĂREA

Abstract We are witnessing marketing focus on the quality of being practical and a holistic approach of the buying experience. There is a clear need of incorporating the digital experience platform into the e-commerce strategy, and to valorize AI-powered e-commerce, as well as considering market opportunity of investing in computer-generated imagery as an important tool for e-commerce product imagery. It is now crucial to better understand the role played by AI into personalization, the importance of e-commerce personalization in customers’ online shopping experience, and AI impact on marketing transformation. There is no doubt about the challenge to improve ecommerce CX and add value based on Gen AI. Keywords: E-Commerce Strategy, E-Commerce CX, Digital Experience Platform, Digital Merchandising Strategy, E-Commerce Personalization, AI-Powered E-Commerce JEL Classification: D83; L81; L86; M15; M31; O32; O33

Marketing focus on the quality of being practical and a holistic approach of the buying experience Marketing is now challenged to focus on the quality of being practical, brought to our attention the B2C marketing analysts from Forrester Consulting (recognized for its Holistic Marketing Management

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recommendation to put the customer at the center of companies’ leadership, strategy, and operations in order to accelerate growth), being necessary for companies to pay attention to their investments’ practicality in 2024 (Meyers, 2023). According to the former Editor-in-Chief of Search Engine Journal – who now is brand manager at Internet Marketing Ninjas, as well as Founder of Viral Content Bee – within the context of very quickly developing social media platforms it is important, for example, to better understand the great enthusiasm and eagerness caused by the holidays for the end of the year (Smarty, 2021). Two years ago already she recommended a checklist (by researching relevant hashtags and setting up companies’ tracking, finding and connecting to influencers, keeping an eye on companies’ competitors, optimizing companies’ site for conversions, tracking companies’ results) in order to ensure the success of the holiday marketing campaign on Twitter (now rebranded as X).

Now, for the 2023 holiday season, e-commerce was seen by eMarketer’s experts (Stambor, 2023) as being more important than ever (mobile commerce keeping developing more quickly; consumers’ financial plan with limited resources being helped by alternative payment methods like BNPL; the so called Cyber Five holiday – the five days from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, Black Friday in particular – remaining the most important part of the holiday season), being forecasted that online sales will grow considerably even higher than in 2020. As recently shown by Retail Brew (Vuocolo, A., 2023), Lupine Skelly, who is Retail Research Leader at Deloitte, highlighted that the preference for online shopping on (the above-mentioned) Black Friday is becoming the new normal. Of course, during this shopping season consumers need to pay attention to data security in general, taking into account cybercriminals’ intense action, and avoiding, for example, being scammed based on the links of various instant messages or social media posts, phishing emails, so-called urgent requests for updated their billing information, different offers on fake websites etc. (Ortiz, 2023).

On the other hand, for instance, spectacular developments took place in 2023 in auto retail (the car-buying experience), given the new e-commerce strategic partnership between Amazon (which is becoming a virtual showroom) and Hyundai (who is embracing Amazon Web Service/AWS for a digital complete transformation of the appearance), integrating Alexa into next-generation vehicles, and redefine this way the customer journey steps (Miller, 2023).

The need of incorporating the digital experience platform into the e-commerce strategy, and to valorize AI-powered e-commerce, as well as the considerable market opportunity of investing in computer-generated imagery as an important tool for ecommerce product imagery In today’s challenging digital commerce landscape, according to the Content Marketing Manager at Bloomreach (Donnelly, 2023), going on the path to digital transformation and to create the best digital experience the starting point consists of having an effective website or a mobile app (then using social media content, email campaigns, and other digital technologies), Holistic Marketing Management

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while advancing on this way a tremendous advantage for digital marketers being to manage digital customer experiences across multiple touchpoints with the help of a central Digital Experience Platform (DXP, as software solution streamlining digital experience management).

Within this framework, it was underlined significant aspects, as follows: as the digital experience it is now critical to grow both customer satisfaction, and loyalty post-acquisition, DXP (which had in its evolution, as basic parts, three stages: content management system’s introduction, web experience management’s need for, DXP’s emergence) ensuring websites’, portals’, mobile apps’, and other digital experiences’ continually improvement; a DXP presents three advantages: to control every touchpoint; to connect the business, being a technology which can be incorporated into the e-commerce strategy, and having an essential role in a company’s marketing technology kit (see figure below); to leverage a flexible architecture. DXP allows to obtain customer’s unified 360-degree view (by enabling customer data capturing, processing, and profiling), and enables not only business practices’ reengineering, but also efforts’ streamlining. And of course, as a DXP is including in a natural way the artificial intelligence (AI), the digital experience (from acquisition to loyalty) can be improved by AI (semantic search, contextual personalization, AI-powered analytics), opening the way to innovate with very differentiated experiences.

Figure no. 1: The role of DXP in a company’s marketing technology kit Source: Donnelly, I., 2023. What Is a Digital Experience Platform? Bloomreach, 15.11.2023 (Work cited)

With regard to customers’ increasingly preference to shop with AI, another representative of Bloomreach (Woolard, 2023) showed how essential for e-commerce success is to consider AI (impacting operational costs’ cutting, and having the ability to offer 24/7 customer service), the shopping experience being quickly transformed by it (based on: personalized shopping Holistic Marketing Management

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recommendations’ generation, virtual try-on capabilities’ offering, order fulfillment automation the case of B2C), every transaction being made not only easier and more efficient, but also deeply personalized. Product demand forecasting and supply chain managing are two examples of use cases with the help of AI. In AI-powered e-commerce, reactive AI, limited memory AI, theory of mind AI, and self-aware AI are, for instance, four types of AI generally used. Also, product development and innovation, supply chain and logistics, marketing and sales, and merchandising and products are examples of AI in Online Shopping.

As revealed by a recent report produced by Coresight Research (2023), an important asset to communicate information to customers (both effectively, and efficiently) is represented by product imagery (based on computer-generated imagery – CGI, which allows alternate versions’ creation of the same image to be used across channels, including e-commerce) in e-commerce.

CGI (or 3D rendering) offers key benefits (sales conversion increase, overall costs and product returns reduction), being thus a clear need in retail for CGI and 3D product imagery (key themes are shown in figure below). Brands and retailers adopting CGI in the early stages will be better positioned to drive continuous improvements in the process of producing product visuals and understanding shopper needs

Figure no. 2: The need for, and benefits of, CGI and 3D Product Imagery in retail: Key themes Source: Coresight Research, 2023. Digital Merchandising Strategies: The Power of Automation and 3D Product Imagery in Retail, Custom Report, Manik Bhatia, Senior Analyst, Coresight Research, in partnership with Nfinite, p. 9 (Work cited)

It is known that an essential aspect of online retail is e-commerce merchandising (understood as products’ presentation and arrangement of products in an e-commerce store targeting sales driving and CX improvement), an easy to navigate e-commerce site being critical for the success of visual merchandising, the more so as a great user interface and experience is increasing in importance (Spong a, 2022). And as one of the merchandising solutions is product search (beginning with displaying for a given search term, sorting categories’ order and on the home screen showed banners etc.), it is recommended to consider investing in a good product Holistic Marketing Management

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search solution (the AI of this search solution opening the way to begin optimizing CX) as the first step in starting a conversation with target customer, the role of a great product search engine being obvious (Spong b, 2022). As more recently confirmed by a highly recognized expert in digital marketing solutions, voice search, SEO and local (Aggarwal, 2023), with regard to understanding both context and intent, search engines are becoming more and more better.

On the other hand, more and more online shoppers demand personalized search results, where the pressure on e-commerce business to ensure search personalization in order to improve CX and obtain positive brand perception, and consequently customer engagement and loyalty (Coveo, 2023). Within this framework it was recommended to make difference between historybased and in-session search personalization, as shown in figure below.

Figure no. 3: How does search personalization work?

Source: Coveo, 2023.Delivering Search Personalization With (User) Intent, Digital Commerce, Jan 25, 2023 (Work cited)

The role played by AI into personalization, the importance of ecommerce personalization in customers’ online shopping experience, and AI impact on marketing transformation In May 2023 took place in New York the inaugural BrXnd Conference focused on exploring the role of AI in marketing and discuss today’s possibilities (based on a true challenging agenda: BrXnd Ad Turing Test, Opening: Building Intuition in AI; Hallucinations Holistic Marketing Management

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For Fun and Profit; Bringing Research to Life with AI; When AI Met Creative; Pragmatic Optimism: Building digital products in the age of AI; Easy, Confident & Responsible: Shutterstock's Approach to Generative AI; Generative AI And Brand Safety: Problems and Possibilities; AI Product Photography; AI Under the Hood; AI is Shaking Up B2B Marketing; Copyright versus Generative Creativity; Designing AI Systems & Experiences), BrXnd.ai stating that its existence is at the intersection between brands and AI (BrXnd.ai, 2023). On the occasion of this inaugural BrXnd Conference the Founder of CMO Huddles underlined that mass personalization was marketing’s dream for many years, this dream (of one-to-one messaging personalized for each consumer) being moved by Gen AI eruption closer to reality, but without eliminating concerns (Lebow, 2023). In marketing, mass personalization can include many aspects (user-specific products’ creation, consumers’ reaching on the basis of physical location – location-based targeting recommendations, marketing messages’ delivering etc.), while the future can bring marketers’ ability to approach individual consumers at scale using AI based on creating specific copy and images automatically. Personalization is streamlined by Gen AI on the basis of tasks’ automation (for example, copywriting and image creation). Coming back to the above-mentioned concerns, it is worth mentioning the increasing consumer privacy concerns with regard to hyper targeted marketing (digital content delivered through advertising) or (as another example of concerns) marketers’ concerns regarding AI-personalized outputs’ checking (of images and copy for brand safety) at scale.

As offering recommendations’ practice based on users’ behavioral patterns, ecommerce personalization is essential in customers’ online shopping experience bringing convenience and choice. (Charlson, 2023). An omnichannel audience can be better balanced by an ecommerce personalization strategy which ensure (beyond product recommendations and email marketing) brand loyalty increasing, customer engagement increasing (by offering curated customer service), sales increasing and so on. An e-commerce business’s customer loyalty, sales, and competitive positioning can be considerably impacted by AI-powered commerce personalization, avoiding of course shoppers’ data misuse.

According to Mann and Niessing (2023), a new era of business–customer interaction is signaled by the arrival of both AI and more sophisticated data interpretation, customer interactions’ nature and industries’ reshaping being revolutionized by the proactively anticipation of customers’ needs and wants. In their opinion, marketing will be transformed by multifaceted applications of AI (including Gen AI), hyper-personalization being applied to customers’ entire digital journey (discerning where they are in the life journey), and their emotional landscapes being better understood (based on not only available interaction speeds, mouse movements, but also biometric feedback). Digital interaction will be stimulated by voice recognition based on AI, and user queries’ emotional undertones will be increasingly captured and understood with the help of AI-driven chatbots, while visual cues from UGC will be interpreted by AI, better informing marketing strategies.

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Instead of conclusions: Improving E-Commerce CX, and adding value based on Gen AI In order to grow and thrive companies must understand the importance of providing a seamless e-commerce customer experience (CX), ensuring online shoppers trusted buying and right products’ finding, and avoiding negative business implications like a decreased net promoter score, reduced customer visits, as well as lost revenue/market share to direct competitors (McAuliffe, 2023). There is a real need to improve e-commerce CX by ensuring a personalized experience, intelligent search, rich content and information, flexible purchase and delivery options, and fitting mobile within the digital CX, knowing that e-commerce CX can be optimized by using AI. There is no doubt about the impact of Gen AI on e-commerce, especially through providing solutions for product discovery and shopper knowledge discovery, enhancing the online shopping experience, and managing the risks involved in adopting Gen AI (Sanchez, 2023). According to an e-commerce expert from Coveo, Gen AI implementation in company’s ecommerce ecosystem needs to start by identifying where Gen AI can both add value, and improve CX, so as to maximize profitability and minimize risk.

From the point of view of McKinsey’s experts (Harkness et al., 2023), a new age of marketing capabilities is catalyzed by Gen AI, by automating processes, powering hyperpersonalization, making permanently structural changes of the idea generation process and so on.

Going on that path, marketing function appears to be reinventing companies’ end-to-end (E2E) processes with Gen AI, valorizing long-term opportunities (see figure below).

Figure no. 4: Generative AI is poised to help the marketing function become more sophisticated over time Source: Harkness, L., Robinson, K., Stein, E. and Wu, W., 2023. How generative AI can boost consumer marketing December 5, 2023, McKinsey & Company, Growth, Marketing & Sales, December 5, 2023, p. 3 (Work cited) Holistic Marketing Management

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And the last but not the least, let’s remember the words of the reputed Michael Hinshaw (President/CEO of McorpCX, and a mentor and teaching fellow at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business): “The personalization capabilities brought on by the digital age have revolutionized marketing, sales, and service… And it’s only just beginning. Just as personalization was a game changer a decade ago, hyper-personalization is a game changer today with tools like real-time journey orchestration and optimization driving 1-to-1 personalization at scale” (Hinshaw, 2022).

References Aggarwal, B., 2023. Visual optimization must-haves for AI-powered search, Search Engine Land, October 31, 2023. Available at: <https://searchengineland.com/visual-optimization-must-haves-aipowered-search-433908?> [Accessed 2 November 2023].

BrXnd.ai, 2023. A day at the intersection of Brands X AI, BrXnd Conference NYC – May 16, 2023.

AVAILABLE AT: <https://brxnd.ai/marketing-ai-conference-nyc-brxnd-2023> [Accessed 9 December 2023].

Charlson, T., 2023. 10 Ecommerce Personalization Examples To Boost Profits in 2023 (+4 Benefits), Coveo, Jan 26, 2023. Available at: <https://www.coveo.com/blog/ecommerce-personalization/?> [Accessed 12 September 2023].

Coresight Research, 2023. Digital Merchandising Strategies: The Power of Automation and 3D Product Imagery in Retail, Custom Report, Manik Bhatia, Senior Analyst, Coresight Research, in partnership with Nfinite, pp. 2-4, 7, 9, 17-18. Available at: <https://9302266.fs1.hubspotusercontentna1.net/hubfs/9302266/Digital%20Merchandising%20Strategies%20The%20Power%20of%20Automatio n%20and%203D%20Product%20Imagery%20in%20Retail.pdf?> [Accessed 6 December 2023].

Coveo, 2023. Delivering Search Personalization With (User) Intent, Digital Commerce, Jan 25, 2023.

Available at: <https://www.coveo.com/blog/delivering-search-personalization-with-user-intent/?> [Accessed 9 December 2023].

Donnelly, I., 2023. What Is a Digital Experience Platform? Bloomreach, 15.11.2023. Available at: <https://www.bloomreach.com/en/blog/2018/what-is-digital-experience-platform-dxp> [Accessed 16 November 2023].

Harkness, L., Robinson, K., Stein, E. and Wu, W., 2023. How generative AI can boost consumer marketing December 5, 2023, McKinsey & Company, Growth, Marketing & Sales, December 5, 2023, pp. 1-12. Available at: <https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/ourinsights/how-generative-ai-can-boost-consumer-marketing?> [Accessed 7 December 2023].

Hinshaw, M., 2022. Hyper-Personalization: The Future of Customer Experience? Customer Think, April 22, 2022. Available at: <https://customerthink.com/hyper-personalization-the-future-of-customerexperience/?> [Accessed 25 April 2022].

Mann, H. and Niessing, J., 2023.10 Ways Marketing Is Being Transformed by The Advance Of AI, European Business Review, November 13, 2023. Available at: <https://www.europeanbusinessreview.com/10-ways-marketing-is-being-transformed-by-the-advance-ofai/> [Accessed 23 November 2023].

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McAuliffe, W., 2023. E-Commerce Customer Experience: How To Create Great Experiences, Bloomreach, 08.11.2023. Available at: <https://www.bloomreach.com/en/blog/2020/ecommercecustomer-experience> [Accessed 9 November 2023].

Meyers, A., 2023. Practicality may trump purpose in 2024 marketing, report says, Marketing Brew, Data & Tech, November 13, 2023. Available at: <https://www.marketingbrew.com/stories/2023/11/13/practicality-may-trump-purpose-in-2024marketing-report-says?> [Accessed 16 November 2023].

Miller, C., 2023. Revolutionizing Auto Retail: The Game-Changing Partnership Between Amazon And Hyundai, DigitalMarketer, November 27, 2023. Available at: <https://www.digitalmarketer.com/blog/revolutionizing-auto-retail/> [Accessed 5 December 2023].

Ortiz, W.F., 2023. Customers Warned Of Cyber Monday Scams During Holiday Shopping Frenzy, CCW Digital, 11/27/2023. Available at: <https://www.customercontactweekdigital.com/customerexperience/articles/cyber-monday-shopping-ecommerce-scams-phishing-customer-service-digital?> [Accessed 6 December 2023].

Sanchez, A., 2023. The (Realistic) Impact of GenAI on Ecommerce, Coveo, Sep 19, 2023. Available at: <https://www.coveo.com/blog/genai-ecommerce-impact/> [Accessed 9 December 2023].

Smarty, A., 2021. Pre-Holiday Campaigns: Checklist For ECommerce Businesses, DigitalMarketer, October 29, 2021. Available at: <https://www.digitalmarketer.com/blog/pre-holiday-campaigns-forecommerce/> [Accessed 23 November 2023].

Spong, K., 2022. The 80/20 Rule of Merchandising, Bloomreach, 07/14/2022. Available at: <https://www.bloomreach.com/en/library/whitepapers/80-20-rule-of-merchandising> [Accessed 27 October 2023].

Spong, K., 2022. Make Digital Merchandising Easier With a “Good” Product Search Solution, Bloomreach, 04.08.2022. Available at: <https://www.bloomreach.com/en/blog/2022/make-digitalmerchandising-easier-with-a-good-product-search-solution?> [Accessed 1 September 2023].

Stambor, Z., 2023. Ecommerce sales soar on Black Friday, while in-store sales grew just 1.1%, Insider Intelligence, Nov 27, 2023. Available at: <https://www.insiderintelligence.com/content/ecommerce-salessoar-on-black-friday-while-in-store-sales-grew-just-1-1?> [Accessed 27 November 2023].

Vuocolo, A., 2023. Strong online sales show Black Friday was an ‘omnichannel event’, Retail Brew, November 28, 2023. Available at: <https://www.retailbrew.com/stories/2023/11/28/strong-online-salesshow-black-friday-was-an-omnichannel-event?> [Accessed 28 November 2023].

Woolard, A., 2023. AI in Shopping: 4 Types of AI + 4 Examples of AI in Shopping, Bloomreach, 10.11.2023. Available at: <https://www.bloomreach.com/en/blog/2023/ai-in-shopping-types-of-ai-andshopping-examples> [Accessed 16 November 2023].

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Congratulatory letter from Professor Peter Štarchoň on the occasion of the 30th Romanian-American University Anniversary

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‘Marketing Science and Inspirations’: Better Understanding Consumer’s Mind

Dr. Dan SMEDESCU Associate Editor of the “Holistic Marketing Management” Journal Member of the scientific association Romanian Distribution Committee

JEL Classification: Y30 The “Marketing Science and Inspirations” Journal is successfully reconfirming its valued vocation of giving its savvy, affluent and implied readers a holistic perspective on modern marketing issues. This well-known brand of the Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia, the “Marketing Science and Inspirations” Journal firmly stands on the path of generating awareness and building lasting connections with its target audience, improving customer experience by identifying new ways to overcome marketing challenges. Using those considerations, we are witnessing our partners’ hard and smart work to provide to both current and new readers truly relevant and useful content on current business situations and key challenges faced by agile marketers, making marketing perspective happen.

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We were happy to receive by post the new Issue 3, Volume XVIII, 2023, of our Partner Journal “Marketing Science and Inspirations”, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia.

The new challenging issue of this valuable academic journal (addressing to academics and practitioners) covered again, a wide range of interesting topics in the marketing research field, such as: • “Sexism in advertisements – a cross-cultural analysis.”

The authors Joachim Riedl, Stefan Wengler, Marcin Czaban, and Simon Steudtel focused on the evaluation of advertising from the point of view of possible sexism and the differences in response among individuals of different religious affiliation, religiosity, and origin.

Religion, religiosity and migration background make small explanatory contributions to the evaluation of advertising in four relevant dimensions, but in the overall picture prove to be less significant than sociodemographic and psychographic criteria beyond religion and origin.

• “Factors affecting the communication mix of small businesses in the selected industry.”

Based on quantitative research method, the author Monika Březinová focused on the issue of communication mix in small businesses in the brewing industry in Czech Republic, this group being represented by microbreweries. The author analyzed marketing mix in this group of companies having very similar parameters and serving a similar market, identifying differences in their communication mixes. Based on a literary research, selected factors were determined, Holistic Marketing Management

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which were investigated as to whether or not they have an influence on the composition of the communication mix. The data were obtained through an electronic questionnaire survey (return of 28%), and using a cluster analysis it was found that microbreweries can be divided into two groups according to the marketing communication tools used, being identified two different communication mixes, as well as factors that influence the composition of the communication mix of microbreweries, namely the year of establishment of the microbrewery and the existence of the microbreweries pub/ restaurant.

• “A descriptive study on Turkish young consumers’ soft drink buying behaviors.”

The authors Emel Yarimoglu, Iremsu Cebisli, Ali Riza Levent, Talha Tesik, and Melisa Ozan started from the fact that over the past years beverages with excessive sugar, caffeine and sodium were consumed more. And as today’s consumers are more educated, preferring healthier options, this growing trend of healthy lifestyle have led to an increase demand for natural and healthy products. The aim of the study was to analyze young consumers’ soft drink buying behaviors in threefold by explaining reasons of buying soft drinks, factors that affect soft drink buying decisions, and preferences about ingredients in soft drinks. The survey method was used, and the field study was conducted with university students in Izmir City, Turkiye by convenience sampling method. Research findings revealed that young consumers buy soft drinks since they like its taste, they can use them as a substitution of water when they are thirsty, and they can find soft drinks easily at every point of sales. It was also revealed that the most important factor affecting students’ soft drink buying decisions is the brand name of the soft drink, while packaging, aroma diversity, and having healthy ingredients also affect their buying decisions.

With regard to the young generation, it was revealed that its main concern regarding the ingredients in soft drinks was sugar level. The study contributes to literature by revealing how consumers’ health-conscious behaviors may change their buying behaviors.

• “Developing a growth marketing approach to B2B customer retention: Case Algeria.”

The authors Lamia El Mokretar and Mélia Adman focused on ‘Growth Hacking’ as an emerging new approach in the field of marketing and business growth. Popularized by innovative start-ups, this concept involves applying agile and creative methods to stimulate growth and maximize results, mainly in terms of customer acquisition and retention. However, despite the abundance of resources and information on growth hacking, few studies have looked specifically at its application in the B2B context, and more specifically at how growth hacking can be used to retain customers, using the five phases of the customer lifecycle. This research aimed to understand how companies can put growth hacking into practice, by identifying the specific strategies used. Prior researches have been focused mainly on the technical aspects of business, leaving aside the necessary promotional strategies and their strategic exploitation. That is why this qualitative study adopted an approach with a constructivist epistemological posture, collecting data through semi-structured interviews with 5 growth hacking experts, based on the Holistic Marketing Management

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analysis of multiple case studies to explore growth hacking strategies. The research clarified both the importance of these strategies, and the mechanisms used to highlight the value of companies.

Research findings enabled a better understanding of growth hacking, identifying various growth hacking strategies and developing a growth hacking strategy for customer retention in B2B. • “Maximizing business potential: The symbiotic relationship between employee training and business success.”

The author Vasilii Ostin started from the fact that in today’s modern business landscape the symbiotic relationship between employee training and business performance within the context of sales and marketing aspects has become increasingly evident. Considering the pivotal role of companies’ vocational training, the research focused mainly on the impact on business outcomes of European companies. Based on a deep analysis of secondary data from the Continuing Vocational Training Survey (CVTS) carried out by Eurostat, the study revealed the linkage between effective training practices and their subsequent impact on sales performance, as well as interconnection with marketing initiatives. Research findings also revealed that businesses can significantly enhance its strategies by investing in employee training programs that foster skills demanded by the evolving market. It was highlighted that companies adopting a holistic approach to employee training and aligning it with sales activities are ready to take action in dealing very well with the competitive landscape. This research serves as a valuable resource for business leaders, HR professionals, sales managers, educators, and researchers looking to understand and harness the interplay between employee development and business success to effectively navigate the dynamic business world.

The new issue of the “Marketing Science and Inspirations” Journal also included other sections such as: ▪ “Marketing Briefs”: Pavel Štrach – “X Factor: Mastering the mystery of successful customer connections”; ▪ “Short Communications”: •

“Súťaž FLEMA Media Awards 2023. FLEMA Media Awards 2023”;

▪ “REVIEW”, Štefan Žák, “Štarchoň, Peter, Pšenák, Peter and Miklošík, Andrej: Intergenerational differences in behavior of Slovak consumers.”

▪ “DICTIONARY OF USEFUL MARKETING TERMS”, Dagmar Weberová.

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It is well-known that on the occasion of celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Romanian-American University (RAU), “Holistic Marketing Management” Journal (HMM) was awarding an HMM Diploma of Special Merit to Professor Peter Štarchoň, for outstanding contribution in the field of Holistic Marketing and Talent Management.

And we always remember with pleasure that the Editor-in-Chief of the “Marketing Science and Inspirations” Journal – Professor Peter Štarchoň, Faculty of Management, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia – is also a Member of the Editorial Board of both the “Holistic Marketing Management” Journal, and of the “Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine”.

It is again our honor and pleasure to remember the significant meeting in Koln, Germany, in 2011, on the occasion of the working meeting of the European Retail Academy (ERA). We will all miss (https://www.crd-aida.ro/2023/06/the-distinguished-professor-bernd-hallier-passedaway/) our Great Friend Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier. In the below image (in the upper right part) you can see a memorable moment with Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier together with RAU Chief Administrative Officer Dumitru Smedescu (who was an important support for the RAU Holistic Marketing Management

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Founding Rector: https://www.rau.ro/in-memoriam-dlui-dumitru-smedescu-director-generaladministrativ/). Unfortunately, they both left us this summer.

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HMM Personalia ● Romanian Competition Council Conference, November 6, 2023, at the National Military Circle, Marble Hall the HMM Editorial Board

Romanian Competition Council Conference “Competition in Key Sectors” was a successful event (https://www.consiliulconcurentei.ro/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Conferin%C8%9BaConcuren%C8%9Ba-%C3%AEn-sectoare-cheie.pdf ).

The proceedings of the Competition Council Conference with the theme “Competition in key sectors” took place on Monday, November 6, 2023, at the National Military Circle, in the historic Marble Hall. On this occasion, the Report on Competition in Key Sectors – 2023 was launched.

In opening the proceedings of the conference, the President of the Competition Council, Bogdan M. Chiriţoiu, emphasized the efforts of the competition authority in Romania (in the unpredictable and tense contexts experienced today) to ensure greater transparency and predictability for the business environment, both through openness and communication with the economic operators, as well as through the sustained contribution brought for a close collaboration between the authorities to identify the most suitable solutions based on the in-depth analysis of the particularities of the markets and the careful follow-up of the evolution of these relevant markets (an essential thing in the development of

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interventionist measures in the crisis situations experienced), to observe the changes and intervene in a timely manner.

At the same time, the President of the Competition Council, Bogdan M. Chiriţoiu, referred to the approach – on the occasion of this year’s edition – of the aspects related to bilateral cooperation with the Republic of Moldova, both to support the European path and to reduce the economic development gap (by increasing the interconnection in the region in the fields of energy, transportation and digital). The President of the Competition Council, invited then the special guest, namely the President of the Constitutional Court, Mr. Marian Enache, to speak.

The President of the Constitutional Court, Mr. Marian Enache, thanked for the invitation to participate in this event, congratulating and appreciating the efforts of President Bogdan M. Chirițoiu and the Competition Council team, who “succeeded in imprinting the whole activity with a managerial concept adapted to the economic and social realities that Romanian society is going through.” The President of the Constitutional Court highlighted the nature of the Competition Council as an autonomous administrative authority in the field of competition, with legal personality and endowed with the prerogative to ensure the operation of one of the fundamental fields of the country’s economy, competition, a field enshrined at constitutional level.

Also, the President of the Constitutional Court emphasized important aspects, such as the following: “constitutional provisions do not have a declarative or abstract nature, on the contrary, they have normative and binding value for public authorities”; “the market economy is a living, evolving concept, its content being determined according to the socioeconomic situation of the state”, hence the need for the state to display a “flexible attitude in stimulating economic operators in promoting progress, in the freedom of to undertake and increase efficiency, to give the opportunity to buyers to choose in a free market, which expresses the ways of orienting human action towards satisfying the system of needs and requirements”, while “economic operators must undertake acts of trade for which they were authorized, respecting the requirements of fair competition"; complex investigative activities carried out by the Competition Council in order to “exercise its role as a supervisor of how economic operators understand how to comply with competition policies and the existing legal framework in the field”; the sanctions for those who violate the competition rules producing serious consequences “must send a strong message of deterrence to the violators and be in an amount necessary to achieve the dissuasive effect”; “a close collaboration is needed both at the national level and - especially - at the European level”; “the efforts of the Competition Council to actively support the authorities of the Republic of Moldova in its field of competence” are remarkable.

At the end of his speech, the President of the Constitutional Court, Mr. Marian Enache, congratulated “the leadership of the Competition Council for the good institutional collaboration that it promotes in the interest of the citizen, as well as for the way in which it understands how to exercise its skills and the know-how that it has acquired in its 30 years of existence”, expressing at the same time the belief that “improving the activity of the Competition Council will become a permanent objective in the attention of political decision-makers in order to provide the management of this institution with the necessary legislative and logistical support appropriate to the dynamics of Romanian socioeconomic realities”.

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