Although capable of influencing positively the consumer perception

Although the use of store flyers have lost someimpetus in recent years, it continues to be one of the most important marketingtools used by retailers, due to both, communication with their customers andthe economic and financial effect on their budget. In the United States it accountedfor more than 65% of the budget of the companies of the sector in 2012 (Ziliani & Ieva, 2015). In Spain, more than 590 million Euros were invested in 2013, includinga reduction of more than 30% of the budget compared to the year 2008(Sánchez-Revilla, 2014). In Italy and France, the amounts invested exceeded onebillion euros in each country during 2012, representing more than 50% of thebudget of the retail companies in those countries (Gázquez-Abad &Martínez-López, 2016).

One of the most important factorsfor its application is related to its ability to influence consumers in thedifferent stages of their buying cycle, at home and in the store (Ziliani & Ieva, 2015), to prove to be more effective thanother traditional means of communication (Burton, Lichtenstein, & Netemeyer, 1999), and beyond that, are a source offinancial revenue from manufacturers who also rely on flyers to get directly toconsumers (Gázquez-Abad & Martínez-López, 2016). As an instrumentof communication and promotion, store flyer has different goals: it promotesnew products and discounts, as a short-term goal, it contributes to releasetheir assortment variety, as a medium-term goal, and it improves retail imageas a long-term goal. Consequently, different studiesevaluated their influence on consumer behavior. They identified that certaincharacteristics of the flyer are capable of influencing positively the consumerperception about a greater assortment variety and the image of theestablishment (Mimouni Chaabane, Sabri, & Parguel, 2010), in the intention of visiting andbuying products offered (Gijsbrechts, Campo, & Goossens, 2003) and, even, in those that are notoffered and arranged on the flyer (Burton et al.

, 1999). As well as improving the sale ofstore brand products, which represent better margins and benefits (Gázquez-Abad & Martínez-López, 2016). However, the rolethat store flyer design can play in maintaining this causal relationshipbetween perceived variety, image and purchase intention is not as well known.

Considerations about perceivedvariety and image need to be highlighted. Naturally, consumers tend to preferassortments with greater variety, since they offer a greater possibility to finda product that best suits their preferences or needs both in the present or inthe future (Townsend & Kahn, 2014). In addition to contributing significantlyto greater satisfaction and loyalty (Chang, 2011).

According (Mimouni Chaabane et al., 2010), the varietyperceived by the consumer is considered as one of the main factors ofperformance of the retailers. On the other hand, (Iyengar & Lepper, 2000), note that assortments with a widevariety of products negatively influence sales volume and negatively affectconsumer satisfaction (Townsend & Kahn, 2014). Furthermore, the image of theestablishment is also affected by the perceived variety (Semeijn, van Riel, & Ambrosini, 2004). That, in turn, substantiallyaffects the consumption of products, especially store brand products (Diallo, 2012).

The perception of the image of theestablishment is developed in the mind of the consumer (Zimmer & Golden, 1988) and formed on the basis ofdifferent attributes, being real and imaginary (Beneke & Zimmerman, 2014). As with the perceived variety, different evaluations, positive or negative, occur in the evaluation of theimage of the establishment through the flyer, which consequently affects theintention to consume available products, being national or store brand (Mimouni Chaabane et al., 2010; Pieters, Wedel, &Zhang, 2007). Given the considerable strategicimportance to retailers, it is important to understand the implications of how differentflyer models, through different changes and combinations in basics attributesin their composition, affect their power and promotional effectiveness onconsumer behavior, mainly related to the assortment variety, perceived image, and purchase intention, in particular the purchase of store brand products. However, it is observed in most of the recent studies, when evaluating theperformance of the flyer, some results were related to the overall sales outcome, based on the total number of invoices issued, or on the traffic observed at theestablishment, without actually identifying whether the consumer’s contact withthe flyer existed and whether it was actually influenced by this (Gijsbrechts et al., 2003; Luceri, Latusi, TaniaVergura, & Lugli, 2014). Others evaluated the efficiency ofthe flyer over the national company’s perspective by comparing the number ofproducts of national companies present on the flyer and their influence onconsumer behavior without actually considering the brand of the retailer (Mimouni Chaabane et al., 2010).

And in this way we fail tounderstand the true effect that different flyer templates have on consumerbehavior. Our approach isfrom the Behavioural Decision Theory (BDT), which proposes that preferences arenot stable due to the presence of framing and context effects. It is observedthat the decision-making process of the consumer is affected and formed by theset of information to which it is exposed (Chernev, 2005).

As noted in the BDT, differentassessments and choices in the decision making process occur through exposureto different scenarios, but objectively they may be equivalent, forexample the presence or absence of a slogan on the cover (Levin, Schneider, & Gaeth, 1998). According (Payne, 1982; Simonson, 2008), preferences, or pre-disposition bycertain attributes are versatile, and most frequently are developed based onthe context to which the consumer is exposed and may change depending on howthe decision-making process is formulated. Therefore, context effects are changes in perception generated by changes in the size ofchoice set, for example flyer size (van Lin & Gijsbrechts, 2016). In addition tobeing formulated, through pre-existing preferences by certain attributes, thepresence of attributes that are less salient or with less impact in thepresented context are equally important in the evolution of consumerdecision-making (Simonson, 2008).

In this way, the establishment ofpreference is considered to be influenced by the general context to which theconsumer is exposed, but which may vary as the scenario varies. Therefore, when considering the incomparable importance and complexity that the use of theflyer represents in the performance of retailers, its considerable economic /financial impact on its budget and given the existing literature……. Based on ourexploratory analysis with more than twenty brochures of supermarkets, wedetected a quite similar structure, mainly relatedto the extension of the flyer, the promotion of a national or store brandproduct on the front page, and in some cases, the use of an institutionalslogan. There is a clear need, and an important research opportunity, toexplore in more depth the composition and effect of different flyer models onconsumer behavior. Consequently, this study raises a key question: -What is theeffect that different, but similar, flyer models have on consumer behavior? In this study, wepropose to analyse the mediating role of the establishment image between theperceived variety and in the intention to buy in the shop and in the intentionto buy retail’s brands. Moreover, how this relationship is affected by theflyer design. To study this effect, an experiment was carried out with fourflyer designs (scenarios), based on three different attributes: 1) its extension(with the possibility of using a larger or smaller number of pages); 2) thebrand advertised on the first page (promote and advertise a product of ownbrand of the retailer or a national brand); and, 3) the use of an institutionalslogan as an advertising incentive (presence or absence of a slogan on thefront page) about consumer behavior. To achieve the objectives, based on thethree basic attributes of the flyer presented, an experiment was developedamong subjects to construct four distinct, but objectively identical flyerscenarios.

The analysis of consumer responses was performed through themodeling of structural equations, whose main issue was to improve theunderstanding of the four main variables present in the performance ofretailers: 1) perceived variety; 2) perceived image; 3) general purchaseintention in the establishment; and, 4) intention to purchase a product fromthe retailer’s own brand. To avoid the image effect of a knownretailer (brand) was developed a fictitious retailer with its brand and alsofictitious products. After analyzing different flyers of the main retailerspresent in the Spanish market and its different characteristics, a singlesubject design (intra-subjects) was used to complement the interior of theflyer with the presence of different national brands, promotional strategies, different price ranges and be the closest to a real exhibition of the flyer. Due to the considerable cost involved in the production and printing of aprinted flyer a digital flyer was developed, which was made availableelectronically to the participants of the experiment. Through this theoreticalmodel we intend to offer a deeper understanding of scholars and practitioners.

At the same time that we evaluate, from the perspective of the retailer (callof (Ailawadi, Beauchamp, Donthu, Gauri, & Shankar, 2009), thedifferent characteristics of the flyer and its influence on consumer behavior, more precisely on the variety and perceived image and their intention topurchase. In addition to contributing to the analyzes through a digital flyer, sent and made available by email through an access link (call of (Ziliani & Ieva, 2015)), whichrepresents a new frontier for retailers.