Year
2010
Authors
KÜBLER Raoul, ALBERS Sönke
Abstract
Although companies that sell products such as automobiles can easily track down their clients, companies that produce consumer goods usually lose direct contact with their customers at the retailer’s cash register. This anonymity results in the obligation to communicate any product failure and/or recall action to a wide range of anonymous and potential customers, while running the risk of scaring off future buyers. Hypothesizing that companies know how to best communicate a recall, we investigate a sample of 104 German recall campaigns to identify common dimensions of recall messages and behavioral drivers that may minimize the risk of alienating future customers and reduce potential sales losses due to the product crisis. We identify six major underlying dimensions of recall messages and find empirical evidence for existing recall routines of companies depending on the degree of hazard and the probability of a product defect.
KÜBLER, R. et ALBERS, S. (2010). Communication behavior of companies in product recalls without customer identification information. Marketing: Journal of Research and Management, 6(1), pp. 19-30.