Purpose – Much of the literature on consumer empowerment focuses on consumers' efforts to regain control of their consumption processes from suppliers. The purpose is to argue that many suppliers achieve success by trying hard to empower consumers. The mechanism by which this takes place...

Purpose – Arguing that increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICT) is shifting market power from suppliers to consumers, the ensuing consumer empowerment is presented as an unintended consequence of marketing. Marketing implications arising from this consumer empowerment...

Purpose – To critically assesses the extent to which consumers are being empowered by the internet, focusing specifically on the role of the internet in the context of online pension information provision. Design/methodology/approach – A mixed method study involving focus groups and...

Purpose – This paper considers the notion of consumer empowerment across the financial, legal and medical service sectors in the UK. Although the advent of the internet is generally seen as potentially enabling consumer empowerment, theoretical papers divide on the question of efficacy. On the...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to question the taken for granted assumptions that underpin a liberal or lay view of consumer empowerment implicit to this special edition. In particular, the idea that it benefits consumers to have more choice is questioned. Design/methodology/approach...

Purpose – To delineate the range of consumer responses to life‐conditions where sustained powerlessness is experienced. To provide a framework to understand the ways in which these consumers try to reclaim degrees of self‐empowerment and wellbeing. Design/methodology/approach – Goffman's...

Purpose – Several trends such as improved access to health care information via the internet, the growth of self‐help groups and expenditure on alternative medicine signals consumers are taking an active role in their own health management. Chronic illnesses such as diabetes and asthma...

Purpose – To analyse the power that a virtual brand community exerts over a brand of a mass‐marketed convenience product. To draw implications about the strategy that a company can employ facing this power shift. To track emerging trends in virtual brand communities applied to convenience...

Purpose – The paper explores how the complex relationship between consumption and production evolves as women enact their roles as mothers, and reconstruct their self‐identity through their use or avoidance of convenience products. Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative, individual...

Purpose – To explore how information communication technologies (ICT) and the internet offer new opportunities for women to develop as entrepreneurs and innovators. To add to the literature and provide updated research to raise awareness about female‐run ICT small businesses....