Exploring the contingent role of 4B’s marketing mix towards customers’ attitude

Modern consumers regard social media as a reference group through which they can meet their demands by trading-up purchases for the purpose of recognition in reference groups. Limited edition products are those that take advantage of consumer requirements in this way. Consumers have a more favorable view toward a brand the more closely their self-image and the brand image aligned. The purpose of this study is to examine the 4B marketing mix including Best, Bargaining, Buffer Stocking, and Bombarding towards customer attitude in the context of footwear. Using a quantitative explanatory approach, the sample of this study is 97 people who are consumers of footwear with the Converse Brand in Malang City. The research instrument used an online questionnaire and was analyzed using descriptive analysis and inferential analysis using SPSS version 25. The findings showed that the variables Best, Bargaining, Buffer Stocking, and Bombarding were able to influence customers' attitudes towards Converse footwear consumers in Malang. It is hoped that through these findings, the Converse brand will increase the dissemination of information regarding product quality and retailer capabilities as well as marketing optimization in strengthening consumer perceptions regarding the brand.


Introduction
The 'trading-up' phenomenon shows that people want to be successful by buying things that have emotional value.Social media like Instagram and Facebook have made it easier for people to express themselves through unique items and share their experiences (Estrada-Cruz et al., 2022).With the rise of social media, individuals now have a convenient platform to express themselves through unique and emotionally meaningful items.This extends to sharing their experiences and possessions with a broader audience.Nowadays, consumers see social media as a way to meet their needs by buying better things to get noticed by their online friends (Geng & Chen, 2021). [22] Limited edition products are those that take advantage of consumer requirements in this way (Hooley et al., 2017).Recently, these commodities have been expanded to include common household items due to the rising need for consumer self-expression (Petruzzellis et al., 2021).The fashion business, among many other sectors, regularly makes use of limited edition marketing, because shoes are linked to one's self-image, sports manufacturers in particular commonly offer limited edition shoes (Kirk et al., 2022).Consumers have a more favorable view toward a brand the more closely their self-image and the brand image aligned.
In the context of the footwear business, the best design is the main component to attract potential customers.Trendy, ergonomic designs and equipped with various features that support maximum comfort and performance for users play an important role in determining footwear design, especially shoes (Kirk et al., 2023).Apart from that, the footwear business must also be supported by the bargaining power of suppliers through product positioning that is different from similar businesses (Maulana & Oktaviani, 2022) and supported by the company's ability to maintain the product supply chain so that the brand has good strength in facing business competition (Vazquez et al., 2022).Then a brand that has a good perception in the eyes of consumers is a brand that is able to maximize marketing activities through various media such as advertising, online marketing, email marketing, to personal selling so that all levels of society are aware of the existence of a quality brand (Arismunandar et al., 2019).
This study is performed to examine the 4B marketing mix including Best, Bargaining, Buffer Stocking, and Bombarding towards customer attitude in the context of consumers of footwear with brand Converse in Malang City.This study seeks to provide novelty research in the form of marketing mix specifically for limited edition footwear products including best, bargaining, buffer stocking, and bombarding so that it is expected to be an alternative variable that can be used to measure the attractiveness of marketing products that are positioned as luxury or niche products.This research is based on future direction which is sourced from Chae et al. (2020) which states that special research is needed related to customer attitude in relation to footwear products that have limited edition characteristics so that special analysis tools are needed.

Hypotheses Development
Best in the context of the product is anything that can be offered to the market to attract attention, acquisition, use or consumption that can satisfy a want or need.Products include higher from just tangible goods, but are expected to have adequate performance and be attractive to market demand so that they can direct consumers to carry out actual behavior Adulyanukosol & Silpcharu (2020).Best in the context of footwear is also interpreted as a footwear product that is offered to the market for attention, ownership, use or consumption so that it can satisfy wants and needs.The process of making footwear is a combination of consumer desires and the production capabilities of companies that can be offered to the target market (Kirk et al., 2023).Ghimouz et al., (2023) revealed that when a footwear product is able to meet three criteria including in terms of design (model, quality and variety of variants), then in terms of price (fair and there is a discount), as well as in terms of service quality from the seller (reliable, responsive and friendly), then This can have a good impact on consumer attitudes towards the brand which can also lead to purchasing decisions.Thus, the first hypothesis could be posits as below: H1: Best has a positive and significant effect on customers' attitude Bargaining is a type of negotiation between individuals and groups that occurs by a process in which buyers and sellers of goods or services debate the price and the exact nature of an existing form of transaction, whereas if bargaining results in an agreement on terms, then the transaction will occur (Maulana & Oktaviani, 2022).Kopel et al. (2019)

also argues that bargaining
Exploring the contingent role of 4B's marketing mix towards customers' attitude Eko Agus Susilo, Cahya Nova Kurniawan, Christina Clariza Avianty [23] is the ability to negotiate the sale of their products properly so that it is profitable for them (including factors such as price, time, quantity and quality).Pham & Petersen (2021) explained that customers will have a good attitude towards a brand when their offering power with offers sourced from suppliers finds an equilibrium point, including an understanding that the brand has a capable and technological retail network and the consumer's willingness to buy branded goods that are identical to their personality.Thus, the second hypothesis could be posits as below: H2: Bargaining has a positive and significant effect on customers' attitude Vazquez et al. (2022) argues that inventories are materials or goods stored that will be used to fulfill certain purposes, for example for use in the production or assembly process, for resale, or for spare parts of equipment or machinery.Buffer stock or safety stock can also be said to be reserve inventory outside of the main needs (main stock of existing goods).Sutopo et al. (2012) explained that buffer stock or safety stock must be controlled or managed well in production planning, both stock for raw materials and stock for finished products/goods.Reyes et al. (2015) explained that buffer stock could be determined by three factors including variation of demand, lead time and also service level.An attitude to brand could be better if the brand was able to fulfilled at least six criteria including (1) When a brand is able to answer every consumer request, (2) able to present a variety of products that suit age characteristics, (3) timely warehouse replenishment process and also (4) in a short time; (5) has a responsive warehouse reporting process and (6) has the ability to process goods distribution quickly.Thus, the third hypothesis could be posits as below: H3: Buffer stocking has a positive and significant effect on customers' attitude The one that refers to the context in which the word "bombardment" is used here is "to assail persistently, as with requests" (read: "as with advertising"), according to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (Sambe, 2013).As a result, audiences or customers who are assaulted with commercials are constantly bombarded with messages about products, services, or ideas in order to capture their attention and give them with information (Ansari & Jolodar, 2011).It hopes of an eliciting a response such as a sale, a change in attitude, or a reinforcement of a belief (Juárez-Varón et al., 2023).Theoretically, bombardment can be interpreted as the deployment of all forms of marketing media to make consumers remember a product.Kotler et al., (2021) stated that bombardment can be explained through various marketing media including advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, events and experiences, direct marketing, internet marketing, public relations and word of mouth.Consumers will have a good attitude towards product identification if consumers have detailed knowledge of the product through bombardment marketing activities (Kartajaya & Setiawan, 2021).Thus, the fourth hypothesis could be posits as below: H4: Bombarding has a positive and significant effect on customers' attitude Attitude is a collection of signs in response to a stimulus or object so that the attitude involves thoughts, feelings, attention and other psychological signals (Habel et al., 2021).According to Gerlach et al. (2016), attitude is an expression of consumers' feelings about an object, whether they like it or not, and attitude also describes consumers' beliefs about various attributes and benefits of the object.There are three indicators that can be used to measure consumer behavior towards products that explained by Weinlich & Semerádová (2022) and Khoirunnisa et al. (2023) including the cognitive aspect, namely knowledge and perceptions obtained through a combination of direct experience with products obtained from various sources; then the affective aspect relates to the consumer's emotions or feelings towards an object; and the conative aspect is a tendency that someone will take certain actions related to a product or in other words it is an expression of a consumer's intention to buy. [24]

Method, Data, and Analysis
The research sample was determined using a purposive method with judgmental sampling.Consumers who are over 18 years old and purchase Converse brand footwear are selected as research samples.The researcher distributed a link referring to an online questionnaire based on Google form.We collected 120 research questionnaires, but we could only use 97 of them because they met our criteria.We used Bahasa for the questionnaires to make sure language wouldn't be a problem for the respondents.We measured each variable in Table 1.

Validity Test
The validity test determines the degree of agreement between the data collected on the object and the data obtained by the researcher.According to the statistics shown above, all items in this study are considered valid.Sekaran & Bougie, (2016) stated that if Pearson correlation ≥ r table (2-tailed test with sig.0.05) then the instrument or question items have a significant correlation with the total score (declared as valid).The results of the validity test for all instrument items show that the Pearson correlation is greater than the r table value.It can be concluded that all instrument items are valid measures of the construct.

Reliability Test
The reliability test is used to find out whether the data collection tool shows the level of accuracy, level of accuracy, stability or consistency in expressing certain phenomena (Kuncoro, 2014).The reliability test in this research used the SPSS version 26 application by pay attention to the Cronbach's Alpha value.The reference value for alpha or composite reliability as stated by Hair et al. (2014) must be greater than 0.7 although a value of 0.6 is still acceptable.The use of reliability testing by researchers is the split half technique where it is divided into two and the results of each item are correlated.The questionnaire will be considered reliable if the results of the Guttman Split Half Coefficient Correlation > 0.8.From the data, it could be concluded that the distributed question items in this study are reliable because the outcomes of one time distribution have a value higher from (>) 0.80, especially 0.894 that could be shown in Table 2.The data was analyzed by using IBM SPSS Statistics version 25.0.The IBM SPSS Statistics was performed to analyzed validity test, reliability test, Spearman rank correlation analysis test, coefficient of determination test and also hypothesis testing.The independent variables in this study are Best (X1), Bargaining (X2), Buffer Stocking (X3), Bombarding (X4).The dependent variable was Attitude (Y1).

Results
Based on the demographic analysis, we found that 57.8% of the respondents were women (56 individuals), while 42.2% were men (41 individuals).This data indicates that the majority of Converse brand consumers in Malang City are female.Furthermore, the study revealed that the largest segment of respondents fell within the 21-23 years age group, comprising 56.7% of the total sample.This suggests that the majority of our respondents belong to the youth category and are aged between 21 and 23 years.
For the first variable, which is Best (X1), it was assessed using three indicators and a total of eight items.The highest score within this variable was achieved in the fourth item, with a score of 3.57.This suggests that the majority of Converse brand footwear users in Malang City perceive the brand to have a fairly reasonable price.However, the results also indicate that the lowest score within this variable was observed in the seventh item, with a score of 3.22.This implies that a significant proportion of footwear consumers who favor the Converse brand in Malang are unaware that the seller may not be responsive to their needs or inquiries.
The second variable, Bargaining (X2), was assessed using two indicators and a total of four items.The highest score within this variable was achieved in the fourth item, with a score of 3.53.This suggests that the majority of Converse brand footwear users in Malang City believe that buyers seek to purchase footwear that aligns with their personal identity.However, the research results also indicate that the lowest score within this variable was observed in the first item, with a score of 3.04.This implies that a significant proportion of footwear consumers who prefer the Converse brand in Malang are unaware that the brand has many stores or outlets where they can make purchases.
The third variable, Buffer Stocking (X3), was assessed using three indicators and a total of six items.The highest score within this variable was achieved in the second item, with a score of 3.32.This suggests that the majority of Converse brand footwear users in Malang City believe that the brand offers a diverse range of products tailored to different age segments.However, the research results also indicate that the lowest score within this variable was observed in the fifth item, with a score of 3.22.This implies that a significant proportion of footwear consumers who favor the Converse brand in Malang are confident in their ability to promptly report updates about the availability of stock.
To assess the variable Bombarding (X4), a total of eight indicators and sixteen items were used.The highest score within this variable was observed in the fifteenth item, with a score of Exploring the contingent role of 4B's marketing mix towards customers' attitude Eko Agus Susilo, Cahya Nova Kurniawan, Christina Clariza Avianty [27] 3.64.This indicates that the majority of Converse brand footwear users in Malang City perceive the brand as one that has earned the trust of footwear consumers over a long period.On the other hand, the research results also reveal that the lowest score within this variable was found in the tenth item, with a score of 2.60.This suggests that a significant proportion of footwear consumers who prefer the Converse brand in Malang are unaware of the brand's structured message pattern in its marketing process.
To assess customer attitude dimensions, including cognitive aspects, affective aspects, and conative aspects, three indicators and six items were employed.Based on the tabulated research data, the findings reveal that the fourth item has the highest average rating at 3.61.This indicates that users of Converse brand footwear in Malang City perceive that the brand is capable of providing satisfaction to its users.However, the lowest rating within this variable was observed in the first item.This suggests that Converse footwear consumers in Malang City may not fully recognize that this brand is the best choice.In other words, each consumer has their individual preferences when it comes to footwear brands.
The determination analysis is a test used to quantify the extent to which independent variables influence dependent variables.According to the data presented in Table 3, the Adjusted R-square value is 0.286.This value suggests that 28.6% of the variation in the dependent variable, Attitude (Y1), can be attributed to the independent variable, Marketing Mix 4B.The remaining 71.4% of the variation in Attitude (Y1) is influenced by other variables that were not included in this study.The coefficient of determination results from this study can be found in Table 3.Based on the correlation coefficient data (Table 4), here are the findings regarding the relationships between the variables: the correlation between "best" and "attitude" variables is 0.527, which is higher than the critical correlation value (r-table) of 0.1996.This indicates a positive and significant effect of "best" on "attitude," supporting the acceptance of Hypothesis 1 (H1).The correlation between "bargaining" and "attitude" variables is 0.379, which is also higher than the critical correlation value (r-table) of 0.1996.This suggests a positive and significant impact of "bargaining" on "attitude," leading to the acceptance of Hypothesis 2 (H2).The correlation between "buffer stocking" and "attitude" variables is 0.479, exceeding the critical correlation value (r-table) of 0.1996.This indicates a positive and significant influence of "buffer stocking" on "attitude," supporting the acceptance of Hypothesis 3 (H3).The correlation between "bombarding" and "attitude" variables is 0.453, which is higher than the critical correlation value (r-table) of 0.1996.This demonstrates a positive and significant impact of "bombarding" on "attitude," leading to the acceptance of Hypothesis 4 (H4).
In summary, these findings indicate that all four independent variables ("best," "bargaining," "buffer stocking," and "bombarding") have positive and significant effects on the dependent variable, "attitude," as the correlation coefficients are higher than the critical correlation value (r-table).This supports the acceptance of all four hypotheses (H1, H2, H3, and H4).

Discussion
The effect of Best towards customers' attitude Based on our research findings, a significant correlation has emerged between the "best" factor and consumers' "attitude" toward Converse products.These results indicate that Converse effectively aligns with its customers' expectations through the delivery of high-quality merchandise and exceptional customer service.Consequently, higher ratings for Converse's "best" aspect can influence the attitudes of consumers who own Converse products in Malang City.
These findings in line with the insights presented by Ghimouz et al. (2023), highlighting that a footwear product's ability to meet three crucial criteria, including design aspects (such as model, quality, and variety of variants), competitive pricing (offering fairness and discounts), and the quality of seller services (characterized by reliability, responsiveness, and friendliness), can significantly impact consumer attitudes toward the brand.Moreover, this positive shift in attitude can also translate into favorable purchasing decisions.

The effect of Bargaining towards customers' attitude
Based on our research results, it is evident that bargaining plays a crucial role in shaping consumer attitudes, and this effect is positive and significant.Within the bargaining variable, we consider both the bargaining power of suppliers and the bargaining power of buyers.These factors hold significant importance for businesses, especially in the context of selecting materials to manufacture their products while maintaining product quality (Maulana & Oktaviani, 2022).
Exploring the contingent role of 4B's marketing mix towards customers' attitude Eko Agus Susilo, Cahya Nova Kurniawan, Christina Clariza Avianty [29] Our study demonstrates that Converse has effectively managed to uphold the quality and uniqueness of its products despite competition from other shoe brands.As a result, Converse's ability to maintain product quality has had a positive influence on the attitudes of its customers in Malang.These findings align with the insights presented by Pham & Petersen (2021), who propose that customers tend to develop favorable attitudes toward a brand when the balance of power between the brand and its suppliers reaches equilibrium.This equilibrium involves factors such as having a capable and technologically advanced retail network, as well as consumers' willingness to purchase branded products that align with their personal identity.Consequently, these factors collectively contribute to the development of positive customer attitudes toward the brand.

The effect of Buffer Stocking towards customer's attitude
Based on the research findings, a significant correlation has been identified between "buffer stocking" and consumer "attitude."The buffer stocking variable comprises three key elements: demand variation, lead time, and service level.Consumers who own Converse products in Malang City have conveyed their belief that Converse consistently meets their demands swiftly and satisfactorily.This perception has led to favorable consumer attitudes, as they are convinced that Converse can effectively fulfill their needs.These findings closely align with the insights presented by Reyes et al. (2015), who articulated that a brand's image and consumer attitude towards it can significantly improve if the brand successfully fulfills at least six criteria: (1) when a brand is capable of addressing every consumer request.(2) Offering a variety of products that cater to different age characteristics.(3) Ensuring a timely and efficient process for replenishing warehouse stocks.(4) Rapidly fulfilling consumer orders and requests.(5) Maintaining a responsive and efficient warehouse reporting process.( 6) Speedily processing the distribution of goods to consumers.These criteria collectively contribute to enhancing consumer attitudes towards the brand.In the case of Converse, the ability to meet these criteria appears to have positively influenced consumer attitudes among those who own Converse products in Malang City.

The effect of Bombarding towards customer's attitude
The study results reveal a significant relationship between "bombarding" and consumer "attitude."The "bombarding" variable encompasses several elements, including advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, events and experiences, direct marketing, internet marketing, public relations, and word of mouth (WoM) marketing.These various components collectively form what is referred to as the "Promotion Mix." The findings from this study suggest that Converse has effectively influenced consumer attitudes by employing a wide range of promotion mix techniques in the marketing of its products.This aligns with the insights of Kotler et al. (2021), who emphasized that "bombarding" can be realized through diverse marketing channels, encompassing advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, events and experiences, direct marketing, internet marketing, public relations, and word of mouth.In this context, Converse's consumers in Malang have developed favorable attitudes towards the brand's footwear products, driven by their comprehensive understanding of the products achieved through the marketing activities that comprise "bombarding" (Kartajaya & Setiawan, 2021).

Conclusion
This research aims to offer valuable insights to Converse, enabling the company to better cater to consumer preferences determined by the Marketing Mix 4B, consisting of Best, Bargaining, Buffer Stocking, and Bombarding.It's understood that these four variables have the

JURNAL PENELITIAN
Volume 20 Issue 1 June 2023│pp.21-32[30] potential to significantly impact consumer attitudes towards the brand and, consequently, influence their actual buying behavior positively.However, like any research, this study has its limitations.Firstly, the research is centered exclusively on Converse footwear consumers in Malang.Consequently, the findings may not be generalizable to consumers of other footwear brands in different countries or market segments.Secondly, the application of the 4B's marketing mix is primarily suitable for brands positioned in the middle-to-upper class market segment.It may not be applicable to measure attitudes toward entry-level products.Future research might consider incorporating alternative marketing mix models, such as Philip Kotler's 7P model, which encompasses variables related to product characteristics and could offer a more comprehensive perspective.Lastly, in assessing attitudes towards footwear brands, this research did not incorporate the factor of brand trust as an antecedent.Future studies could benefit from including the element of brand trust, as suggested by Chae et al. (2020), to gain a more holistic understanding of consumer attitudes and behaviors.

Table 1
Reliability Test Analysis

Table 2
Coefficient Determination Analysis

Table 4 .
Spearman Rank Test