Staff profile

Dr Arezou Ghiassaleh is an Assistant Professor in Marketing at Durham University Business School. She also serves as the Director of the MSc in Business Analytics programme (a joint programme between Durham Business School and the department of Computer Science).

Arezou holds a PhD degree from HEC Lausanne in Switzerland, where she was honored with the best PhD thesis award. She also holds an MBA degree and a BSc in Industrial Engineering from Sharif University of Technology in Tehran. 

Her research interests include online retailing, AI marketing, recommendation systems and luxury marketing. In particular, she is interested in examining the impact of different AI-powered technologies in retail environments on consumer shopping experience. The findings of her research help to understand how consumers perceive, process and react to marketing strategies mainly in online retail environments. She is expert in different methodological approaches such as surveys, lab studies and field experiments. She has published her reseach in world leading journals including International Journal of Research in Marketing and Journal of Retailing, and has presented in many international conferences such as Association for Consumer Research(ACR) and Society for Consumer Psychology(SCP). 

Arezou also collaborates with various organizations on joint research and consulting projects including Pomelo Sarl, Tesco, Equans, Royal College of Nursing and the NHS.

Arezou is a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy (FHEA). She teaches courses such as Research Method and Experimental Reseach Design to Early Career Researchers (ECRs), PhD and DBA students. Additionally, she has extensive experience teaching courses such Retail Analytics, Services Marketing, and Integrated Marketing Communication at both the MSc and Undergraduate levels.

Arezou has successfully supervised several PhD and DBA students and welcomes applications from PhD applicants interested in research in online retailing, AI marketing, recommendation systems, and luxury marketing.

• Online Retailing
• AI Marketing
• Recommendation Systems
• Luxury Marketing

Conference Paper

• Pino, G., Ostovan, N., Ghiassaleh, A., & Kocher, B. (in press). The Influence of Lenders’ Personalities in Luxury Renting.
• Jiang, S., Ghiassaleh, A., & Yan, J. (2022). The Role of Regulatory Focus on Consumer Response to Minimum Purchase Requirement Sales Promotion. In Proceedings of the European Marketing Academy
• Jiang, S., Ghiassaleh, A., & Yan, J. (2022). The Role of Regulatory Focus on Consumer Response to Minimum Purchase Requirement Sales Promotion. In SCP Annual Conference 2022
• Ghiassaleh, A., Kocher, B., & Noris, B. (2019). The Impact of Conceptual (vs. Perceptual) Product Categorization on Consumer Shopping Experience. In Proceedings of the European Marketing Academy, 48th, (8642)
• Ghiassaleh, A., Kocher, B., Maire, P., Noris, B., & Borduas, G. (2018). Effect of Product Categorization on Consumer Thinking Style. In M. Geuens, M. Pandelaere, M. Tuan Pham, & I. Vermeir (Eds.), E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 11, Association for Consumer Research (142-143)
• Ghiassaleh, A., Kocher, B., & Czellar, S. (2018). The Asymmetric Effect of Recommendation Signs on Consumer Choice Commitment. In M. Geuens, M. Pandelaere, M. Tuan Pham, & I. Vermeir (Eds.), E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 11, Association for Consumer Research (232-233)
• Ghiassaleh, A., & Kocher, B. (2018). Effect of Asymmetric vs. Symmetric Control on Consumer Satisfaction with Product Categorization. In The European Marketing Academy Conference
• Ghiassaleh, A., Kocher, B., & Czellar, S. (2018). Effect of Product Categorization on Consumer Thinking Style.
• Ghiassaleh, A., Kocher, B., & Lajos, J. (2016). Should Online Retailers Organize Products in Broad or Narrow Categories? It Depends on the Regulatory Focus of their Shoppers.
• Ghiassaleh, A., & Lajos, J. (2015). Do Consumers Search Far and Wide or High and Low?.

Journal Article

• Ghiassaleh, A., Kocher, B., & Czellar, S. (2024). The Effects of Benefit-Based (vs. Attribute-Based) Product Categorizations on Mental Imagery and Purchase Behavior. Journal of Retailing, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2024.01.001
• Blut, M., Ghiassaleh, A., & Wang, C. (2023). Testing the performance of online recommendation agents: A meta-analysis. Journal of Retailing, 99(3), 440-459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2023.08.001
• Ghiassaleh, A., Kocher, B., & Czellar, S. (2020). Best Seller!? Unintended negative consequences of popularity signs on consumer choice behavior. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 37(4), 805-820. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2020.04.003