Chapter 9 Buying and Disposing

Chapter When you finish reading this chapter you will understand why:

Objectives 1. Many factors at the time of purchase dramatically influence the consumer's
decision-making process.

2. The information a store or Web site provides strongly influences a purchase decision,
in addition to what a shopper already knows or believes about a product.

3. A salesperson often is the crucial connection to a purchase.

4. Marketers need to be concerned about a consumer's evaluations of a product after

he or she buys it as well as before.

5. Getting rid of products when consumers no longer need or want them is a major concern
both to marketers and to public policymakers.

M y M ark e ti ngLab
Visitwww.pearsonglobaleditions.com /
mymarketinglab to find activities that
help you learn and review in order to
succeed in this chapter.
K
yle is really psyched. The big day has actu
a lly arrived: He’s going to buy a car! He’s Source: MANDY GODBEHEAR / Shutterstock.
had his eye on tha t silver 2005 Oldsmobile
Alero parked in the lot of Jon’s Auto-Rama for weeks now. Although the stick er says $2,999, Kyle
figures he can probably get this baby for a cool $2,000; now tha t GM has discontinued the Oldsmobile
mark as part of its efforts to remake itself as a lean, mean car company, many people will figure that
parts will be hard to find. Besides, Jon ’s dilapidated showroom and seedy lot make it look like just
the kind of place th a t’s hungry to move some cars.
Kyle did his hom ework on the Web. First he found out the wholesale value of similar used Aleros
from the Kelley Blue Book ( kbb.co m ) , and then he scouted out some cars for sale in his area at ca rs
.com . So, Kyle figures he’s coming in loaded for b e a r-h e ’s going to show these guys they're not deal
ing with some rube.
Unlike some of the newer, flashy car showrooms he’s been in lately, this place is a real nuts-
and-bolts operation; it’s so dingy and depressing he can’t wait to get out of there and take a shower.
Kyle dreads the prospect of haggling over the price, but he hopes to convince the salesperson to take
his offer because he knows the real market value of the car he wants. At the Auto-Rama lot, big signs
on all the cars proclaim tha t today is Jon ’s Auto-Rama Rip Us Off Day! Things look better than Kyle
exp e cte d-m a yb e he can get the car for even less than he hoped. He’s a bit surprised when a salesper
son comes over to him and introduces herself as Rhoda. He expected to deal with a middle-aged man
in a loud sport coat (a stereotype he has about used-car salespeople), but this is more good luck: He
reasons tha t he won’t have to be so tough if he negotiates with a woman his age.
Rhoda laughs when he offers her $1,800 for the Olds; she points out that she can’t ta ke such a
low bid for such a sweet car to her boss or she’ll lose her job. Rhoda’s enthusiasm for the car convinces
Kyle all the more that he has to have it. When he finally writes a check for $2,700, he’s exhausted from
all the haggling. What an ordeal! In any case, Kyle reminds himself tha t he at least convinced Rhoda
to sell him the car for less than the sticker price, and maybe he can fix it up and sell it for even more
in a ye ar or two. Tha t Web surfing really paid off: He’s a tougher negotiator than he thought.

o b je c t iv e i Situational Effects
S T Z S on Consumer Behavior
influence the consumer’s
decision-making process. Even in tociay's buyer's market, many consumers dread the act
___________________ of buying a car. In fact, a survey by Yankelovich Partners found
that this transaction is the most anxiety-provoking and least
satisfying of any retail experience.1 But change is in the wind, as dealers transform the
car showroom. Car shoppers like Kyle log onto Internet buying services, call auto brokers
359
360 SECTION 3 Consum ers as Decision Makers

who negotiate for them, buy cars at warehouse clubs, and visit giant auto malls where
they can easily comparison-shop.
Kyle's experience when he bought a car illustrates some of the concepts we'll dis
cuss in this chapter. Making a purchase is often not a simple, routine matter where you
just pop into a store and make a quick choice. As Figure 9.1 illustrates, many contextual
factors affect our choice, such as our mood, whether we feel time pressure to make the
purchase, and the particular reason we need the product. In some situations, such as
when we buy a car or a home, the salesperson or realtor plays a pivotal role in our final
selection. Also, people today often use the Web to arm themselves with product and price
information before they even enter a dealership or a store; this puts more pressure on
retailers to deliver the value their customers expect.
But the sale doesn't end at the time of purchase. A lot of important consumer activity
occurs after we bring a product home. Once we use a product, we have to decide whether
we're satisfied with it. The satisfaction process is especially important to savvy marketers
who realize that the key to success is not to sell a product one time, but rather to forge a
relationship with the consumer so that he will come back for more. Finally, just as Kyle
thought about the resale value of his car, we must also consider how consumers dispose
of products and how we often rely on secondary markets (e.g., used-car dealers) to obtain
what we want. We'll consider these issues in this chapter.
A consumption situation includes a buyer, a seller, and a product or service—but also
many other factors, such as the reason we want to make a purchase and how the physical
environment makes us feel.2 Common sense tells us that we tailor our purchases to spe
cific occasions and that the way we feel at a specific point in time affects what we want to
do—or buy. Smart marketers understand these patterns and plan their efforts to coincide
with situations in which we are most prone to purchase. For example, book clubs invest
heavily in promotional campaigns in June because many people want to stock up on
"beach books" to read during the summer; for the same reason, we get tons of featured
fun fiction books for our Kindles and Nooks in April and May. Our moods even change
radically during the day, so at different times we might be more or less interested in what
a marketer offers. Social media platforms also are looking at ways to adapt quickly to
situational changes. Facebook is testing ads targeted in real time based on users' status
updates ("What's on your mind?") and wall posts. Theoretically, a user who posts near
the end of his workday that "It's Miller time" could immediately be served a promotion
from MillerCoors or another beer company.3
A study used a technique researchers call the day reconstruction method to track
these changes. More than 900 working women kept diaries of everything they did during
the day, from reading the paper in the morning to falling asleep in front of the TV at night.
The next day they relived each diary entry and rated how they felt at the time (annoyed,
happy, etc.). Overall, researchers found that the study participants woke up a little grumpy
but soon entered a state of mild pleasure. This mood increased by degrees through the
day, though it was punctuated by occasional bouts of anxiety, frustration, and anger. Not
surprisingly, the subjects were least happy when they engaged in mundane activities

Figure 9.1 ISSUES RELATED TO

PURCHASE AND POSTPU RCH ASE
ACTIVITIES
 CHAPTER 9 Buying and Disposing 361

like commuting to work and doing housework, whereas they rated sex, socializing with
friends, and relaxing as most enjoyable. Contrary to prior findings, however, the women
were happier when they watched television than when they shopped or talked on the
phone. They ranked taking care of children low, below cooking and not far above house
work. The good news: Overall, people seem to be pretty happy, and these ratings aren't
influenced very much by factors such as household income or job security. By far, the two
factors that most upset daily moods were a poor night's sleep and tight work deadlines.4
In addition to the functional relationships between products and usage situation, an
other reason to take environmental circumstances seriously is that a person's situational
self-image—the role she plays at any one time—helps to determine what she wants to buy
or consume (see Chapter 5).5 A guy who tries to impress his date as he plays the role of
"man-about-town" may spend more lavishly, order champagne instead of beer, and buy
flowers—purchases he would never consider when he hangs out with his friends, slurps
beer, and plays the role of “one of the boys.” Let's see how these dynamics affect the way
people think about what they buy.
If we systematically identify important usage situations, we can tailor market seg
mentation strategies to ensure that our offerings meet the specific needs these situations
create. For example, we often tailor our furniture choices to specific settings. We prefer
different styles for a city apartment, a beach house, or an executive suite. Similarly, we
distinguish motorcycles in terms of how riders use them, including commuting, riding
them as dirt bikes, or on a farm versus highway travel.6

H a r t m a r x

T h e B u s i n e s s o f D r e s s i n g

Jo n e s

H a r t

Clothing choices are often heavily

influenced by the situation in which we
need to wear them.
Source: Courtesy of Hart Schaffner Marx / Hartmarx.
362 SECTION 3 Consum ers as Decision Makers

TABLE 9.1 A Person-Situation Segmentation Matrix for Suntan Lotion

Young Children Teenagers Adult Women Adult Men

Fair Dark Fair Dark Fair Dark Fair Dark
Situation Skin Skin Skin Skin Skin Skin Skin Skin Benefits / Features

Beach / boat Combined Summer a. Product serves as windburn protection

sunbathing insect perfume b. Formula and container can stand heat
repellent c. Container floats and is distinctive
(not easily lost)
Home-poolside Combined a. Product has large pump dispenser
sunbathing moisturizer b. Product won’t stain wood, concrete,
furnishings
Sunlamp bathing Combined a. Product is designed specifically
moisturizer for type of lamp
and massage b. Product has an artificial tanning
oil ingredient

Snow skiing Winter a. Product provides special protection

perfume from special light rays and weather
b. Product has antifreeze formula
Person benefit / Special Special Special Special
features protection protection protection protection

a. Protection a. Product fits

is critical in jean pocket
b. Formula is b. Product used by Female perfume Male perfume
non-poisonous opinion leaders

Source: Adapted from Peter R. Dickson, “Person-Situation: Segmentation’s Missing Link,” Journal of Marketing 46 (Fall 1982): 62. By permission of American Marketing
Association.

Table 9.1 gives one example of how a marketer fine-tunes its segmentation strategy
to the usage situation. When we list the m ajor contexts in which people use a product
(e.g., snow skiing and sunbathing for a suntan lotion) and the different types of people
who use the product, we can construct a matrix that identifies specific product features
we should emphasize for each situation. During the summer a lotion manufacturer might
promote the fact that the bottle floats and is hard to lose, but during the winter season it
could tout its nonfreezing formula.

Our Social and Physical Surroundings

A consumer's physical and social environment affects her motives to use a product, as
well as how she will evaluate the item. Important cues include her immediate environ
ment as well as the amount and type of other consumers who are there as well. Dimen
sions of the physical environment, such as decor, odors, and even temperature, can
significantly influence consumption. One study even found that if a Las Vegas casino
pumped certain odors into the room, patrons fed more money into the slot machines!7
We'll take a closer look at some of these factors a bit later in this chapter when we con
sider how important store design is to consumer behavior.
In addition to physical cues, though, groups or social settings significantly
affect many of our purchase decisions. In some cases, the sheer presence or absence of
co-consum ers, the other patrons in a setting, actually is a product attribute; think about
an exclusive resort or boutique that promises to provide privacy to privileged customers.
At other times, the presence of others can have positive value. A sparsely attended ball
game or an empty bar can be a depressing sight.
 CHAPTER 9 Buying and Disposing 363

Have you ever experienced a panicky feeling if you're trapped in the middle of a big
crowd? The presence of large numbers of people in a consumer environment increases
physiological arousal levels, so our experiences are more intense. This boost, however,
can be positive or negative; the experience depends on how we interpret this arousal. It is
important to distinguish between density and crowding for this reason. The former term
refers to the actual number of people who occupy a space; whereas the unpleasant psy
chological state of crowding exists only if a negative affective state occurs as a result of this
density.8 For example, 100 students packed into a classroom designed for 75 may result
in an unpleasant situation for all, but the same number of people jammed together at a
party—and who occupy a room of the same size—might just make for a great time. Indeed,
one recent study even suggests that crowded consumers react by making more varied and
unique choices in a store setting, perhaps as a way to rebel against feeling confined.9
In addition, the type of consumers who patronize a store or service or who use a
product affects our evaluations. We often infer something about a store when we exam
ine its customers. For this reason, some restaurants require men to wear jackets for din
ner (and supply rather tacky ones if they don't), and bouncers at some "hot" nightspots
handpick people who wait in line based on whether they have the right "look" for the
club. To paraphrase the comedian Groucho Marx, "I would never join a club that would
have me as a member!"

Net Profit
Geospatial applications such as Foursquare and Gowalla now make patronizing a place
repeatedly into a sport. Avid users compete to check in as many times as they can to earn
the title of "Mayor." Now, some smart retailers are figuring out that it makes sense to
reward others who check in, even if they don't win this coveted honor. Recently 60 m er
chants, including Whole Foods and Starwood Hotels, partnered with American Express
to offer cash rewards to customers who check in on Foursquare and buy something at
the store. Although these platforms have yet to catch on among most of the mainstream
public, certainly other location-aware mobile services (such as GPS navigation, weather
alerts, and store locators) are already widely accepted. Indeed, already more than half of
American consumers who own devices with GPS capability use them for these purposes—
and already a third of this group have already applied them for purchasing and e-coupons.
One app, ShopKick, has been adopted by retailers such as American Eagle, Macy's, Sports
Authority, and Target, and it already boasts more than 1 million active users.10

Temporal Factors
Time is one of consumers' most precious resources. We talk about "making time" or
"spending time" and we frequently remind others that "time is money." Common sense
tells us that we think more about what we want to buy when we have the luxury to take our
time. Even a normally meticulous shopper who never buys before she compares prices
might sprint through the mall at 9:00 p . m . on Christmas Eve to scoop up anything left
on the shelves if she needs a last-minute gift. The same logic applies to online market
ing; open rates (the percentage of people who open an email message from a marketer)
vary throughout the day. The peak time for high open rates: mid-day on weekdays
(presumably when all those people at work take a lunch break).11

Economic Time
Time is an econom ic variable; it is a resource that we must divide among our activities.12
We try to maximize satisfaction when we allocate our time to different tasks. Of course,
people’s allocation decisions differ; we all know people who seem to play all of the time,
and others who are workaholics. An individual's priorities determine his tim estyle.13
People in different countries also “spend" this resource at different rates. A social scientist
compared the pace of life in 31 cities around the world as part of a study on timestyles.14
364 SECTION 3 Consum ers as Decision Makers

He and his assistants timed how long it takes pedestrians to walk 60 feet and the time
postal clerks take to sell a stamp. Based on these responses, he claims that the fastest and
slowest countries are:

Fastest countries—(1) Switzerland, (2) Ireland, (3) Germany, (4) Japan, (5) Italy

Slowest cou ntries—(31) Mexico, (30) Indonesia, (29) Brazil, (28) El Salvador,
(27) Syria

Many consumers believe they are more pressed for time than ever before; marketers
label this feeling tim e poverty. The problem appears to be more perception than fact. The
reality is that we simply have more options for spending our time, so we feel pressured by
the weight of all of these choices. The average working day at the turn of the 19th century
was 10 hours (6 days per week), and women did 27 hours of housework per week, com
pared to less than 5 hours weekly now. Of course, there are plenty of husbands who share
these burdens more, and in some families it's not as important as it used to be to maintain
an absolutely spotless home as our values change (see Chapter 4). Ironically, though hus
bands do help out a lot more than they used to, married women spend a lot more time on
housework than do single women (having kids to take care of figures in there). Married
men and single women do roughly the same amount each week and (surprise!) single
men average the least time of anyone (about 7 to 8 hours per week). Still, about a third of
Americans report always feeling rushed, up from 25 percent of the population in 1964.15

Psychological Time
"Time flies when you're having fun," but other situations (like some classes?) seem to last
forever. Our experience of time is very subjective; our immediate priorities and needs de
termine how quickly time flies. It's important for marketers to understand the fluidity of
time because we're more likely to be in a consuming mood at some times than at others.
A study examined how the timestyles of a group of American women influence their
consumption choices.16The researchers identified four dimensions of time: (1) the social
dimension refers to individuals' categorization of time as either "time for me" or "time
with/for others"; (2) the temporal orientation dimension depicts the relative significance
individuals attach to past, present, or future; (3) the planning orientation dimension al
ludes to different time management styles varying on a continuum from analytic to spon
taneous; and (4) the polychronic orientation dimension distinguishes between people
who prefer to do one thing at a time from those who have multitasking timestyles. After
they interviewed and observed these women, the researchers identified a set of five meta
phors that they say capture the participants' perspectives on time:

• Time is a pressure cooker—These women are usually analytical in their planning,

other-oriented, and m onochronic in their timestyles. They treat shopping in a
methodical manner and they often feel under pressure and in conflict.
• Time is a m ap—These women are usually analytical planners; they exhibit a future
temporal orientation and a polychronic timestyle. They often engage in extensive
information search and comparison-shop.
• Time is a m irror—Women in this group are also analytic planners and have a poly
chronic orientation. However, they have a past temporal orientation. Because of their
risk averseness in time use, these women are usually loyal to products and services
they know and trust. They prefer convenience-oriented products.
• Time is a river—These women are usually spontaneous in their planning orientation
and have a present focus. They go on unplanned, short, and frequent shopping trips.
• Time is a feast—These women are analytical planners with a present temporal ori
entation. They view time as something they consume to pursue sensory pleasure and
gratification, and for this reason they value hedonic consumption and variety-seeking.

Our experience of time is largely a result of our culture, because people around the world
think about the passage of time very differently. To most Western consumers, time is a neatly
 CHAPTER 9 Buying e nd Disposing 365

Time poverty is creating opportunities for

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that let people multitask.
Source: Courtesy of Campbell Soup Company.

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compartmentalized thing: We wake up in the morning, go to school or work, come home, eat
dinner, go out, go to sleep, wake up, and do it all over again. We call this perspective linear
separable time—events proceed in an orderly sequence and "There's a time and a place for
everything." There is a clear sense of past, present, and future. We perform many activities as
the means to some end that will occur later, such as when we "save for a rainy day."
This perspective seems natural to us, but not all others share it. Some cultures run on
procedural time and ignore the clock completely; people simply decide to do something
"when the time is right." For example, in Burundi people might arrange to meet when the
cows return from the watering hole. If you ask someone in Madagascar how long it takes
to get to the market, you will get an answer such as, "in the time it takes to cook rice."
Alternatively, in circular or cyclic time, natural cycles such as the regular occurrence
of the seasons govern people's sense of time (a perspective many Hispanic cultures share).
To these consumers, the notion of the future does not make sense; that time will be much
like the present. Because the concept of future value does not exist, these consumers often
 366 SECTION 3 Consum ers as Decision Makers

prefer to buy an inferior product that is available now rather than wait for a better one that
may become available later. Also, it is hard to convince people who function on circular time
to buy insurance or save for a rainy day when they don't think in terms of a linear future.
To appreciate all the different ways people think about time, consider those who speak
Aymara, an Indian language of the high Andes. They actually see the future as behind them
and the past ahead of them! Aymara call the future qhipa pacha/timpu, meaning back or
behind time, and the past nayra pacha/timpu, meaning front time. And they gesture ahead
of them when remembering things past and backward when talking about the future. An
thropologists explain that people in this culture distinguish primarily between what they
know and what they don't—and they know what they see in front of them with their own
eyes. So, because they know the past, it lies ahead of them. The future is unknown, so it
lies behind them where they can't see it.17 Just imagine trying to sell them life insurance!
The sketches in Figure 9.2 illustrate what happened when a researcher asked college
students to draw pictures of time. The drawing at the top left represents procedural time;
there is lack of direction from left to right and little sense of past, present, and future. The
three drawings in the middle denote cyclical time, with markers that designate regular
cycles. The bottom drawing represents linear time, with a segmented time line moving
from left to right in a well-defined sequence.18
The psychological dimension of time—how we actually experience it—is an impor
tant factor in queuing theory, the mathematical study of waiting lines. As we all know,
our experience when we wait has a big effect on our evaluations of what we get at the
end of the wait. Although we assume that something must be pretty good if we have to
wait for it, the negative feelings that long waits arouse can quickly turn people off.19 In a
survey, NCR Corp. found that standing around the local Department or Division of Motor
Vehicles is the most dreaded wait of all. Waiting in line at retail outlets came in a close
second, followed by registering at clinics or hospitals, checking in at airports, and order
ing at fast-food restaurants or deli counters. On average, consumers estimate that they
spend more than 2 days per year waiting in line for service, and half believe they waste
between 30 minutes and 2 hours each week on lines.20

o;
;P ; ' /O '

ÇX -p.
/'

(T <r
Procedural time

Æ ^
Cyclical time

• J ’.., ...

Figure 9.2 DRAWINGS OF TIME

Source: Esther S. Page-Wood, Carol J. Kaufman,
and Paul M. Lane, (1990) " The Art o f Tim e .”
Proceedings of the 1990 Academy of
Marketing Science conference, ed B. J. Dunlap, Linear time
Vol. xili, Cullowhee, NC: Acad emy of M a rke ting
Science, 56-61. Copyright © 1990 Aca d em y of
M arketing Science. Used with p erm ission.
 CHAPTER 9 Buying end Disposing 367

Marketers use "tricks" to minimize psychological waiting time. These techniques

range from altering customers' perceptions of a line's length to providing distractions Net I rofit
that divert attention from waiting:21

• One hotel chain received excessive complaints about the wait for elevators, so it in The W alt Disney Co. is
stalled mirrors near the elevator banks. People's natural tendency to check their ap counting on our cell phones
to enhance our theme park
pearance reduced complaints, even though the actual waiting time was unchanged.
experiences. Guests who
• Airline passengers often complain about the wait to claim their baggage. In one air
wait in line for a comedy show at Walt Disney
port, they would walk 1 minute from the plane to the baggage carousel and then wait World can text-message jokes that may be
7 minutes for their luggage. When the airport changed the layout so that the walk included in the show they go to see. As one
to the carousel took 6 minutes and bags arrived 2 minutes after that, complaints executive explained, “It works as our warm-up
disappeared.22 act essentially for the show, but it also . . .
• Restaurant chains are scrambling to put the "fast" back into fast food, especially for keeps them entertained while they’re wait
drive-through lanes, which now account for 65 percent of revenues. In a study that ing.” In a deal with Verizon Wireless, park
ranked the speed of 25 fast-food chains, cars spent an average of 203.6 seconds from visitors can use their mobiles to save a spot
the menu board to departure. Wendy's was clocked the fastest at 150.3 seconds. To in a line at a popular ride or even to deter
speed things up and eliminate spills, McDonald's created a salad that comes in a mine where they can find Mickey Mouse at
the momen t to get an autograph. Visitors can
container to fit into car cup holders. Arby's is working on a "high viscosity" version of
download an app to plan their trips, make
its special sauce that's less likely to spill. Burger King is testing see-through bags so
hotel reservations, and create a checklist
customers can quickly check their orders before speeding off.23
of must-sea attractions. They’ll be able to
Queuing theory must take cultural differences into account, because these affect how check wait times at rides or locate the clos
est pizza vendor when they use Mousewait.
we behave while in line. One Hong Kong researcher maintains, for example, that Asians
Disney recommends alternative activities with
and others in more collective cultures compare their situation with those around them.
faster wait l imes and even suggests places to
This means they're more likely to stand patiently in a long line: They are likely to compare
see based on the user’s current location in
their situation to the num ber of people behind them rather than to the number ahead the park. They can follow up with personal
of them. By contrast, Americans and others in more individualistic societies don't make ized mementos of the trip, such as a digital
these "social comparisons." They don't necessarily feel better that more people are be photo of Sleeping Beauty who thanks a child
hind them, but they feel bad if too many people are in front of them. A Disney executive for coming.24
claims that Europeans also exhibit different behaviors depending on their nationality. He
notes that at the Disneyland Resort Paris, British visitors are orderly but the French and
Italians "never saw a line they couldn't be in front of."25

OBJECTIVE 2
The information a store
The Shopping Experience M yM a rk e tingLa b
V is itwww.pearsonglobaieditions.com /
or Web site provides
Our mood at the time of purchase can really affect what we mymarketinglab to test your understanding
strongly influences a
feel like buying.26 Recall that in Chapter 4 we talked about of chapter objectives.
purchase decision,
how we direct our behavior to satisfy certain goal states. If you
in addition to what a
don't believe it, try grocery shopping on an empty stomach! Or
shopper already knows or
make a decision when you're stressed, and you'll understand
believes about a product.
how a physiological state impairs information-processing and
problem-solving abilities.27
Two basic dimensions, pleasure and arousal, determine whether we will react posi
tively or negatively to a consumption environment.28 What it boils down to is that you can
either enjoy or not enjoy a situation, and you can feel stimulated or not. As Figure 9.3 indi
cates, different combinations of pleasure and arousal levels result in a variety of emotional
states. An arousing situation can be either distressing or exciting, depending on whether
the context is positive or negative (e.g., a street riot versus a street festival). So, a specific
mood is some combination of pleasure and arousal. The state of happiness is high in pleas
antness and moderate in arousal, whereas elation is high on both dimensions.29 A mood
state (either positive or negative) biases our judgments of products and services in that
direction.30 Put simply, we give more positive evaluations when we're in a good mood (this
explains the popularity of the business lunch!).
Many factors, including store design, the weather, and whether you just had a fight
with your significant other, affect your mood. Music and television programming do
as well.31 When we hear happy music or watch happy programs, we experience more
368 SECTION 3 Consum ers as Decision Makers

Figure 9.3 DIMENSIONS

OF EMOTIONAL STATES AROUSING

Distressing Exciting

UNPLEASANT

Gloomy Relaxing

SLEEPY

positive reactions to commercials and products.32 And when we're in a good mood, we
process ads with less elaboration. We pay less attention to the specifics of the message
and we rely more on heuristics (see Chapter 8).33
Our emotional reactions to marketing cues are so powerful that some high-tech com
panies study mood in very small doses (in 1/30 of a second increments) as they analyze
people's facial reactions when they see ads or new products. They measure happiness as
they look for differences between, for example, a true smile (which includes a relaxation
of the upper eyelid) and a social smile (which occurs only around the mouth). Whirlpool
used this technique to test consumers' emotional reactions to a yet-to-be-launched gen
eration of its Duet washers and dryers. The company’s goal: To design an appliance that
will actually make people happy. Researchers discovered that even though test subjects
said they weren't thrilled with some out-of-the-box design options, such as unusual color
combinations, their facial expressions said otherwise.34

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Go Shopping

We all know some people who shop simply for the sport of it, and others whom we have to
drag to a mall. Shopping is how we acquire needed products and services, but social motives
for shopping also are important. Thus, shopping is an activity that we can perform for either
utilitarian (functional or tangible) or hedonic (pleasurable or intangible) reasons.35
So, do people hate to shop or love it? We segment consumers in terms of their
shopping orientation, or general attitudes about shopping. These orientations vary de
pending on the particular product categories and store types we consider. Rob hates to
shop for a car, but he may love to browse in music stores. A shopper's motivation influ
ences the type of shopping environment that will be attractive or annoying; for example,
a person who wants to locate and buy something quickly may find loud music, bright
colors, or complex layouts distracting, whereas someone who is there to browse may
enjoy the sensory stimulation.36
Some scale items that researchers use to assess our shopping motivations illustrate the
diverse reasons we may shop. One item that measures hedonic value is "During the trip,
I felt the excitement of the hunt." When we compare that type of sentiment to a functional
statement, "I accomplished just what I wanted to on this shopping trip," there's a clear con
trast between these two dimensions.37 Hedonic shopping motives include the following:38

• Social experiences—The shopping center or department store replaces the traditional

town square or county fair as a community gathering place. Many people (especially in
suburban or rural areas) have almost no other places to spend their leisure time. That
probably explains the popularity of late-night games college students in some rural areas
 CHAPTER 9 Buying and Disposing 369

play at their local Walmart. In addition to sports such as scavenger hunts, aisle football,
and a relay race limbo under the shopping-cart stand, "10 in 10" is a big attraction. To
play this game, students form into teams; each team has 10 minutes to put 10 items from
anywhere in the store in a shopping cart. Then they turn their cart over to the opposing
team, which has to figure out where the items came from and return them to the shelves
where they belong (not so easy in a store stocked with more than 100,000 different items).
The first team back to the checkout counters with an empty cart wins.39 Note: If you get
busted for playing this game, you did NOT learn about it here.
• Sharing of common interests—Stores frequently offer specialized goods that allow
people with shared interests to communicate.
• Interpersonal attraction—Shopping centers are a natural place to congregate. The
shopping mall is a favorite "hangout" for teenagers. It also represents a controlled,
secure environment for the elderly, and many malls now feature "mall walkers' clubs"
for early morning workouts.
• Instant status—As every salesperson knows, some people savor the experience of be
ing waited on, even though they may not necessarily buy anything. One m en's cloth
ing salesman offered this advice: "Remember their size, rem em ber what you sold
them last time. Make them feel important! If you can make people feel important,
they are going to come back. Everybody likes to feel important!"40 When a team of
researchers conducted in-depth interviews with women to understand what makes
shopping a pleasurable experience, they found one motivation was role-playing. For
example, one respondent dressed up for shopping excursions to upscale boutiques
because she likes to pretend she is wealthy and have salespeople fall all over her.41
• The thrill of the hunt—Some people pride themselves on their knowledge of the
marketplace. Unlike our car-buying friend Kyle, they may love to haggle and bargain.

E-Commerce: Clicks versus Bricks

As more and more Web sites pop up to sell everything from refrigerator magnets to Mack
trucks, marketers continue to debate how the online world affects their business.42 In
particular, many lose sleep as they wonder whether e-commerce will replace traditional
retailing, work in concert with it, or perhaps even fade away to become another fad your
kids will laugh about someday (OK, that's not real likely).
One thing to keep in mind is that the experience of acquiring the good may be quite
different offline versus online. This aspect of the transaction can provide value added over
and above the good or service you buy. We clearly see this difference between the two
worlds when we compare how people gamble in casinos versus online. When researchers
interviewed 30 gamblers to explore these experiences, they found sharp contrasts. Those
who enjoy casino gambling have a strong sense of connection to fellow gamblers, so it's
very much a social experience. Online gamblers enjoy the anonymity of the Internet.
Casino gamblers get turned on by the sensual experiences and excitement of the casino,
whereas online gamblers gravitate more to the feeling of safety and control they get b e
cause they stay at home. Casino gamblers talked about the friendly atmosphere, while
those who stayed online reported behaviors that a real casino wouldn't tolerate, such as
taunts and bullying.43 Although both groups aim to have fun and hope to make money,
it's a safe bet that their experiences are quite different.
For marketers, the growth of online commerce is a sword that cuts both ways. On
the one hand, they reach customers around the world even if they're physically located
100 miles from nowhere. On the other hand, they now compete not only with the store
across the street but also with thousands of Web sites that span the globe. Also, when
consumers obtain products directly from the manufacturer or wholesaler, this eliminates
the intermediary—the loyal, store-based retailers that carry the firm's products and sell
them at a marked-up price.44
So what makes e-com m erce sites successful? Some e-tailers take advantage of
technology to provide extra value to their customers that their land-locked rivals can't.
eBay offers a feature within its Fashion app called "See It On" that allows the user to
370 SECTION 3 Consum ers as Decision Makers

E-commerce sites like Bluefly give shoppers

the option of shopping without leaving home.
Source: Courtesy of Bluefly.com.

tuesday, 11:15 p.m.

t: buying a new dress

virtually try on sunglasses in real time using an iPhone 4 or iPod Touch. He or she
can adjust the fit, choose different styles, frames, lenses, and colors to find the per
fect look, and then browse through eBay to find the perfect price.45 Other new fashion
sites, such as Net-a-Porter and Gilt Groupe, directly connect buyers and sellers so that
designers can be more nimble and react quickly to changing consumer tastes. Others
like Threadless, ModCloth, Lookk, and Fabricly go a step further: They crowdsource
fashion to determine what styles they will actually produce based on what customers
tell them they will buy. Indeed, the high-fashion site ModaOperandi bills itself as a
pretailer; it provides exclusive styles by prodding manufacturers to produce runway
pieces they wouldn't otherwise make because store buyers w eren't sure anyone would
pay the money for them .46
More generally, online shoppers value these aspects of a Web site:

• The ability to click on an item to create a pop-up window with more details about the
product, including price, size, colors, and inventory availability.
• The ability to click on an item and add it to your cart without leaving the page you're on.
 CHAPTER 9 Buying and Disposing 371

S h O p f c ic h T H EAPP ABOUT COMMUNITY PRESS LOCAL CONTACT HELP/FAQ

Shopkick is a location-based smartphone
application that unlocks deals and rewards
when shoppers enter participating stores.
The A p p | Your favorite stores just got better. Source: Courtesy of shopkick.

shopklck gives you awesome deals and rewards simply for walking into your
favorite stores. You can collect your kicks™ rewards at millions of stores in
America, and great deals at many of the top national retailers. Crazy, but true.
jg} C o lle c t walk-in rewards: Have you ever gotten rewarded simply tor walking into stores -
yes. ]ust for visiting'? Now you can collect boatloads of kicks™ In the kicks Reward Program
and unlock awesome exclusive deals at your favorite stores Just walk M o 1.300 Best Buy
stores in an 50 states, and hundreds of Target stores, Macy's, American Eagle. Sports
Authority Crate&Barrel. West Elm, Wet Seal and the largest Simon mads! Open the
shopkick app on your IPhone or Android phone in the entrance area, and wart for a few
seconds That’s it! Your shopklck app will reward you instantly ifs fun shopkick is adding
more stores m more cities every month

fCjj G et ex clu siv e deals: Discover and unlock awesome deals in the shopkick app at dozens
of national stores, many of them are exclusively offered to shopkick users only

(g) C o lle c t scan rew ards Collect additional kicks rewards by scanning barcodes of featured
products with your phone at 250.000 stores across the United States

R edeem your k ick s™ to r rew ards! Get cool rewards like iTunes gift cards restaurant
vouchers Best BuyrrargeUMacy's/Amertcan Eagte/Sports Authority Instant gift cards.
Facebook Credits, movie tickets, o r If you go all out. a 3D 55' Sony Bravia HDTV or a cruise
around the world! And If you want to change the work), donate your kicks to 30 different
causes!

• The ability to "feel" merchandise through better imagery, more product descriptions,
and details.
• The ability to enter all data related to your purchase on one page, rather than going
through several checkout pages.
• The ability to mix and match product images on one page to determine whether they
look good together.47

Table 9.2 summarizes some of the pros and cons of e-commerce. It's clear that tra
ditional shopping isn't quite dead yet, but brick-and-mortar retailers do need to work
harder to give shoppers something they can't get (yet anyway) in the virtual world: a
stimulating or pleasant environment. Now let's check out how they're doing that.

TABLE 9.2 Pros and Cons of E-Commerce

Benefits of E-Commerce Limitations of E-Commerce

For the Consumer For the Consumer

Shop 24 hours a day Lack of security
Less traveling Fraud
Can receive relevant information in seconds from any location Can’t touch items
More choices of products Exact colors may not reproduce on computer monitors
More products available to less-developed countries Expensive to order and then return
Greater price information Potential breakdown of human relationships
Lower prices so that less affluent can purchase
Participate in virtual auctions
Fast delivery
Electronic communities
For the Marketer For the Marketer
The world is the marketplace Lack of security
Decreases costs of doing business Must maintain site to reap benefits
Veiy specialized business can be successful Fierce price competition
Real-time pricing Conflicts with conventional retailers
Legal issues not resolved

Source: Adapted from Michael R. Solomon and Elnora W. Stuart, Welcome to Marketing.com: The Brave New World of E-Commerce (Upp er Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001).
372 SECTION 3 Consumers as Decision Makers

Retailing as Theater
At several U.S. malls, shoppers show up in shorts and flip-flops. They're turning out to
ride a Flowrider, a huge wave-making m achine.48 Shopping center developers turn to
attractions like this to lure reluctant custom ers back to malls. The com petition for cus-
tom ers becom es even m ore intense as nonstore alternatives, from Web sites and print
catalogs to TV shopping networks and hom e shopping parties, continue to multiply.
With all of these shopping alternatives available, how can a traditional store com -
pete? M any malls are giant entertainm ent centers, alm ost to the point that their tra -
ditional retail occupants seem like an afterthought. Today, it's com m onplace to find
carousels, m iniature golf, skating rinks, or batting cages in a suburban mall. Hershey
opened a make-believe factory smack in the m iddle of Times Square. It features four
steam m achines and 380 feet of neon lighting, plus a moving message board that lets
visiting chocoloholics program messages to surprise their loved ones.49
The quest to entertain m eans that m any stores go all out to create imaginative envi-
ronm ents that transport shoppers to fantasy worlds or provide other kinds of stimulation.
We call this strategy retail theming. Innovative m erchants today use four basic kinds of
them ing techniques:

1 Landscape themes rely on associations with images of nature, Earth, animals, and the
physical body. Bass Pro Shops, for example, creates a sim ulated outdoor environ-
ment, including pools stocked with fish.
2 Marketscape themes build on associations with m anm ade places. An example is The
Venetian hotel in Las Vegas, which lavishly recreates parts of the real Italian city.
3 Cyberspace themes build on images of information and com m unications technology.
eBay's retail interface instills a sense of com m unity am ong its vendors and traders.
4 Mindscape themes draw on abstract ideas and concepts, introspection and fantasy,
and often possess spiritual overtones. The Kiva day spa in downtown Chicago offers
health treatm ents based on a them e of Native American healing cerem onies and
religious practices.50

One popular them ing strategy is to convert a store into a being space. This environ-
m ent resem bles a commercial living room where we can go to relax, be entertained, hang
out with friends, escape the everyday, or even learn. W hen you think of being spaces,
Starbucks probably comes to mind. The coffee chain's stated goal is to becom e our "third
place" w here we spend the bulk of our time, in addition to hom e and work. Starbucks
led the way w hen it outfitted its stores with comfy chairs and Wi-Fi. But there are many
other m arketers who m eet our needs for exciting com m ercial spaces—no m atter what
those needs are. In Asia, venues such as M anboo and Fujiyama Land provide havens
where gamers can do their thing 24/7—and even take a shower on-site during a break.
Other spaces cater to the needs of minipreneurs (one-person businesses) as they offer
work-centered being spaces. At New York's Paragraph, writers who need a quiet place
to rum inate can hang out in a loft that's divided into a writing room and a lounge area.
TwoRooms ("You Work, They Play") provides office space and child care for hom e-based
workers.51
Reflecting the ever-quickening pace of our culture, m any of these being spaces
come and go very rapidly—on purpose. Pop-up stores appear in m any forms around
the world. Typically, these are tem porary installations th at do business only for a few
days or weeks and then disappear before they get old. The Swatch Instant Store sells
lim ited-edition w atches in a m ajor city until the m asses discover it; then it closes and
moves on to another "cool" locale. The Dutch beer brand D om m elsch organized pop-up
concerts: Fans entered barcodes they found on cans, beer bottles, and coasters on the
brew er's Web site to discover dates and locations. You m ay even run into a pop-up store
on your cam pus; several brands, including the Brazilian flip-flop m aker H avaianas,
V ictoria's Secret's Pink, and sustainable-clothing b ran d RVL7, ru n pop-up projects
around the United States.52
 CHAPTER 9 Buying and Disposing 373

CB AS I SEE IT
Professor Cele Otnes, University o f Illinois a t Urbana-Champaign

consumers’ experiences. Rituals are shoppers and with retailers (as is the
expressive, dramatic events we repeat case at Buiid-A-Bear, when consumers
over time (for more on rituals, see engage in grooming rituals with the
Chapter 14). toys they’ve just created), and whether
Our research explores whether and how these rituals actually en
and how these types of rituals actu hance consumers’ retail experiences.
ally affect customers’ experience with From a strategic perspective, we will
a brand. We have interviewed more also explore whether ritualizing the
than 20 retailers and service provid shopping e>perience allows retailers to
ers who identify themselves as using charge premium prices, to be forgiven
H o w can retailers make consumers’ rituals designed for their employees more easily if they make mistakes
in-store experiences more meaning or customers in order to enhance their with consumers, and to allocate less
ful in order to positively influence key relationships with these stakeholders, of their money to marketing commu
attitudinal and behavioral measures, to improve efficiency, and to differenti nications. So next time you stand in
such as brand loyalty and likelihood of ate themselves from their competitors. line at Marble Slab Creamery or wear
repeat purchasing? One research topic W e’re exploring such issues as how a “birthday sombrero” on your head
that relates to this question is how consumers resist rituals, how consum at your favorite Mexican restaurant,
retailers use in-store rituals to shape ers help co-create rituals with other remember— you’ve been ritualized!

Store Image
As so m any stores com pete for custom ers, how do we ever pick one over others? Just
like products (see Chapter 6), stores have “personalities." Some shops have very clearly
defined images (either good or bad). Others tend to blend into the crowd. W hat factors
shape this personality, or store image? Some of the im portant dim ensions of a store's
image are location, m erchandise suitability, and the knowledge and congeniality of the
sales staff.53
These design features typically work together to create an overall impression. W hen
we think about stores, we don't usually say, "Well, that place is fairly good in terms of con-
venience, the salespeople are acceptable, and services are good." We're more likely to pro-
claim, "That place gives me the creeps,” or "It's so m uch fun to shop there.” We quickly get
an overall impression of a store, and the feeling we get may have more to do with intangibles,
such as interior design and the types of people we find in the aisles, than with the store's
return policies or credit availability. As a result, some stores routinely pop up in our consid-
eration sets (see Chapter 8), whereas we never consider others ("Only geeks shop there!").54

Atmospherics
Retailers w ant you to com e in—and stay. Careful store design increases the am ount of
space the shopper covers, and stim ulating displays keep them in the aisles longer. This
"curb appeal" translates directly to the bottom line: Researchers tracked grocery shop-
per's m ovem ents by plotting the position of their cell phones as they m oved about a store.
They found that w hen people lingered just 1 percent longer, sales rose by 1.3 percent.
Of course, grocers know a lot of tricks after years of observing shoppers. For example,
they call the area just inside a superm arket's entrance the "decom pression zone": People
tend to slow down and take stock of their surroundings w hen they enter the store, so store
designers use this space to prom ote bargains rather than to sell. Similarly, W alm art's
"greeters” help custom ers to settle in to their shopping experience. Once they get a seri-
ous start, the first thing shoppers encounter is the produce section. Fruits and vegetables
can easily be dam aged, so it would be m ore logical to buy these items at the end of a shop-
ping trip. But fresh, wholesom e food makes people feel good (and righteous) so they're
less guilty w hen they throw the chips and cookies in the cart later.55
374 SECTION 3 Consumers as Decision Makers

Because m arketers recognize that a store's image is a very im portant part of the
retailing mix, store designers pay a lot of attention to atmospherics, the "conscious de-
signing of space and its various dim ensions to evoke certain effects in buyers.”56 These
dim ensions include colors, scents, and sounds. For example, stores with red interiors
tend to make people tense, whereas a blue decor im parts a calm er feeling.57 As we noted
in Chapter 2, some prelim inary evidence also indicates that odors (olfactory cues) influ-
ence our evaluations of a store's environm ent.58
A store's atm osphere in turn affects w hat we buy. In one study, researchers asked
shoppers how m uch pleasure they felt five m inutes after they entered a store. Those who
enjoyed their experience spent m ore time and money.59 To boost the entertainm ent value
of shopping (and to lure online shoppers back to brick-and-m ortar stores), some retailers
offer activity stores that let consum ers participate in the production of the products or
services they buy there. One familiar example is the Build-A-Bear W orkshop chain, where
customers dress bear bodies in costum es.60
Retailers cleverly engineer their store designs to attract custom ers. Light colors im -
part a feeling of spaciousness and serenity; signs in bright colors create excitement. When
the fashion designer Norma Kamali replaced fluorescent lights with pink ones in depart-
m ent store dressing room s to flatter shoppers' faces and banish wrinkles, w om en were
more willing to try on (and buy) the com pany's bathing suits.61 W almart found that sales
were higher in areas of a prototype store lit in natural daylight com pared to the artificial
light in its regular stores.62 One study found that shoppers in stores with brighter in-store
lighting examined and handled m ore m erchandise.63
In addition to visual stimuli, all sorts of sensory cues influence us in retail settings.64
For example, patrons of country-and-western bars drink more w hen the jukebox music is
slower. According to a researcher, "Hard drinkers prefer listening to slower-paced, wailing,
lonesome, self-pitying music."65 Music also can affect eating habits. Another study found
that diners who listened to loud, fast music ate more food. In contrast, those who listened
to Mozart or Brahms ate less and more slowly. The researchers concluded that diners who
choose soothing music at mealtimes can increase weight loss by at least 5 pounds a month!66

In-Store Decision Making

Despite all their efforts to "pre-sell" consum ers through advertising, m arketers increas-
ingly recognize that the store environm ent exerts a strong influence on m any purchases.
W omen tell researchers, for example, that store displays are one of the m ajor inform ation
sources they use to decide w hat clothing to buy.67 This influence is even stronger when
we shop for food: Analysts estim ate that shoppers decide on about two out of every three
superm arket purchases while they w alkthrough the aisles.68 Research evidence indicates
that consumers have mental budgets for grocery trips that are typically com posed of both
an itemized portion and in-store slack. This m eans they typically decide beforehand on an
am ount they plan to spend, but then they have an additional am ount in m ind (slack) they
are willing to spend on unplanned purchases—if they come across any they really w ant
to have. Thus stores should encourage consum ers to spend all of their m ental budgets
by offering samples or posting rem inder placards as they approach the checkout lines to
rem ind them of things they may have forgotten.69
Mobile shopping apps on sm artphones provide imaginative new ways for retailers
to guide shoppers through the experience, as they do everything from locate m erchan-
dise, identify the nearest restroom in a mall, or scout out sales. Some help you rem em ber
w here you parked your car; others actually provide rew ard points w hen you visit cer-
tain stores. The apps also prom ise to provide a solution to the m ajor hassles that drive
consum ers away from bricks-and-m ortar stores, especially long checkout times and in-
com petent (or MIA) sales associates. One survey reported that nearly 3 in 10 store vis-
its ended with an average of $132 unspent because shoppers gave up in frustration and
abandoned their carts. The study also found that m ore th an 40 percent of shoppers who
received guidance from a retail associate arm ed with a hand h eld mobile com puter re-
ported an im proved shopping experience. To rub salt into the w ound, m ore than half
 CHAPTER 9 Buying and Disposing 375

of store employees agreed that because use of online shopping tools is escalating, their
custom ers were m ore knowledgeable about their products than the salespeople are!70
M arketers work hard to engineer purchasing environm ents that allow them to con-
nect with consum ers at the exact tim e they m ake a decision. This strategy even applies to
drinking behavior: Diageo, the world's largest liquor company, discovered that 60 percent
of bar custom ers d o n 't know w hat they will drink until seconds before they place their
orders. To make it m ore likely th at the custom er's order will include Smirnoff vodka,
Johnnie Walker Scotch, or one of its other brands, Diageo launched its Drinks Invigora-
tion Team to increase w hat it calls its "share of throat." The Dublin-based team experi-
m ents with bar "environments" and bottle-display techniques, and comes up with drinks
to m atch custom ers' moods. For example, the com pany researchers discovered that b u b -
bles stim ulate the desire for spirits, so it developed bubble m achines it places in back of
bars. Diageo even categorizes bars into types and identifies types of drinkers—and the
drinks they prefer—who frequent each. These include "style bars," where cutting-edge
patrons like to sip fancy fresh-fruit m artinis, and "buzz bars," w here the clientele likes to
drink Smirnoff mixed with energy brew Red Bull.71

Spontaneous Shopping
W hen a shopper suddenly decides to buy som ething in the store, one of two different
processes explains this:

1 She engages in unplanned buying w hen she's unfamiliar with a store's layout or per-
haps she's under some time pressure. Or, if she sees an item on a store shelf, this might
rem ind her she needs it. About one-third of all unplanned buying occurs because a
shopper recognizes a new need while she's in the store.72
2 She engages in im pulse buying w hen she experiences a sudden urge she simply can't
re sist/3 A consum er w hom researchers asked to sketch a typical impulse purchaser
drew Figure 9.4.

DRAW-A-PICTURE

1. Think about your image of what

kind of person an impulse buyer
is. In the space provided below,
draw a picture of your image of y j | #
a typical impulse buyer who is -ffo*
about to make an impulse
purchase. Be creative and
don’t worry about your artistic
skills! If you feel that some
features of your drawing are
unclear, don't hesitate to identify
them with a written label.

2. After you have completed your

drawing, imagine what is going
through your character’s mind as
he or she *s
about to make
his or her impulse purchase. Then
write down your shopper’s
thoughts in a speech balloon (like Figure 9.4 ONE CONSUM ER’S IMAGE
you might see in a cartoon strip) OF AN IM FULSE BUYER
that connects to your character’s Source: Denris Rook, “Is Impulse Buying (Yet)
head. a Useful Marketing Concept?” (unpublished
manuscript, University of Southern California,
Los Angeles, 1990): Fig. 7-A.
 376 SECTION 3 Consumers as Decision Makers

Retailers typically place so-called impulse items, such as candy and gum, near the
checkout to cater to these urges. Similarly, m any superm arkets install w ider aisles to en -
courage browsing, and the widest tend to feature products with the highest profit m ar-
gins. They stack low m arkup items that shoppers purchase regularly in narrow er aisles to
allow shopping carts to speed through. Starbucks encourages im pulse purchasing w hen
it charges custom ers who w ant to dow nload songs they hear over the store's speakers
directly onto their iPhones.74 A hint to policym akers who w ant to discourage im pulse
purchases of unhealthy snack items or fast food: Limit the use of credit cards. A study
that analyzed the actual shopping behavior of 1,000 households over a period of 6 m onths
reported that shopping baskets have a larger proportion of food item s rated as impulsive
and unhealthy w hen shoppers use credit or debit cards to pay for the purchases.75 Also,
d o n 't feel so righteous w hen you decide to pass up th at tem pting candy bar: Another
study found that shoppers who refrain now are m ore likely to rew ard them selves later
with an indulgent purchase!76

Point-of-Purchase Stimuli
A well-designed in-store display boosts im pulse purchases by as m uch as 10 percent.
T hat explains why U.S. com panies spend about $19 billion each year on point-of-
purchase (POP) stimuli.7'
A POP can be an elaborate product display or dem onstration, a coupon-dispensing
m achine, or an employee who gives out free samples of a new cookie in the grocery aisle.
Now the pace of POP spending will probably pick up even more: An alliance of m ajor
m arketers, including Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, 3M, Kellogg, Miller Brewing, and
Walmart, is using infrared sensors to m easure the reach of in-store m arketing efforts.
Retailers have long counted the num ber of shoppers who enter and exit their stores, and
they use product barcode data to track w hat shoppers buy. But big consum er-products
com panies also need to know how m any people actually walk by their prom otional dis-
plays, so that they can evaluate how effective these are. Although it's possible to fool
these sensors (they still can't tell if som eone simply cuts through to reach the other end
of the store), this sophisticated m easurem ent system is a valuable first step that m any
advertisers eagerly await.78
The im portance of POP in shopper decision making explains why product packages
increasingly play a key role in the marketing mix as they evolve from the functional to the
fantastic:

• In the past 100 years, Pepsi changed the look of its can, and before that its bottles, only
NXT body wash / moisturizer cans light up 10 times. Now the com pany switches designs every few weeks. It's also testing cans
on the store shelf. that spray an arom a w hen you open one to m atch the flavor of the drink, such as a
Source: Courtesy of NXT/Clio Designs wild cherry scent misting from a Wild Cherry Pepsi can.
Incorporated.
 CHAPTER 9 Buying and Disposing 377

The growing practice of mobile couponing

encourages in-store decision making.
Source: Courtesy of Hardees.

c H a / td e e & '

• Coors Light bottles sport labels th at turn blue w hen the beer is chilled to the right
tem perature.
• Huggies' Henry the Hippo h an d soap bottles have a light that flashes for 20 seconds
to show children how long they should w ash their hands.
• Evian's "palace bottle" turns up in restaurants and luxury hotels. The bottle has an
elegant swanlike neck and sits on a small silver tray.
• Unilever North America sells Axe shower gel bottles shaped like video game joysticks.
• Some com panies are considering the insertion of a com puter chip and tiny speaker
inside a package. This gimmick m ight be useful for cross-prom otion. For example, a
package of cheese could say "I go well with Triscuit crackers" w hen a shopper takes
it off the shelf. Of course, this attention-getting trick could backfire if everyone starts
to do it. As one ad executive com m ented, "If you're walking down a row in a super-
m arket and every package is scream ing at you, it sounds like a terrifying, disgusting
experience."79

o b j e c t iv e 3 The Salesperson:
a salesperson often ¡s ^ Lead Role in the Play
the crucial connection J
to a purchase. The salesperson is one of the m ost im portant players in the re-
----------------------------
tailing dram a—as Kyle learned in his interaction with Rhoda.80
As we saw way back in C hapter 1, exchange theory stresses that
every interaction involves a trade of value. Each participant gives som ething to the other
and hopes to receive som ething in retu rn .81 A (com petent) salesperson offers a lot of
value because his or her expert advice m akes the shopper's choice easier.
 378 SECTION 3 Consumers as Decision Makers

A buyer-seller situation is like many other dyadic encounters (two-person groups); it's
Marketing Pitfall a relationship in which both parties m ust reach some agreem ent about the roles of each
participant during a process of identity negotiation . 8 2 For example, if Rhoda immediately
establishes herself as an expert, she is likely to have m ore influence over Kyle through
Not all sales interactions
are positive, but some the course of the relationship. Some of the factors that help to define a salesperson's role
re ally stand out. Here (and effectiveness) are her age, appearance, educational level, and m otivation to sell.83
are a few incidents that Another variable is similarity between the seller and the buyer. In fact, even incidental
make the rest of them easier to swallow: similarity, such as a shared birthday or growing up in the sam e place, can be enough to
boost the odds of a sale.84
• A woman sued a car dealer in Iowa,
claiming that a salesperson persuaded
In addition, m ore effective salespersons usually know their custom ers' traits and
her to climb into the trunk of a Chrysler preferences better than do ineffective salespersons, and they adapt their approach to
Concorde to check out its spaciousness. m eet the needs of each specific custom er.85 The ability to be adaptable is especially
He then slammed the trunk shut and vital w hen custom ers and salespeople have different interaction styles.86 We each vary in
bounced the car several times, apparently the degree of assertiveness we bring to interactions. At one extreme, nonassertive people
to the delight of his coworkers. The man believe it's not socially acceptable to complain, and sales situations may intim idate them.
ager had offered a prize of $100 to the Assertive people are m ore likely to stand up for themselves in a firm but nonthreatening
salesperson who could get a customer to way. Aggressives may resort to rudeness and threats if they d on't get their way (we've all
climb in.88 run into these folks).87
• A Detroit couple filed a $100 million
lawsuit against McDonald’s, alleging
that three McDonald’s employees beat
them after they tried to return a watery
o b j e c t iv e 4 Postpurchase Satisfaction
Marketers need to be
milkshake.
concerned about a a s u r v e y 0f 48q chjef m arketing officers (CMOs), 58 percent
I n
• In Alabama, a McDonald’s employee
was arrested on second-degree assault consumer’s evaluations of rep0rted that their com panies do not reward their employees if
charges after she stabbed a customer in a product after he or she custom er satisfaction improves. More than one-third said they
the forehead with a ballpoint pen.89 buys it as well as before. have no way to track w ord of m outh am ong custom ers, and
Consumers aren’t the only ones who get less than three in ten said their firms are good at resolving
angry about frustrating sen/ice interactions. custom ers' com plaints.91 W hat's wrong with this picture?
Many employees have an axe to grind as well. Our overall feelings about a product after we've bought it—w hat researchers call
At a Web site put up by a disgruntled former consum er satisfaction/dissatisfaction (CS/D)—obviously play a big role in our future
employee of a certain fast-food franchise, behavior. It's a lot easier to sell something once than to sell it again if it bom bed the first
we share the pain of this ex-burger flipper: “I time. We evaluate the things we buy as we use them and integrate them into our daily
have seen the creatures that live at the bot consum ption activities.92 In a sense, each of us is a product reviewer, w hether or not we
tom of the dumpster. I have seen the rat by bother to talk or blog about our experiences.
the soda machine. I have seen dead frogs in
Com panies that score high in custom er satisfaction often have a big com petitive
the fresh salad lettuce." Fries with that?
advantage—especially w hen so m any firms skimp on the attention they pay to cus-
At the customerssuck.com Web site, res
tom ers. A 5-year study of custom er satisfaction in the C anadian banking industry p ro -
taurant and store workers who have to grin
and bear it all day go to vent. Once off the vides typical results: Banks that provided better service com m anded a larger "share of
clock, they share their frustrations about the wallet" th an did others (i.e., their custom ers entrusted them with a larger proportion of
idiocy, slovenliness, and insensitivity of their their m oney).93
customers. Some contributors to the Web Good m arketers constantly look for reasons why their custom ers m ight be dissatis-
site share stupid questions their customers fied so th at they can try to im prove.94 For example, U nited Airlines' advertising agency
ask, such as “How much is a 99-cent cheese w anted to identify specific aspects of air travel th at ticked people off. R esearchers gave
burger?” whereas others complain about frequent flyers crayons and a m ap that show ed different stages in a long-distance trip.
working conditions and having to be nice to R espondents colored in these stages, using h o t h u es to sym bolize areas th a t cause
not-so-nice people. The slogan of the site is stress and anger and cool colors for parts of the trip they associate w ith satisfaction
“the customer is never right.”90
and calm feelings. Although m any of them painted jet cabins in a serene aqua, they
colored the ticket counters orange and term inal w aiting areas fire-red. As a result,
U nited focused m ore on im proving its overall operations instead of only the in-flight
experience.95

Just What Is Quality?

W hat do consum ers look for in products? T hat's easy: They w ant quality and value.96
However, these term s have slippery m eanings that are hard for us to pin down. We infer
 CHAPTER 9 Buying and Disposing 379

quality w hen we rely on cues as diverse as brand nam e, price, product warranties, and
even our estimate of how m uch m oney a com pany invests in its advertising.97
In the book Zen and the Art o f Motorcycle Maintenance, a cult hero of college students
in an earlier generation literally w ent crazy as he tried to figure out the m eaning of qual-
ity.98 M arketers appear to use the word quality as a catchall term for good. Because of its
wide and imprecise usage, the attribute of quality threatens to becom e a m eaningless
claim. If everyone has it, w hat good is it?
To m uddy the waters a bit more, satisfaction or dissatisfaction is more than a reaction
to how well a product or service performs. According to the expectancy disconfirmation
model, we form beliefs about product perform ance based on prior experience with the
product or com m unications about the product that imply a certain level of quality.99When
som ething performs the way we thought it would, we may not think m uch about it. If it
fails to live up to expectations, this may create negative feelings. However, if perform ance
happens to exceed our expectations, w e're happy campers.
To understand this perspective, think about how you decide if a restaurant is good or
bad depending on the type of place it is. You expect sparkling clear glassware at a fancy
eating establishm ent, and you're not happy if you discover a grimy glass. However, you
may not be surprised if you see fingerprints on your beer m ug at a local greasy spoon; you
may even shrug off this indiscretion because it's part of the place's "charm .”
This perspective underscores how im portant it is to manage expectations. We often
trace a custom er's dissatisfaction to his erroneous expectations of the com pany's ability
to deliver a product or service. NO com pany is perfect. It's just not realistic to think that
everything will always turn out perfectly (although some firms do n 't even come close!).
There are various strategies a firm can choose w hen custom ers expect too much. The
organization can either accom m odate these dem ands as it improves the range or quality
of products it offers, alter these expectations, or perhaps choose to "fire the custom er” if
it is not feasible to m eet his needs (banks and credit card com panies often do this w hen
they identify custom ers who d o n 't m ake them enough m oney to justify keeping their
accounts).100 How can a m arketer alter expectations? For example, a waiter can tell a
diner in advance th at the portion size she ordered isn’t very big, or a car salesperson can
warn a buyer that he may smell some strange odors during the break-in period. A firm
also can underpromise, as Xerox routinely does w hen it inflates the tim e it will take for a
service rep to visit. W hen the rep arrives a day earlier than expected, this im presses the
custom er.
W hen a product doesn't work as we expect or turns out to be unsafe (like the recent
spate of hazardous products from China, ranging from toothpaste to dog food), it's the
understatem ent of the year to say w e're not satisfied. In these situations, marketers m ust
immediately take steps to reassure us or risk losing a custom er for life. If the company con-
fronts the problem truthfully, we are often willing to forgive and forget; we've seen this h ap -
pen in incidents over the years w hen a firm suffers a negative incident. Examples include
Tylenol (product tampering), Chrysler (the com pany disconnected the odometers on ex-
ecutives' cars and resold them as new —well before the carmaker declared bankruptcy!),
or Perrier (traces of the chemical benzene turned up in the drink). But if the firm seems to
be dragging its heels or covering up, our resentm ent grows. This is what happened during
the BP oil spill and corporate scandals such as the collapse of Enron and AIG.

What Can We Do When We’re Dissatisfied?

Fifty-four million dollars for a pair of missing pants? A judge in Washington, D.C., m ade
headlines w hen he filed a $54 million lawsuit against his neighborhood dry cleaner b e-
cause it lost a pair of his pinstriped suit pants. He claimed that a local consum er protec-
tion law entitled him to thousands of dollars for each day over nearly four years in which
signs at the shop prom ised "same day service" and "satisfaction guaranteed." The suit
dragged on for several m onths, but at the end of the day the plaintiff w ent hom e with
empty pockets.101 And som e people claim we have too m any lawsuits in this country!
380 SECTION 3 Consumers as Decision Makers

This ad for Ford relies on a common claim

about quality.
Source: Courtesy of Ford Motor Co.

Quality is Job 1
Profile In Quality #13:
R e c o g n itio n .
For ¡he ith time in Ihe laxi 5 yrart, a Ford Motor
Company car ha> won the />rr»fw»utu Car o f the
Year nttnni from Motor Trend mty^xune. The
¡9901anetAn Toicn Car— thr /¡rtf luxury
tedan in 33 reo n to rrcettr this a u v rd —jotnt
the Ford Thunderinrd Super Coupe in I9$9, the
Thunderinrd in 198 T and Ford Taurut in 1986.
Recet tvyr 'An award u further eitdence that
Forii i M a i commitment to quality u prvducin#
truth*. Ith e n yxmrgnal it to build the htfheti
quality ca n and truck» in the uorfd—ytm don't
do it any other way. A

Ford. Mercury, Lincoln. Ford TVucks.

Our goal 1b to build the highest qu ality cars
and tru ck s in the world!" _____ _

If you're not happy with a product or service, w hat can you do about it? You have
three possible courses of action (though som etim es you can take m ore than one):102
1 Voice response—You can appeal directly to the retailer for redress (e.g., a refund).
2 Private response—You can express your dissatisfaction to friends and boycott the
product or the store where you bought it.
3 Third-party response—Like the pantless judge, you can take legal action against the
m erchant, register a com plaint with the Better Business Bureau, or write a letter to
the newspaper.
In one study, business majors wrote com plaint letters to com panies. W hen the firm
sent a free sample in response, this action significantly im proved how they felt about it.
This didn't happen, however, w hen they only received a letter of apology—but no swag.
Even worse, students who got no response reported an even m ore negative image than
before. This shows that any kind of response is better than none.103
A n u m b er of factors influence which route we choose. People are m ore likely to
take action if they're dissatisfied with expensive products such as household durables,
cars, and clothing than for problem s with inexpensive products.104Ironically, consum ers
who are satisfied with a store in general are m ore likely to com plain if they experience
 CHAPTER 9 Buying and Disposing 381

som ething bad; they take the tim e to com plain because they feel connected to the store.
Older people are m ore likely to com plain, and they are m uch m ore likely to believe that
the store will actually resolve the problem . And, if a com pany resolves the problem , a
custom er feels even better about it than if she h a d n 't com plained in the first place!105
l9 From ih a te st arb u c
However, if the consum er does not believe th at the store will respond to her com -
I T ) .com to boycottwalmart
plaint, she will be m ore likely to simply switch than fight, as she just takes her business .meetup.com, pissed-off
elsew here.107The moral: M arketers should actually encourage consum ers to com plain to customers have launched
them: People are m ore likely to spread the word about unresolved negative experiences hundreds of gripe sites to air their griev
to their friends than they are to boast about positive occurrences.108 ances against companies. The practice is so
widespread that some firms proactively buy
TQM: Going to the Gemba unflattering domain names to keep other
people from buying them. Xerox, for example,
Many analysts who study consum er satisfaction, or those who design new products or registered xeroxstinks.com, xeroxcorpora-
services to increase it, recognize that it is crucial to understand how people actually in- tionsucks.com and ihatexerox.net. One study
teract with their environm ent to identify potential problems. To do so, they typically con- identified about 20,00 0 domain names
duct focus groups, in which a small set of consum ers comes into a facility to try a new item that end ir “sucks.com.” About one-third of
while com pany personnel observe them from behind a mirror. However, some research- these sites are registered to none other than
the companies they slam; owners include
ers advocate a m ore up-close-and-personal approach that allows them to watch people
Walmart Stores, Coca-Cola, Toys “R” Us,
in the actual environm ent where they consum e the product. This perspective originated
Target, ant Whole Foods Market.106
in the Japanese approach to total quality m anagem ent (TQM)—a complex set of m an -
agem ent and engineering procedures that aims to reduce errors and increase quality.
To help them achieve m ore insight, researchers go to the gemba, which to the Japanese
m eans "the one true source of information.” According to this philosophy, it's essential to
send marketers and designers to the precise place where consum ers use the product or
service rather than to ask laboratory subjects to use it in a simulated environment.
Figure 9.5 illustrates this idea in practice. Host Foods, which operates food conces-
sions in m ajor airports, sent a team to the gem ba—in this case, an airport cafeteria—to
identify problem areas. Employees w atched as custom ers entered the facility, and then
followed them as they inspected the m enu, procured silverware, paid, and found a ta -
ble. The findings were crucial to H ost's redesign of the facility. For example, the team
identified a com m on problem that m any people traveling solo experience: the need to
put down one's luggage to enter the food line and the feeling of panic you get because
you're not able to keep an eye on your valuables w hen you get your meal. This simple in-
sight allowed Host to modify the design of its facilities to improve a patron's line-of-sight
betw een the food area and the tables.109

Beverages

Figure 9.!> GOING TO THE GEMBA

Source: © Quality Function Deployment Institute.
Used with pei mission.
382 SECTION 3 Consumers as Decision Makers

obje ctive 5 Product Disposal

Getting rid of products
when consumers no Because we do form strong attachm ents to som e products, it
longer need or want can t0 djsp 0se 0f some of our things. Our possessions
them is a major concern anchor our identities; our past lives on in our things.110 Some
both to marketers and to Japanese ritually "retire" w orn-out sewing needles, chopsticks,
public policymakers. a n c j e v e n c o m p U te r chips w hen they burn them in a cerem ony
to thank them for years of good service.111
Still, we all have to get rid of our "stuff" at some point, either because it has served
its purpose or perhaps because it no longer fits with our view of ourselves (as w hen new -
lyweds "upgrade" to a real place). Concern about the environm ent, coupled with a need
for convenience, makes ease of product disposal a key attribute in categories from razors
to diapers. Furtherm ore, our dem and for sustainable products that d o n 't harm the en -
vironm ent w hen we're done with them creates new markets and new opportunities for
entrepreneurs who find a better alternative.
For example, Terra Cycle sells an "exotic" product: A key ingredient on its label is
"liquefied worm poop." A 25-year-old college dropout founded the company. (Company
literature confesses that he was trying to grow "certain plants" in a worm bin inside his
college apartm ent in order to "harvest the buds" w hen he stum bled on the idea. Inspira-
tion comes from m any sources!) Terra Cycle makes fertilizer products that it packages
in used plastic bottles, m any of which the com pany itself collects through a nationw ide
recycling program it organized. Terra Cycle claims that waste packaged in waste makes
it the "ultimate eco-friendly" product. The fertilizer com es from containers filled with
shredded newspaper, food scraps—and worms that eat this waste and digest it. The re-
sulting "poop" happens to make great plant food.112

Disposal Options
In many cases we acquire a new product even though the old one still functions—
perhaps that's one of the hallmarks of our materialistic society. Some reasons to replace
an item include a desire for new features, a change in the individual's environm ent
(e.g., a refrigerator is the wrong color for a freshly painted kitchen), or a change in the
person's role or self-image.113
The issue of product disposition is vital because of its enorm ous public policy im -
plications. We live in a throwaway society, which creates problem s for the environm ent
and also results in a great deal of unfortunate waste. One study reported that we never
use as m uch as 12 percent of the grocery products we buy; consum ers buy nearly two-
thirds of these abandoned products for a specific purpose such as a particular recipe and
then change their plans. Because we d on't use these items immediately, they slowly get
pushed to the back of the cupboard and forgotten.114 Some of those "science projects"
that grow in the back of your refrigerator might qualify. In another survey, 15 percent of
adults adm itted they are pack rats, and another 64 percent said they are selective savers.
In contrast, 20 percent say they throw out as m uch garbage as they can. The consum ers
m ost likely to save things are older people and those who live alone.115
Training consum ers to recycle has becom e a priority in m any countries. In Japan,
residents sort their garbage into as m any as 44 different categories; for example, if they
discard one sock, it goes into a bin for burnables, but if they throw out a pair it goes into
used cloth, though only if the socks "are not torn, and the left and right sock m atch."116
A study examined the relevant goals consum ers have w hen they recycle. It used a
m eans-end chain analysis of the type described in Chapter 4 to identify how consumers link
specific instrumental goals to more abstract terminal values. Researchers identified the most
important lower-order goals to be "avoid filling up landfills," "reduce waste," "reuse m ate-
rials," and "save the environment." They linked these to the term inal values of "promote
health/avoid sickness," "achieve life-sustaining ends," and "provide for future generations."
A nother study reported th at the perceived effort involved in recycling was the
best predictor of w hether people would go to the trouble. This pragm atic dim ension
 CHAPTER 9 Buying and Disposing 383

outw eighed general attitudes tow ard recycling and the environm ent in predicting in ten -
tion to recycle.117 W hen researchers apply these techniques to study recycling and other
p roduct disposal behaviors, it will be easier for social m arketers to design advertising
copy and other messages that tap into the underlying values that will motivate people to
increase environm entally responsible behavior.118 Of course, one way to ease the pain is
to reward consum ers for recycling. Gap tried this w hen it team ed up with Cotton Incorpo-
rated to collect old denim, which will be turned into insulation and donated to com m uni-
ties to help them build new houses. The sw eetener in the deal: Those who donated got a
30 percent discount on new jeans purchases and a 40 percent discount to those who buy
the pants on Gap's Facebook page.119

Lateral Cycling: Junk versus “Junque”

During lateral cycling, one consum er exchanges som ething she owns with som eone else
for som ething the other person owns. Reusing other people's things is especially im por-
tant in our throwaway society because, as one researcher put it, "there is no longer an
'away' to throw things to."120Although traditional m arketers d on't pay m uch attention to
used-product sellers, factors such as concern about the environment, dem ands for quality,
and cost and fashion consciousness make these "secondary" markets m ore im portant.121
In fact, economic estim ates of this underground econom y range from 3 to 30 percent of
the gross national product of the United States and up to 70 percent of the gross domestic
product of other countries. Trade publications such as Yesteryear, Swap Meet Merchan-
dising, Collectors Journal, The Vendor Newsletter, and The Antique Trader offer reams of
practical advice to consum ers who w ant to bypass formal retailers and swap m erchandise.
In the United States alone, there are m ore than 3,500 flea m arkets—including at least
a dozen huge operations such as the 60-acre Orange County Marketplace in California—
that operate nationwide to produce upward of $10 billion in gross sales.122 Other growth
areas include student markets for used com puters and textbooks, as well as ski swaps, at
which consum ers exchange millions of dollars w orth of used ski equipm ent. A new gen-
eration of secondhand store owners is developing markets for everything from used office
equipm ent to cast-off kitchen sinks. M any are nonprofit ventures started with government
funding. A trade association called the Reuse D evelopm ent Organization (redo.org)
encourages them .123
Again, social m edia platform s offer new ways to recycle. N um erous sharing sites
like SnapGoods, NeighborGoods.com, and ShareSomeSugar base their business models
around allowing people to share, exchange, and rent goods in a local setting. In fact, some
research indicates that people who participate in these sites also benefit because they feel
they are part of a community. One study found that w hen people post messages on Twitter
(also part of a community), this releases oxytocin, a neurotransm itter that evokes feelings
of contentm ent and is thought to help induce a sense of positive social bonding. The re-
searcher observed that this interaction "reduces stress horm ones, even through the Web.
You're feeling a real physiological relationship to that person, even if they are online."124
Lateral cycling is literally a lifestyle for som e people with an anticonsum erist bent
who call themselves freegans (this label is a takeoff on vegans, who shun all anim al prod-
ucts). Freegans are m odern-day scavengers who live off discards as a political statem ent
against corporations and consum erism . They forage through superm arket trash and eat
the slightly bruised produce or just-expired canned goods that we routinely throw out, and
negotiate gifts of surplus food from sym pathetic stores and restaurants. Freegans dress in
castoff clothes and furnish their hom es with items they find on the street. They get the
word on locations w here people throw out a lot of stuff (end-of-sem ester dorm cleanouts
are a prim e target) as they check out postings at freecycle.org, where users post unw anted
items and at so-called freemeets (flea m arkets where no one exchanges m oney).125
If our possessions do indeed com e to be a part of us, how do we bring ourselves to
part with these precious items? The way we divest ourselves of our things may make a
statem ent (think about throwing out things an ex-partner gave you). One study found that
people who are very attached to their "stuff' m ay engage a professional organizer to help
384 SECTION 3 Consumers as Decision Makers

them declutter and simplify their lives; in essence, the organizer is an interm ediary who
helps the person to detach from rem inders of his former life so that he can move on.126
Some researchers examined how consum ers practice divestment rituals, in which
they take steps to gradually distance themselves from things they treasure so that they can
sell them or give them away (more on rituals in Chapter 14). As we noted in our earlier
discussion about brand personality in Chapter 6, anthropom orphic beliefs about objects
lead people to treat them as if they were alive. In one study, consum ers who were encour-
aged to think about their car in anthropom orphic term s were less willing to replace it. So,
as m any of us know, w hen it's finally time to get rid of a valued item, this can be a very
painful process; sort of like saying goodbye to an old friend.127
How do we ease the pain? As they observed people getting items ready to be sold at
garage sales, a set of researchers identified these rituals:

• Iconic transfer ritual—Taking pictures and videos of objects before we sell them.
• Transition-place ritual—Putting items in an out-of-the way location such as a garage
or attic before we dispose of them.
• Ritual cleansing—Washing, ironing, an d /o r meticulously wrapping the item .128

CHAPTER SUMMARY
Now th at you have finished reading this chapter you should Because we d o n 't m ake m any purchase decisions until
understand why: w e're actually in the store, point-of-purchase (POP) stim -
uli are very im portant sales tools. These include product
1. Many fa ctors at the tim e of purchase dram atically samples, elaborate package displays, place-based media,
influence the consumer’s decision-making process. and in-store prom otional m aterials such as "shelf talkers.”
POP stimuli are particularly useful in prom oting impulse
Many factors affect a purchase. These include the con-
buying, which happens w hen a consum er yields to a sud-
sum er's antecedent state (e.g., his or her mood, time pres-
den urge for a product. Increasingly, m obile shopping
sure, or disposition toward shopping). Time is an important
apps are also playing a key role.
resource that often determines how m uch effort and search
will go into a decision. Our m oods are influenced by the
3. A salesperson often is the crucial link to a purchase.
degree of pleasure and arousal a store environment creates.
The usage context of a p roduct is a segm entation The consum er's encounter with a salesperson is a com -
variable; co nsu m ers look for different p ro d u ct attri- plex and im portant process. The outcom e can be affected
butes depending on the use to which they intend to put by such factors as the salesp erso n 's sim ilarity to the
their purchase. The presence or absence of other people custom er and his or her perceived credibility.
(co-consum ers)—and the types of people they are—can
also affect a consum er's decisions. 4. Marketers need to be concerned about a consumer’s evalu
The shopping experience is a pivotal part of the pur- ations of a product after he or she buys it as well as before.
chase decision. In m any cases, retailing is like theater: The
A person's overall feelings about the product after he buys
consum er's evaluation of stores and products may depend
determ ine consum er satisfaction/dissatisfaction. M any
on the type of "performance" he witnesses. The actors
factors influence our perceptions of product quality, in -
(e.g., salespeople), the setting (the store environment), and
cluding price, brand nam e, and product perform ance.
the props (e.g., store displays) influence this evaluation. Like
Our degree of satisfaction often depends on the extent
a brand personality, a num ber of factors, such as perceived
to which a product's perform ance is consistent with our
convenience, sophistication, and expertise of salespeople, de-
prior expectations of how well it will function.
termine store image. With increasing competition from non-
store alternatives, creating a positive shopping experience has
5. Getting rid of products when consumers no longer need
never been m ore important. Online shopping is growing in
or want them is a major concern to both marketers and
importance, and this new way to acquire products has both
public policymakers.
good (e.g., convenience) and bad (e.g., security) aspects.
Product disposal is an increasingly im portant problem. Re-
2. The information a store or Web site provides strongly cycling is one option that will becom e more crucial as con-
influences a purchase decision, in addition to what a sum ers' environm ental aw areness grows. Lateral cycling
shopper already knows or believes about a product. occurs w hen we buy, sell, or barter secondhand objects.
 CHAPTER 9 Buying and Disposing 385

KEY TERMS
abandoned products, 382 im pulse buying, 375 retail theming, 372
activity stores, 374 incidental similarity, 378 sharing sites., 383
atm ospherics, 374 lateral cycling, 383 shopping orientation, 368
being space, 372 m ental budgets, 374 store image, 373
co-consum ers, 362 m inipreneurs, 372 tim e poverty, 364
consum er satisfaction/ mobile shopping apps, 374 timestyle, 363
dissatisfaction (CS/D), 378 open rates, 363 total quality m anagem ent (TQM), 381
divestm ent rituals, 384 point-of-purchase (POP) stimuli, 376 underground economy, 383
expectancy disconfirm ation model, 379 pop-up stores, 372 unplanned buying, 375
freegans, 383 pretailer, 370
gemba, 381 queuing theory, 366

REVIEW
1 W hat do we m ean by situational self-image? Give an ex- 6 W hat are some im portant pros and cons of e-commerce?
am ple of this phenom enon. 7 List three factors that help to c eterm ine store image.
2 Describe the difference betw een density and crowding. 8 W hat is the difference betw een unplanned buying and im -
Why is this difference relevant in purchase environments? pulse buying?
3 W hat is tim e poverty, and how can it influence our p u r- 9 How do a consum er's prior expectations about product
chase decisions? quality influence his satisfaction with the product after he
4 W hat are the two dim ensions th at d eterm ine w hether buys it?
we will react positively or negatively to a p u rchase 10 List three actions a consum er can take if she is dissatisfied
environm ent? with a purchase.
5 List three separate m otivations for shopping, and give an 11 W hat is the underground economy and why is it im portant
example of each. to marketers?

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CHALLENGE

DISCUSS
1 Is the custom er always right? Why or why not? 8 Com pare and contrast different cultures' conceptions of
2 Are pop-up stores simply a fad, or a retailing concept that's time. W hat are some im plications for m arketing strategy
here to stay? within each of these framewor ks?
3 Discuss some of the shopping m otivations the chapter de- 9 The m ovem ent away from a "disposable consum er soci-
scribes. How m ight a retailer adjust its strategy to accom - ety" toward one that em phasizes creative recycling creates
m odate these motivations? m any opportunities for marketers. Can you identify some?
4 W hat are som e positive and negative aspects of a policy 10 Some retailers work hard to cultivate a certain look or im -
th at requires em ployees w ho interact with custom ers to age, and they may even choose employees who fit this look.
w ear a uniform? Abercrom bie & Fitch, for example, seem s to link itself to
5 Think about exceptionally good and bad salespeople you a clean-cut, all-Am erican image. At one point a lawsuit
have encountered as a shopper. W hat qualities seem to dif- claimed that Abercrombie & Fitch systematically "refuses
ferentiate them from others? to hire qualified m inority applicants as brand representa-
6 Discuss the concept of "tim estyle.” Based on your own ex- tives to work on the sales floor and discourages applica-
periences, how m ight we segm ent consum ers in term s of tions from minority ap p licants' (Abercrombie replied that
their timestyles? it has "zero tolerance for discrim ination").130We know that
7 Several m en 's clothing retailers nationw ide now provide the Hooters restaurant chain is notorious for its attrac-
free booze to their m ale clientele to encourage them to tive female waitresses. Should a retailer have the right to
hang out in their stores.129 Is it ethical to encourage cus- recruit employees who are consistent with its image even if
tom ers to get w asted before they shop? this m eans excluding certain types of people (e.g., non-
Caucasians, m en) from the sales floor?
386 SECTION 3 Consumers as Decision Makers

11 The mall of the future will m ost likely be less about p u r- the program m ing interfered with their workouts. Do you
chasing products than about exploring them in a physical feel that these innovations are overly intrusive? At w hat
setting. This m eans that retail environm ents will have to point might shoppers rebel and dem and som e peace and
becom e places to build brand images, rather than simply quiet w hen they shop? Do you see any m arket potential in
places to sell products. W hat are some strategies stores can the future for stores that "counterm arket'' by prom ising a
use to enhance the em otional/sensory experiences they "hands-off" shopping environm ent?
give to shoppers? 13 Courts often prohibit special-interest groups from dis-
12 The store environm ent is heating up as m ore and m ore tributing literature in shopping malls. Mall m anagem ents
com panies p u t their prom otional dollars into point-of- claim that these centers are private property. However,
p urchase efforts. Some stores confront shoppers with these groups argue th a t the m all is the m odern-day
videos at the checkout counter, com puter m onitors version of the town square and as such is a public forum.
attached to their shopping carts, and ads stenciled on the Find som e recent court cases involving this free-speech
floors. W e're also increasingly exposed to ads in nonshop- issue, and examine the argum ents pro and con. W hat is the
ping environm ents. A health club in New York was forced current status of the mall as a public forum? Do you agree
to rem ove TV m onitors th at show ed advertising on the with this concept?
Health Club Media Networks, after exercisers claimed that

APPLY
1 Conduct naturalistic observation at a local mall. Sit in a cen- th at thin TVs and sm aller speakers take up. Notably,
tral location and observe the activities of mall employees Walmart recently did an abrupt about-face: The com pany
and patrons. Keep a log of the nonretailing activity you ob- only recently rem odeled its stores by elim inating the pal-
serve (e.g., special performances, exhibits, socializing, etc.). lets of item s it used to stack in the centers of aisles, and it
Does this activity enhance or detract from business the reduced overall inventory by about 9%. Custom ers loved
mall conducts? As malls become more like high-tech game the leaner, cleaner look. Only one problem : They bought
rooms, how valid is the criticism that shopping areas only less stuff. As a senior W alm art executive com m ented,
encourage m ore loitering by teenage boys, who don't spend "They loved the experience. They just bought less. And that
a lot in stores and simply scare away other customers? generally is not a good long-term strategy." Now, W almart
2 Select three com peting clothing stores in your area and is adding inventory back in and is once again piling stacks
conduct a store image study for them . Ask a group of con- of m erchandise in aisles.131W hat's your take on these store
sum ers to rate each store on a set of attributes and plot stocking strategies? Visit several "big-box" stores in your
these ratings on the sam e graph. Based on your findings, area, such as Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Costco, and so on.
are there any areas of competitive advantage or disadvan- If possible, interview shoppers about their experiences. Do
tage you could bring to the attention of store m anagem ent? they have trouble navigating around the store? Do they en -
3 Using Table 9.1 as a model, construct a person-situation joy the clutter? Does it feel like a "treasure hunt" w hen they
segm entation m atrix for a brand of perfume. have to pick their way around piles and pallets? If you were
4 W hat applications of queuing theory can you find that designing a store, how would you craft a stocking strategy
local services use? Interview consum ers as they wait in line that would make it easy to shop there?
to determ ine how their experience affects their satisfaction 6 Interview people who are selling item s at a flea m arket
with the service. or garage sale. Ask them to identify som e item s to w hich
5 M any retailers believe th at w hen they pile a lot of stuff they had a strong attachm ent. Then, see if you can prom pt
around their store, this cluttered look encourages shoppers them to describe one or m ore divestm ent rituals they
to h u n t for item s and eventually buy more. Dollar General went through as they prepared to offer these items for sale.
recently raised the height of its shelves to more than six feet; 7 Identify three people who own electric coffeem akers.
J. C. Penney transform ed em pty walls into jewelry and ac- Then, "go to the gemba" by observing them as they actually
cessory displays; Old Navy added lanes lined with items prepare coffee in the appliance at home. Based on these ex-
like w ater bottles, candy, and lunchboxes. Best Buy is even periences, w hat recom m endations might you make to the
testing the im pact of filling aisles with bulky item s like designer of a new coffeemaker m odel that would improve
Segways and bicycles to com pensate for the smaller space custom ers' experiences with the product?

MyMarketingLab Now that you have completed this chapter, return to www
.pearsonglobaleditions.com/ mymarketinglab to apply concepts and explore the additional study materials.
 CHAPTER 9 Buying and Disposing 387

Case Study
GIVING AND RECEIVING ON FREECYCLE.ORG This is certainly a sign of success. But other m easures of
success have becom e apparent as well, like the satisfaction of
Like it or not, we live in a disposable society. And it isn't just p a- all those involved. W hat one person doesn't want, som eone else
per products and fast-food containers we throw away. We use will take off their hands. In this exchange everyone wins. “It's
our televisions, computers, cell phones, furniture, clothing, and become a huge gift economy and very life affirming for everyone
other products until som ething better comes along, and then who has given away something. You can't help but get a good
we toss them . Landfills everywhere reel under the onslaught of feeling w hen you've helped another person," the founder said.
the trash we create. As long as people w ant to get rid of or acquire an old couch,
But w hat if people could find som eone to take their old a six-year-old husky, a storm door, a van that needs a transm is-
junk off their hands? Or w hat if individuals could find a needed sion, or even horse m anure, Freecycle has a bright future. “W hen
item th at som eone else just happ en s to be throw ing away? it comes to the Internet and connecting with one another, there
Freecycle.org m eets this need. This Web site cam e into being are no lim itations," Beal said. "We'll continue growing and
as a recycling concept to reduce the strain on landfills and cut experiencing the goodness that comes from giving."
down on consum er wastefulness. Freecycle, which uses a bul-
letin board structure, works so well because it's so simple. It DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
connects people who have items to give away with others who
1 Why do you think Freecycle.org has achieved such high
need them , and vice versa. It's basically like an “eBay for free."
levels of growth in such a shori period of time?
Indeed, m any users call the site by its nicknam e of “Freebay."
2 Freecycle created an alternative disposal option that is
From its hum ble beginnings in the Tucson, Arizona, area
rapidly growing. Discuss ways that freecycling might affect
in 2003, today there are m illions of m em bers who constitute
the purchase habits of consum ers.
thousands of user com m unities in m ore than 75 countries; they
3 Should for-profit businesses like eBay get into the freecy-
say they are "changing the world one gift at a time." Freecycle
cling business? Should com panies motivate m ore consum -
.org is one of the m ost popular nonprofit destinations in cyber-
ers to give things away that they m ight otherwise be able to
space; Time dubbed it “one of the 50 coolest" Web sites. This
sell or auction? Can they still m ake a profit while they help
notoriety com es w ithin a few short years and with no prom o-
to elim inate waste?
tion other th an word of m outh and plenty of free publicity.
Anyone can join this 24/7 virtual garage sale, and m em ber-
Sources: "A B rief H istory," www.freecycle.org, a c c e ss e d Ju n e 13, 2011;
ship is free. In fact, the m ain rule of Freecycle.org is that you
"C lean u p Id ea K eeps u p w ith th e T im es," NG News (June 11,2011), h ttp ://
can only offer free items. Givers and receivers contact each N ew sw ire.F reecy cle.O rg /2 0 1 1 /0 6 /1 1 /N g -N ew s-C lea n u p -Id ea-K eep s-U p -
other via email and then arrange for delivery. The site's founder W ith -T h e-T im es/, a c c e sse d Ju n e 13, 2011; T a m sin Kelly, "M u lti-B arg ain
Sw ap Shop," Daily Telegraph (July 7, 2007): 13; "Free Sw ap P ro g ram F in d s
estim ates that the average freecycled item weighs 1 pound.
H o m e s for R ecycled G oods," Wall Street Journal (Ja n u a ry 2, 2008); M ac
That m eans th at the Freecycle m ovem ent keeps 400 tons of M cL ean, " D o n ’t T h ro w U n w a n te d Ite m s Away," Bristol Herald Courier
“garbage" out of landfills every day. ( J a n u a ry 13, 2009): h ttp ://w w w 2 .tr ic itie s .c o m /r n /n e w s /2 0 0 9 /ja n /1 3 /
freecycling_strikes_the_right_note-ar-249741/, accessed S ep tem b er 11,2011.

NOTES

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 CHAPTER 9 Buying and Disposing 391

NIELSEN NUGGET ■III

EXERCISE #4 For Chapter 9 Buying and Disposing should focus on, and with which retailers, to achieve this
objective.
Scenario: Bubbles is a well-established premium brand
After reviewing the data provided:
in the soft drinks category. The brand is being negatively
impacted by both the economic climate and increasing 1 Analyze the relative successes of Bubble promotions
promotional pressure from its key competitor, Squeeze. If at each of the four retailers.
the trend continues, Bubbles will face a loss of more than 2 Do you think either of the forms of spontaneous
$2.5M next year. shopping described in this chapter could be at work
Challenge: Bubbles se eks to understand how to better in this case? Why or why not?
utilize its promotional spending more effectively and effi 3 Why do you think point-of-purohase stimuli are so
ciently to stem the sales decline and stabilize the brand’s strongly associated with this product category?
business. The key question is which promotions Bubbles

Soft drinks c a tegory-va lu e ($ ) share of tra d e share

30
Retailer A

20
Retailer B

Retailer C 15
Retailer D io

o 1 IIIII
_0 . Q_0 . o J o ^ ^ n
CO 2o 2o . f | E EEE £ E
in
OO<
o
UJ
LU LLl Ll I LU 111 III Ml III lil

------- Retailer A ---------Retailer B -------- Retailer C ------- Retailer D

; Most efficient Bubbles promos

Retailer Value ($) Share of Trade— Soft Drinks

Retailer share of trade peaks during Bubble promotions. The continuous Squeeze promotions do not have as strong
an impact for retailers.