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In-Store Communications: Understanding the Mundane, the Bright Sides, and the Unexpected
Abstract
This research examines how retailers convey messages to target customers and facilitate purchase decisions in physical settings. To establish a clear organizing framework for communications in physical settings, the current article examines both how and why retailers communicate with customers. Specifically, the authors address “how” questions from the perspective of whether messages are static or dynamic and “why” questions according to whether the communication is inspirational or informative.
This research investigates how individuals’ regulatory orientations influence their utilization of store promotions through two meticulously designed studies in distinct contexts. The first study examines innate cognitive inclinations, while the second manipulates cognitive orientations within specific contexts. The findings reveal a significant relationship between regulatory orientations and store promotion usage, which is moderated by impulsivity and engagement levels. Importantly, this study addresses a critical gap in the existing literature by examining the same concept from two distinct cognitive perspectives, enhancing our understanding of the intricate interplay between regulatory orientations and store promotion utilization. The implications are twofold. Firstly, for retailers, this research offers practical significance by suggesting in-store promotions specially tailored for promotion-oriented individuals and more deliberative out-of-store promotions to capture the attention of prevention-oriented individuals, ultimately enhancing marketing effectiveness. Secondly, from a theoretical standpoint, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between regulatory orientations, cognitive processes, and consumer behavior, thus enriching the theoretical foundation of the field. This research is particularly relevant to scholars and practitioners in marketing, psychology, and retail management, providing valuable insights into consumer behavior and the formulation of marketing strategies.
Entities, including organisations, brands and individuals, pursue a strategy of difference (a way to be dissimilar to others) to improve their performance outcomes and well-being. In this editorial, we introduce five research articles and two expert commentaries that examine some aspects of such difference. We further highlight the challenges that consumers face when taking action to meet the goal of difference. Using activity theory and its associated systemic framework, we uncover three contradictions (community, power and knowledge) that manifest as tensions or conflicts as consumers navigate difference. Being aware of these contradictions assists marketers in capitalising on the bright side, preparing for the unexpected and avoiding the dark side of consumers’ efforts towards difference. We also suggest a research agenda to stimulate future scholarship on difference.
Retailers increasingly use digital displays and projections to enhance traditional endcaps. With two field experiments, the authors investigate how the vividness of an endcap projection affects shoppers. The results indicate an inverted U-shaped relationship between the vividness of an endcap projection and sales, such that endcaps with moderately vivid projections (cf. traditional endcaps and highly vivid projection endcaps) result in higher sales. Attention and mental involvement serially mediate these effects on sales. By adding audio and scent to the moderately vivid endcap projection, the authors also find that the addition of audio increases sales, whereas the addition of a scent does not. This article concludes with a discussion of managerial implications related to the uses of endcaps.
This article examines whether and why organizing product categories according to the consumption goal they serve (i.e., complement-based assortment organization) may increase purchases compared with organizing product categories according to their attributes or physical characteristics (i.e., substitute-based assortment organization). Across two field experiments, a virtual reality experiment, and a lab experiment, the authors show that a complement-based assortment organization, compared with a substitute-based assortment organization, leads to increased numbers of purchases and increased expenditures. Ease of visualization of the consumption process mediates the results. The impact of the complement-based organization on purchases is more pronounced for less involved consumers and for consumers with a less specific shopping goal. These findings have both theoretical and practical implications.
Introducing customers to new ideas lies at the heart of marketing, yet surprisingly little is known about customers’ state of inspiration within this domain. This article reviews prior conceptualizations of general inspiration in psychology and introduces customer inspiration as a customer’s temporary motivational state that facilitates the transition from the reception of a marketing-induced idea to the intrinsic pursuit of a consumption-related goal. The authors develop and validate a two-state, 10-item customer inspiration scale that consists of inspired-by and inspired-to states. The scale development process begins with item generation, followed by five studies: (1) scale purification and initial validation, (2) exploration of the nomological network, (3) tests for the experimental and predictive validity, (4) replication within a field experiment, and (5) assessments of generalizability and boundary conditions. Empirical results reveal sound psychometric properties of the scale, demonstrate its unique position in relation to established marketing constructs, and support experimental and predictive validity. Applying the scale in marketing practice offers a new way for firms to increase demand, motivate customers’ exploration behavior, and build customer loyalty.
Although a large body of research investigates how consumers use goods to signal their status, little is known about how brands manage status. The very few studies that do look at this are grounded in the traditional conception of status and focus on the possession and display of status signals. The authors offer an alternative understanding of status management by investigating the role of interactions in the service encounter. Drawing from extensive ethnographic work in luxury stores, they investigate how brands (re)configure the status games that surface in the service encounter. They show that through the material and social cues of the servicescape, brands shape consumers' class subjectivities, that is, they make consumers behave as class subjects who have a specific understanding of their position in the social hierarchy. Thus, managing status requires the active creation and management of consumers as class subjects. There is a shift from managing branded goods that signal status to managing customer experiences that make consumers enact status positions. This research enables the identification of new ways to manage status brands, especially luxury brands
Consumers make trade-offs when they choose between utilitarian and hedonic products. The former is practical, instrumental, and functional, whereas the latter is sensational and experiential. Prior research shows that people feel more guilt when they contemplate on engaging in hedonic consumption than engaging in utilitarian consumption. The current research investigates the effect of decision targets (i.e., making decisions for oneself or another person) on preferences for utilitarian and hedonic products. Consumers deciding for others were more likely to choose hedonic over utilitarian options than were consumers deciding for themselves. Utilitarian/hedonic was manipulated either through attributes of similar products (Study 1) or through different products (Study 2). Anticipatory guilt accounted for such self?other difference (Study 2). In particular, anticipatory guilt triggered by contemplating hedonic consumption is less for consumers who made choices for others than for those who made choices for themselves. In sum, preferences for utilitarian and hedonic products depend on decision targets.
Manufacturers and online retailers are readily availing themselves of new technologies to present their merchandise using a variety of formats, including static (still image) and dynamic (video) portrayal. Building on vividness theory, the authors propose and demonstrate that presenting products and services using a dynamic visual format enhances consumer preference for hedonic options and willingness to pay for those options. The dynamic presentation format increases involvement with the product/service experience in a manner presumably similar to that of the actual product experience. The result is an increased preference for and valuation of hedonic options. This holds true for experiential and search products in single and joint evaluations and carries over to subsequent choices. Across all studies, the results demonstrate that a dynamic (relative to static) presentation format enhances choice of the hedonically superior (vs. utilitarian-superior) option by more than 79%.
A consumer choosing a product must often wait before consuming it. In this article, we consider the consequences of waiting on consumption enjoyment. We propose that the effect of a delay on consumption enjoyment depends on both the negative utility of the wait itself and on the positive utility of anticipating a pleasant consumption experience. These factors exert different degrees of influence, depending on characteristics of the decision task. The results of three studies suggest that a delay increases consumption enjoyment for pleasurable products when actual consumption occurs, but decreases enjoyment for imagined consumption. Furthermore, the vividness of the awaited product moderates these effects.
This experiment examines interactivity and vividness in commercial web sites. We expected increased levels of interactivity and vividness would lead to more positive attitudes toward web sites, stronger feelings of telepresence, and greater attitude—behavior consistency. In addition, we expected increased levels of vividness to lead to the development of more enduring attitudes toward the site. Participants explored four web sites. Increases in interactivity and vividness were associated with increased feelings of telepresence. In addition, increases in vividness were associated with more positive and more enduring attitudes toward the web site. Implications for new media researchers and practitioners are discussed.
Message arguments influence beliefs about product benefits which influence overall product evaluations. Three studies show that matching hedonic versus utilitarian arguments and products enhance evaluations of utilitarian products, but not hedonic products. The results generalize across several argument manipulations and several product categories.
This paper examines the persuasiveness of assertive language (as in Nike’s slogan “Just do it”) as compared to nonassertive language (as in Microsoft’s slogan “Where do you want to go today?”). Previous research implies that assertive language should reduce consumer compliance. Two experiments show that assertiveness is more effective in communications involving hedonic products, as well as hedonically advertised utilitarian products. This prediction builds on sociolinguistic research addressing relationships between mood, communication expectations, and compliance to requests. A third experiment reaffirms the role of linguistic expectations by showing that an unknown product advertised using assertive language is more likely to be perceived as hedonic.
Research on how store environment cues influence consumers' store choice decision criteria, such as perceived merchandise value and shopping experience costs, is sparse. Especially absent is research on the simultaneous impact of multiple store environment cues. The authors propose a comprehensive store choice model that includes (1) three types of store environment cues (social, design, and ambient) as exogenous constructs, (2) various store choice criteria (including shopping experience costs that heretofore have not been included in store choice models) as mediating constructs, and (3) store patronage intentions as the endogenous construct. They then empirically examine the extent to which environmental cues influence consumers' assessments of a store on various store choice criteria and how those assessments, in turn, influence patronage intentions. The results of two different studies provide support for the model. The authors conclude by discussing the results to develop an agenda for additional research and explore managerial implications.
This protocol analysis examines the content of virtual experience in e-commerce, as concurrently verbalized by a sample of 30 participants while interacting with four 3-D products. Thirteen different types of psychological activities were observed and classified into five characteristics of virtual experience: active process, presence, involvement, enjoyment, and affordances. As a result, virtual experience is vivid, involving, active, affective psychological states occurring in an individual interacting with 3-D computer simulations. The study anchors the position of virtual experience on the spectrum of consumer experience with design implications in e-commerce discussed. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and Direct Marketing Educational Foundation, Inc.
The present research examined the role of approach and avoidance motivation in models of personality. Specifically, it examined the hypothesis that approach and avoidance temperaments represent the foundation of several basic dimensions espoused in the trait adjective, affective disposition, and motivational system approaches to personality. Factor analytic support for the hypothesis was obtained in Studies 1, 2, and 6; measures of extraversion, positive emotionality, and behavioral activation system loaded together on 1 factor (Approach Temperament) and measures of neuroticism, negative emotionality, and behavioral inhibition system loaded on another factor (Avoidance Temperament). This 2-factor structure was shown to be independent of response biases. In Studies 3-7, approach and avoidance temperaments were shown to be systematically linked to achievement goals (both nomothetic and idiographic). The findings are discussed in terms of an integrative approach to personality.
Inspiration has received little theoretical or empirical attention within psychology. Inspiration is conceptualized herein as a general construct characterized by evocation, motivation, and transcendence. In Studies 1a and 1b, a trait measure of inspiration was developed and was found to have strong psychometric properties. Studies 2a-2c documented a nomological network consistent with the present conceptualization. Study 3 related inspiration to the holding of U.S. patents. Study 4 linked trait inspiration to daily experiences of inspiration, extended the nomological network to the state level, documented antecedents and consequences, and established incremental validity. This research provides a foundation for further study of inspiration, both as a general construct and in specific content domains (e.g., religion, creativity, interpersonal relations).
The authors examined the core characteristics, component processes, antecedents, and function of state inspiration. In Studies 1 and 2, inspiration was contrasted with baseline experience and activated positive affect (PA) using a vivid recall methodology. Results supported the tripartite conceptualization of inspiration. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that inspiration may be decomposed into separate processes related to being inspired "by" and being inspired "to." Study 3 found that daily inspiration is triggered by illumination among individuals high in receptive engagement, whereas activated PA is triggered by reward salience among individuals high in approach temperament. Approach temperament was also implicated in being inspired "to." Inspiration and activated PA appear to serve different functions: transmission and acquisition, respectively.
In-store communication delivered through technology formats (e.g., kiosk, digital display) as well as non-technology formats (e.g., magazine cover, flyer) can help retailers enhance sales by delivering relevant content to consumers. Although prior research has primarily examined the effects of deal-oriented content that primarily offers promotions for a single product on shopper spending, the effects of inspirational content that sparks ideas (e.g., novel ways to use products) on spending are unclear. Inspirational content can affect spending differently from deal-oriented content as it activates stronger motivation for consumption goal-completion. Guided by motivation for goal-completion, this article proposes that inspirational content increases spending more than deal-oriented content does. The authors propose and empirically test the hypotheses using data from a set of experimental studies, a field experiment, and an eye-tracking study. The results show that inspirational content increases spending more than deal-oriented content or no content. This effect is mediated by consumption goal-completion, such that it is attenuated when consumers already have consumption goals or when the content detracts from inspiration-induced goals. These results suggest that retailers can increase sales by using clear, inspirational content in their communications.
Customer journey management (CJM) and understanding the role of customer experiences at each stage of the journey is of paramount importance to retailers and manufacturers to survive and thrive in this technology intensive environment. In this special issue we have focused on the following themes: the role of technology, the importance of social, cultural and political factors, and the role of retail environment, numeric information, merchandise, and packaging. We also highlight that the customer journey can be both looping and nonlinear in nature and involves cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses.
This article contributes to research on advertising effectiveness by investigating the combined influence of ad headlines and visual patterns in the ad on consumer product evaluations. Headlines can convey motion (e.g., “move,” “quick”); when the associated ad features a regular visual pattern, it evokes stronger product evaluations than if it depicts an irregular visual pattern. Thus, the way the advertised products are aligned visually represents critical decisions for ad designers. As Study 1 reveals, if the regular visual pattern of an advertisement combines with verbal information conveying motion, stronger product evaluations result compared with the use of an irregular visual pattern. Study 2 extends these findings by demonstrating that a regular pattern creates mental simulation, such that consumers imagine themselves experiencing the product, which mediates the relationship between visual patterns and product evaluations. Study 3 uses text mining and image annotation analyses to provide ecological validity for the findings, corroborating them in the context of brand messages on Twitter.
For consumers, evaluation of a service firm often depends on evaluation of the “service encounter” or the period of time when the customer interacts directly with the firm. Knowledge of the factors that influence customer evaluations in service encounters is therefore critical, particularly at a time when general perceptions of service quality are declining. The author presents a model for understanding service encounter evaluation that synthesizes consumer satisfaction, services marketing, and attribution theories. A portion of the model is tested experimentally to assess the effects of physical surroundings and employee responses (explanations and offers to compensate) on attributions and satisfaction in a service failure context.
Marketing universals are defined as consumer behaviors within a segment and toward a particular product category that are invariant across cultures. Using several definitions of culture and three different criteria for universality, the authors evaluate whether the use of brand, price, retailer reputation, and physical product appearance as signals of quality are marketing universals for consumer electronics products. Using a sample representing 38 nationalities, they find that there are few differences in the use of quality signals across cultures for a high priority segment of consumers. They draw conclusions for the adaptation versus standardization debate and argue that certain behaviors are likely to be universal, whereas others are not. Understanding such differences is essential to designing international marketing strategies.
Scant evidence is available on of how social media marketing activities influence brand equity creation and consumers' behavior towards a brand. This research explores these relationships by analyzing pioneering brands in the luxury sector (Burberry, Dior, Gucci, Hermès, and Louis Vuitton). Based on a survey of 845 luxury brand consumers (Chinese, French, Indian, and Italian), who follow the five brands studied on social media, the study develops a structural equation model that helps to address gaps in prior social media branding literature. Specifically, the study demonstrates the links between social media marketing efforts and their consequences (brand preference, price premium, and loyalty). The study measures brands' social media marketing efforts as a holistic concept that incorporates five aspects (entertainment, interaction, trendiness, customization, and word of mouth). Another contribution of the study is that it finds that SMMEs have a significant positive effect on brand equity and on the two main dimensions of brand equity: brand awareness and brand image.
The present research examines how ambient scents affect consumers' spatial perceptions in retail environments, which in turn influence customers' feelings of power and, thus, product preference and purchasing behavior. Specifically, the authors demonstrate that in a warm- (vs. cool-) scented and thus perceptually more (vs. less) socially dense environment, people experience a greater (vs. lesser) need for power, which manifests in increased preference for and purchase of premium products and brands. This research extends knowledge on store atmospherics and customer experience management through the effects of ambient scent on spatial perceptions and builds on recent research on power in choice contexts.
Explores the relevance of the concept of adaptation level to a number of areas of psychology, with special reference to motivation, where it has been incorporated into a number of current theories. Harvard Book List (edited) 1971 #364 (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
How do preferences change when consumers focus on the anticipated satisfaction with a purchase rather than choice? In a series of three studies, we show that preferences, both expressed and revealed, change depending on the degree to which anticipated satisfaction is evoked. These shifts in preferences arise because, compared to choice, anticipated satisfaction elicits a mental-imaging processing strategy that is both more effort intensive and qualitatively different. By providing direct evidence from thought protocols and by presenting evidence suggesting that these shifts in preferences vanish when mental imagery is discouraged or made more difficult, we show that the effect arises out of a processing strategy that requires effortful mental imagery of one or more of the options in the decision-making task. Finally, we demonstrate the uniqueness of the effect by showing that it cannot be generated with heightened processing or by an orientation that is directed toward the extent to which the options are liked. Copyright 2000 by the University of Chicago.
Virtual reality (VR) is typically defined in terms of technological hardware. This paper attempts to cast a new, variable-based definition of virtual reality that can be used to classify virtual reality in relation to other media. The defintion of virtual reality is based on concepts of "presence" and "telepresence," which refer to the sense of being in an environment, generated by natural or mediated means, respectively. Two technological dimensions that contribute to telepresence, vividness and interactivity, are discussed. A variety of media are classified according to these dimensions. Suggestions are made for the application of the new definition of virtual reality within the field of communication research. s t ) - r technologies social responses to communication c SRCT Paper #104 Page 3 Jonathan Steuer Defining VR: Dimensions Determining Telepresence Defining Virtual Reality: Dimensions Determining Telepresence Virtual reality (VR) has typically been portrayed as a medium, l...
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