Factors That Influence In-Store Decision Making
The Inman, Winer, and Ferraro article in the September 2009 issue (“The Interplay Among Category Characteristics, Customer Characteristics, and Customer Activities on In-Store Decision Making”) offers and tests predictions on how category and customer characteristics and customer activities influence in-store decision making. It also highlights several consumer-centric strategies to decrease the likelihood of unplanned purchases.
Among category characteristics, the authors find that unplanned purchases are more likely for both infrequently purchased and hedonic product categories. Among customer characteristics, the influential variables included gender (women shoppers tended to make more unplanned purchases) and household size (greater size increased the likelihood of unplanned purchases). Finally, among customer activities, the results indicate that unplanned purchases are less likely when a list is used, when frequency of shopping increased, when customers limited the number of aisles visited, and when the time spent in the store decreased. In addition, the likelihood of unplanned purchases also increased when customers paid by credit card or by check instead of by cash.
The authors characterize the reduction of unplanned purchases as enhancing consumer welfare. While this interpretation applies in many circumstances, it is worth investigating if this is always true. It is noteworthy that display was found to have the greatest effect (among category characteristics) on unplanned purchasing. Display increased the probability to .64 from the baseline probability of .46 for unplanned purchases.
Overall, this article presents a rich set of implications from both policy and managerial perspectives. I welcome comments and reactions from JM readers in this blog thread.
Siva K. Balasubramanian, Journal of Marketing Web site Editor
