Download consumer behavior solomon book chapter 8 14th edition and more Study Guides, Projects, Research Consumer Behaviour in PDF only on Docsity!
Buying, Using,
and Disposing
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES When you finish reading this chapter, you should be able to:
8-1 Explain the factors that influence consumers’ shopping experience during each phase of the purchasing process. 8-2 Describe how the virtualization of shopping increases our reliance on digital assets. 8-3 Summarize how the growth of a “sharing economy” changes the way consumers think about using and owning.
8-4 Explain how the climate change crisis requires us to think differently about buying, using, and disposing to limit our environmental footprint. 8-5 Identify the maladaptive consumer behaviors that can occur in the purchasing and using phases.
M
ateo is really psyched. The big day has arrived: He’s going to buy a car! Although used car prices spiked after Covid, Mateo figures there’s no guarantee they will come down to earth anytime soon, so it’s time to get in the game. He’s had his eye on that silver 2015 Honda Accord parked in the lot of Jon’s Auto-Rama for weeks now. Although the sticker says $2,999, Mateo figures he can probably get this baby for a cool $2,000. Besides, Jon’s dilapidated showroom and seedy lot make it look like just the kind of place that’s hungry to move some cars. Mateo did his homework on the web. First, he found out the wholesale value of similar used Accords from the Kelley Blue Book (kbb.com), and then he scouted out some cars for sale in his area at cars.com. So, Mateo figures he’s coming in loaded for bear— he’s going to show these guys they’re not dealing with some newbie. 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. Mateo 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 that today is Jon’s Auto-Rama Rip Us Off Day! Things look better than Mateo expected—maybe he can get the car for even less than he hoped. He’s a bit surprised when a salesperson comes over to him and introduces herself as Kristen. 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 better luck: He reasons that he won’t have to be so tough if he negotiates with a woman his age. Kristen laughs when he offers her $1,800 for the Honda; she points out that she can’t take such a low bid for such a sweet car to her boss, or she’ll lose her job.
Source: Mandy Godbehear/Shutterstock.
222 Section 3 • Buying and Having: Choosing and Using Products
Kristen’s enthusiasm for the car convinces Mateo even 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, Mateo reminds himself that he at least convinced Kristen 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 year or two. Mateo relishes that thought—his real dream is to take advantage of the tax credit for buying an electric car like a Nissan Leaf and eventually leave the world of gas-guzzlers behind for good.
The Shopping Experience
Many consumers dread the act of buying a car. But change is in the wind, as dealers transform the car showroom. Car shoppers like Mateo log on to internet buying services, call auto brokers who negotiate for them, buy cars at warehouse clubs, and visit giant auto malls where they can easily comparison shop. Indeed, the average car buyer today visits only 1.6 auto dealerships, as compared with five just a decade ago. Instead, they spend about 60 percent of their shopping time online as they research their options.^1 In fact, 30 percent of car purchases in the U.S. now occur entirely online—compared with a paltry 2 percent before the pandemic.^2 Mateo’s experience when he bought a car illustrates some of the concepts we’ll discuss in this chapter. He did a lot of legwork beforehand, and elements of the physical environment where he bought his Honda influenced his decision. As Mateo’s experience reminds us, making a purchase is often not a simple, routine matter where you just pop into a store and make a quick choice. Figure 8. 1 illustrates the main factors that affect our shopping experience before, during, and after the purchase occurs.
Shop ’Til You Drop?
We all know some people who shop simply for the sport of it and others whom we must drag kicking and screaming 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—or both.
Technological and cultural changes (including the pandemic) provide new ways to obtain familiar products and services, as this auto “vending machine” illustrates. Source: Michael Ventura/Alamy Stock Photo.
Figure 8. 1 Factors Affecting the Pre-Purchase, Purchase, and Post-Purchase Experience
PRE-PURCHASE: Utilitarian vs. hedonic shopping orientation
PURCHASE: Store atmospherics Point of Purchase Stimuli Salespeople
POST-PURCHASE: Expectancy disconfirmation Dissonance
OBJECTIVE 8- 1 Explain the factors that influence con- sumers’ shopping experience during each phase of the purchasing process.
224 Section 3 • Buying and Having: Choosing and Using Products
As fierce as the competition is among brands for your undying devotion, it’s perhaps even more heated among retailers that want to lure you to their store or website to make the transaction. This is one reason that a management perspective called design thinking is so hot right now. This process (see Figure8.2) identifies a series of steps the designer should take to make interacting with a product service, or store as seamless as possible—beginning with empathy for the customer’s experience. It emphasizes the importance of creating products, services, and stores that aren’t just pretty. Instead, they make sense in terms of how customers live their lives and use what they buy. One offshoot of the design-thinking revolution is the recognition that managers need to step out of their little boxes and cross over to the consumer’s perspective to understand their products—and to identify any “pain points” during the shopping process. For this reason, many marketers are taking a close look at the customer journey , or the specific series of steps that occur during before, during, and even after the shopping experience.^7 A customer journey methodology encourages brands to map out in excruciat- ing detail all the steps a customer takes while they interact with the company—no matter where and no matter how trivial. It’s a powerful way to improve the experi- ence. The journey spans a variety of touchpoints by which the customer moves from awareness to engagement and purchase. Successful brands focus on developing a seamless experience that ensures each touchpoint interconnects and contributes to the overall journey. The consumer journey concept was influenced by the Japanese approach to total quality management (TQM). To help companies achieve more insight, researchers go to the gemba , which to the Japanese means “the one true source of information.” 8 According to this philosophy, it’s essential to send marketers and designers to the precise place where consumers use the product or service rather than to ask laboratory subjects to use the product or service in a simulated environment. (see Figure 8.3)
Retailing As Theater
Disney is revamping its stores to re-imagine the “magic” of the customer experience. It’s not just about 50 varieties of mouse ears; they carry curated collections by Coach, David Lerner, and Ethan Allen furniture. The stores now offer interactive experiences as well, so shoppers can battle Darth Vader on a big screen and even purchase cotton
Figure 8.2 Design Thinking Source: Samattana Sawangrak/MAQE Bangkok Co., Ltd. Design Thinking.
Chapter 8 • Buying, Using, and Disposing 225
candy and the iconic mouse ears from carts that are the same as those they’ll see in Disneyland and Disney World. They can watch live streams from the actual theme parks and celebrate birthdays and other events while they shop. 10 Disney knows it’s all about theater. The competition for customers becomes even more intense as nonstore alternatives, from websites and print catalogs to TV shopping networks and home shopping parties, continue to multiply. With all these shopping alternatives available, how can a traditional store compete? Many malls are giant entertain- ment centers, almost to the point that their traditional retail occupants seem like an afterthought. Today, it’s commonplace to find carousels, miniature golf, skating rinks, or batting cages in a suburban mall. The quest to entertain means that many stores go all out to create imaginative environments that transport shoppers to fantasy worlds or provide other kinds of stimulation. We call this strategy retail theming. Innovative merchants today use four basic kinds of theming techniques:
1. Landscape themes rely on associations with images of nature, Earth, animals, and the physical body. Bass Pro Shops, for exam- ple, creates a simulated outdoor environment, including pools stocked with fish.
Figure 8.3 Going to the Gemba Source: © Quality Function Deployment Institute.
Host Foods, which operates food concessions in major airports, sent a team to the gemba—in this case, an airport cafeteria—to identify problem areas. Employees watched as customers entered the facility, and then they followed the customers as they inspected the menu, procured silverware, paid, and found a table. For example, the team identified a common problem that many people traveling solo experience: the need to put down your 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 when you get your meal. This simple insight allowed Host to modify the design of its facilities to improve a patron’s line-of-sight between the food area and the tables.^9
Enter
Put bags down.
Can’t see bags! Go get them.
Leave dirty tray on table.
Need Silverware!
Ooops... Not supposed to use the trash can.
1
2
3
4
5
(^76)
Trays Silver
Food
Trash
Cashier Beverages
The Gemba –
Hershey runs a make-believe factory smack in the middle of Times Square. It features four steam machines and 380 feet of neon lighting, plus a moving message board that lets visiting chocoholics program messages to surprise their loved ones.^11 Source: Gordon Bell/Shutterstock.
Chapter 8 • Buying, Using, and Disposing 227
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 five pounds a month!^20
In-Store Decision Making
Despite all their efforts to “pre-sell” consumers through advertising, marketers increasingly recognize that the store environment exerts a strong influence on many purchases. When a shopper suddenly decides to buy something in the store, one of two different processes explains why:
1. They engage in unplanned buying when they are unfamiliar with a store’s layout or they are under time pressure. Or, if a person sees an item on a store shelf, this might be a reminder that they need it. About one-third of all unplanned buying occurs because a shopper recognizes a new need while in the store.^21 2. They engage in impulse buying when they experience a sudden, irresistible urge.
Retailers typically place so-called impulse items , such as candy and gum, near the checkout to cater to these urges. Similarly, many supermarkets install wider aisles to encour- age browsing, and the widest tend to feature products with the highest profit margins. They stack low mark-up items that shoppers purchase regularly in narrower aisles to allow shop- ping carts to speed through. Starbucks encourages impulse purchasing when it charges customers who want to download songs they hear over the store’s speakers directly onto their iPhones. 23 Each week the Dollar Tree chain designates an impulse item like a pen or candy bar as “drive items” that cashiers push at checkout. As the company’s CEO explained, “It’s just that one last chance to get another item in their shopping bag.”^24 This in-store influence is even stronger when we shop for food: Analysts estimate that shoppers decide on about two out of every three supermarket purchases while they walk through the aisles.^25 Research evidence indicates that consumers use mental budgets for grocery trips that are typically composed of both an itemized portion and in-store slack. This means they typically decide beforehand on an amount they plan to spend, but then they have an additional amount in mind (slack) they are willing to spend on unplanned purchases—if they come across any they really want to have.^26 Here are some “tricks of the trade”:
- Sell sweets at eye level, midway along aisles, where shoppers’ attention lingers longest. - Use the ends of aisles to generate big revenues—endcap displays account for 45 percent of soft drink sales.
Bass Pro Shops use a landscape theme to connect shoppers with nature. Source: Stuart Abraham/Alamy Stock Photo.
To boost the entertainment value of shopping (and to lure online shoppers back to brick-and-mortar stores), some retailers create activity stores that let consumers participate in the production of the products or services they buy there. The Build-A-Bear Workshop chain, lets its little customers dress bear bodies in costumes.^22 Source: Patrick Hatt/Shutterstock.
228 Section 3 • Buying and Having: Choosing and Using Products
- Use freestanding displays toward the rear of the supermarket and on the left side of aisles. Shoppers tend to move through a store in a counterclockwise direction and they are more likely to choose items from shelves to their left. - Sprinkle the same product throughout the store, rather than grouping it in one spot to boost sales through repetitive exposure. - Group ingredients for a meal in one spot. - Post health-related information on kiosks and shelf tags to link groceries to good health in shoppers’ minds, even though only 23 percent of them say they always look for nutritional information on labels.^28
POP Goes the Retailer: Point-of-Purchase Stimuli
Well-designed in-store displays boost impulse purchases by as much as 10 percent. That explains why U.S. companies spend about $19 billion each year on point-of- purchase (POP) stimuli. 29 A POP can be an elaborate product display or demonstra- tion, a coupon-dispensing machine, or an employee who gives out free samples of a new cookie in the grocery aisle. The importance of POP in shopper decision making explains why product pack- ages increasingly play a key role in the marketing mix as they evolve from the func- tional to the fantastic:
- In the past 100 years, Pepsi changed the look of its can, and before that its bottles, only 10 times. Now the company switches designs every few weeks. It’s also test- ing cans that spray an aroma when you open one to match the flavor of the drink, such as a wild cherry scent misting from a Wild Cherry Pepsi can. - Coors Light bottles sport labels that turn blue when the beer is chilled to the right temperature. - Huggies’ Henry the Hippo hand soap bottles have a light that flashes for 20 sec- onds to show children how long they should wash their hands.
The placement of items in a grocery store aisle can impact sales dramatically. Source: Patti McConville/Alamy Stock Photo.
Buying, Having, Being
How Big is Your Basket? Almost one in three U.S. households shops on a budget. How do they track their in-store spending to stay within those budgets? A study of budget shoppers in grocery stores found that a majority (57.4 percent) of these shoppers use mental computation strategies to keep track of their spending.^27 Yet people use different strategies to mentally calculate their basket size. For example, some round down (or up) for each item (making them easier to add), while others try to combine “compatible prices” (adding together a $1. item with a $3.58 item to make $5). The authors found that the prices of items in the store can affect which strategy shoppers use, as can the motivations of the shopper. The more budget-motivated shoppers attempt to add items together as precisely as possible, without using any shortcuts. They end up with a far less accurate estimate of their basket size than those who are less motivated (and thus use effective shortcuts).
230 Section 3 • Buying and Having: Choosing and Using Products
Dissonance
Dissonance theory can help to explain why evaluations of a product tend to increase after we buy the product. The cognitive element, “I made a stupid decision,” is disso- nant with the element, “I am not a stupid person,” so we tend to find even more reasons to like something after it becomes ours. A classic study at a horse race demonstrated this post-purchase dissonance. Bettors evaluated their chosen horse more highly and were more confident of its success after they placed a bet than before. Because the bet- tor financially commits to the choice, they reduce dissonance by elevating the attrac- tiveness of the chosen alternative relative to the ones not chosen. One implication of this phenomenon is that consumers actively seek support for their decisions so they can justify them; therefore, marketers should supply their customers with additional reinforcement after they purchase to bolster these decisions.
E-Commerce and the
Digital World
Today, and especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of our shopping experiences have moved online. Indeed, with global e-commerce sales pegged at about $5.5 trillion per year, about three-quarters of all transactions occur this way—and the proportion continues to climb post-COVID. 47 Note that buying online certainly doesn’t promise a better experience—after all, industry analysts estimate a cart abandonment rate of about 70 percent ; 7 out of 10 online purchases just don’t happen, as shoppers get frustrated by hard-to-navigate sites, slow load times, and changing prices! 48
Buying, Having, Being
Love the Shirt – But Is It Contaminated? Shopping in the real world inevitably brings us into contact with other people, consumers, and salespeople. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic made us more conscious and cautious about what we touch, researchers documented a phenomenon called contamination. Here is the gist of the phenomenon: when we see someone touch a product, or even get close to a product, that closeness spreads to the product and the product feels “dirty.” Certain physical cues—like a product that is out of place or that has a slightly ripped label—can prime the notion that other shoppers have been through this aisle and touched that product. And because of this contamination, consumers are less likely to buy that product. Even the way a product is made can make us more likely to find it dirty and want to clean it. One study found that when we believe a product is a counterfeit, we are more likely to disinfect it before we use or touch it. We may even avoid touching or using it because it trig- gers moral disgust.^44 This term describes how people react to what they view as unethical or socially unacceptable, a feeling that can lit- erally make some people experience physical symptoms, like nausea.^45 Note: Contamination works both ways—some rabid sports fans are willing to pay huge sums for parts of a uniform that a favorite athlete wore in a game (even used, sweaty socks!). In 2020, a fan set a record when they bought a jersey that quarterback Tom Brady wore in a Tampa Bay Buccaneers football game—for the modest sum of $480,000.^46
Figure 8. 4 Design Thinking Influences Customer Satisfaction The design-thinking perspective can boost customer satisfaction with product usage simply by tweaking product elements. In this case, a traditional hot sauce bottle gets a makeover to make it easier to pour.
Example of a Design Thinking Success
OBJECTIVE 8- 2 Describe how the virtualization of shopping increases our reliance on digital assets.
Chapter 8 • Buying, Using, and Disposing 231
From Bricks to Clicks
As more and more websites pop up to sell everything from refrigerator magnets to Mack trucks, marketers continue to debate how the online world affects their business. 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 (okay, that’s not real likely). Still, the rising availability of comparison-shopping phone apps does threaten the existence of many retailers as consumers engage in what they call showrooming. This means that a shopper visits a store like Best Buy to explore options for big-ticket items like TVs or appliances, and then they find a cheaper price for the specific model online.
Shopping Apps and In-Store Tech
The global app economy exceeded $7 trillion in 2021. 49 More than one-third of U.S. shoppers have downloaded at least one food or beverage app. Already, Americans spend about 2 hours and 15 minutes per day (yes, day) on apps, which adds up to more than a month per year! 50 Mobile shopping apps on smartphones provide imaginative new ways for retailers to guide shoppers through the experience, as they do everything for you: locate merchandise, identify the nearest restroom in a mall, or scout out sales. Some help you remember where you parked your car; others provide reward points when you visit certain stores. In one twist, a recent study found that consumers chose relatively fewer food “vices” when they purchased online rather than in the store. Apparently, this is because the digital format shows only symbolic versions of products (e.g., a package photo), while brick-and-mortar stores allow people to see and touch the physical products. The more symbolic presentation mode decreases the products’ vividness, whichin turn diminishes consumers’ desire to seek instant gratification and ultimately leads them to purchase fewer vices.^51 The apps also promise to provide a solution to the major hassles that drive consumers away from brick-and-mortar stores, especially long checkout times and incompetent sales associates. One survey reported that nearly 3 in 10 store visits ended with an average of $132 unspent because shoppers gave up in frustration. The study also found that more than 40 percent of shoppers who received guidance from a retail associate armed with a handheld mobile computer reported an improved shopping experience. To rub salt into the wound, more than half of store employees agreed that because use of online shopping tools is escalating, their customers are more knowledgeable about their products than the salespeople are!^52 Note: Don’t confuse the efficiency of shopping apps with the time shoppers spend on their phones while they shop! A study found that when consumers spend more time talking, texting, or browsing while in a store, they spend longer in the store and these distractions lead to more purchases! 53 In addition, major retailers like Macy’s and Target deploy beacons in their stores. These devices communicate with smartphone apps indoors through a Bluetooth signal. They can share a coupon with a shopper’s phone as they browse in the aisles or reward consumers with points even for just entering the store. And, the augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) platforms we’ve already discussed promise to turn the shopping experience into an interactive playground. AR apps allow the shopper to access additional information from product packages. For example, a woman who buys a Maybelline cosmetic product could hold her phone over the box to bring up a model who shares tips about how to apply makeup. Headsets like the Oculus Rift can provide a totally immersive experience as shoppers
Chapter 8 • Buying, Using, and Disposing 233
system verifies and stores transactions in a block that is linked to the pre- ceding block, which creates a chain. Each block must refer to the preceding block to be valid. This structure permanently timestamps and stores exchanges of value, which prevents anyone from altering the ledger. Like the World Wide Web of information, it’s the World Wide Ledger of value—a distributed ledger that everyone can download and run on their personal computer. Some big companies, including Dell, Expedia, PayPal, and Microsoft, already work with partners to process bitcoin payments.^55
Online Commerce: Raising the Bar
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 websites 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. 56 In addition, as we discussed in Chapter 2, there are huge issues relating to data security and privacy yet to be resolved. So, what makes e-commerce sites successful? Some e-tailers take advantage of technology to provide extra value to their customers that their land-locked rivals can’t. Warby Parker allows buyers to virtually try on sunglasses in real time. They can adjust the fit and choose different styles, frames, lenses, and colors to find the perfect look.^57 Other fashion sites, such as Net-a-Porter and Gilt Groupe, directly connect buyers and sellers so that designers can be nimbler and react quickly to changing consumer tastes. Indeed, the high-fashion site Moda Operandi bills itself as a pretailer ; it provides exclusive styles by prodding manufacturers to produce runway pieces they wouldn’t otherwise make because store buyers weren’t sure anyone would pay the money for them.^58 More generally, online shoppers value these aspects of a website:
- The ability to click 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 an item and add it to your cart without leaving the page you’re on. - 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.^62
Liquid Consumption
We usually think about consumption as “solid”—we “own” something we bought until we choose not to, and the item is a tangible asset we can see, touch, or taste. But in today’s changing market that often values speed, flexibility, and convenience,
The marketing world is abuzz about the potential of NFTs (non-fungible tokens). A good or commodity is fungible if its individual units are interchangeable and indistinguishable (like when you get change for a $20 bill). In contrast, an NFT is a digital certificate of ownership for a one-of-a-kind cryptographic asset that cannot be interchanged with another item. NFTs are kept in a blockchain, which is a digital ledger that tracks who sells or receives the item. This emerging technology allows consumers to own and trade digital assets like photos, videos, and digital artwork just as they do with physical ones. If you buy an NFT, the ownership information gets distributed across the entire network, so anyone with access to the blockchain can see it. However, only the owner can access the NFT with their unique cryptographic key.^59 Although NFTs are still in their early days, some investors are jumping into this new digital domain big time—one NFT artwork sold for $91.8 million!^60 The world’s first digital-only dress (shown above) on the blockchain sold for “only” $9,500.^61 Source: THE FABRICANT.
234 Section 3 • Buying and Having: Choosing and Using Products
consumption tends to be more liquid. No, that doesn’t mean we’re ordering craft beers online! Researchers define liquid consumption in terms of three core attributes:
1. Ephemeral – People can have a liquid relationship to products and brands, in which they value those objects only in certain contexts and for limited lengths of time. 2. Access-based – Liquid products are “accessed” rather than owned outright. This allows consumers to seek more variety and temporarily consume products that they normally could not own. 3. Dematerialized – Liquid products use fewer or no materials in order to deliver their desired functionality. Examples include digital goods and services, like cloud services.
Sephora offers cosmetics shoppers the opportunity to “try on” beauty products virtually. Source: Perch.
If your data is “in the cloud,” you’re engaging in liquid consumption (no, not drinking at a bar). Source: Zoonar GmbH/Alamy Stock Photo.
236 Section 3 • Buying and Having: Choosing and Using Products
chapters about the weak relationship researchers find between owning more “stuff” and happiness. 65 In addition, many people appreciate the intimacy of exchanging items with “real people” rather than getting them from big companies. Many seem more than willing to do things with total strangers our mothers used to warn us against: They stay in their homes, get in their cars, and even wear their clothes.^66 That’s one reason the notion of doing business with other consumers rather than with companies goes by the name P2P (peer-to-peer) commerce. P2P commerce increases the range of options for consumers. For instance, Airbnb’s entry into the Texas market has reduced the overall income generated by traditional hotels. Lower-end hotels, and those not catering to business travelers, have been the most heavily impacted. A lot of this lost revenue comes from major events (e.g., SXSW) that typically see hotel prices skyrocket because of short supply. Yet these surges are less pronounced in cities after Airbnb enters the market. Researchers argue that the key in the growth of P2P options like Airbnb’s services is their greater flexibility over traditional options. 67
The Thrill of Thrifting
From secondhand clothing to refurbished electronics, the secondary market , places, or online platforms where people sell used goods, is growing exponentially.^68 Consumers turn to the secondary market to find cheaper products than brand-new ones in the primary market. Indeed, a refurbished iPhone can cost a fraction of a new one. Thrifting —where people replace some of their purchases of brand-new products with items they find in these venues—is a popular activity for many. Also, environmentally savvy consumers turn to the secondary market to ensure that goods continue to get good use instead of being discarded. The secondary market is an essential component of the reduce-reuse-recycle-refurbish cycle of the circular economy we discussed in Chapter 2. In addition, many people find that thrifting is a fun and exciting form of shopping. A key indicator of the popularity of thrifting is the rise of social media fashion influencers not only demonstrating their talents in thrifting but also communicating the importance of making sustainable consumption choices, a topic we turn to next.^69
The Climate Crisis
Product Disposal
Green issues don’t end at the cash register. There is also the matter of what we do with our things when we’re done with them. Today more than ever, product disposal , or how we get rid of a product once we’re done with it, is an important element of consumer behavior. Because we form strong attachments to some products, it can be painful to get rid of them. Our possessions anchor our identities; our past lives on in our things. 70 Some Japanese people ritually “retire” worn-out sewing needles, chopsticks, and even computer chips when they burn them in a ceremony to thank them for years of good service. 71 And here in the United States, recent research shows that when an everyday product—even something as mundane as cups or aluminum cans—is linked to a consumer’s identity, it is less likely to be trashed and more likely to be recycled. For example, a person who is a big Coca-Cola fan is more likely to recycle a Coke can than a Pepsi can. 72 The reason is that trashing a product that is linked to the self
OBJECTIVE 8- 4 Explain how the climate change crisis requires us to think differently about buying, using, and disposing to limit our environmental footprint.
Chapter 8 • Buying, Using, and Disposing 237
is perceived as a threat to our identity because it is symbolically like trashing a part of the self. Research shows that even a simple gesture like putting a person’s name on a paper cup makes it more likely to get recycled rather than buried in a garbage can! 73 We all must get rid of our “stuff” at some point. Indeed, we may well acquire a new product even though the old one still works—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 environment (e.g., a refrigerator is the wrong color for a freshly painted kitchen), or a change in the person’s role or self-image. 74
The Crisis of Food Waste
While millions of people suffer from food insecurity, many millions of pounds of food are avoidably wasted (i.e., thrown away) every year. Food waste can occur across the production and distribution of food, but consumers also play an important role in the process. Some of the researchers in the Transformative Consumer Research (TCR) movement we discussed in Chapter 2 refer to the “ squander sequence ” as the waste that occurs from how consumers use or misuse food products at the preacquisition/ purchasing, acquisition, consumption, and disposition stages.^75 Table 8.1 identifies possible problems and solutions during this process.
Recycling and the Underground Economy
How do people decide whether to discard products or recycle them? Because we discard two billion tons of trash per year (and more in the United States than any other country), this is an important question.
These watches are made from recycled Nespresso coffeemaker cartridges. Source: Courtesy of Blancier Handmade Watches.
In the week after Christmas alone, American consumers return almost 10 percent of the gifts they bought online. The Postal Service even labels January 5 National Returns Day. Returns generate over four billion pounds of landfill waste each year. That’s because, believe it or not, it’s more economical for many returns to get trashed instead of being returned to store inventories.^78 Source: Zavalnyuk Sergey/123RF.
People are more likely to throw away (rather than recycle) products that are “defective” in some way because they view such products as less useful or valuable—even though these products still function the same as “prettier” options.^76 Millions of pounds of “ugly fruit” and other imperfect food products wind up in the trash for this reason. In fact, American consumers throw away half of all produce due to aesthetic standards—that’s 60 million tons of perfectly edible fruits and vegetables that wind up in the trash.^77 In addition, Americans discard 38 percent of the bread and grain products they purchase, and they pour 20 percent of their milk down the sink. To make matters worse, food waste winds up in landfills where it decomposes and emits methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Source: Kellog Garden Products.
Chapter 8 • Buying, Using, and Disposing 239
The underground economy describes any economic activity that is not reported to government authorities and therefore is not taxed. In fact, economic estimates of this underground economy 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. By one estimate, the value of the underground economy in the U.S. alone in 2021 was more than $2.5 trillion. 82 There are more than 3,500 flea markets—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.^83
The Dark Side of
Buying and Using
As fun and exciting as shopping and buying can be, there may also be some undesirable consequences. Maladaptive consumption refers to substance-related addictions, like alcohol, tobacco, or opioids, as well as behav- ioral problems like gambling, overeating, or overusing technology or social media. This dark side of consumer behavior is problematic from a health standpoint, as these behaviors are mentally and physically hurtful. It is also problematic from an economic standpoint, as these behaviors are financially costly, and from a social standpoint, as they can hurt your relationships with others.^86 For example, drug and alcohol abuse is soaring in the U.S., where researchers estimate that almost 21 million Americans are addicted to at least one substance.^87 But even that huge problem is in a sense just the tip of the iceberg because people can be addicted to other products and behaviors as well. Some people even become overly dependent on everyday products like ChapStick!^88 Let’s take a closer look at other forms of addiction that relate to consumer behavior.
Addictive and Compulsive Behavior
Some consumers take the expression “born to shop” quite literally. They shop because they are compelled to do so rather than because shopping is a pleasurable or func- tional task. Compulsive shopping refers to repetitive and often excessive shopping performed as an antidote to tension, anxiety, depression, or boredom.^89 “Shopaholics” turn to shopping much the way addicted people turn to drugs or alcohol.^90 One man diagnosed with compulsive shopping disorder (CSD) bought more than 2,000 wrenches and never used any of them. Some researchers argue that compul- sive shopping may be related to low self-esteem. It affects an estimated 2 to 16 percent of the adult U.S. population. 91 In some cases, the consumer has little or no control over their consumption, much like a drug addict. Even the act of shopping itself is an addicting experience for some people. Three common elements characterize many negative or destructive consumer behaviors:^92
1. The behavior is not done by choice. 2. The gratification derived from the behavior is short-lived. 3. The person experiences strong feelings of regret or guilt afterward.
The new trend of recommerce (a play on the term e-commerce ) shows that many consumers want to squeeze more value out of their possessions by selling or trading them.^84 This focus has given birth to the swishing movement, where people organize parties to exchange clothing or other personal possessions with others. 85 Source: View Apart/Shutterstock.
OBJECTIVE 8- 5 Identify the maladaptive consumer behaviors that can occur in the purchasing and using phases.
240 Section 3 • Buying and Having: Choosing and Using Products
Gambling
Gambling is an example of a consumption addiction that touches every segment of consumer society. Whether it takes the form of casino gambling, playing the “slots,” betting on sports events with friends or through a bookie, or even buying lottery tickets, excessive gambling can be destructive. Taken to extremes, gambling can result in lowered self-esteem, debt, divorce, and neglected children. According to one psychologist, gamblers exhibit a classic addictive cycle: They experience a “high” while in action and depression when they stop gambling, which leads them back to the thrill of the action. Unlike drug addicts, however, money is the substance that hard-core gamblers abuse. We can probably expect the problem to grow as the movement to legalize online gambling in some U.S. states picks up steam (it’s already is legal in six states). 93 The industry estimates that revenues from online gambling will exceed $100 billion by 2026.^94 Researchers interviewed 30 gamblers to compare the experiences of online versus offline gambling. 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, on the other hand, 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 because they stay at home. Casino gamblers talked about the friendly atmosphere, whereas those who stayed online reported behaviors that a real casino wouldn’t tolerate, such as taunts and bullying.^95
Hoarding
Just as it may be hard for some people to resist the urge to shop, it can be difficult for others to part with the stuff they own. Hoarding is the acquisition of possessions without disposing of them. A recent study based on in-depth interviews with seven Canadian hoarders and a detailed analysis of the documentary TV series Hoarding: Buried Alive revealed what people experience when they hoard: 96
1. When buying – Hoarders describe new purchases as both pleasurable and painful but seem not to consider the amount of time it often takes to acquire new products. 2. When using – Hoarders develop strong attachments to products, view them in terms of their potential value, and have rules for how the objects should be handled. Yet they also report feeling embarrassed and helpless in the face of their condition. 3. When disposing – When they do dispose of objects, they do so in a very systematic way (e.g., asking others to dispose for them) and with a need to reframe what they are doing to make it less emotionally impactful.
Tech and Social Media Addiction
Are you addicted to your Instagram feed? Do you sleep with your phone? We all know that our devices are very addictive: They consume our time, attention, and money. Internet addiction refers to the compulsive overuse of digital experiences to the detriment of the individual. Experts estimate that as many as 5 to 10 percent of Americans meet the criteria for social media addiction today.^97 Perhaps these stats are not that surprising: After all, tech products are designed to be habit forming.^98 In fact, the web design industry even has a name for the practice of creating user interfaces that are intentionally designed to trick or deceive the user: dark design. 99 So how do designers make these devices so attractive to us? For one, they often try to maximize personal relevance, whichwe know from Chapter 5 is essential to generating involvement. Our feeds are created by algorithms based on what we find
