Impact of sales Promotion's benefits on perceived value: Does product category moderate the results?

The purpose behind the development of this research article is to assess the impact of sales promotions benefits on consumer perceived value and examine the moderating effect of product categories on the relation between sales promotions, their benefits, and consumer perceived value. The study used a sample of 400 consumers from India and ‘Structure Equation Modelling’ technique is applied to evaluate the research assumption. Finally, the moderating effect of the product category is evaluated by utilizing ‘Multi-Group Analysis' technique. Research findings reveal that the product category moderates the consumer's perceived value for hedonic and utilitarian benefits of sales promotion tools. It is found that utilitarian benefits of sales promotion have more impact on consumer perceived value in the context of personal care product while hedonic benefits are having more impact on consumer perceived value in the context of food products. A sales promotion plan can be made more effective when it is hedonic benefit oriented in the case of food products and utilitarian benefit oriented in the case of personal care products. The findings of this research can be useful for marketers to develop an effective sales promotion strategy considering the category wise differential impact of sales promotions benefits.     

Different Effects of Utilitarian and Hedonic Benefits of Retail Food Packaging on Perceived Product Quality and Purchase Intention

Since consumers primarily make in-store purchase decisions, firms use product packaging to attract potential consumers. Ever-increasing market competition in many food product industries has further fueled this phenomenon in firms. However, the question of how retail food packaging affects consumer processes has received very little attention. This study investigates the benefits of food packaging on consumer responses to hedonic products by comparing different benefits (i.e., utilitarian and hedonic) of food packaging to understand which one has more impact on consumers’ perceived quality and purchase intention. The results show that both utilitarian and hedonic benefits of retail food packaging are critical predictors of consumer evaluations but play different important roles in determining customers’ reactions. Utilitarian benefits of food packaging impact perceived quality more than hedonic benefits do. Compared to utilitarian benefits, hedonic benefits of retail food packaging have more impact on consumer purchase intention.     

“Yes,we do. Why not use augmented reality?” customer responses to experiential presentations of AR-based applications

Augmented reality (AR) is regarded as a visually transformative technology that enables consumers to gain immersive and enjoyable information about experience products/services during the purchasing process. Based on the stimulus-organism-response (S–O-R) paradigm, this study investigates how experiential AR applications (apps) influence customers' experiential value, in turn enhancing continued usage intention. Furthermore, perceived customer support plays an even more important role in enhancing customers’ continued usage intention. This study obtained data through an online survey of 437 customers of the YouCam Makeup app in Taiwan. We used SmartPLS software to analyze the data and test the hypotheses. The findings suggest that the features of an experiential AR app have a greater positive impact on hedonic value than utilitarian value; in turn, only hedonic value has a positive impact on continued usage intention. The results further demonstrate that the effect of hedonic value on continued usage intention is positively moderated by perceived customer support.     

Age-related differences in responses to affective vs. rational ads for hedonic vs. utilitarian products

This research investigated the moderating role of product category type (hedonic vs. utilitarian) on age-related differences in responses to affective vs. rational ads. An experiment showed that elderly consumers (age 65 plus) had more favorable attitudes toward affective (vs. rational) ads, regardless of product category type. In contrast, young adult consumers (age 18–25) favored affective ads only for hedonic products. They favored rational ads for utilitarian products. Results of the experiment imply that, to explain age-related differences in decision making, researchers must take into account age-related differences in motivational states apart from apparent shortfalls in cognition.     

Hedonic vs. utilitarian consumption: A cross-cultural perspective based on cultural conditioning

This study investigates the effects of cultural conditioning, product type, and benefit claim type on attitudes and brand personality perceptions among consumers from a society that is more culturally conditioned towards utilitarian consumption (Shanghai, China) and an economy that is less culturally conditioned towards utilitarian consumption (Singapore). Our findings reveal that consumers in Shanghai preferred ads promoting utilitarian rather than hedonic products. They also rated brands of utilitarian products as more sophisticated, competent, exciting, and sincere than hedonic products. No such difference was observed among Singaporeans. These consumers preferred hedonic over utilitarian products but did not perceive them as being different from utilitarian products in terms of brand personality. Theoretical and managerial implications are forwarded, together with directions for future research.     

Running for pleasure or performance? How store attributes and hedonic product value influence consumer satisfaction

Previous retailing studies have linked consumer satisfaction to perceived hedonic or utilitarian product value. This research extends previous studies by examining how the context in which the product is purchased (store attributes) and product value influence consumer satisfaction. We conducted a field study with 213 consumers attending two major running events. The findings from structural equation modelling suggest that a specific combination of store attributes (tangible and intangible) and hedonic product value has a positive influence on satisfaction. Results also show that tangible store attributes have a stronger positive impact on utilitarian (vs. hedonic) product value, and that intangible store attributes have a positive impact on hedonic product value. However, we found that only hedonic product value has a positive impact on satisfaction. This research contributes to theory by showing that a match between store attributes (tangible and intangible) and hedonic product value can positively influence satisfaction. In managerial terms, the findings provide insights on how to improve consumer satisfaction in retail environments through store attributes and hedonic product value.     

It is all about our impulsiveness – How consumer impulsiveness modulates neural evaluation of hedonic and utilitarian banners

The increasing number of active Internet users has encouraged companies to compete to design the most efficient online ads for their target audience. While some companies build their ads based on the functional and instrumental benefits of their advertised products (i.e., utilitarian banners), others emphasize the experiential, personal, and emotional advantages of purchasing their product (i.e., hedonic banners). This is the first study to use neuroimaging to address the debate in the literature regarding the processing and effectiveness of these types of messages. By means of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), we explored the neural mechanisms by which an individual consumer trait, namely consumer impulsiveness, influences the evaluation of hedonic and utilitarian banners. The neural results revealed that more impulsive consumers exhibit a higher level of activation in brain regions linked to reward, trust, emotion, as well as a reduction of activity in self-control brain networks, when viewing hedonic banners. Consumers reporting lower levels of impulsiveness (i.e., prudent users), in turn, exhibited stronger activation in brain regions associated with self-control and cognition when evaluating utilitarian banners. Consequently, on the basis of an objective and neuropsychological approach, these results can be used to inform companies about the type of online advertising they should use based on the characteristics of their target audience.     

When Do Online Consumers Shop in an Offline Store: The Moderating Effects of Product Characteristics

This study serves as an initial attempt to demonstrate empirically how online consumers react to the offline channel extensions (i.e., opening physical stores) of e-tailers. Specifically, we examine how the attributes of offline channels influence consumer intentions to switch to offline channels and how they also lead to incremental demands on online channels. We investigate how these effects vary across highly complex utilitarian and hedonic products. The results of the study indicate that although store openings encourage online consumers to shop there when purchasing highly complex utilitarian products, the addition of offline stores results counterintuitively in incremental patronage of the online channels when consumers shop for highly complex hedonic products. This study validates the guiding role of product characteristics in designing offline channels for e-tailers and suggests that incorporating product type and complexity into the design is likely to contribute to the development of stores tailored to specific consumer segments.     

Is money really the root of all evil? The impact of priming money on consumer choice

Despite the ubiquitous importance of money, the psychology of money has until recently received relatively little attention. While the literature has found that priming money has notable psychological consequences, little research has been done on the impact of priming money on consumer choice, particularly, their choice between hedonic and utilitarian options. The current research proposes that priming money will increase the likelihood of a prevention regulatory focus, and consequently, consumers will be more likely to choose more prudent alternatives when facing a trade-off between hedonic and utilitarian options. Results of four experiments show that participants in the money priming condition were more likely to choose utilitarian over hedonic options, compared with participants in the control condition. Furthermore, this effect was mediated by consumers’ situational prevention focus on the exposure to money primes, but attenuated when credit cards are primed.     

Untangling the relationships between consumer characteristics,shopping values,and behavioral intention in online group buying

This study examines the link among consumer characteristics (price-sensitive behavior, variety-seeking behavior, and compulsive buying behavior), shopping values (utilitarian and hedonic shopping values), and behavioral intention in online group buying (OGB). This study tests usable responses collected by means of mall-intercept systematic sampling from consumers who previously participated in OGB. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze data and test the hypothesized relationships. Findings suggest that price-sensitive and variety-seeking behaviors are significantly related to utilitarian shopping value, whereas price-sensitive, variety-seeking, and compulsive buying behaviors are significantly related to hedonic shopping value. Both utilitarian and hedonic shopping values significantly influence consumers’ OGB intentions. For a successful OGB strategy, Internet marketers and site operators should emphasize the utilitarian shopping value of price saving and selection and introduce the hedonic shopping values of promotions and sensory experiences. This study provides a link between two streams of prior research – that is, consumer characteristics and shopping values. Furthermore, it validates an empirical model whose results can help business practitioners make better-informed marketing management decisions for OGB and help academics and consumers better understand OGB behavior.     

The low effect of perceived risk in the relation between hedonic values and purchase intention

ABSTRACT

This research seeks to identify the influence of perceived risk in the purchase intention environment regarding innovative technological products, and also to understand how brand trust reduces the expected impact of this risk due to the hedonic and utilitarian characteristics influencing purchase intention. Quantitative research was carried out and analysed through structural equation modelling, where the influence of perceived risk on utilitarian value and purchase intention was identified, as well as the influence of brand trust in reducing this risk. The conceptual implications of the study describe as the perceived risk moderates hedonic features less compared to utilitarian features regarding purchase intention, thus demonstrating that emotional relationships are less affected by this risk. The managerial implications suggest that devices with utilitarian characteristics should be more carefully planned according to their brand and complexity, while hedonic products do not require brand trust to guarantee consumers’ purchase intention in the current innovative scenario.     

Adapting to a retail environment: Modeling consumer-environment interactions

This paper extends current thinking on the relationship between consumers and the retail environment by assessing a theory of consumer-environment interaction that reinterprets arousal and dominance, two dimensions of the PAD model (Mehrabian, Albert, Russel, James A., An approach to environmental psychology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1974.), as appraisal dimensions (affective expectations). According to the new account, the more specific the task, the less tolerant consumers are about discrepancies between expected and experienced arousal and dominance. The study evaluated the effects of matching or mismatching appraisals on judgments of emotional dimensions as participants shopped within a virtual store environment. Appraisals were manipulated by combining two goal conditions (goal specificity vs. goal ambiguity) with two levels of store arousal (high vs. low) to produce four separate hypothetical states: hedonic fit (ambiguous goal and high arousal), utilitarian fit (specific goal and low arousal), rational control (ambiguous goal and low arousal), and emotional submissiveness (specific goal and high arousal). When perceptual and cognitive appraisals matched (i.e., hedonic or utilitarian fit), participants judged pleasure to be significantly greater than when expectations mismatched (i.e., rational control or emotional submissiveness). Affective expectations concerning arousal and dominance thus are a strong determinant of consumer predisposition toward the environment.     

Shopping trip value: Do stores and products matter?

Previous research indicates the importance of shopping trip value but recognises that consumers do not shop independent of the environment; both products and stores contribute to overall shopping trip value. This study identifies the impact of product and store value on overall shopping trip value and investigates the interrelationship among their utilitarian and hedonic components. In addition, it proposes a store value scale. The authors find empirically that utilitarian store value and performance-related product value have significant effects on utilitarian shopping trip value, whereas hedonic shopping trip value is influenced most by hedonic store value and emotional product value. In addition, women appear more prone to hedonic shopping trip value yet also utilitarian store value, while men were more attentive to utilitarian product value.     

Payment formats and hedonic consumption

Payment formats have many important influences on consumer behavior. However, few studies have examined how the payment format affects hedonic consumption. This study explores how the transparency of the payment format (e.g., bonus points vs. cash) influences consumers’ willingness to pay, budget assignments, and consumption choices through differences in their perceived pain of purchasing (exchanging) hedonic and utilitarian options. Specifically, consumers who pay with highly transparent payment formats (e.g., cash), compared with consumers who pay with less transparent payment formats (e.g., store points, bonus points, and gift certificates), are willing to pay less, assign a lower budget, and are less likely to choose hedonic products. The perceived pain of purchasing (exchanging) a hedonic product plays an important mediating role on the influence of the payment format on hedonic consumption. However, the perceived pain of purchasing (exchanging) a utilitarian option plays a parallel mediating role only when people have paid for the less transparent payment format (e.g., buying store points) rather than when they accumulate the points through previous consumption events. The research findings provide insights that can benefit both theory and practice.     

Design for synergy with brand or price information

Customers' preference for the hedonic benefits (e.g., aesthetics) and utilitarian benefits (e.g., functionality) offered by a product varies depending on the context—buying versus selling, and choice versus willingness‐to‐pay. However, a customer's preference formation could involve brand information or price information in addition to the benefits offered by the product. It is unclear how the consideration of brand or price information influences customers' relative preference for hedonic and utilitarian product benefits. Does this information alter preference in favor of a product that offers greater utilitarian or greater hedonic benefits, and why? The results show that (1) hedonic (utilitarian) attributes have a significantly stronger influence on consumer preference when accompanied by a strong (weak) versus a weak (strong) brand; and (2) in the presence of price information, hedonic attributes have a dominant influence on consumer preference compared to in the absence of price information. The article concludes with a discussion of the theoretical contributions and managerial implications of design for synergy with brand or price information. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Processing fluency: examining its relationship with thinking style and purchase intention

This study aims to examine the relationship between processing fluency and thinking style. In addition to that, the impact of processing fluency on purchase intention will be investigated. Specifically, it is proposed that experiential thinking style induces more fluent processing than rational thinking style. Getting the audience to attend to the ad in an intuitive manner rather than a rule-based manner and presenting them with affective stimuli rather than analytical stimuli increases the fluency experiences. Moreover, it is expected that the processing fluency that is experienced by consumers will influence their purchasing intent. It is suggested that consumer’s level of confidence in their choices mediates the relationship between processing fluency and purchase intent.     

Shopping value in online auctions: Their antecedents and outcomes

Online auctions present unique characteristics in the consumer decision-making process that raise new issues related to consumer shopping behaviors in auction-based purchases. The present research examined the relationship between consumer characteristics (i.e., compulsive buying behavior, variety-seeking tendency, and price sensitivity) and shopping value (i.e., utilitarian and hedonic) in online auctions and found that both compulsive buying behavior and variety-seeking tendency are critical factors of shopping value in the online auction environment. There were no positive relationships between price sensitivity and shopping value. The results of this study also revealed that consumers’ shopping value positively influenced their preference, which, in turn, formed behavioral intentions in online auctions. While utilitarian value was found to be a significant predictor of behavioral intentions, hedonic value was not. However, hedonic value influenced intentions indirectly through preference.     

不同心理距离情境下产品属性对购买意向的影响

产品属性有两个维度:享乐维度和实用维度,消费者对于享乐属性和实用属性的偏好是不一样的。通过引入心理距离认为产品属性对购买意向的影响是不一样的,如果消费者处在心理距离的情景,那么产品享乐属性对他们的购买意向有更强烈的影响,如果心理距离的减少,产品实用属性对消费者购买意向有更强烈的影响,并认为消费者心理距离的变化会对产品享乐属性和实用属性的偏好发生逆转。     

Post-disaster consumption: analysis from the 2011 Christchurch earthquake

This unique study provides information to logistics managers, retailers and governments about how consumer behaviour is modified following a large-scale disaster in a developed nation. Scanner data of purchases made in Christchurch supermarkets before and after the 2011 earthquake was used to identify immediate and short-term changes in consumer behaviour. In the immediate aftermath, consumers purchase increased levels of utilitarian products necessary for survival (e.g. water and non-perishable foods), but there is no evidence of increased consumption of hedonic or potentially harmful products. However, higher consumption of hedonic and harmful products does occur in the weeks after the disaster.     

The perception of discount sales promotions – A utilitarian and hedonic perspective

This paper explores the effects of utilitarian and hedonic benefits perceptions of discount sales promotions on consumer purchase decisions (attitude and behavioral intention). A closed-ended survey, as well as a partial least squares structural equation modeling of consumers sampling who had used discount sales promotions in their recent purchases, was utilized in this study. The findings suggest that utilitarian benefits perceptions derived from price-quality perception and hedonic benefits perceptions derived from smart shopper self-perception of using discount sales promotions positively affect consumer purchase decisions. Both utilitarian and hedonic benefits perceptions of discount sales promotions can henceforth be used to produce the desired effects on purchase decisions. Hence, this paper sheds light on the effects of utilitarian and hedonic benefits perception of discount sales promotions on purchase decisions. Though the findings are limited to discount sales promotions alone and two types of purchase decisions outcomes (attitude and behavioral intentions), this paper identified multiple avenues to extend its findings. This encourages further exploration of such promotion topics, particularly on the various perceptions of discount sales promotions as well as other sales promotion techniques among marketing academics and practitioners.