J. Jeffrey Inman

Promotion Signal: Proxy for a Price Cut?

Evidence suggests that some consumers react to promotion signals without considering relative price information. We adopt Petty and Cacioppos Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) to explain this behavior in terms of the ELMs peripheral route to pursuasion in which the promotion signal is taken as a cue for a price cut. Experimental results show that low need for cognition individuals react to the simple presence of a promotion signal whether or not the price of the promoted brand is reduced, but that high need for cognition individuals react to a promotion signal only when it is accompanied by a substantive price reduction. Copyright 1990 by the University of Chicago.

Regret in Repeat Purchase versus Switching Decisions: The Attenuating Role of Decision Justifiability

The decision-making literature has consistently reported that decisions to maintain the status quo tend to be regretted less than decisions to change it. We examine the consequences of repeat purchasing (maintaining the status quo) versus switching in the context of information regarding the reason for the decision (e.g., prior consumption episode, brand history), and we argue that there are situations in which repeat purchasing may cause as much or even more regret than switching. We contend that this effect depends on whether or not there is a justifiable basis for the decision. In a series of four studies, we show that if there is sufficient motivation to warrant a switch, consumers will feel less regret in the face of a subsequent negative outcome realized via a switch than in one realized via a repeat purchase. Our results imply that feelings of regret are mitigated when the consumer reflects and concludes that the decision was appropriate under the circumstances.

Framing the Deal: The Role of Restrictions in Accentuating Deal Value

We propose that consumers use the presence of a restriction (i.e., purchase limit, purchase precondition, or time limit) as a source of information to evaluate a deal. In a series of four studies we present evidence suggesting that restrictions serve to accentuate deal value and act as “promoters” of promotions. We begin by using aggregate level scanner data to test our hypothesis that a sales restriction (e.g., “limit X per customer”) results in higher sales. Via three subsequent experiments, we then investigate contextual and individual factors moderating this effect. Study 2 suggests that restrictions only have a positive effect for low need for cognition individuals. Study 3 explores the potential mediating role of deal evaluations on purchase intent across discount levels. Study 4 examines the effect of three types of restrictions (purchase limits, time limits, and purchase preconditions) across discount levels and explores the underlying beliefs driving these effects. An integrative model across studies demonstrates the robustness of the restriction effect and supports the premise that restrictions work through signaling value. Implications for how consumers determine promotional value are discussed.

The Influence of Incidental Affect on Consumers’ Food Intake

Although incidental affect has been shown to influence both attitude and purchase behavior, it has not been extended to actual consumption. This research investigates whether specific affective states influence food consumption and whether this influence is moderated by factors such as information and the nature of the product (hedonic versus less hedonic). The authors show that an integrative mood management and mood evaluation framework accounts for this relationship more effectively than a self-regulation explanation. A preliminary test and two lab studies show that people eat larger amounts of hedonic foods (buttered popcorn and M&Ms) when they are in a sad state than when they are in a happy state and that this effect is attenuated when nutritional information is present. In contrast, they tend to eat larger amounts of a less hedonic product (raisins) when they are in a happy state than when they are in a sad state. The authors discuss implications for responsible marketers, health professionals, and health conscious consumers in the context of campaigns and individual efforts.

The Role of Sensory-Specific Satiety in Attribute-Level Variety Seeking

The variety seeking theoretical paradigm offers little guidance regarding the attributes of a stimulus that are most likely to drive the desire to switch. We review 25 years of research in physiobehavior, arguing that it can be extended in a natural way to predict that consumers are more likely to switch between sensory attributes (e.g., flavor) than nonsensory attributes (e.g., brand). Specifically, we examine the work on sensory‐specific satiety, a term used to describe the phenomenon whereby the pleasantness of a food just eaten drops significantly while the pleasantness of uneaten foods remains unchanged. These findings lead to the thesis explored in this research that consumers are more likely to seek variety on sensory attributes, which is then tested across three studies comparing flavor switching to brand switching. Study 1 uses ACNielsen wand panel data for purchases of tortilla chips and cake mixes from almost 2,000 consumers over a three‐year period. Study 2 examines actual consumption behavior...

The Roles of Channel-Category Associations and Geodemographics in Channel Patronage

Consumers purchase goods from various channels or retail formats, such as grocery stores, drugstores, mass merchandisers, club stores, and convenience stores. To identify the most appropriate channels and to allocate the distribution of products among channels efficiently, managers need a better understanding of consumer behavior with respect to these channels. The authors examine the moderating role of channel-category associations in consumer channel patronage by extending the literature on brand associations to the context of channels, and they estimate a model that links channel-category associations with consumer geodemographics and channel share of volume. The authors first identify the product categories associated with particular channels through a correspondence analysis of a field-intercept survey. They then use the channel-category associations and geodemographic factors to estimate their direct and interactive effects on channel share of volume. The channel-category associations have significant main effects and interaction effects with channel type and geodemographic factors on channel share of volume, and they account for the majority of the explained variance (72%) in channel share of volume. Overall, the findings provide several conceptual and managerial insights into consumer channel perceptions and patronage behavior.

Do coupon expiration dates affect consumer behavior

Expiration dates are used by couponers to limit their financial liability temporally. Traditional wisdom assumes that coupon redemptions are greatest in the period immediately following the coupon ...

The Role of Firm Resources in Returns to Market Deployment

Researchers in marketing tend to adopt one of two approaches to examining competitive advantage: a focus on a firms resources or a focus on a firms strategic or tactical actions. The authors suggest that neither of these approaches by itself fully captures the drivers of competitive advantage. Focusing on marketing-specific actions referred to as market deployment, the authors investigate the roles of both resources and action by examining how the nature and level of a firms resources influence the success of the firms marketing actions. The results, based on a secondary data approach and a series of sequentially estimated hierarchical regression models, indicate that resource possession influences returns to market deployment. Specifically, higher levels of intangible marketing resources and intangible technological resources increase the effectiveness of market deployment related to distribution and coupon activity, whereas higher levels of financial resources decrease the effectiveness of these types of market deployment.

The Effect of In-Store Travel Distance on Unplanned Spending: Applications to Mobile Promotion Strategies

Typically, shoppers’ paths only cover less than half of the areas in a grocery store. Given that shoppers often use physical products in the store as external memory cues, encouraging shoppers to travel more of the store may increase unplanned spending. Estimating the direct effect of in-store travel distance on unplanned spending, however, is complicated by the difficulty of collecting in-store path data and the endogeneity of in-store travel distance. To address both issues, the authors collect a novel data set using in-store radio frequency identification tracking and develop an instrumental variable approach to account for endogeneity. Their analysis reveals that the elasticity of unplanned spending on travel distance is 57% higher than the uncorrected ordinary least squares estimate. Simulations based on the authors’ estimates suggest that strategically promoting three product categories through mobile promotion could increase unplanned spending by 16.1%, compared with the estimated effect of a benchmark strategy based on relocating three destination categories (7.2%). Furthermore, the authors conduct a field experiment to assess the effectiveness of mobile promotions and find that a coupon that required shoppers to travel farther from their planned path resulted in a substantial increase in unplanned spending (

The Three Faces of Consumer Promotions

21.29) over a coupon for an unplanned category near their planned path (