A Summary and Response to Andrew Leonard’s “Black Friday: Consumerism minus Civilization.” It all started in the 1960s; Someone thought that it would a good idea to make the day after Thanksgiving a great day for advertising for shopping for Christmas. Andrew Leonard covers this topic of how bizarre shopping has become in recent years in “Black Friday: Consumerism minus Civilization.” Leonard pokes fun at the consumers who rush these stores for the best deals offered up by the crazed advertisements.
It can be seen, that when an individual enters a store the odds of them following a personal shopping list is very low. People often buy unnecessary products on impulse, and these products are often the ones most easily accessible by consumers. Many large grocery store corporations often argue that “if you eat too much it is your problem, not theirs” (Nestle 2006). Grocery store corporations are constantly persuading consumers to purchase more food rather than less. Overall, Nestle provides a strong argument for the debate that grocery
Wal-Mart thrives in a recessionary economy due to grocery products making up around 40% of its overall sales. In a recession, consumers eschew convenience and luxury purchases in favor of must-have items and savings. In times of economic uncertainty, consumers focus on necessities such as groceries and personal care items. In a healthy economy, a consumer may decide to make a modest home goods purchase, like a lamp for a guest room, for example. If the consumer’s retailer of choice for chic, inexpensive home products is Target, they may stop at a Target store for the lamp, and pick up additional personal care or household goods in the same trip.
If so, what type of products do you buy impulsively? Are there ways in which you want to improve your own consumer behavior? Offer your thoughts in a page or two. This assignment is graded by the instructor.
One of the most beautiful aspects of humanity is how different every being is. As individuals, people are made up of thoughts, actions, and behaviors that are unique only to them, yet how accurate is this? As much as society wants us to be one of a kind, strangely enough, there is something quite frivolous that unites humanity as one: shopping. In the “The Science of Shopping,” Malcolm Gladwell, a staff writer for the New Yorker, proves just exactly how predictable humans are when in the prowl for different objects to buy. Through the help of the coined retail anthropologist Paco Underhill, even the minute details of consumer shopping behavior have been studied, so much so that a system and design in which a store could garner the most income has been created.
Distrustful: Marketers like the people with high impulsivity distrust their customers. They are under a constant feeling of insecurity that the customer will move on from them. Self-Protection against Change: Marketers have a strong self-protection against the change as in the case of a person with high impulsive behaviour. That is precisely the reason that they fail to change inspite of evidence based research and public outcry against advertising to
According to (Berkowitz, 2011) he described the four most common discounts as: volume or quantity discounts, functional discounts, seasonal discounts, and allowance discounts. Many companies provide discounts to attract customers, to get rid of unwanted products, products that are about to expired, and sometimes provide price reduction for buyers who buy in large quantity. According to (Rafi, 2013) that are four important reasons why primary reason why to offer volume discounts; such as, to capitalize on the law of diminishing utility, To compete with rivals who offer them, to lock in customers, and to encourage a large order instead of a series of small ones. When it comes to volume discounts you need to find ways to entice customers to buy more; it can be done by providing discounts as they buying more. Keep in mind not all customers come is relying on discounts; some wants you to show appreciation in a different way.
Then again, in light of the fact that nonsensical shoppers do not have any organised inclinations, there is nothing to regard. In this manner, the push approach figures out how to join paternalism and libertarianism, contradictory as these may appear (Medema, 2013). These contentions lead Sunstein to the determination that a move is required from the old, unyielding and against paternalist mentality that economic theory has customarily taken after to another, hostile to opinionated and paternalist one (Sunstein,
Purchasers tend to be happier expending like this due to the fact that humans adapt quickly to new purchases. Indulging in frequent minor purchases allows people to constantly have something they have yet to be adjusted to, creating a continuous feeling of bliss, whereas purchasing great expensive items infrequently causes gaps of joy in a person’s life due to the frequent adaptation of their new acquisitions. Along with this, “anything that makes a pleasurable event more difficult to understand and explain will delay adaptation” (Dunn 12). This adjustment is postponed through the newness of the experience, the surprising events that happen along the way, the uncertainty of what will happen, and the changes that occur. Delaying the adaptation of a new purchase allows the buyer to be content and acquire more joy out of their purchase for a longer period of time.
expenditure – energy, time and money, even if it is completely beyond sense. The strategy to mold the decision of consumers in our favor is to close down their options to good and bad, and parallelly positioning our brand as opening doors and opening up new opportunities, rather closing them down. While focusing on the similarities and minor differences between two things, we fail to consider the consequences of not deciding. Chapter 9: The Effect of Expectations This chapter highlights about why the mind gets what it expects.
(Lawrence and Hesse, 2010, p. 38) and their impediments can cause impulsivity
It took me over two weeks to find a laptop after my old one broke. I visited every Staples and Best Buy in the area as well as looking at multiple websites before finally making a decision. As for my brother, he would’ve seen a laptop and bought it because it could go on the internet. Also, I have buyer’s remorse whereas my brother does not; he will buy anything without feeling a thing whereas I feel sick after a big purchase. I found the vast differences between the two of us very interesting because it related directly back to Stein’s quote in the beginning.
Over the years materialism has attracted the interest of many scientists in consumer research, psychology, sociology and many other fields as it has a great impact on the individual’s life. Materialism is defined as a “devotion to material needs and desires, to the neglect of spiritual matters; a way of life, opinion, or tendency based entirely upon material interests” (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989). There is also another description of materialism that can perfectly describe its meaning: “The importance a consumer attaches to worldly possessions” and “possessions assume a central place in a person’s life and are believed to provide the greatest sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction” is a description of materialism (Belk 1984). Materialists believe that if they purchase high valued goods, their happiness will automatically increase, so they spend more money than others in order to achieve their goal (Watson 2003). While in the Western culture the idea that the acquisition of material possessions produces happiness is being promoted and supported (Kilbourne and Jhally, 2000), in other countries materialism developed to a philosophy of science (Graham, 1994).
Impulsive actions are most commonly caused when Someone acts on their emotions and mood, rather than thinking something through. Researchers agree that impulsive buying occurs when an individual makes an unintended, unreflective, and immediate purchase. The article “The Effect on Adolescents Impulsive Buying Behavior” states, that impulsive tendencies when shopping can be described as, “a sudden spontaneous act which precludes thoughtful, consideration of all available information and choice alternatives. It is an unplanned purchase. It is described as more arousing, unintended, less deliberate, and more irresistible rather than planned buying behavior” (Lin 557).
Consumer is one who consumes the goods & services product. The aim of marketing is to meet and satisfy the Consumer needs and wants. The modern marketing concept makes customers the centre stage of organisation efforts. The focus, within the marketing concepts is to reach target and largest customer’s sets ball rolling for analysing each of the conditions of the target market1. Consumer behaviour can be defined as “the decision making process and physical activity involved in acquiring, evaluating, using and disposing of goods and services”.
