REVIEW QUESTIONS
10-1. What is time poverty, and how can it influence our purchase decisions?
Many consumers believe they are more pressed for time than ever before. It may increase usage
(5 minutes, Chapter Objective 1, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
10-2. What are the two dimensions that determine whether we will react positively or negatively to a
purchase environment?
Pleasure—–a person can enjoy or not enjoy a situation and arousal—he can feel stimulated or
not.
(5 minutes, Chapter Objective 2, AACSB: Reflective Thinking,
10-3. List three separate motivations for shopping, give an example of each.
Social experiences: The shopping center or department store has replaced the traditional town
Sharing of common interests: Stores frequently offer specialized goods that allow people with
shared interests to communicate. Interpersonal attraction: Shopping centers are a natural place
The thrill of the hunt: Some people pride themselves on being able to find the best bargains.
(15 minutes, Chapter Objective 2, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
10-4. What are some important pros and cons of e-commerce?
Numerous benefits and limitations of e-commerce are listed in Table 9.2 for both the consumer
(10 minutes, Chapter Objective 2, AACSB: Reflective Thinking,)
10-5. List three factors that help to determine store image.
Color, scents, and sounds.
(5 minutes, Chapter Objective 2, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
10-6. What is the difference between unplanned buying and impulse buying?
Unplanned buying may occur when a person is unfamiliar with a store’s layout or perhaps when
under some time pressure; or, a person may be reminded to buy something by seeing it on a store
(10 minutes, Chapter Objective 2, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
10-7. How do business models in the sharing economy differ from traditional purchase processes?
We’re witnessing the rise of the sharing economy, or what is sometimes called collaborative
consumption. In this business model people rent what they need rather than buying it.
Collaborative consumption communities typically offer a Web site that allows individuals to list
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
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(10 minutes, Chapter Objective 2, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
10-8. What is the difference between recycling and lateral cycling?
During lateral cycling, one consumer exchanges something he or she owns for something the
other person owns. Reusing other people’s things is especially important in our throwaway
society because, as one researcher put it, “there is no longer an ‘away’ to throw things to.”
(10 minutes, Chapter Objective 4, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CHALLENGE
DISCUSS
10-9. Are pop-up stores just a fad or a retailing concept that is here to stay?
Given that there are so many strategies that have circulated through retailing, it is likely that
nothing is “here to stay.” Students should be engaged in a discussion as to how long they thing
(5 minutes, Chapter Objective 2, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
10-10. Think about exceptionally good and bad salespeople you have encountered as a shopper. What
qualities seem to differentiate them from others?
The instructor might ask students to recall the last time they went shopping. In the context of that
shopping trip, students should describe the characteristics of the salespeople who assisted them.
The instructor, or a member of the class, should generate a list of the most common traits
(10 minutes, Chapter Objective 3, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
10-11. Discuss the concept of timestyle. Based on your own experiences, how might we segment
consumers in terms of their timestyles?
The concept of timestyle reflects how individuals allocate their time to various activities. You
might want to discuss your own timestyle with the class and encourage students to do the same. A
discussion of how consumers might be segmented based on their timestyles should be included.
(10 minutes, Chapter Objective 1, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
10.12 Consumers who participate in the sharing economy seem willing to interact with total strangers.
Despite safety and privacy concerns, what is the long-term outlook for this change in the way we
think about interacting with people whom we don’t know? How can businesses help to diminish
worries some people may have about these practices?
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Consumers no longer want to buy them. Instead we’re witnessing the rise of the sharing economy,
or what is sometimes called collaborative consumption. In this business model people rent what
they need rather than buying it. Collaborative consumption communities typically offer a Web
(10 minutes, Chapter Objective 3, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
10-13 Several men’s clothing retailers nationwide now provide free booze to their male clientele to
encourage them to hang out in their stores. Is it ethical to encourage customers to become
intoxicated before they shop?
This is an extension of what salons have been doing for some time for women. Student opinions
will vary with students pointing out that it is up to the customers to choose how much to consume.
(5 minutes, Chapter Objective 1, AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning Abilities)
10-14 Some retailers work hard to cultivate a certain look or image, and they may even choose employees
who fit this look. Abercrombie & Fitch, for example, seems to link itself to a clean-cut,
all-American image. At one point, a lawsuit claimed that Abercrombie & Fitch systematically
“refuses to hire qualified minority applicants as brand representatives to work on the sales floor
and discourages applications from minority applicants.” (Abercrombie replied that it has “zero
tolerance for discrimination.”) We know the Hooters restaurant chain is known for its attractive
female waitresses. Should a retailer have the right to recruit employees who are consistent with its
image even if this means excluding certain types of people (e.g. non-Caucasians, men) from the
sales floor? What are some positive and negative aspects of a policy that requires employees who
interact with customers to wear a uniform?
Traditionally, the law has allowed for hiring people with a certain look or body type if it can be
proven that this is a necessary component of the product or service. For example, airlines can
refuse to hire flight personnel that exceed a weight and size limitation (or terminate them if they
exceed the limitations after being hired) because there is limited space to work on the airplanes.
(15 minutes, Chapter Objective 2 and 3, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
10-15The store environment is heating up as more and more companies put their promotional dollars into
point-of-purchase efforts. Some stores confront shoppers with videos at the checkout counter,
computer monitors attached to their shopping carts, and ads stenciled on the floors. We are also
increasingly exposed to ads in non-shopping environments. A health club in New York was forced
to remove TV monitors that showed advertising on the Health Club Media Networks, after
exercisers claimed that the programming interfered with their workouts. Do you feel that these
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
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innovations are overly intrusive? At what point might shoppers rebel and demand some peace and
quiet while they shop? Do you see any market potential in the future for stores that
“countermarket” by promising a “hands-off” shopping environment?
Student opinion will vary based on their knowledge/experience and feelings/beliefs about
place-based media. You might ask your students if they ever encounter this type of promotion and
(20 minutes, Chapter Objective 2, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
10-16 Courts often prohibit special-interest groups from distributing literature in shopping malls. Mall
managements claim that these centers are private property. However, these groups argue that the
mall is the modern-day version of the town square and as such is a public forum. Find some
recent court cases involving this free-speech issue and examine the arguments pro and con. What
is the status of the mall as a public forum? Do you agree with this concept?
This exercise will challenge the student to conduct primary and secondary research. Encourage
(30 minutes, Chapter Objective 2, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
10-17 Marketers use “tricks” to minimize psychological waiting time. These techniques range from
altering customers’ perceptions of a line’s length to providing distractions that divert attention
from waiting: One hotel chain received excessive complaints about the wait for elevators, so it
installed mirrors near the elevator banks. People’s natural tendency to check their appearance
reduced complaints, even though the actual waiting time was unchanged. Airline passengers often
complain about the wait to claim their baggage. In one airport, they would walk 1 minute from
the plane to the baggage carousel and then wait 7 minutes for their luggage. When the airport
changed the layout so that the walk to the carousel took 6 minutes and bags arrived 2 minutes
after that, complaints disappeared. Restaurant chains are scrambling to put the “fast” back into
fast food, especially for drive-through lanes, which now account for 65 percent of revenues. In a
study that ranked the speed of 25 fast-food chains, cars spent an average of 203.6 seconds from
the menu board to departure. Wendy’s was clocked the fastest at 150.3 seconds. To speed things
up and eliminate spills, McDonald’s created a salad that comes in a container to fit into car cup
holders. Arby’s is working on a “high viscosity” version of its special sauce that’s less likely to
spill. Burger King is testing see-through bags so customers can quickly check their orders before
speeding off. What are your waiting line “pain points?” How can companies change their
processes to make these situations easier or more enjoyable for you?
The psychological dimension of time—how we actually experience it—is an important factor in
queuing theory, the mathematical study of waiting lines. As we all know, our experience when we
(15 minutes, Chapter Objective 1, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
APPLY
10-18 Conduct naturalistic observation at a local mall. Sit in a central location and observe the activities
of mall employees and patrons. Keep a log of the nonretailing activity you observe (e.g., special
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
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performances, exhibits, socializing, etc.). Does this activity enhance or detract from business the mall
conducts? As malls become more like high-tech game rooms, how valid is the criticism raised that
shopping areas are only encouraging more loitering by teenage boys who don’t spend a lot in stores and
simply scare away other customers?
Students tend to like this exercise. Now that they have been exposed to a variety of consumer
behavior constructs, they are likely to see things in the retail context that they did not notice
before. They will probably notice a wide variety of non-retailing activities in the mall. Encourage
your students to think about the advantages and disadvantages of these other activities from both
(90 minutes, Chapter Objective 1, AACSB: Analytic Skills)
10-19 Select three competing clothing stores in your area and conduct a store image study for them. Ask a
group of consumers to rate each store on a set of attributes and plot these ratings on the same graph.
Based on your findings, are there any areas of competitive advantage or disadvantage you could bring to
the attention of store management?
Students should review the section on store image (including Atmospherics) before beginning this
exercise. You might encourage the students to select stores that are very different from each other
(30 minutes, Chapter Objective 1, AACSB: Analytic Skills)
10-20 Using Table 10.1 as a model, construct a person-situation segmentation matrix for a brand of
perfume.
You might want to ask different groups of students to construct a matrix for other very different
types of products, such as convenience versus specialty goods. Tell students to look up these
(25 minutes, Chapter Objective 1, AACSB: Reflective Thinking
10-21 Many retailers believe that when they pile a lot of stuff around their store, this cluttered look
encourages shoppers to hunt for items and eventually buy more. Dollar General recently raised the height
of its shelves to more than six feet; J. C. Penney transformed empty walls into jewelry and accessory
displays; Old Navy added lanes lined with items like water bottles, candy, and lunchboxes. Best Buy is
even testing the impact of filling aisles with bulky items like Segways and bicycles to compensate for the
smaller space that thin TVs and smaller speakers take up. Walmart recently did an abrupt about-face: The
company only recently remodeled its stores by eliminating the pallets of items it used to stack in the
centers of aisles, and it reduced overall inventory by about 9%. Customers loved the leaner, cleaner look.
Only one problem: They bought less stuff. As a senior Walmart executive commented, “They loved the
experience. They just bought less. And that generally is not a good long-term strategy.” Now, Walmart is
adding inventory back in and is once again piling stacks of merchandise in aisles. What is your take on
these store-stocking strategies? Visit several “big-box” stores in your area, such as Walmart, Target, Best
Buy, Costco, and so on. If possible, interview shoppers about their experiences. Do they have trouble
navigating around the store? Do they enjoy the clutter? Does it feel like a “treasure hunt” when they have
to pick their way around piles and pallets? If you were designing a store, how would you craft a stocking
strategy that would make it easy to shop there?
A variety of responses will emerge from this activity because students may have different
motivations for shopping and may have different experiences within the store depending on the
(30 minutes, Chapter Objective 1, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
10-22 Identify three people who own electric coffee makers. Then, “go to the gemba” by observing them
as they actually prepare coffee in the appliance at home. Based on these experiences, what
recommendations might you make to the designer of a new coffee maker model that would improve
customers’ experiences with the product?
Student responses will vary
(30 minutes, Chapter Objective 2, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
10-23 Interview three consumers who have used a sharing economy service, such as Zipcar, Airbnb,
Snapgoods, etc. How would you characterize their experiences compare to more traditional models?
Student responses will vary.
(30 minutes, Chapter Objective 3, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
CASE STUDY TEACHING NOTES
Chapter 10 Case Study: Furnishing An Experience
Summary of Case
Walk into a Jordan’s Furniture store on a Saturday afternoon. If you have the time, you watch the latest
3-D IMAX movie in a 500-seat theatre before you pick out your new sofa. This might sound like a crazy
in-store activity for a furniture store, but events like this are what drive sales at Jordan’s Furniture stores
in the Boston area. The company’s slog, “not just a store…an experience,” keeps customers coming every
day and literally illustrates the concept of “retailing as theater.”
Suggestions for Presentation
Have students discuss other businesses that use “theater” to keep customers coming in.
Suggested Answers for Discussion Questions
CS 10-1. Evaluate the shopping experience at Jordan’s. Why is it so successful? Be sure to consider how
they have incorporated concepts related to physical and social surroundings, as well as atmospherics. Is
there any downside to this approach to retailing?
Jordan’s shopping experience is successful because consumers can try out products in the same
(10 minutes, Chapter Objective 5, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
CS 10-2. Do you think the appeal of Jordan’s and its attractions is universal across all demographic
groups? For example, if Jordan’s were building a new location near colleges, what “shopper-tainment”
features would draw college students? Do you believe this would motivate students to purchase furniture
from Jordan’s?
Jordan’s shopping experience is more likely to attract younger more affluent customers.
(10 minutes, Chapter Objective 5, AACSB: Analytic Skills)
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
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CS 10-3. How was Jordan’s used the brand community around the Boston Red Sox to its advantage? What
other communities could it use?
Consumers have an emotional relationship to their favorite sports teams.
(15 minutes, Chapter Objective 5, AACSB: Analytic Skills,)
Additional Support Material
STUDENT PROJECTS
Individual Projects
1. Have students employ the method of Day Reconstruction to document their own behavior for a
day and report on the findings. What trends do they notice? Are there things that they found that they did
not expect?
Students may notice effects of mood and other situational factors that they may not have
(30 minutes, Chapter Objective 1, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
2. Have students go to a shopping mall. Have them analyze the behavior of shoppers based on
observation only. Can they determine the nature of people’s reasons for shopping? Have them keep track
and present the results to the class.
Students may observe the pace at which the consumers are shopping, the number and types of
purchases they have made from shopping bags, the number of people in the shopping group, the
(90 minutes, Chapter Objective 2, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
3. Ask a student to visit competing discount houses, supermarkets, department stores, or specialty
shops in your area and describe the image they have of each store. What factors account for the image
differences? For the poorest image store, design a strategy for upgrading its image.
Student responses will vary depending on the stores visited, but they should recognize that there
is often a cost associated with atmospherics. Therefore, stores with a higher image may also
(120 minutes, Chapter Objective 2, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
4. Have students talk to other students at the university or college. What forms of complaint
behavior do they observe? What strategies could the university or college follow to alleviate these
complaints?
Students may enjoy this project. Student-to-student complaint interactions would be categorized
as word of mouth. If the student complained to a third party or directly to the university, their
(60 minutes, Chapter Objective 4, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
5. Have someone visit a local supermarket and question the manager regarding how shelf space is
allocated. What and who determines which products are placed on the shelves, how much space they are
allocated, and at what level they are displayed on the shelf?
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Students may be surprised at the amount of thought that goes into shelf positioning. Students who
(20 minutes, Chapter Objective 5, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
7. Ask a student to relate to the class a purchase experience in which dissatisfaction resulted from
the product or service purchased. Have the student tell the class how he/she reacted in terms of
post-purchase dissonance. How could the seller avoid future similar incidents?
Post-purchase dissonance is a result of tension that often occurs because of a difference between
(30 minutes, Chapter Objective 4, AACSB: Reflective Thinking and Communication Abilities)
8. Have students interview someone older than fifty. What do they look for in a shopping
environment? Compare this with your own and/or the student’s expectations. Discuss the differences.
Students should observe differences in expectations for customer service, atmospherics,
(45 minutes, Chapter Objective 2, AACSB: Analytic Skills)
9. Freecycle something. Then, take something off of Freecycle.org. Report on the experience
including the feelings of giving/receiving, the benefit or value to the giver/receiver, etc.
Individual feelings will vary; the value should include the value of the object and the reduced
(30 minutes, Chapter Objective 5, AACSB: Reflective Thinking and Communication Abilities)
10. Have each student think of a time when they had to get rid of something that had been significant
to them. Analyze this situation in terms of divestment rituals.
Divestment rituals include iconic transfer ritual (taking pictures and videos before disposal),
(15 minutes, Chapter Objective 5, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
11. Faculty often gets free textbooks from publishers in order to review and possibly prescribe them
for their courses. Book buyers come by faculty offices to get books (sometimes, instructor copies), which
are then “recycled” into the aftermarket. Is this activity ethical? Does this help keep the cost of books
lower for students? Alternatively, should the faculty freecycle these books by offering them to needy
students?
Many schools have policies against selling text books to book buyers. The costs for some
students may be lower, but the publisher probably has revenue goals so it is likely to increase the
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
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(30 minutes, Chapter Objective 5, AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning Abilities
Group Projects
1. In groups, visit three or four different grocery stores, note the elements of the stores’
environment, and compare them. Based on what you have seen, make recommendations to the store
manager in order to improve the retailing environment.
Look for students to select specific aspects of the store environment to improve and to tie their
(90 minutes, Chapter Objective 2, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
2. Student teams should go to an activity store to interview the manager. Given that the concept of
the store is built around participating in the production of a good, ask the manager what benefits they
perceive in this model, both from the consumer perspective and from the company perspective.
Before assigning this exercise, make sure there is an activity store nearby that is willing to
participate in the interview process. If there is only one activity store, you may want to select a
single group to do this project so the manager is not overwhelmed with inquiries. As an
(60 minutes, Chapter Objective 2, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
3. Assign each student group a competitive task. Each member of the group should attempt to get an
item off Freecycle.org. The competition is: Which member of the group can come up with a free item that
is worth the most? Which did the most good for the giver? Which did the most good in terms of keeping
it out of a landfill?
The value of the free item in total dollars should be compared to the value of keeping the product
(30 minutes, Chapter Objective 4, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
4. Have groups of students research and catalog recycling/reusing efforts in their community as part
of the class project. They can think of this assignment as their contribution to public service. They can
contact the local media to disseminate this information to the local public.
Look for students to focus on the positive dimension of existing efforts as well as the areas for
(30 minutes, Chapter Objective 4, AACSB: Reflective Thinking and Communication Abilities
eLAB
Individual Assignments
1. Go to www.bestbuy.com. The Best Buy website promises interactivity with the customer. What
evidence do you find that this has occurred (if any)? Evaluate the Best Buy website as to ease of
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
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use and customer involvement. What are your impressions about the Best Buy approach? What is
the company doing right and what are they doing wrong with respect to customer buying?
Students may note the ability to search, watch videos about “blue shirt test drives” of products,
easy access to weekly promotional specials, the ability to compare products, etc. Look for
(15 minutes, Chapter Objective 2, AACSB: Reflective Thinking,)
2. Go to www.starbucked.com. What is the overall purpose of this website? Based on the
information given on this website, discuss how consumers can become so dissatisfied that they
would create or participate in such a website. Give examples of the different possible courses of
action for reacting to poor service.
Starbucked.com is a complaint website. Strong brands are particularly susceptible to these kinds
of consumer responses. This is because they tend to evoke passion and are a large target that
(25 minutes, Chapter Objective 4, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
Group Assignments
1. Go to www.bananarepublic.com and www.oldnavy.com. Have your group compare these two
websites as to online atmosphere. Next, if possible, go to a Banana Republic and Old Navy store
to determine the differences between in-store atmospheres. Comment on what you find. How
have the two organizations positioned themselves? Is there consistency between the approaches
used on the Web versus the approaches used in the retail environment? Explain. What
improvements should or both of the organizations make with respect to consumer buying?
Explain how you arrived at your suggestion(s).
Both company websites are linked, as is gap.com and piperlime.com, and provides access to a
common shopping bag. However, the designs of the websites are very different, as are the store
(45 minutes, Chapter Objective 2, AACSB: Reflective Thinking and Analytic Skills)
2. Go to www.customerssuck.com. As a group, examine accounts given by employees as to the
outrageous behavior observed in retail settings. Summarize the findings. What conclusions can be
made from this?
The examples on this website are a little bit dated, but can still be useful for students to
(20 minutes, Chapter Objective 4, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
3. Visit www.customerrespect.com/ and learn about what they do about treating online customers.
Is this service necessary?
The service may provide online “listening” for companies that do not have the resources to
perform this important responsibility in house. Student opinions will vary about whether the
(30 minutes, Chapter Objective 4, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
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