Deviances from planned purchase: consumer learning history and behaviour setting implications to consumer spending

Resumo

Trilha Acadêmica - Comportamento do Consumidor

Consumer spending is an important performance measure at the individual level and retail decision makers usually try to understand which factors influence this response variable. Deviances from planned purchase are specific classes of consumer behaviour that may explain consumer spending. Usually neglected in cognitive and behaviourist psychologists’ literature, deviances can vary in different levels and may have its origins on the classification of consumer groups according to their observable behaviour, compared to a planned disposition. Our empirical approach seeks to address this gap as we try to explain two substantial behavioural issues: a) how consumers could be arranged into groups, which allude to their buying pattern; b) and the power of these groups to explain consumer spending. Research design involved a field experiment in a supermarket, where 372 purchases were observed, during 13 weeks. The methodology encompassed a stage that enabled the development of a classification of consumers into groups, in respect to matching buying-planned comparisons. A multinomial logistic regression model was developed to predict consumer groups, while an Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) explained consumer spending. Main results show the importance of consumer learning history to predict consumer groups and the significance of these groups to consumer spending. These findings corroborate Behavioural Perspective Model (BPM) primary features and highlight novel activities that effect behaviour in routine purchasing processes, such as supermarkets purchases.