Whether they’re getting a new shirt, a new computer, or taking a trip, people derive less ‘purchase happiness’ from buying things when they feel financial stress, new research shows.
«That feeling of financial constraint leads people to revisit their purchase and think about what else they could have done with that money, also known as the opportunity cost,» said Fuqua marketing professor Gavan Fitzsimons, who co-authored the findings in the Journal of Consumer Research. «Because of that question in a consumer’s mind about what else they could have used the money for, every time they think about that purchase, they are going to be a little less happy with what they did end up buying.»
That dissatisfaction also prompted consumers to leave worse reviews for those purchases — an insight that can help firms when soliciting customer feedback to encourage more sales.
Financial stress at all income levels The researchers conducted more than 40 studies measuring people’s perceptions about their financial situations and recent purchases. Whether they bought a material object or an experience, and whether they paid $100 or $1,000, the results were consistent: people who felt financial pressure experienced less «purchase happiness.»
Feeling financially constrained refers to a person’s perceptions about their financial situation and affects people of all socioeconomic circumstances, the authors said.
«People at all income levels are feeling financial pressure, particularly right now,» said Fitzsimons, who published the paper with Fuqua Ph.D. candidate Rodrigo Dias and Eesha Sharma of San Diego State University. «Rents are escalating dramatically, the housing market has been unreachable for many Americans. Even for people earning well above the median income in America, they still notice when gas is suddenly priced at $4 a gallon, and milk costs 50 percent more than it did two years ago.»
The impact on customer reviews
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