Authors
Jamie L Grigsby, Robert D Jewell, Colin Campbell
Publication date
2021/3
Journal
Marketing Letters
Volume
32
Pages
75-89
Publisher
Springer US
Description
Impulse purchases are encouraged by retailers and can comprise a significant portion of a retailer’s sales. However, both consumers and researchers generally see impulse purchases as something to be avoided because they tend to be incongruent with consumers’ long-term goals. Using a goal congruence framework, this research finds that taking a broader temporal perspective of a virtuous choice made some time ago (i.e., a distant-past hyperopic choice) is one way for consumers to reduce the regret associated with an impulse purchase. Specifically, recalling a distant-past virtuous choice provides justification for a recent impulse purchase, reducing goal incongruity and thereby reducing associated regret. This effect allows retailers to both encourage impulse purchases and mitigate their potential negative consequences.
Scholar articles
JL Grigsby, RD Jewell, C Campbell - Marketing Letters, 2021