A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research finds that retailers can improve consumers’ product learning and satisfaction by simply organizing their existing stock in different ways. The study’s authors found that highly knowledgeable consumers liked being surprised by product formats, while novice consumers had an easier time with standard, familiar product groupings.
The authors explain,
Results may explain why expert cooks love the chaos of farmer’s markets, whereas novice cooks find them overwhelming. Or, for retail food stores, a gourmet grocery that caters to a more knowledgeable ‘foodie’ may build a happier, better-informed consumer base by presenting items in more novel and exotic formats (by season, optimal wine pairings, or country of origin, for example), whereas retailers at the edge of a college campus may help their novice college-age shoppers most by grouping items in the most traditional formats (all fruits together, all coffee together, all bread together, etc.).
The study also found that highly knowledgeable consumers were notoriously complacent about paying attention to product information. Human nature generally dictates that we breeze past or rule out any potentially new and important information when it pertains to something we consider ourselves experts in – we’re not actively seeking out new information about something we think we’re well versed in. In contrast, in areas where we’re novices, all of our cognitive capacity is occupied with making a purchase decision.
This demonstrates that retail strategies to create the most satisfied and well-informed consumer can only be determined by considering their familiarity with product categories and their expectations about the retail environment. But taking it a step further – understanding whether you’re speaking to experts or novices in each product category – and tailoring your retail/merchandising strategy based on that – is key to making customers happy.
[via PhysOrg]
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