Money, beer, and toys : essays on consumer decision making

Essay 1: Shopping Goals, Goal Concreteness, and Conditional Promotions. We propose a two-stage model to describe the increasing concreteness of consumers' goals during the shopping process, testing the model through a series of field experiments at a convenience store. Using a number of different process measures (experiment 1), we first established that consumers are less certain of their shopping goals and construe products in less concrete terms when they are in the first (vs. second) stage of the shopping process. The results of experiments 2 and 3 next demonstrate that goal-evoking marketing promotions (e.g. conditional coupons) are more effective in influencing consumers' spending when consumers' goals are less concrete. Essay 2: Try It, You'll Like It: The Influence of Expectation, Consumption, and Revelation on Preferences for Beer. Patrons of a pub evaluated regular beer and "MIT brew" (the same regular beer with some balsamic vinegar) in one of three conditions. One group tasted them blind (the secret ingredient was never disclosed). A second group was informed of the contents before tasting. A third group learned of the secret ingredient immediately after tasting, but prior to indicating their preference.