A method to generate hypotheses on consumer payment behavior from market basket data is presented with which retailers can predict future cash requirements. This could help retailers to minimize the costs of cash management through rationalization and may also encourage the introduction of new...

This research documents an intriguing empirical phenomenon whereby states of relaxation increase the monetary valuation of products. This phenomenon is demonstrated in six experiments involving two different methods of inducing relaxation, a large number of products of different types, and...

Some food items that are commonly considered unhealthy also tend to elicit impulsive responses. The pain of paying in cash can curb impulsive urges to purchase such unhealthy food products. Credit card payments, in contrast, are relatively painless and weaken impulse control. Consequently,...

This research examines the effects of earmarking money on savings by low-income consumers. In particular, the authors test two interventions that are designed to enhance the effects of earmarking: a) using a visual reminder of the savings goal and b) dividing the earmarked money into two parts....

We examine the indirect impact of price deals, which occurs through the formation of expected future prices, on households' purchase decisions. Two competing learning processes of households' formation of expected future deals that lead to opposite predictions are proposed. Under a...

The purpose of this paper was to find out if Costco's “treasure hunt” strategy was effectively attracting customers and increasing spending per visit. It was an exploratory research to provide insights in the perceptions of Costco customers in reference to new, seasonal, and premium products...

The benefits of customization are not always self-evident to consumers who seek to minimize decision costs or are generally uncertain of what they really want. We argue that the mere posting of a starting price can increase a consumer's readiness to appreciate customized goods. We discuss this...

This paper describes two new datasets available to academic researchers. The first is a panel dataset containing the transactions of 19,936 households made over the period from December 1998 to November 2004 at a major U.S. consumer electronics retailer. There are a total of 173,262...