Point-of-Purchase Signs, Impulse Purchases, and Individual Differences in the “Desire to Touch”

What is the role of touch in consumer behavior? Consumers are especially motivated to touch some products before buying them, and for some people, those high in “desire to touch”, touching before buying is especially important. In addition, some situations encourage consumers to touch goods before purchasing them. How do these relate to impulse purchases? People high in their “desire to touch” are more likely to make impulse purchases. Point-of-purchase signs that encourage touching a product stimulate impulse purchases in consumers who notice the sign, whether they are high or low in "desire to touch." High “desire to touch” are much more likely than other consumers to notice the sign. Signs that praise a product, but stress vision rather than touch, do nothing to increase impulse purchases by either type of shopper. These results grow out of a study of shopper in front of the peaches and nectarines in a supermarket produce department. The characterization of consumers as high or low “desire to touch” was based on a 2 page questionnaire administered to 340 shoppers who had already placed peaches or nectarines in their shopping carts. How and how much they touched the fruit was previously recorded, and matched up with the characterization based on the questionnaire as a way of validating the classifications. Working Paper 00-04 The Retail Food Industry Center University of Minnesota Point-of-Purchase Signs, Impulse Purchases, and Individual Differences in the “Desire to Touch” Joann Peck Terry Childers Copyright © 2000 by Author. All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies. The analyses and views reported in this paper are those of the authors. They are not necessarily endorsed by the Department of Food Science and Nutrition, by The Retail Food Industry Center, or by the University of Minnesota. The University of Minnesota is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access to its programs, facilities, and employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, disability, public assistance status, veteran status, or sexual orientation. For information on other titles in this series, write The Retail Food Industry Center, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics, 1994 Buford Avenue, 317 Classroom Office Building, St. Paul, MN 55108-6040, USA, phone Mavis Sievert (612) 625-7019, or E-mail [email protected]. Also, for more information about the Center and for full text of working papers, check our World Wide Web site [http://trfic.umn.edu]. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page