Trust has been found to be crucial for consumer behaviour towards online shops. However, existing studies on the role of trust in electronic commerce are mainly based on ad hoc scales to measure trustworthiness, merely rely on self-reported consequences of trust such as intention to buy, and focus on low-risk products. In a web-based study, 634 participants interacted with a provider of medical goods, that is a simulated online pharmacy. The study develops and employs a psychometrically sound scale for assessing perceived trustworthiness of online shops. Moreover, it examines the impact of trustworthiness on both consumers' intended and actual behaviour towards online shops. Results show that trustworthiness promotes both intention to buy and actual financial risk taking. Perceived risk was not found to moderate the relationship between trustworthiness and intention to buy. Instead, trustworthiness partially mediated the influence of perceived risk on intention to buy. The results from the scale development challenge multidimensional conceptualizations of trust; comparing this finding with other studies suggests that the duration of the relationship might moderate the dimensionality of trust.

Purpose – This research aims to examine whether shopping orientation (experiential vs task-focused) influences how consumers react toward nonmonetary and monetary promotions. It was predicted that promotions are more effective if the promotional benefits are congruent with consumers’ shopping orientation. Moreover, consumers’ financial budget was assumed to moderate the influence of shopping orientation on promotion effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach – The hypotheses were tested in three experiments. Study 1 used a measure of shopping orientation as a consumer disposition and examined its influence on promotion attractiveness. Two further studies used an experimental manipulation of shopping orientation and examined its influence on promotions attractiveness and retailer choice. Findings – The results supported the hypotheses. Task-focused shoppers evaluated monetary promotions as more attractive than nonmonetary promotions. Experiential shoppers evaluated both types of promotions as comparably attractive. Furthermore, experiential shoppers were more likely than task-focused shoppers to choose a retailer offering a nonmonetary promotion over a retailer offering a monetary promotion. Low financial budget, however, reduced the influence of shopping orientation on retailer choice. Originality/value – To effectively use promotions as a tool, marketers and retailers need to know when and how to use them, as well as understand which type of promotion is the most effective. This research implies that retailers will benefit from customizing promotions to fit consumers’ shopping orientations. Furthermore, the findings show that the advantage of such a tailored approach is reduced if consumers’ financial budget is limited.

This research examines the cognitive procedures that underlie experiential versus task‐focused shopping orientations. The authors propose that consumers with a task‐focused shopping orientation and consumers with an experiential shopping orientation apply different cognitive procedures during shopping. Studies 1, 2, and 3 show that consumers with a task‐focused shopping orientation are more likely to activate the cognitive procedures of an implemental mindset, whereas consumers with an experiential shopping orientation are more likely to activate the cognitive procedures of a deliberative mindset. Study 4 demonstrates a fit effect between activated cognitive procedures and shopping orientation. Activating a mindset that matches the shopping orientation increases the monetary value that consumers assign to a product. The studies extend previous research by linking shopping orientations to mindsets and by providing evidence for mindset fit. The findings suggest that marketers and retailers will benefit from addressing experiential and task‐focused shoppers via the mindsets that underlie their shopping orientation.

Purpose: Consumers may shop under an experiential or a task-focused shopping orientation. The present research examines whether interindividual differences in consumers' shopping orientations reflect a stable consumer disposition (i.e., chronic shopping orientation). Furthermore, it examines whether this disposition influences consumers' evaluations of retailer communication. Design/methodology/approach: This research builds upon four studies; three were conducted online and one was conducted in the laboratory. Study 1 applied a longitudinal design, Studies 2 and 3 applied a cross-sectional design, and Study 4 applied an experimental design. Findings: Study 1 shows that chronic shopping orientation is stable over time. Study 2 finds that interindividual differences in chronic shopping orientation are stable across different retail domains. Studies 3 and 4 demonstrate that experiential shoppers prefer stimulation-oriented claims, whereas task-focused shoppers prefer efficiency-oriented claims. Originality/value: The value of shopping orientation for customer segmentation and tailored marketing largely depends on whether interindividual differences in chronic shopping orientation are stable. The present research is the first to demonstrate that chronic shopping orientation indeed exists as a stable consumer disposition. In addition, the research demonstrates that shopping orientation moderates the evaluation of retailer communication. Overall, the results demonstrate that chronic shopping orientation is a valuable construct for customer segmentation and tailored communication in retailing.

Recent studies have provided contradictory results on whether the pairing of appetitive stimuli with no-go responses in go/no-go tasks leads to a devaluation of these stimuli. The authors of the present studies argue that devaluation effects after pairings of appetitive stimuli (e.g., unhealthy snacks or fruit) with no-go responses are usually short-lived but can become persistent if the stimuli form a meaningful category of appetitive stimuli that one should usually avoid (e.g., unhealthy snacks). In three studies, the authors found no persistent devaluation effects for appetitive stimuli that were paired with no-go responses when the pairings conveyed no meaning beyond the completion of the go/no-go task (e.g., pairing of no-go responses with fruit or pairing of no-go responses with a mixture of healthy and unhealthy stimuli). However, persistent devaluation effects after a delay of 10 min were found when no-go responses were consistently paired with unhealthy snacks contrasted against fruit.