Antecedents of consumer price consciousness in a turbulent economy

Abstract

Major economic crises create financial and normative stressors, affecting consumers long after economies technically leave recession. Consumer adaptations to these stressors challenge researchers’ and marketers’ assumptions of well‐established concepts and theories, notably consumer price consciousness (CPC). We examine this pivotal marketing construct within the domains of stress and coping during times of economic turbulence. In this paper, the authors develop and test a conceptual model, then present implications for consumer researchers, brand marketers, and retailers. The model focuses on the relationships between changing CPC and major economic and normative stressors, respectively financial well‐being and frugality norms. To inform opportunities for specific interventions, we identify mediating roles of consumer anticipated guilt, financial fear, and smart shopper self‐perception. SEM and mediation analysis test this model, based on a national survey of 1202 UK consumers. The results identify stressors that influence changing CPC, following fundamental shifts in consumer psychology and behaviour since recession. Each antecedent of CPC presents opportunities for marketers and retailers to defend or adapt brands to the challenges and opportunities presented by more price conscious consumers.

Consumption dynamics during recession and recovery: A learning journey

“…Different aspects of crises and consumption are being examined including the changing process of household budget allocations (Du & Kamakura, 2008;Kamakura & Du, 2012), consumer price consciousness (Hampson & McGoldrick, 2017), calculative price behavior (Berdysheva & Romanova, 2017), the role of private labels and discount stores (Puelles et al, 2016;Lamey, Deleersnyder, Dekimpe, & Steenkamp, 2007), adaptive shopping patterns (Hampson & McGoldrick, 2013), consumers' money attitudes in the postrecession economy (Hampson et al, 2018), social and political discourses (Alonso, Rodríguez, & Rojo, 2015, media discourses (Vihalemm, Keller, & Pihu, 2016), ethnocentric consumption (Lekakis, 2017), social innovation and community-based responses (Blättel-Mink et al, 2017), communal exchange and social resilience (Garner, 2017) and collaborative consumption (Lindlbom & Lindlbom, 2017).…”

“…There is an empirical demonstration that during recessions consumers become more concerned about their financial security (e.g., Kamakura & Du, 2012;Xiao and O'Neill, 2016;Zurawicki & Braidot, 2005), more frugal and more price conscious (Hampson & McGoldrick, 2017;Hampson & McGoldrick, 2013;Steenkamp & Maydeu-Olivares, 2015).…”

“…As highlighted by Hampson & McGoldrick (2017), there are psychological mechanisms and stressors that help to explain why consumers feel affected well beyond the technical end of a recession. Besides the relevance of economic stressors, their findings demonstrate the effect of consumer anticipated guilt and smart shopper self-perception on price consciousness.…”

Coping with crises: Consumption and social resilience on markets

“…Their paper shows nicely how crises induce changes in the appreciation of prices and how this in turn aggregates to a new norm of consumer behaviour. Hampson and McGoldrick () explore the impact of financial well‐being and frugality norms on consumer price consciousness, showing that economic resources are a prime explanation of price consciousness (forming an important component of the appreciation dimension of consumption). The contributions to this issue refer to the long‐term impact of crisis: in parallel with the immediate and tangible responses that affect the supply and require adaptations from producers and marketers (see Hampson & McGoldrick in this issue) the more intangible co‐effects of the consumers’ resilience can also lead to the gradual transformation of values, identities and initiate new forms of exchange (see Figure ).…”

How consumer confidence affects price conscious behavior: The roles of financial vulnerability and locus of control

“…Prior research has shown that price conscious behavior is an adaptive response for people experiencing money-related negative affect. For example, in the context of the Great Recession of the late 2000s, price consciousness emerged as a principle coping strategy through which UK consumers sought to mitigate heightened feelings of financial fear and guilt ( Hampson & McGoldrick, 2017 ). Perceived financial vulnerability associates with a range of sub-optimal outcomes, including material deprivation, reduced vitality of social relationships, and physical and mental health problems ( O’Loughlin et al, 2017 ).…”