Consumers’ pursuit of material and experiential purchases: A review

Abstract

More than 15 years ago, Van Boven and Gilovich (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 2003, 1193) presented evidence that experiential purchases make people happier than material purchases once consumers have covered their basic needs. This experiential advantage has attracted significant attention from researchers in the fields of social and consumer psychology. In this article, we review the literature on this subject. We first define the constructs of experiential and material purchases, and contrast them with previous, related constructs. We then identify and review the different mechanisms that appear to underlie the experiential advantage.Finally, we examine evidence of systematic differences in how people make decisions about material and experiential purchases, focusing on differences in how consumers process information and evaluate options prior to making a purchase.

Experiential gifts as meaningful moments and memories: Their influence on nostalgia, and relive intention

“…Across four studies, we found strong support for the idea that experiential gifts were construed as more significant moments and memories in consumers' autobiographical memory when thinking about the actual consumption of these gifts than their material counterparts. The main reason for this is because the consumption of experiential gifts is more meaningful to the self than the consumption of material gifts (Gilovich & Gallo, 2019). This result was consistent with a recent investigation that found consumers anticipate experiential purchase to represent unique opportunities that they cannot pass on (Bastos, 2019), yet our investigation proposes a more comprehensive construct of meaningful moments and memories as one important mechanism.…”

“…Consumption could involve material objects and experiences (Belk & Hsiu‐yen Yeh, 2011; Belk, 1988), a division closely relates to current terminology distinguishing experiential from material purchases, gifts, and consumption. Even though the distinction between experiential and material gifts and purchases is somewhat fuzzy (Gilovich & Gallo, 2019), it can be manipulated reliably in experiments, as shown in a recent meta‐analysis (Weingarten & Goodman, 2020). (3) Within these types of consumption, consumers are able to differentiate and appreciate different attributes in experiential and material types of consumption.…”

“…The recent attention given to experiential and material gifts is rooted in the well‐examined distinction between experiential and material purchases (Gilovich & Gallo, 2019). The general finding is that experiential purchases lead to higher levels of happiness than material purchases.…”

“…This assertion comes from the vast literature explaining the advantages of experiential purchases over material purchases in terms of happiness because experiential purchases are better representations of the self. For example, reviews of empirical research suggest that experiential purchases represent a more important part of the self, increase social connections, and are evaluated in self‐referent terms (Gilovich & Gallo, 2019). Hence, experiential purchases appear to represent more important moments, events, and memories in consumers' lives.…”

Counterfeit luxury consumption: A review and research agenda

“…Consumers are experience seekers (Gilovich & Gallo, 2019), and we have no reason to believe that counterfeit buyers are different. Because experiences are lived rather than possessed, and because experiences make people happier than possessions (Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003), positioning luxury goods as experiences could deprive counterfeit buyers of the moments of pleasure, which genuine buyers live through.…”