The influence of thematic product displays on consumers: An elaboration‐based account

Abstract

Marketers commonly adopt a theme to unify their design of an environment in which their products are displayed. A thematic display environment can be congruent with or unrelated to the concept of a product on display. The elaboration likelihood model and the knowledge activation literature suggest that conceptual congruence between the thematic display context and the product could affect product evaluation by a cue-based mechanism and an elaboration-based mechanism.First, the positive feeling associated with conceptual congruence serves as a peripheral cue, making product evaluation favorable. Second, the congruence provokes thoughts about the product's attributes, and these attribute-related thoughts affect product evaluation. Whether the evaluation is dominated by the affective cue or attribute thoughts depends on the consumer's shopping motivation (planned purchase vs. browsing), because the motivation affects the consumer's elaboration likelihood. The results of three experiments support these propositions. The results indicated that under planned purchase motivation, the congruence effect on purchase intention through attribute-related thoughts was observed. In contrast, under browsing, the congruence effect on purchase intention was dominated by a direct positive effect that reflected the influence of the affective cue. Implications of the findings for visual merchandising are discussed. K E Y W O R D S conceptual congruence, conceptual fluency, product display, service environment, shopping motivation, structural equation modeling Marketers commonly create environments reminiscent of familiar concepts for displaying their products at the point of sale. In many Psychol. Mark. 2017;34: 868-883

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“…The studies that used surveys as a method were analyzed using inferential statistics, except the study by Marchini et al (2015), who performed descriptive statistics. Also, structural equation modeling was used in the studies by Marchini et al (2015), Lam, Fu and Li (2017), Lombart, Labbé-Pinlon, Filser, Anteblian and Louis (2018), and Anić, Mihić and Kursan Milaković (2018). Wu, Kim and Koo (2015) stand out, which used the codesign method, the collection was co-creation, and the analysis was performed using descriptive statistics.…”

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“…A favorable inference will lead to greater cognitive elaboration about the product attributes (Lundh 1995), which enhances customers’ purchase decision. Prior research shows that generating more product attribute–related thoughts in turn enhances product evaluation and purchase decision (Lam, Fu, and Li 2017). More formally: H 3 : A themed imaginative display, compared with a standard display, increases the inference of product benefits, which in turn increases customers’ purchases and purchase intentions. …”

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Impulse buying in hospitality: The role of content posted by social media influencers

“…The consumer’s decision to buy a product is enhanced by activating stimulus related to product category (Lieberman et al, 2007). This stimulus is activated when the consumer perceives compatibility or congruence between the product and its display context (Lam et al, 2017). The thematically congruent context improves product assessment based on the consumer’s cognitive response to the product display (Cacioppo and Petty, 1979), which influences a consumer’s cognition about product attributes, and thereby, improves product evaluation and purchase intention.…”