Smart Shoppers’ Purchasing Experiences: Functions of Product Type, Gender, and Generation

Abstract

Today's consumers want to feel smart while shopping by minimizing the costs associated with shopping trips (e.g., time, effort, or money) and maximizing the benefits (e.g., convenience, ease, or finding the right product). This study examined whether smart purchasing experiences (i.e., effort and time saving, money saving, and making the right purchase) differ by product type, gender, and generation, after adjusting to the same levels of search and planning that were made before purchasing. Using 1474 respondents drawn by an online consumer panel, a series of ANCOVAs along with MANCOVA revealed that members of different genders and generational cohorts, when purchasing different product types, demonstrate distinct smart shopping purchase experiences in terms of saving time/effort, saving money, and making the right purchase. Specific suggestions are made for marketers to target each consumer and product group.

Targeting Smart Shoppers: A Cross-Country Model

“…Two empirical studies proposed and validated a single-dimension phenomenon (Labbé-Pinlon et al, 2011;Mano & Elliott, 1997). However, Atkins and Hyun (2016), and Atkins and Kim (2012) proposed a scale of the smart shopper experience that comprised multiple dimensions: information organization and correct purchase, economic savings and time/effort savings. This scale fulfils convergent, discriminant and nomological validity.…”

“…The earliest empirical research on smart shopping appeared in the late 1990s. However, since the global economic crisis of 2008, this concept has become increasingly interesting to industry and the media (Atkins & Hyun, 2016), where the term "smart shopper" frequently describes shoppers who seek the thrill of deal hunting.…”

“…Previous research focused on smart-shopping conceptualization can be divided into two broad categories: (1) studies focused on shoppers' behavioral traits (i.e., Atkins & Hyun, 2016;Atkins & Kim, 2012;Labbé-Pinlon et al, 2011;Mano & Elliott, 1997) and 2research works focused on consumers' emotional response motivated by a smart purchase (i.e., Bicen & Madhavaram, 2013;de Pechpeyrou, 2013;Schindler, 1998). No prior study has considered or measured both components of the smart shopper in an integrated manner.…”

The role of technology in an omnichannel physical store

“…The literature reflects great interest among practitioners and scholars in the implementation of new technologies in stores. Studies have looked at how new in-store technologies can improve the shopping experience (Demirkan and Spohrer, 2014;Pantano and Di Pietro, 2012;Pantano and Viassone, 2015;Papagiannidis et al, 2013;Poncin and Ben Mimoun, 2014;Shankar, 2014) by increasing information richness (Parise et al, 2016) and encouraging the perception of innovation among customers (Atkins and Hyun, 2016). They have also found a positive relationship between the number of touchpoints and purchase intention (Suh and Lee, 2005).…”

The Effect of Smart Shopper Self-Perceptions On Word-Of-Mouth Behaviors in the Loyalty Reward Program Context

“…Last, using a recall-based survey, Study 3 finds that emotional attachment mediates the impact of smart shopper self-perceptions on offline and online WOM behaviors. Previous research on smart shopper perceptions has dominantly entailed material products in the retail context, such as electronics and clothes (Atkins & Hyun, 2016;Atkins & Kim, 2012;Bicen & Madhavaram, 2013;Schindler, 1998;Thomas et al, 2020;Zhang & Mick, 2019). For instance, Atkins and Hyun (2016) demonstrate a joint effect of product type and gender on smart shopping experiences.…”