Path to Purpose? How Online Customer Journeys Differ for Hedonic Versus Utilitarian Purchases

Abstract

The authors examine consumers’ information channel usage during the customer journey by employing a hedonic and utilitarian (H/U) perspective, an important categorization of consumption purpose. Taking a retailer-category viewpoint to measure the H/U characteristics of 20 product categories at 40 different retailers, this study combines large-scale secondary clickstream and primary survey data to offer actionable insights for retailers in a competitive landscape. The data reveal that, when making hedonic purchases (e.g., toys), consumers employ social media and on-site product pages as early as two weeks before the final purchase. By contrast, for utilitarian purchases (e.g., office supplies), consumers utilize third-party reviews up to two weeks before the final purchase and make relatively greater usage of search engines, deals, and competitors’ product pages closer to the time of purchase. Importantly, channel usage is different for sessions in which no purchase is made, indicating that consumers’ information channel choices vary significantly with the H/U characteristics of purchases. The article closes with an extensive discussion of the significant implications for managing customer touchpoints.