When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough go Shopping: A Fresh Look at Consumer Shopping Motivations

Abstract

Understanding why people shop and buy is of paramount importance to retail operators, however much of the existing research in this area really concerns what consumers purchased and where they shopped; not why they exhibited a certain behavior. This research examines underlying consumer motivations in an attempt to provide a theoretical basis for explanation and future prediction of consumer/retailer interaction. Specifically, this research provides an investigation of the differences between consumers who are motivated to shop primarily for symbolic and/or experiential reasons and those whose shopping motivations are functional in nature. A set of hypotheses concerning the relationship between shopping motivations and behavior are formulated and tested and implications for retail strategists and future researchers are provided.