Consumer Behavior - Publications - Faculty & Research

19 Nov 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

E-Santa: Is Retail Ready for Digital Christmas?

brick-and-mortar retail, specifically in the form of large-scale shopping malls, is still the dominant venue for consumer purchases in the developed world. Large-Scale Demand Estimation with Search Data This study proposes a practical and... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

Web

2024 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

behavior of others. In his book Complicit, Professor Max Bazerman offers strategies for recognizing and avoiding the psychological and other traps that lead us to ignore, condone, or actively support wrongdoing in our businesses,... View Details

15 Apr 2002
Research & Ideas

In the Virtual Dressing Room Returns Are A Real Problem

Many distinctive aspects of the textile and apparel industries present challenges to implementing electronic commerce. First, and perhaps most important, is the difficulty of accurately characterizing the product online. Many of the characteristics of a garment that... View Details

Keywords: by Jan Hammond & Kristin Kohler; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

25 Aug 2003
Research & Ideas

Should You Sell Your Digital Privacy?

It's a startling idea: Instead of relying on regulators to protect our privacy against telemarketers, data miners, and consumer companies, we should capitalize on the value of our personal information and get something of value in return.... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls & Sean Silverthorne; Advertising

17 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Why E-commerce Didn’t Die With the Fall of Webvan

Times were hard for Webvan this year. Like other online grocers and delivery services that hit the screen in 2001—among them, Homegrocer, Kozmo, and Streamline—Webvan finally called it quits in July after two years in business. Webvan may be gone, but the forces that... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

14 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

How to Profit from Scarcity

Harvard Business School professor John Quelch writes a blog on marketing issues, called Marketing Know: How, for Harvard Business Online. It is reprinted on HBS Working Knowledge.Marketers are trained to match supply to demand. Everything that View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

26 Feb 2014
Research & Ideas

How Grocery Bags Manipulate Your Mind

those who bring their own bags are more likely to buy indulgent items like ice cream and cookies. Moreover, consumers tend to place a higher value on both organic products and decadent treats when they bring their own bags than when they... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail

13 Jun 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

That Costs HOW Much?

graphicola Price is important to consumers not just because it determines whether they can afford to purchase that purse or patio set. The cost of an item sets the buyer's expectations as to how the product or service will perform and... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

04 Jun 2014
What Do You Think?

Does Internet Technology Threaten Brand Loyalty?

choice, why would you have to be brand loyal?" Consumer loyalty, he continued, "will vary and fluctuate on a technological continuum of innovation/change (loyal one day and maybe not the next)." Based on personal... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

04 Dec 2000
What Do You Think?

Have We Overdone Deregulation and Privatization?

Summing Up Let's hear it for deregulation, at least its long-term effects. It's well worth the short-term disruptions and consumer confusion. That's the near-unanimous judgement of those of you responding to my recent piece on the... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

September 2013 (Revised August 2015)
Background Note

Leadership and Teaming

By: Ethan Bernstein

Small differences in the leadership of teams can have large consequences for the success of their efforts. Many initiatives fail not because of a fatal error in judgment or insufficient ideas, knowledge, motivation, or capabilities to deliver a solution. They fail... View Details

Citation

Educators

Purchase

17 Mar 2021
Research & Ideas

Beyond Pajamas: Sizing Up the Pandemic Shopper

that attract consumers to retailers’ websites. Companies typically have to balance the popularity of these policies in a competitive market with the high costs of managing returns, including shipping and restocking fees that cut into... View Details

Keywords: by Ayelet Israeli, Eva Ascarza, and Laura Castrillo; Retail

06 Mar 2017
Research & Ideas

Why Comparing Apples to Apples Online Leads To More Fruitful Sales

Online, consumers are more likely to buy when a product grouping display contains like items. Source: Mik22 In online retail displays, items pictured next to your product may make or break a decision to buy that product, according to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail; Advertising

22 Feb 2000
Research & Ideas

The Mind of the Market: Extending the Frontiers of Marketing Thought

might serve the study of consumer behavior. An HBS professor since 1991, Zaltman's work actually cuts across a number of boundaries. He's a co-director (with Stephen M. Kosslyn, Professor of psychology at Harvard University) of the Mind... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

15 Apr 2013
Research & Ideas

Solving the Search vs. Display Advertising Quandary

these investments motivated consumers to plunk down their credit cards or fill out an application for a service. That's why the Internet has been such a godsend to companies, says Sunil Gupta, the Edward W. Carter Professor of Business... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Advertising

10 Aug 2015
Research & Ideas

Why a Federal Rule on CEO Pay Disclosure May Get You In Trouble With Customers

check. In sheer terms of gaining favor among consumers, a firm with a high CEO-to-worker pay ratio must offer a substantial 50 percent discount to keep up with a firm that maintains a low pay ratio. This is among the key findings in the working paper Paying Up for Fair... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail

21 Aug 2013
Research & Ideas

To Buy Happiness, Spend Money on Other People

Now, Consume Later (delayed consumption leads to increased enjoyment); and Invest in Others (spending money on other people makes us happier than spending it on ourselves). Recently we featured a video illustrating the emotional benefits... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

12 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

Creating Online Ads We Want to Watch

30-second consumer product advertisements. Out of 28 ads, 14 were chosen because they were decidedly provocative; the researchers expected them to evoke either joy or surprise in the viewers at different points in the brief plot. The... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Consumer Products

02 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

Digital Initiative Summit: Big Messages, Small Screens, Many Choices

is, if the app is the way we interact with the brands, how do you get me to be one of your favorite apps?" Gupta said that a successful app must provide obvious, unique value—and meet consumers where they live. As an example, he cited the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Advertising

31 May 2023
Research & Ideas

With Predictive Analytics, Companies Can Tap the Ultimate Opportunity: Customers’ Routines

haven’t made a service part of their routines, the authors find. These findings come as companies such as Procter & Gamble, Adidas, and McDonald’s are trying to collect more consumer data to hone their marketing messages. With... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Transportation

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