Consumer Behavior - Publications - Faculty & Research

07 May 2018
Research & Ideas

Why Online Retailers Should Hide Their Best Discounts

to adapt it to an online environment,” says Ngwe. Their study gauges the effect of so-called search frictions that make it harder to find discounted items or require additional clicks by consumers to find bargains. “We want to see how... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail

12 Sep 2012
Research & Ideas

The Unexpected Link Between Cadavers and Careers

explains Michel Anteby, an associate professor in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School who cowrote the paper with Filiz Garip of Harvard University, Paul V. Martorana of Wagner College, and Scott Lozanoff of the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education; Health

17 Nov 2020
In Practice

How Retailers Can Thrive in a Shopping Season Like No Other

American retailers are heading into a holiday shopping season unlike any other as the spiraling COVID-pandemic and limp economy threaten consumer spending. We asked Harvard Business School faculty members—in particular, authors of recent... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Retail

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

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

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

09 Jun 2015
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Social Media

Using social media to advance your marketing is a potentially powerful and low-cost tool. But the risk is potentially powerful, too—allowing consumers to co-create your brand is enough to induce night sweats in any marketer. From our... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty; Advertising

29 Jan 2013
Research & Ideas

Creating the Perfect Super Bowl Ad

question whether ads, including the over-the-top Super Bowl spots, have become too entertaining, says Thales S. Teixeira, an assistant professor in the Marketing unit at Harvard Business School. In upcoming research, Why, When and How Much to Entertain View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Advertising; Media & Broadcasting

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

08 Jan 2007
What Do You Think?

Neuro Economics: Science or Science Fiction?

assess the impact of this work. Dick Meza said that "it will have to run the gauntlet of peer reviews and further research ." Lorenzo Ferlazzo observed that "the current lack of standardized insights into behavioral stimuli... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

Article

Households' Willingness to Pay for 'Green' Goods: Evidence from Patagonia's Introduction of Organic Cotton Sportswear

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Michael Crooke, Forest L. Reinhardt and Vishal Vasishth

To shed light on individuals' willingness to pay for "green" goods (i.e., goods that are supposed to have lower adverse environmental impacts either in production or in use), we study data from the introduction by Patagonia, Inc., of organic cotton sportswear in the... View Details

Keywords: Spending; Consumer Behavior; Environmental Sustainability; Consumer Products Industry

Citation

Find at Harvard

28 Jan 2013
Research & Ideas

Helping Yelp Create More Accurate Reviews

Each week, millions of consumers visit crowd-sourced review websites in search of recommendations for everything from taco stands to car dealers. Among the influential leaders in the field is Yelp.com, which in the third quarter of 2012... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Food & Beverage

15 Dec 2014
Research & Ideas

Deconstructing the Price Tag

When a company sets a price for a product, shoppers typically have no idea what it costs to produce that item. But it turns out that consumers reward efforts to lay out these figures—to deconstruct the price tag. In fact, new research... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail

October 1971 (Revised June 1985)
Case

Fisher-Price Toys, Inc.

Reviews new product introduction and pricing decisions for a riding toy designed for preschool children. Designed to provide background in buyer behavior, market analysis, and corporate strategy. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Product Launch; Consumer Products Industry

Citation

Educators

Purchase

27 Jul 2009
Research & Ideas

Social Network Marketing: What Works?

the research with HBS Working Knowledge. Sarah Jane Gilbert: Your research attempted to answer this question: Do friends within a social network influence online buying behaviors of others in the group? What did you discover? Sunil Gupta:... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Advertising; Publishing; Retail

17 Jun 2013
Research & Ideas

Advertising Symbiosis: The Key to Viral Videos

expenditures. Advertisers can get the most bang for the buck if they post their videos on YouTube and then motivate consumers to disseminate the ads for them, via email or social media. Getting an ad to go viral is among the cost-saving... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Advertising

16 Dec 2015
Research & Ideas

Why ‘Sleep on It’ No Longer Sounds Like Great Advice

On It? The Effects of Overnight Sleep on Subjective Preference-Based Choice, forthcoming in the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making. Sleeping on a decision may not lead to a happy outcome. ©iStock/vadimguzhva In order to test their... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail

16 Sep 2014
Research & Ideas

Has Apple Reinvented the Watch?

especially from a consumer health and wellness standpoint. It's where we know the health care industry is moving. Q: Apple has always been known for innovative design. Have they succeeded to do that with the Apple Watch? A: Several of the... View Details

Keywords: Re: Ryan L. Raffaelli; Electronics; Retail; Health

19 Dec 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

New Year, New Habits

Economists Can Make You a Healthier Consumer and Smarter Marketer What’s behind the decisions we make, especially when it comes to eating well and losing weight? Can companies motivate employees to make healthier decisions? Unethical... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

01 Dec 2014
News

Faculty Q&A: The New Brand Manager: You

Now that customers have more of a voice in the consumer-brand relationship, some brands have suffered loud criticism for recent business decisions. How can brands avoid that pitfall? I’m not sure consumer criticism is always necessarily... View Details

Keywords: April White

Publications