by Grace Butland
hy do people buy what they do? If you think it’s because of need, think again. According to Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing, a Pennsylvania market research firm that specializes in studying the luxury market, emotion is the driving force behind purchase decisions.
In her new book due out this fall — “Shopping: Why We Love It & How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Shopping Experience” — Danziger proposes an equation that explains what she calls “the quantum theory of shopping”:
in which P represents the purchase decision, N stands for need, F for product features, A for affordability and E for emotion.
In this formula, the tangibles — need, features and affordability — are additive (1+1+1=3) whereas emotion works exponentially, i.e., (1+1+1)52=75. So while the tangible factors of need, features and affordability do play a role in the purchase decision, they rarely dominate. In Danziger’s words, “Emotions magnify need, they play off features and make a desired item more or less affordable, thus sending the shopper to the cash register with whatever it is they hunger for.”
 |
| “Angela” ring, 18k yellow gold with pink tourmaline and diamonds, by Star Sosa, owner of Spectrum Gallery, in Wilmington, N.C. Sosa finds her customers are sold on “unique and eclectic” work in her gallery. |
Retailers can influence these “purchase equation” components in varying degrees. For example, need is a personal thing — a customer either needs something or he/she doesn’t. As a retailer, there is nothing you can do to create need.
You do have more control over the features and affordability of the merchandise you select for your gallery. By selecting products of better quality, better design, etc., you can ensure that the merchandise you offer is attractive to the consumer. “Features are a hot button that push the shoppers ‘buy’ response,” says Danziger. However, she adds, “Features operate independently from need, for if there is no specific need, all the wonderful product features in the world won’t cause a shopper to buy.”
As for affordability, it’s “a highly personal matter and also easily manipulated by marketers and retailers,” says Danziger. We all have a certain amount of money we can spend, she explains, but within that dollar volume we have some flexibility as to where that money goes. We may opt to buy generic brands at the grocery store in order to afford a $400 pair of shoes. But no matter where they reside on the economic scale, shoppers love a bargain. “Over and over again in focus groups, shoppers express how an item found on sale will stimulate them to buy even when the need is low,” says Danziger.
Emotion, however, is the big gun in the purchase decision because it interacts with and magnifies all of the tangible features. It’s also the purchase decision factor that retailers can influence the most. “This is both the good news and the bad news for consumer businesses today,” says Danziger. “For emotion is totally removed from reason.”
How does Danziger’s theory relate to the “real life” experiences of craft retailers?
Need: Although “recreational” shopping is a popular pastime, need is often the impetus behind a particular shopping trip — “I need a wedding gift;” “I need a pair of earrings to go with this dress,” etc. The need, however, doesn’t clinch the sale. In fact, it is arguable that no one ever needs handcrafted items since mass-produced items can fill the need.
Features: There’s no question that product features are important to the purchase decision. “A feature such as ‘food safe’ may clinch a pottery sale,” says Star Sosa, owner of Spectrum Gallery in Wilmington, N.C.
Other features that can influence a purchase decision include the retailer’s reputation, customer service policies and the shopping experience itself. “When people buy something from us, they know its quality,” says Jerry Saywell of Saywell’s in Wakefield, R.I. “And they know they can always exchange it if it doesn’t work out.” Sosa counts a pleasant environment and the experience, knowledge and attentiveness of her staff among the features that attract customers to Spectrum.
Affordability: Customers do have flexibility on price points, but it’s completely relative, says Sosa. “If a customer can spend $100, it may be a major stretch to spend $200. But if she can spend $5,000, she can usually stretch that to $7,000 or $10,000.”
But just because a customer can spend a lot of money doesn’t mean that price isn’t an issue. “Customers are still looking for value,” says Barbara Null of Kebanu Gallery in Bend, Ore. “In fact, a lot of the time, they’re looking for a bargain.”
Emotion: The retailers interviewed for this article agree that emotion is definitely the big factor in purchase decisions, though that factor plays out in different ways. Although customers may come in for a need, it’s the emotion that clinches the sale, says Null. Customers want you to tell them a story, she explains. “They want to know about the artist and the impulse behind the piece.” And because luxury customers also want the unusual, Null is moving toward more one-of-a-kind pieces at Kebanu. “A lot of production pieces are seen everywhere, and you can’t tell as good a story,” she says.
“For our customers, status is achieved by the unique and eclectic (versus recognized brands). They want to have the one and only of something,” says Sosa. She tells of a couple that had been looking for “right hand” rings for the wife for some time but hadn’t found anything she liked. On their first visit to Spectrum, the customer fell in love with an unusual ring, immediately purchased it for $8,800, and ordered two additional rings. In this case, the unique features of the rings triggered the emotional response that magnified the customer’s perceived need.
Long-time crafts retailer Ann Kaplan, owner of Artifacts Gallery in Indianapolis, Ind., has a theory about the emotional appeal of handcrafted objects. “Beauty and aesthetics appeal to man’s higher nature,” she says, noting that Eastern religions teach that “the sacred is in the ordinary.” It’s particularly in the ordinary things — the spoons and mugs and vases of everyday living — that we need beauty the most because those are the things we handle all day, Kaplan says. So even a simple coffee mug or potholder, beautifully designed and pleasing to the touch, can inspire a sense of awe.
Kaplan uses the term “aesthetic shock” to describe a frequent reaction of Artifacts’ customers. People are always coming up to gallery staff and saying “Oh my God, this is like a museum,” she says. Aesthetic shock is very emotional, she adds. “We are definitely appealing to man’s higher nature.”
The good news for craft retailers is that while big box stores are offering cookie-cutter merchandise, craft retailers have the advantage of being able to offer a variety of high quality, beautifully designed, unique items in a wide range of price points. You can create a sense of “aesthetic shock” that engages the emotions of your customers. Test the Quantum Theory of Shopping. It just may be your formula for success.
Grace Butland is a free-lance writer and clothing designer living in Nova Scotia.