The 3rd and Final Voyage
Grocery Shopping: an acquisitional or experiential activity?
Grocery shopping would
typically be considered an activity that requires acquisitional shopping, or
activities that are oriented toward a specific, intended purchase (Babin/Harris
2014). Grocery stores are usually filled with busy parents with a list of items
they need and try to get in and out of the store in as short of time as
possible. However, Trader Joe’s plays on many affective qualities rather than
just functional qualities a grocery store is expected to make up their retail
personality.
External influences of Trader Joe's
Physical Surroundings: External influences
related to Trader Joe’s include the physical surroundings, or atmospherics and
retail personality. Affective qualities relevant to Trader Joe’s include
friendly employees, bright lighting, the vibrant colors, and the store design
and layout. These are the qualities that represent emotional meaning to the
shopping environment and result from the sum effect of all ambient attributes
that affect the way the shoppers feel about the store (Babin/Harris 2014).
Trader Joe’s emphasizes affective qualities and gives up some functional
qualities such as a wide selection. Compared to the 30,000 products a
traditional grocer offers, Trader Joe’s only stocks 2,000 items (Bloomberg).
However, Trader Joe’s is well known for their functional quality of guarantee.
They have a return policy that you are able to be fully refunded or exchange
any item for any reason without questions asked. It could be as simple as you
don’t like the product.
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| Examples of the vibrant colors and external influences that make the shopping experience experiential and draw attention of consumers to certain products |
Social Surroundings: Social surroundings do not tend to play as significant of a role when I am grocery shopping because I prefer to shop alone. Social surroundings including those who are present during decision making and can present peer pressure that affects our purchases tends to be minimized when I go grocer shopping since I try as often as possible to go alone (Babin/Harris 2014). An exception to this would be the social surroundings of the employees working at Trader Joe’s. Since they are so knowledgeable about the products, whenever I ask for a recommendation, I end up feeling peer pressure to make a purchase of the product they recommended even if I was just asking for a recommendation for future reference.
My Guilty Pleasure: Impulsive Consumption at Trader Joe's
One thing I have noticed
when shopping at Trader Joe’s is my impulsive consumption of the Cookie Butter
candy bar (Can you blame me?! If you haven’t tried it yet I highly recommend
this bar of pure deliciousness). The act can be classified as impulsive because
it is spontaneous and involves a short-term feeling of liberation (or in this
case satisfying my sweet tooth), diminished regard for any cost or consequences
associated with the act (similar to the Starbucks study discussed in class
about annual spending adding up, I justify that it is only $0.99 and also
ignore consequences of the additional calories I’m consuming), and also being
motivated by a need for immediate self-fulfillment and are highly involving
emotionally and associated with hedonic shopping value (as mentioned in my
previous blogs I place more hedonic value of the fun, exciting experience of
grocery shopping and would be classified as a more highly involved shopper)
(Babin/Harris 2014). Trader Joe's, like many other grocery stores, understands that point-of-purchase displays are an easy way to attract impulse purchases and it is no surprise that these candy bars are located right at the checkout lanes for susceptible shoppers like myself. Over time though, I have found this impulsive consumption
behavior turn into a re-occurring purchase, and therefore it may be shifting
from an impulsive buy to a habit.
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| An example of my impulsive consumption at Trader Joe's |
