Retail Therapy & Marketing

In class this week, we talked a lot about emotion and how it tends to be a primary decision "driver". According to the attitude theory, consumers behave based on their attitudes. In a marketing sense, this would mean that consumers make purchase decisions based on their attitude toward a product or brand. As a consumer who tends to shop frequently, I find this theory to hold true for many of my purchase decisions. But, the more I think about it, I think that my mood while making purchase decisions plays an even bigger factor than simply just my attitude towards the brand/product.

Have you ever heard of retail therapy? They call it that for a reason. As a female who gets excited and giddy over new purchases I make at the mall, I'd be lying if I said I've never gone shopping simply to better my mood. There have been multiple occasions, even in the last few months where I've gone shopping while in a horrible mood, and ended up extremely satisfied with my purchases. Doesn't this go against the attitude theory we discussed in class? Simply saying that favorable attitudes lead to purchases seems pretty accurate to me, but I think there are numerous other external factors that affect a consumers purchase decision besides just their attitude. 

With all of this said, a major question comes to my mind: if there are so many factors that play a role in a consumer's shopping experience and decision-making process, how can marketers possibly keep track of it all? How can marketers successfully find ways to reach their target market and influence their attitudes, if there are a number of other factors that play a huge role in a person's attitudes. Every consumer has their own set of perceptions and attitudes based on personal experiences. So, how can marketers fully understand what makes us think the way we do? 

With all of this said, I don't think marketers can 100% get inside a consumer's mind and understand how it works. Yes, I think theories, like the attitude theory generally hold true. It is easy for a marketer to predict that if a person has a positive attitude toward Nike, and needs new sneakers they'll buy some from Nike. But, how can they grasp the idea that I went out and bought a pair of Nike sneakers one day simply because I was in a bad mood and needed some retail therapy?  I don't think they can. 

       

**Photo was found on google images.