"Totally consistent with our Tier 3 trust strategy." - Home Away from Home: What Makes Consumers Support Their Favorite Businesses?

 Journals Division - University of Chicago Press

For Immediate Release: October 15, 2013
Contact: Mary-Ann Twist / 608-255-5582 / JCR@bus.wisc.edu


When a shop is authentic and the workers are friendly, it can feel like a second home
for consumers, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.

“People often feel strongly attached to particular places. Such places typically
include their homes, but can also include commercial places such as stores and
restaurants,” write authors Alain Debenedetti (Université Paris Est – IRG), Harmen
Oppewal (Monash University), and Zeynep Arsel (Concordia University). “How do
people develop and experience place attachment when the place concerns a
commercial setting, where they are just customers, and the place is owned or
controlled by someone else?”

Consumers form strong emotional bonds with locations when they experience
familiarity. Consumers also value authenticity and personal relationships. “It also
helps if it is a place where one can feel safe and secure, protected from not only
physical intrusions but also from the aggressions of market forces posed by intrusive
staff or aggressive promotional tactics,” the authors write. “The place does not have
to be an extravagant flagship store. People can build attachments with quite ordinary
and even mundane places, as long as the place meets the above criteria of familiarity,
authenticity and security.”

The authors gained these insights from interviews with a sample of French
consumers who talked about their experiences with the places they most treasure:
cafés, restaurants, department stores, concert halls, and libraries. The final phase of
the study focused on patrons of a particular French wine bar.

The authors also found that once consumers bond with a commercial space, they are
willing to make efforts or sacrifices to support it. Satisfied customers may pay higher
tips, volunteer to help the business, and serve as ambassadors, linking other
consumers to the business.

“Consumers treat their special place as a treasured gift and in return want to support
the establishment beyond what is expected of them as customers,” the authors
conclude.

Alain Debenedetti, Harmen Oppewal, and Zeynep Arsel. “Place Attachment in
Commercial Settings: A Gift Economy Perspective.” Journal of Consumer Research:
February 2014. For more information, contact Zeynep Arsel
(zarsel@jmsb.concordia.ca) or visit http://ejcr.org/.