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You want customers to combat their loneliness? Sell them experiences, not just things

Participants rated their feelings of similarity to someone else who had made the same purchase, on an ascending scale from 1 to 9. In several separate experiments, they consistently rated those feelings significantly higher for experiential purchases than for material ones: up to 1.51 points higher.

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Research by Amit Kumar, assistant professor of marketing and psychology at Texas McCombs, suggests one effective method for people to combat loneliness: spending money on experiences rather than material goods.

Kumar’s prior research has shown that paying to attend concerts, eat at restaurants, or travel the world tends to be far more satisfying to consumers than buying a new car or fancy clothes. This time, he and his co-researchers focused on a different consequence of experiential purchases: how they affect feelings of social connection.

“What this work suggests is that we might actually be able to build social capital from what we buy,” Kumar says. “That, in turn, could lead to more health and happiness.”

In seven varied experiments — with psychologists Thomas Mann of Harvard University and Thomas Gilovich of Cornell University — Kumar surveyed more than 1,400 participants about their feelings of social connection after making experiential and material purchases.

The experiments found that compared with material ones, experiential purchases:

Boost feelings of similarity. Participants rated their feelings of similarity to someone else who had made the same purchase, on an ascending scale from 1 to 9. In several separate experiments, they consistently rated those feelings significantly higher for experiential purchases than for material ones: up to 1.51 points higher. They also felt greater senses of connection and kinship.

“You feel a significantly stronger sense of connectedness when you find out that you just saw the same band in concert, than when you learn you have the same shoes as someone else,” Kumar says.

Are more tied to identity. One reason for stronger feelings of connection is that experiences are a bigger part of a person’s identity than material possessions. On a similar scale, participants rated at an average 7.21 their sense that experiential purchases constitute part of who they are. They rated material purchases only 5.92.

“All of our buying habits are, to some extent, part of who we are, and they can connect us to other people,” Kumar says. “But that’s much more likely to be true of experiences we buy than material items we buy.”

Are less tied to envy. Even when the other person consumes a similar but superior version of the same purchase, experiential purchases bring a greater sense of connection than material ones do.

As an example, Kumar cites two people who attend the same baseball game, with one sitting in the nosebleed section and the other in a private box. Despite that difference, the two people are likely to feel a stronger sense of kinship than when they notice they are wearing the same kind of shoes.

It might seem obvious that experiential purchases would boost social connection, since people usually attend concerts or travel for leisure in the company of others. But Kumar says they increase feelings of connectedness not just to friends, but to people in general.

In two experiments, participants felt a greater “sense of connection to humanity” after reflecting on experiential purchases than on material purchases, Kumar says. In contrast, thinking about material purchases left them “unusually disinclined” to pursue social connection in general.

While the team’s findings are most relevant to individual consumers and policymakers who are looking to boost health and happiness, Kumar says there are also interesting potential practical implications for businesses. One is that companies should consider highlighting experiential aspects of the material goods they’re selling.

“That would likely enhance consumers’ feelings of social connection and drive longer-term satisfaction,” he says. “That can be important for things like customer retention and brand loyalty.”

The Aptly Buried ‘I’ in Experience: Experimental Purchases Promote More Social Connection Than Material Purchases” is published in the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making.

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Women more likely to choose wine with feminine labels

The more strongly the participants identified with other women, a phenomenon called “in-group identification,” the greater this effect was. A feminine label also influenced their expectation that they would like the wine better.

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To appeal to the majority of consumers, winemakers may want to pay as much attention to what’s on the bottle as what’s in it.

A three-part experimental study led by Washington State University researchers found that women were more inclined to purchase wine that had labels with feminine gender cues. The more strongly the participants identified with other women, a phenomenon called “in-group identification,” the greater this effect was. A feminine label also influenced their expectation that they would like the wine better.

With women representing 59% of U.S. wine consumers, the male-dominated field of winemaking might want to pay attention to the perceptions of this understudied group, said Ruiying Cai, lead author of the paper in the International Journal of Hospitality Management.  

“When you look at the market segments, women are actually purchasing a lot of wine. They are a large group,” said Cai, an assistant professor with WSU’s Carson College of Business. “We found that feminine cues speak to women consumers. They have more favorable attitudes toward the label and the wine itself. They were also expecting their overall sensory experience to be better, and they were more likely to purchase the wine.”

Gender cues often rely on stereotypes, and in initial tests for this research, a group of 90 women rated wine labels as more masculine when they featured rugged animals like wolves and stags as well as portraits of men. They designated labels as feminine that had cute animals, flowers and female portraits. Labels with castles and bunches of grapes were seen as neutral.

In two online experiments, a total of 324 women were shown fictitious wines with labels designed with these gendered cues. The participants showed higher intention to buy wines with a feminine label, such as a woman holding flowers, as opposed to a wine with a masculine label, such as a bulldog in a spiked collar. When asked about the expected sensory experience, they rated their liking of every sensory aspect higher, including the color, taste, aroma and aftertaste.

The participant’s level of wine expertise moderated their taste expectations but surprisingly, not their purchase intentions.

“Whether they were knowledgeable or less knowledgeable about wine, when they saw those feminine cues, they had a higher intention to buy the wine. The gender cue influence was so strong, it trumped the effect of that knowledge,” said co-author Christina Chi, a professor at WSU’s Carson College of Business.

A third experiment with another set of 138 women involved a taste test—also with a surprising finding. Researchers gave bottles of the same red wine with one of the gendered labels. More women who tasted the feminine-labeled wine ranked it higher in fruit flavors such as red current and blueberry than those who tasted the same wine with a masculine-cued label—and despite the fact those flavors were not dominant components in that particular wine. Women connected more mineral flavors with the masculine-labelled wine.

However, the participants who tasted the feminine-labelled wine reported liking it less than the women who tasted the masculine-labelled wines. The authors said this could be a result of the incongruence between the expected flavor influenced by the feminine label and the actual taste of the wine sample, which had a medium body, tannin and alcohol level.

Few studies have focused on the perceptions of women wine consumers in a field where 82% of the winemakers are men. That lack of perspective is very apparent on wine aisles, said Chi, noting that many vintners seem to favor masculine imagery like stallions, bulls and roosters–and one brand even features a prisoner in a jail cell.

“When designing the labels, winemakers should involve more women in the process, and it’s highly advisable to pilot test the labels among consumers for gender cues,” she said.

In addition to Cai and Chi, co-authors on this study include recent WSU graduate Demi Deng now at Auburn University and Robert Harrington of WSU.

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The tourism industry’s path to success lies in ethical labor practices

“With customers becoming more socially conscious, it is both a moral obligation and a smart business move for the sector to tackle these deep-rooted issues before it’s too late.”

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Addressing poor working conditions and human rights violations in the tourism sector isn’t just ethical – it also makes good business sense, according to a report by researchers at the University of Surrey. 

Commissioned by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and IUF, the report examines the S in ESG (environmental, social, and governance) trends, risks, and opportunities in the travel and tourism industry, which employs 290 million people worldwide. Despite this reach, workers in the sector, especially the sector’s most vulnerable workers – women, migrants and those in undeclared roles – are at high risk of exploitation. 

Dr Anke Winchenbach, lead author from Surrey Business School, University of Surrey, said: “Sadly, the travel and tourism sector continues to be plagued by poor pay, unsafe working conditions, and, in some cases, modern slavery. Enforcement is often weak or absent, even where laws exist to protect workers. 

“With ESG reporting increasingly becoming mandatory, businesses and governments who ignore social risks will not only face legal compliance issues but also lose out on attracting talent and business and investment opportunities in the future.  

“With customers becoming more socially conscious, it is both a moral obligation and a smart business move for the sector to tackle these deep-rooted issues before it’s too late.” 

The report offers seven recommendations to help businesses, governments, investors, and unions create a more sustainable future for the industry: 

  • Set up partnerships that include different groups and have clear rules, laws, and ways to ensure they’re followed. 
  • Improve access to unions and trusted experts in labour and human rights. 
  • Carry out assessments to identify the most important labour and human rights issues. 
  • Create policies with clear goals to improve working conditions. 
  • Use reliable measurements, involve employees in gathering data, and be open about the results. 
  • Consider both the direct impacts and those in the supply chain. 
  • Share progress openly to build trust and accountability. 

The report is based on a comprehensive literature review and 29 in-depth interviews with industry leaders, global trade unions, and financial experts. The research team also analysed four key frameworks – European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), UN Tourism’s Statistical Framework, the Global Sustainable Tourism Council Criteria, and the World Benchmarking Alliance, to identify the most pressing risks and opportunities for improving labour and human rights in travel and tourism. 

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Buy your groceries online? Watch out for this food labeling gap

The absence of accessible food labeling has tangible consequences for public health.

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Picture this: You’re shopping online for this week’s groceries. You try to pick healthy options based on the information provided by the online retailer. You can tell that the products you’re choosing are organic, non-GMO, or Fair Trade Certified. But in many cases, you can’t find the nutrition facts, ingredient list, or even a list of allergens.

A new study of online grocery retailers shows this problem is pervasive, to the detriment of public health and safety in the US The study, led by researchers at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and published in Public Health Nutrition, shows a lack of present, accessible, and legible information about the food consumers buy, while marketing claims are still prominent. The absence of accessible food labeling has tangible consequences for public health, said Julia Sharib, first author on the study and manager of research and communications for the Food is Medicine Institute at the Friedman School.

“The government has clearly intended that you should be able to know certain things about your food,” said Sean Cash, Bergstrom Foundation Professor in Global Nutrition at the Friedman School and senior author on the study. “The way we’ve regulated that in the United States is to put that information on the packaging. But that hasn’t carried over to online spaces very well.”

A Lack of Information

Cash and researchers at the Friedman School and New York University (NYU) first identified the lack of accessible food labeling among online retailers in a 2022 pilot study of 10 food products across nine online grocery retailers. That study found that information required by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about food, such as nutrition facts, an ingredient list, and an allergen list were often absent, and were less present than marketing claims.

The lack of information accessible in online settings reveals a “major gap” in federal regulations, Cash said. While food manufacturers are required by the FDA to present certain information on food packaging, online grocery retailers aren’t required to reproduce that information on their websites. That means that consumers won’t necessarily be able to access information about calories, nutrition content, or allergens when buying their groceries online.

Since 2022, there were some reasons to think that retailers would step up their game. First, online grocery shopping is here to stay—recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) indicates that 20% of Americans buy their groceries online, while over 80% have done so in the past three years. The trend has been aided by a drop in online food prices relative to in-store shopping: Prices are now roughly comparable between in-store and online groceries, which hasn’t always been the case.

Second, online food retailers could have responded to the growing market by deciding to get out ahead of any regulatory action. “We thought there might be practical changes in what food retailers are doing,” Cash said.

There have been signs that the FDA is considering regulatory action, too. In 2023, the agency issued a request for information on food labeling in online grocery shopping, citing previous research from Cash and his colleagues as one basis of their request. “We, and others, have been pushing for change,” Cash said. But the agency has not yet taken regulatory action to close the gap.

The new study, with co-authors Jennifer Pomeranz, associate professor of public health policy and management at the NYU School of Global Public Health, and Dariush Mozaffarian, director of the Food is Medicine Institute and Jean Mayer Professor of Nutrition at the Friedman School, gives a more complete look at the issue and analyzes 60 food products across 10 different online grocery retailers. The food products were chosen to represent the typical range of food commonly sold at supermarkets, based on a formula used by the USDA for administering food assistance programs. The results show the trend has persisted: Each FDA-required label was present, accessible, and legible for just 35.1% of products.

Marketing claims and labels, though, were present for 83.7% of products. That’s what Cash finds unpalatable. “It’s far easier to find marketing that’s trying to sell you the food rather than the information that our society agrees should be there to tell you about your food,” he said.

“We saw many cases in which a nutrition facts label, for example, was only accessible after scrolling through a dozen marketing images, essentially forcing any consumers seeking that label to interact with marketing language,” Sharib said.

Making Shopping More Accessible

Studies show that population health is better when ingredient lists and nutrition facts are provided. When consumers can’t access that information, retailers “run the risk of perpetuating consumer’s incorrect understandings about the healthfulness of the foods they buy,” Sharib said.

Additionally, plenty of Americans follow specific diets meant to control certain health conditions and may be looking for foods with a specific nutrition content. “For example, if you’re worried about sodium intake because you have hypertension, food labeling is something that can be a very important part of your life,” Cash said. For people with specific allergies, a lack of food labeling can be dangerous, too.

The best way consumers can get the FDA-required information is to visit the websites of the food manufacturers themselves, Cash said. On those sites, nutrition information and ingredient lists are much more likely to be present and legible. Cash cautions that food labeling found in product reviews can be helpful, but may also be out of date or inaccurate.

And ultimately, the onus should be on regulators and the industry to provide important information to consumers, Cash said. “Putting the burden on consumers is not what we should be doing,” he said.

There are a few solutions: First, regulators or congress could pass new laws or issue new regulations to compel food retailers to make food labeling accessible. Second, the U.S. government could help online retailers to make food labeling accessible by providing a public database of nutrition, ingredient, and allergen information of packaged foods, Cash said.

“We simply cannot continue to let this sector grow without modern regulation,” Sharib said.

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