A Behavioral Perspective on Hedonic and Utilitarian Choice

The doughnut or the celery stick … go to a party, or study for an exam…. take the apartment close to the office, or the one with the stunning view and accept the nightmare daily commute. It might seem a given that most of us base our consumer choices between more overtly pleasurable, hedonic options and more practical, utilitarian concerns. But most pioneering work in … [ Read more ]

Would Have, Could Have, Should Have: When Choosing Feels Like Losing

With all the choices consumers are given, it stands to reason that we should feel pleased with our decision s if we have given them careful thought. But often we feel a sense of loss for the options that got away. Professors Ziv Carmon, Klaus Wertenbroch, and Marcel Zeelenberg look into this phenomenon and discover that it might not just be our natural … [ Read more ]

Too Many Choices? Research Directions in Consumer Control and Empowerment

Today, consumers exert fuller control over their choices than ever before, a development heralded as greatly empowering for the consumer. But is it possible fro them to have too much control? INSEAD Professors Carmon, Chattopadhyay, Wertenbroch and colleagues pose this and other questions, and describe a set of research directions for understanding the consequences of increased consumer control and the factors that shape … [ Read more ]

To Pay or Not to Pay: Measuring Consumer Willingness to Pay in FMCG Markets

Marketers are naturally interested in how much consumers are willing to pay for their goods, and a number of techniques exist to help them do this. Professors Klaus Wertenbroch and Bernd Skiera examine some ways in which market researchers can establish the level of consumers’ Willingness To Pay (WTP) in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) markets.

Parfums Cacharel de L’Oréal: Decoding and Revitalizing a Classic Brand

Parfums Cacharel’s AnaisAnais and Loulou were once the number one and number two best-selling fragrances in Europe, but profits had slipped and the firm’s new director argued that the organization had lost sight of its brand identity. How could it carry out an effective self-assessment? Cacharel chose brand decoding over market research. Professor Pierre Chandon, Professor Klaus Wertenbroch and Nicholas Rowell ask you to determine … [ Read more ]

When to Say When: Self-Rationing, Self-Control, and Consumer Choice

With limited resources of money, goods, and time, we all have to make tough consumption choices. Big decisions such as buying a house or taking a holiday, usually have clear-cut constraints. But what about smaller scale decisions? When it comes to the little things, how do we know when to say when? Professor Klaus Wertenbroch explains.