Consumers' memory in supermarkets

Abstract

In literature it is possible to find several studies of marketing and consumer behavior about factors that influence consumers’ choices in the act of consumption (Harris, 1958; McClure and West, 1969; McEnally and Hawes, 1984; Yalch and Spangenberg, 2000). However, only a few of that literature is related to supermarkets. The aim of this thesis is to extend the literature on consumer’s memory in a supermarket context, providing a better understanding on why consumers continue to not use shopping lists even though the presence of forgetfulness is present. With that purpose, was analyzed how some influential factors act, such as the use of external memory aids, on consumers’ memory performance and memory prediction, while shopping in supermarkets. In order to collect data to determine whether our hypotheses are factual or not, one pre-test and two studies were conducted. Findings confirmed our expected correlations between product’s familiarity (Familiar vs. Unfamiliar) and how easily we remember it (Recall vs. Recognition). The reasons why consumers persist in not using shopping lists were also discovered. These findings contribute with further insights on how consumers’ memory work and what are the factors that influence consumers’ memory in a supermarket experience, with the particular purpose of trying to comprehend why the majority of consumers have already forgotten to buy a planned purchase and still persist in not to use shopping lists.

Date of Award	2014
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Daniel Fernandes (Supervisor)