Consumer informedness and diverse consumer purchasing behaviors: traditional mass-market, trading down, and trading out into the long tail

ABSTRACT

Anderson describes "The Long Tail" in online retailing and Silverstein and Fiske describe "Trading Up" to luxury goods. A more complete explanation of consumer behavior is based on informedness and pursuit of products that truly meet individual wants and needs, cravings and longings. As truly informed consumers are increasingly able to find exactly what they want and willing to pay premium prices to obtain products with perfect fit for them, companies have responded with new product portfolio strategies and new pricing strategies, based on the concepts of resonance marketing and hyperdifferentiation. This is consumers' pursuit of products that better for them. It is not trading up, but trading out. Consumers use information in different ways in different shopping experiences. In product categories where consumers exhibit extreme differences in preferences and where they also seek delight, such as the selection of new craft beers, the number of delighted reviewers and the strength of positive reviews are the best predictors of success. In contrast, when consumers seek to avoid disaster in an online shopping experience, such as when consumers shop for an unfamiliar discount hotel online, it is the absence of truly negative reviews that offers the best predictor of online sales success.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.4 COMPUTERS AND SOCIETY
      K.4.4 Electronic Commerce

General Terms:
Design, Economics, Human Factors, Management