Appeal to Nostalgia

Nostalgia appeals loosen the consumer’s purse strings.
     Researchers at University of Minnesota, University of Southampton, and Grenoble École de Management asked each study participant in one group, selected at random, to think about their past. The remaining study participants were asked to think about recent or future events. Then each study participant was asked how much they’d pay for a set of items which were described by the researchers. The group who’d been asked to think about their personal past came in with higher bids overall.
     In additional studies by the researchers, activating nostalgic thoughts resulted in a higher willingness to spend money to stop an annoying noise and to share rewards with others.
     Consumer behavior experts from Arizona State University and Erasmus University in the Netherlands conclude that when adults are feeling lonely, they become more interested in nostalgia.
      Study participants played a ball-tossing game on a computer. The game was rigged so that some participants were told they’d been eliminated. Dropped participants were more likely to say that belonging is important to them. And they also made more consumer choices which reminded them of their personal history. This included preferences in cars, food brands, TV shows, movies, and shower soap.
     “New and improved” has been a mainstay of retail marketing for forever. And “Been there, done that” easily makes top ten lists of trite phrases. Still, researchers at American University, University of Arizona, and Northwestern University mused on why people will sometimes read the same book a number of times, watch the same movie repeatedly, or go back to the same place and do the same things again.
     Analyzing in-depth interviews with consumers in the U.S. and in New Zealand, the researchers identified a set of explanations:

• People refresh their memories for favorite experiences 
• They seek out details they missed before due to the limitations of human attention 
• They want to give the item another chance for a positive impression because of others being surprised at their report of a prior negative experience 
• They’ll enjoy being there while friends encounter the movie or destination for the first time 

     Novelty has a major appeal for shoppers, and so does nostalgia. The nostalgia appeal in recent shopping seasons may be due to feelings of social uncertainty from the economic downturn. The appeal of nostalgia may wax and wane, but it’s always in vogue as at least a niche market.

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers

Click below for more: 
Prolong Your Reputation as Cutting Edge 
Enable Shoppers to Revisit the Already Done 
Isolate Loneliness & Materialism 
Record Pleasures of Limited-Supply Nostalgia 
Keep Up-to-Date with Nostalgia Appeals