Couple Wise Consumer Decisions

Men in supportive marriages are more likely to undergo a recommended colonoscopy—that diagnostic procedure in which you consent to have a long tube with a video camera and set of clippers run up your rear end.
     The researchers at University of Chicago and Brigham and Women's Hospital used sophisticated statistical tools to tease out relationships between marital bliss and compliance with the medical recommendation. Married men were more likely to comply than were unmarried men. If the wife was happy with the relationship, the probability climbed further. When the wife had a higher education, there was higher compliance. If the wife had previously agreed to undergo a colonoscopy for herself, the husband was more likely to accept having one.
     But it didn’t work completely the other way around. Marriage happiness had no significant effect on the probability the wife would get a colonoscopy. This could be because women are wiser about preventive medical care than men regardless of how others around them are behaving. It’s an example of how husbands and wives make consumer decisions differently.
     Researchers at University of Chicago and Belgium’s Catholic Universities of Louvain and Mons found that the relative dominance of husband and wife in purchases depends on the type of product or service being considered. These overall patterns also differ by cultural background. Mexican-American couples are more likely than others to have husband-dominant patterns, while African-Americans are more likely to have wife-dominant patterns.
     Newly married couples may have already set up housekeeping and therefore made many shopping decisions together already. Even if not, the man and the woman are each subconsciously influenced by how their respective mom and dad handled the decisions.
     Couples often aim to balance their shopping tendencies. Researchers at University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, and Northwestern University say that tightwads—who recognize they should be more willing to spend money—tend to marry spendthrifts—who recognize they should be more cautious in spending. Rather than viewing such couples as having opposite attitudes, view them as having complementary approaches. They married each other to help moderate the extremes. When making a sale, give them, and all other couples, sufficient opportunity to work their magic with each other.

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

Click below for more: 
Start Your Shoppers Feeling Yes
Build on Couples’ Decision-Making Rituals
Note Influence in Nontraditional Couples