Ricochet Shoppers Using Context

After a North American consumer purchases a product because it’s colored black, they become more interested in donating to a cause. After a North American consumer purchases a product because it’s colored white, they’re less open to helping others. The color need not be the primary reason they purchased the product, but for my statements to be true, it is necessary that the consumer has taken careful note of the white or black.
     The explanation for this strange effect, found in studies by researchers at Purdue University and Grenoble École de Management, is in moral balance theory. People in Western cultures generally associate white with moral purity and black with the opposite. The researchers note that children in the Western world have been shown to believe white boxes contain good objects and black boxes, bad ones. Because we often aim for balance in our moral behavior, purchase of a white product grants license to subsequently do something less moral. Those who purchase a black product feel a need to do something more moral.
     The broader implication for retailers is in using the context of a consumer decision to bounce them into a compensating direction. Researchers at Harvard University and Duke University were interested in whether shoppers who brought their own bags purchased a higher number of organic versions of items. The answer from receipts was that yes, the shoppers were. More specifically, on those trips when the consumer brought their own bags, they were more likely to buy organic than on those trips when that same consumer did not bring bags. Green actions begot green actions.
     But there’s more to the story: When shoppers bought organic, they were more likely to add candy bars and cookies.
     This sort of thing is true for all kinds of merchandise beyond food items and for ecommerce as well as store purchases. A shopper who makes a good, sound purchase decision is ready to buy an item that's mostly for fun. And when your customer is looking around for fun items, you'll want to be sure you make those items easy to find.
     The best way to do that is to have fun items displayed throughout the store and the website. More than this, whenever a customer makes the decision to buy a highly sensible item, offer them a follow-on sale of a fun item in the same or a related product category.

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