Jae Ah Ho's Blog

“Anybody who is honest about consumer behavior knows that often what we buy is not simply some thing but some idea that is embodied by that thing. “Conceptual consumption” is the name given to this practice in a recent paper with that title by Dan Ariely, a professor of behavioral economics at Duke University (and author of the book “Predictably Irrational”), and Michael Norton, an assistant professor of marketing at the Harvard Business School, in The Annual Review of Psychology. Their notion has various subsets, one of which is the consumption of goals. And that may be relevant to the purchase of, say, a $128 jacket or a $48 T-shirt that is “yoga-inspired.” With connotations of healthful living, mindfulness and self-improvement, yoga is a pretty appealing concept.”

(Walker; http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/magazine/26FOB-consumed-t.html?scp=1&sq=lululemon&st=cse)

 When I read this article, this paragraph was very intriguing. Seventh Generation is also a good example showing conceptual consumption, and its image of environment-friendly is very appealing to customers. By purchasing Seventh Generation’s products instead of other ordinary goods, consumers are also buying the message that they are taking care of our environment. Another good example could be Harley-Davidson. Many motorcycle riders are willing to save money to ride a Harley one day in their future. The ideas of freedom, manliness, and adventure coming from Harley-Davidson are not compatible with those you can get from other brand goods. We can also find this conceptual consumption from Apple’s success. Of course the quality of its products is outstanding; however, young, tech savvy, and modern images that Apple created has been an important role for its success. Nowadays, for companies, preceding the trend and projecting any specific image which customers are willing to link with is key marketing strategy in that it is not only related to the increase of profit but also the strong relationship with customers and their satisfaction.

  http://gosublogger.com/2009/08/seventh-generation-coupon-save-more-with-seventh-generation-coupons/