Consumer Ambivalence in Luxury Shopping Experience

Consumer research on emotions confirms their pivotal role in consumer decision. This is the reason why marketing practitioners have long made attempts to target consumers’ emotions (Garg, Wansink, & Inman, 2007). Traditionally, people look for positive emotions and avoid negative emotions (Higgins, 1997). However literature shows that a coexistence of emotions of opposite valence is present in people’s experience (Larsen & Green, 2013). Research on emotion co-occurrence has examined cases where people look voluntary for positive and negative emotions (such as fear and happiness) during the same consumption experience and integrate them into overall evaluative judgments (Cohen, 2007; Larsen, McGraw, & Cacioppo, 2001; Priester, Petty, & Park, 2007; Williams & Aaker, 2002). This consumer ambivalence evidence is particularly relevant in hedonic experiences (Otnes, Lowrey, & Shrum, 1997), where emotions play a central role for consumers’ outcomes (e.g. satisfaction, loyalty, shopping behavior and consumption). Indeed, luxury embodies characteristics such as exclusivity and conspicuousness (Vigneron & Johnson, 2004) that can evoke contextually both positive and negative emotions. Given the paucity of consumer ambivalence literature in hedonic retail experience, luxury stores (boutiques) represent a fitting example of hedonic retail environments to be investigated. Through a multiple qualitative method approach, including Shopping With Consumer technique and Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique, luxury shoppers emotions, both positive and negative, were investigated to better understand consumer prepurchase, purchase and postpurchase attitudes, behaviors and consumer outcomes in the hedonic retail experience. Three types of consumer ambivalence emerge: Awe & Self-esteem, Uncertainty & Comfort and Guilt Ridden & Pleasure. Negative emotions active or reinforce the positive ones leading to positive consumer outcomes and specific shopping behaviors. A new perspective of consumer ambivalence is proposed through three propositions.