What Are You Embarrassed to Buy?

FALL 2018 | DIVIDENDS

What Are You Embarrassed to Buy?

By Carol Esmark Jones

Shopping online has surpassed brick-and-mortar purchases in certain product sectors. The increased opportunity to be more discreet in one’s purchases has been a relief for many. Buying antifungal cream or items for family planning can cause awkwardness in public. This is a reason websites devoted to the online purchasing of embarrassing products have become popular.

Depends.com even has a Q&A section devoted to discussing how someone can get over their embarrassment about buying protection. One user commented, “I’m glad I don’t mind wearing these one-tenth as much as I don’t like buying them.”

However, there are times when waiting for two-day shipping is not practical. If problems or discomfort occur, hemorrhoid ointment or Pepto-Bismol might be needed – stat. But how can stores make the shopping experience less embarrassing and the consumer more likely to make a purchase? My fellow researchers and I have been conducting studies to figure out just that.

In the case of embarrassing products specifically, shoppers already go to less-crowded stores and wait for an aisle to become clear before making their way to a selection. Products that are locked up or behind a counter get requested infrequently, and some shoppers will buy other products with the sole purpose of masking the embarrassing one. Occasionally, a shopper might even steal products to avoid the embarrassment of being seen buying them.

In addition to these tactics, I, alongside doctoral student Christian Barney and Assistant Professor of Marketing Dr. Adam Farmer, have found that blending into the background tends to be the best approach in packaging embarrassing products. 1 Products that stand out or are overtly flashy get left behind, as people tend to prefer those that are packaged in discreet ways.

Anonymous packaging means that the contents are not obvious to a bystander and that embarrassment can be alleviated by the perception that no one knows what the buyer is getting. Specifically, products that are packaged in cool colors (blue and green) are seen as more anonymous than those packaged in warm colors (red and orange). Blue is a positive color that tends to get overlooked in the presence of eye-catching red; even babies look at red longer than blue. 2 This suggests that in a store, other shoppers would be more drawn to stare at a red-packaged product in a buyer’s hand than to a calming and less noticeable blue. A box shape is also seen as less noticeable than a tube shape. A box-shaped product does not easily disclose the contents, as it could be anything packaged inside. However, a tube shape is less commonly used and typically contains some kind of ointment or paste – which does not usually sound appealing.

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The more anonymous a product’s packaging, the less embarrassed a shopper will be. Shoppers are embarrassed when they believe that others are making judgments about their purchases or that their purchases reveal too much information. For instance, plus-sized consumers face embarrassment when they have to shop for clothing in a separate section, signaling to others that they are different from the non-plus-sized shoppers. However, everyone loves a deal, and embarrassment can be more easily ignored when a good discount is offered via a coupon or bonus buy.

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Shoppers for embarrassing products like to hide, but many times the products are located in exposed areas near the pharmacy. Anonymous packaging is particularly important when products are displayed on an endcap in a store, where a shopper is more exposed than in an in-aisle location.

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Relating to being exposed, other research I’ve conducted – with Dr. Stephanie Noble of the University of Tennessee – has found that when employees get close to a shopper in a store, the shopper can feel more accepted in a shopping experience, regardless of embarrassment. 3 In fact, the more anxiety a shopper feels during a shopping trip, the more beneficial close proximity of an employee becomes. This feeling of acceptance can lead a shopper to purchase a product, particularly if the product is not expressive of who he or she is, as with make-up remover or soap. Yet a more expressive product, like nail polish, requires more time for browsing, and a nearby employee or other shopper might deter one from making a selection.

Shoppers tend to pick stores that match certain personality characteristics. As a result, stores are filled with people who have some sort of similarity. It is human nature to want to be accepted by peers, and one way to show that acceptance is through close proximity. Another way is through eye contact.

However, proximity or eye contact can have negative consequences if customers feel they are being watched. A project conducted with Dr. Stephanie Noble and Dr. Michael Breazeale showed that if shoppers believe they are being watched, they will feel a loss of privacy control that will cause them to attempt to leave an area without making a purchase. 4 This can be mitigated through the simple addition of a shopping basket. As mentioned earlier, shoppers like to mask their products. A shopping basket, cart or reusable bag can help people regain control over their privacy.

At the heart of all of this research is the idea that a shopper wants to be able to control his or her shopping experience and level of privacy, whether through product choice or personal space. Perhaps control over the environment is one reason online shopping has become so popular. A shopper can more easily predict a shopping experience if done online as opposed to in-store where other shoppers are included and are unpredictable. Stores can find ways to give some of that control back to a shopper through careful consideration of packaging; aisle height and width; availability of shopping carts, baskets or bags provided throughout the store (not just at the front) or appropriate employee training.

Another way in which stores might be able to give privacy and control back to the shopper is through vending machines. Vending machines have started to expand to new locations and new products. Appearing now more in malls and airports, vending machines stock make-up, personal hygiene goods, acne medication and even puffer vests. Feminine hygiene products have been readily available in bathroom vending machines for years. When privacy is important, shoppers might be more inclined to make a purchase from a vending machine than to risk being seen in the

DIVIDENDS | FALL 2018

FALL 2018 | DIVIDENDS

check-out lane. Stores can ensure products are locked up and safe from theft while giving shoppers more control over their shopping experiences. An added element of control is also offered by Kroger’s new “Scan, Bag, Go” process. Through this shopper experience, users can scan and bag products as they shop through the store then go to self-checkout with the items already totaled. While this technology was meant to compete with Amazon Go and other mobile payments, the process gives control back to the shopper, even if it is just about how items get packed in their bags.

Discovery of what makes for a more private shopping experience has many more avenues to be explored. The Marketing, Quantitative Analysis and Business Law Department has established a lab for conducting more physiologically based studies: the Market Innovation Lab and Observatory (MILO). MILO holds computer stations for eye tracking, facial recognition and experimental studies. Additionally, the lab has an electroencephalogram (EEG) monitor, galvanic skin response (GSR) sensor, heart rate monitor, electromyogram (EMG) and software to measure participants’ reactions to selected stimuli. A mobile eye tracker and eye tracking goggles allow for researchers to track eye movements in other locations, such as a retail store or hopefully a future retail lab. Through our work and the use of MILO, we are moving toward discerning ways in which privacy impacts the shopper most and how to give control back to the shopper, even when shopping in person.

1

Jones, C. L. E., Barney, C. & Farmer, A. (2018). Appreciating Anonymity: An Exploration of Embarrassing Products and the Power of Blending In. Journal of Retailing.

2

Jadva, V., Hines, M. & Golombok, S. (2010). Infants’ preferences for toys, colors and shapes: Sex differences and similarities. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 39(6), 1261-1273.

3

Esmark, C. L., & Noble, S. M. (2018). Retail space invaders: when employees’ invasion of customer space increases purchase intentions. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 46(3), 477-496.

4

Esmark, C. L., Noble, S. M. & Breazeale, M. J. (2017). I’ll Be Watching You: Shoppers’ Reactions to Perceptions of Being Watched by Employees. Journal of Retailing, 93(3), 336-349.

Carol Esmark Jones

Dr. Carol Esmark Jones is an Assistant Professor of Marketing in the College’s Department of Marketing, Quantitative Analysis and Business Law. She teaches Business Research for the MBA program and International Logistics for undergraduates. She is also currently the faculty advisor for the MSU student chapter of the American Marketing Association. Jones is a PhD graduate from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Her primary areas of research include in-store privacy, embarrassing products, loyalty programs and retailing. She has been studying in-store privacy and embarrassment for seven years. Her work has been published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Retailing, Harvard Business Review, the Journal of Business Research and the Journal of Operations Management. Prior to earning her doctoral degree, Jones worked in business administration for hospitals.

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