A Wren Says

You may have heard the joke before. So and so bought a Porsche to compensate for other things. But what does that really mean? It turns out that your biology really might make you go for those more expensive purchases. But maybe not in the way you’re thinking. Researchers conducted a series of studies to test how testosterone can make people (cough, cough men) more driven to make status signaling purchases. (See the source cited at the end to dive deeper into their work.)

1. The first study took place in a furniture store. There were two conditions. In the first a physically dominant male employee (picture an attractive male model) greeted customers at the front of the store. When they looked at the customers final receipt totals, those men who were greeted by the employee spent 131% more than the women. When the customers weren’t greeted, there was no difference in totals.
2. In the second study, male research participants merely imagined the physically dominant employee preferred larger more, visible logos.
3. And finally in the third study, researchers compared men based on their digit ratios. Essentially the closer in length a male’s index and ring finger are, the lower his digit ratio and the more likely he was to have higher levels of testosterone and other markers of physical dominance. In this study those who had higher digit ratios (less physically imposing themselves) were more likely to make larger, status signaling purchases.

The summary is that male customers were more likely to make larger purchases and to go after more obvious status signaling products because they were driven to assert status using things. Because their physical presence didn’t grant them the status they needed.

So what does this mean? Perhaps you should hire more attractive men to entice you male customers to buy more? Maybe, but more importantly, I would suggest that it means that you as a consumer should be aware of how something like this might affect you. Do you really want those things you have in your cart? Or is this just your way of trying to look better to other people? Take a breather and make sure that you aren’t letting your hormones get the best of you.

If you would like to read the study yourself, you can find the info here:

Otterbring, T., Ringler, C.,  Nancy J. Sirianni, N. J,  & Gustafsson, A. (2018). The Abercrombie & Fitch Effect: The impact of physical dominance on male customers’ status-signaling consumption. Journal of Marketing Research, Vol LV, 69-79. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1509/jmr.15.0247