As shoppers, what factors influence our decision to purchase an object or service? Why do we chose one product over another? How do we attribute value as part of the shopping experience? The theme of 'serving' the customer and customer satisfaction is central to every formulation of the marketing concept, yet few books attenpt to define and analyse exactly what it is that consumers want. In this provocative collection of essays, Morris Holbrook brings together a team of the top US and European scholars to discuss an issue of great importance to the study of marketing and consumer behaviour. This ground-breaking, interdisciplinary book provides an innovative framework for the study of consumer value which is used to critically examine the nature and type of value that consumers derive from the consumption experience - effiency, excellence, status, esteem, play, aesthetics, ethics, spirituality. Guaranteed to provoke debate and controversy, this is a courageous, individualistic and idiosyncratic book which should appeal to students of marketing, consumer behaviour, cultural studies and consumption studies.
Author(s): M. Holbrook
Edition: 1
Year: 1999
Language: English
Pages: 224
Preliminaries......Page 1
Contents......Page 8
List of contributors......Page 11
Preface......Page 14
Introduction to consumer value......Page 18
1 The value of time in the context of waiting and delays......Page 46
2 Value as excellence in the consumption experience......Page 60
3 The value of status and the status of value......Page 80
4 Possessions materialism and other directedness in the expression of self......Page 102
5 The dangers and opportunities of playful consumption......Page 122
6 Aesthetic value beauty in art and fashion......Page 143
7 Ethics and the Typology of Consumer Value......Page 164
8 Devaluing value......Page 176
Conclusions......Page 200
Index......Page 216
