The phenomenon of non-consumption: analysis of the negative components of the choice procedure

Business can get better market performance, the better relationship it is able to establish with customers. Companies should concentrate on managing customer satisfaction, so that a continuous satisfaction leads to product, brand and store loyalty. The survey wants to describe the "non-consumers" attitudes, studying the components of customers non-choice ("non-consumer" are those who avoid particular brands or products, showing sometimes their negative feelings). For the study we assume that identifying the reasons behind consumers’ reluctance to buy some products is a fundamental tool for customer loyalty management. Then, survey focuses on private labels, organic and quality products, presuming that in these cases confidence takes a great importance when purchasing. In order to present the theoretical framework, the first part of the paper provides an overview of contributions on adverse events related to products trial and selection. Some aspects concern to traditional individual cognitive processes (attitude and relationship with the brand). Others come from innovative approaches and refer to relationships between individual and society; they focus on the phenomenon itself and its sociological and cultural implications (communication and critical consumption). For the survey, over 400 interview have been conducted in stores of a large retail company located in the city of Milan and its province. A testing phase helped on questionnaire predisposition, that finally has 4 sections. First one relates to socioeconomic aspect of the interviewees and the reasons of a brand dissatisfaction, investigating on Enterprise, Consumer and Product issues. Other sections focus on "non-consumers" familiarity and cognition of those private labels, organic and quality products they do not purchase. A first statistical analysis concerns to "non-consumers" perception on product categories analyzed. A regression analysis provides the identification of the events that prevent the development of a sense of confidence in the various types of products. Then, a Chi-square test helped to investigate the dependence between variables of perception and those related to "do not purchase" factors. Moreover, a hierarchical cluster analysis has been used to identify three groups of non-consumers for each type of product based on dislike factors. The analysis of "non-consumers" wants to show the importance of the knowledge of the negative component in purchasing phenomenon. It contributes to expand the studies on consumer welfare and demand evolution. In the same time it can be used by companies to manage customer satisfaction, because it allows to identify in advance the reason of aversion factors in order to prepare the necessary countermeasures.

Keywords: Non-consumer; brand, store and product loyalty, consumer behaviour

Jel codes: M31, Q13

Anna Gaviglio, Alberto Pirani, Il fenomeno del non consumo: analisi delle componenti negative del procedimento di scelta in "ECONOMIA AGRO-ALIMENTARE" 2/2010, pp 101-122, DOI: 10.3280/ECAG2010-002007