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Should Luxury be described in a concrete language? The influence of online product description on purchase behaviors in contexts of psychological distance, Monaco Symposium on Luxury, Monaco

Author

Listed:
  • Marie-Cécile Cervellon
  • Marie-Catherine Mars

    (EDHEC - EDHEC Business School - UCL - Université catholique de Lille)

  • Virginie de Barnier

Abstract

This research uses the Construal Level Theory framework (Trope & Liberman, 2010) to understand the influence of product description on purchasing luxury vs. accessible products online. In a field experiment, French participants (n = 368) were recruited online, three weeks or three days before Christmas 2014, as they were shopping for a gift. Results show that the nearer the goal (Christmas), the nearer the gift recipient (similar other), and the more distal the product category (luxury), the higher the intention to purchase the product based on detailed product description. In a second experiment, students (n= 353) had to make a choice between two hotels described similarly side-by-side in concrete or abstract language. The chances to choose the concrete description are enhanced the more distal the product category (luxury), the more likely the trip and the more experienced the respondent with booking online luxury hotels. Although luxury brands might enhance brand desirability using allusive or abstract description, our results indicate that detailed and concrete product descriptions might be a stronger factor of sales conversion online.

Suggested Citation

  • Marie-Cécile Cervellon & Marie-Catherine Mars & Virginie de Barnier, 2016. "Should Luxury be described in a concrete language? The influence of online product description on purchase behaviors in contexts of psychological distance, Monaco Symposium on Luxury, Monaco," Post-Print halshs-03899624, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-03899624
    as

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