How online retailing satisfy the needs of hedonic and utilitarian Essay

How online retailing satisfy the needs of hedonic and utilitarian customers - Essay Example According to standard economic theory, consumers are known for maximization of utility driven by cognitive values. However, emotional desires can at times direct functional motives in the process of choosing products. Goods are often chosen and consumed at times for purposes of pleasure hence making consumers achieve some instrumental purpose. Such are categorized as; luxuries and necessities, hedonic and utilitarian goods, affect-rich and affect-poor products. The major distinction used on goods is based on necessity and luxury items, where necessary items are considered essential for minimum standard of living. Conversely, luxurious items focus on providing condition of abundance, pleasure as well as comfort. Hedonic versus utilitarian goods Luxuries according to researchers are consumed primarily to satisfy hedonic pleasure contrary to necessities which are consumed for the purposes of providing utilitarian goals. Hedonic goods provide consumers with multisensory dimensions such a s fun, pleasure as well as excitement. On the other hand, utilitarian goods are considered instrumental making their purchase motivated by product’s functional aspects. These include products such as Kitchen appliances, personal computers and home security systems. Hedonic and utilitarian consumption are considered discretionary hence their differences based on degree and consumer’s perception. ... Purposes which an item serves, either for usage or consumption is central in determining whether the item is primarily hedonic or utilitarian. For instance purchasing a cell phone for emergency purposes qualifies it to be called utilitarian product, and is contrary when the same cell phone is purchased for pleasure of chatting with friends. Purchasing the cell phone for pleasure makes it a hedonic product. At the same time goods consumed for hedonic purposes are majorly inclined towards affecting the rich than those consumed for utilitarian purposes. The various distinctions have important implications on the way consumers make decisions based on particular context. The various distinctions as applied do not give any implications of good or bad, however consumer’s choice between the groups is majorly based on whether justification can be drawn from preference for items otherwise referred to as hedonic. The need for justification can either be increased or decreased depending o n response modes. There are various examples where evaluation on preferences gives reversible results depending on whether evaluation process takes separate or joint process. According to Okada (2005), customers frequently visiting restaurants preferred hedonic desert in situations where only single kind of desert was offered. However, in cases where there was variety, customers preferred more utilitarian dessert. Nature of choices made in such instances was based on the kind of difficulty encountered in justifying a hedonic option. Discretionary nature of various hedonic items increases chances of customers making a choice to purchase it. There is difficulty involved in making choices between utilitarian and hedonic goods since hedonic products appear more