Buying In - (Page 59) buying in 59 er shortcut: We’re buying not out of the simple anticipation of pleasure, but rather for some more rational-feeling reason that fits a personal narrative. As Zaltman writes, it doesn’t actually matter whether those persona stories are objectively true; what matters is that they’re consistent. We can recognize patterns, but we can also invent them. Here is an example of how rationale thinking might play out in the consumer mind. The Viking Range Corporation happens to be a frequently cited example of the sort of thing that satisfies the demanding new consumer. Its story has been told often: The company made available professional-quality stoves to everyday people (or at least to those who could afford them; they cost about $4,000) and built a $400 million business. If you’re curious, Viking’s products got a “very good” rating from Consumer Reports, but they weren’t named as the best buy, even in the high-end category. It hardly matters: Viking is the top-end range brand and could probably launch a T-shirt and apparel line if its owners wanted to. (Actually, after wrote that sentence I checked, and it turned out they were already selling $20 T-shirts and other apparel; the company also attracts Viking pilgrims—members of the Viking community?—to a special cooking demonstration center at its Greenwood, Mississippi, headquarters.) In their book Trading Up, about the “better-educated, more sophisticated,” and “more discerning” modern consumer, Michael J. Silverstein and Neil Fiske contend that buyers of Viking Range products are expressing their “Individual Style” as well as their interest in adventurous seeking of new experiences—presumably culinary ones, in this case. Then they add this observation: “Some 75 percent of Viking cooktops installed are never used.” Clearly, there’s some dissonance involved in
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