How Marketers Can Leverage on the Power of Comparison
CUHK research using Chinese data illustrates that consumers prefer products that elicit competence when comparing to peers who are better off, and vice versa
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Consumers are highly social animals and what they purchase can often be influenced by their social needs. For example, when people want to appear to be richer than their friends are, they may choose to buy luxurious goods that symbolise wealth. This constant comparison between one’s own life and the lives of others, or “keeping up with the Joneses”, is known as social comparison. For companies, social comparison can be highly useful in stimulating consumption. Using data form China, a recent research study finds whether consumers choose to purchase products that make them appear to be more confident or friendly depends on how they compare themselves with others.
The study “To be Respected or Liked: The Influence of Social Comparisons on Consumer Preference for Competence- Versus Warmth-oriented Products” was co-written by Hao Shen, Professor of Marketing at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School, Prof. Xiaoying Zheng at Sun Yat-Sen University and Prof. Jing Xu at Peking University. Leaning on existing research on social comparison and consumers’ product choices, this research study explores how social comparison leads consumers to choose products that either exude confidence or convey friendliness.
People identify feelings and emotions with objects. Most of the things that people use or wear send out messages that reveal certain aspects of personality. For example, a fresh graduate would likely wear a business suit in job interviews to convey an image of confidence and competence to interviewers. However, this same person is unlikely to wear the same clothes when making friends at parties. Whether people want to appear confident or friendly can be determined by occasion. However, the study points out that whether people choose to be confident or friendly can be affected by how they compare themselves to other people.
“Social comparison can give people joy or bring them pain. On one hand, we want to show people that we are the best. But, on the other hand, we want people to like us and won’t find us intimidating,” Prof. Shen says. “Our need to appear either competent or friendly is constantly changing, depending on whether we feel we are better or worse off than others.”
Intertwining Needs