Mapping Out Marketing

ENTRY #10     What role does intuition play in consumers’ decisions?

Rebecca Walker Reczek

Associate Professor of Marketing, Fisher College of Business, Ohio State University

As consumers, we have to make a lot of decisions, often when we do not have complete information. Research in consumer behavior shows that consumers often rely on their intuitions to infer or “guess” what the missing information might be. This can often be very functional, as it allows consumers to make quick, easy decisions. For example, consumers tend to assume that unhealthy foods are not tasty or that expensive foods are healthier, simply because they have come ...