The Cake Looks Yummy on the Shelf up There: The Interactive Effect of Retail Shelf Position and Consumers’ Personal Sense of Power on Indulgent Choice

This paper advances our understanding of consumer responses to retail product displays by examining the interplay between the vertical shelf position of choice options and consumers’ personal sense of power in determining their preference for indulgent options. Six experiments show that when consumers choose from assortments placed on a low shelf position, requiring them to lower their heads, those higher (vs. lower) in personal power are more likely to choose an indulgent option over its prudent counterpart. In contrast, when choosing from assortments placed on a high shelf position, requiring consumers to raise their heads, those lower (vs. higher) in personal power are more likely to choose an indulgent option. This effect hinges on a mismatch (vs. match) between consumers’ personal sense of power and that triggered by the products’ retail shelf position, increasing affective discomfort and guiding consumers, thus, towards indulgent choices.