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“Distracted Customers’ Wait Times Fly,” from Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. Thanks to Shuoyang Zhang for this suggestion.  Click through for a listen.

A study in the journal NeuroQuantology found that people forced to wait, for example in line, experienced the time spent as being far less if they were amused and distracted. Cynthia Graber reports.

This is a new podcast I will have to add to my playlist.  I already listen to the 60-Second Pscyh for psychology research.  If you are a podcast listener and science lover — check these out.

Campbell’s Soup engaged in some unusual consumer research to make decisions about soup packaging — and consumer will see the results this fall.  The video below and article, “The Emotional Quotient of Soup Shopping,” The Wall Street Journal, February 17, 2010 – subscription may be required, if you do not have a subscription, try entering the title of the article in a search bar for the back door to the article).

For two years, Campbell researchers studied microscopic changes in skin moisture, heart rate and other biometrics to see how consumers react to everything from pictures of bowls of soup to logo design.

This “neuromarketing” approach is a fresh attempt among consumer-good companies to understand how consumers really respond to marketing and advertising.

This video example might supplement a class session on packaging or marketing research.

This story “In Search Of The Elusive Male Shopper” was on NPR’s Weekend Edition this morning (February 13, 2010).  If you go to the site, you can read the text of the story or listen to it.  While there is an obvious Valentine’s Day tie-in, the story describes differences in how men and women shop.  A number of great examples that can be used to talk about segmentation or consumer behavior.

I just listened to an interesting report on American Public Media’s (radio) Marketplace Money show – “Warehouse clubs scream ‘bargain!‘” Click through to listen – or simply read the text of this story. It highlights how warehouse clubs understanding of consumer behavior drives their marketing strategy.  Would probably provide a good example in discussing retail or consumer behavior.

Another example from China — this one looks at retailing there.  Just published in BusinessWeek, “China: Where Retail Dinosaurs Are Thriving” (January 21, 2010).   This might be useful when talking about consumer behavior in other countries, in retail, or international.

This is our 100th post here at “Teach the 4 Ps.”  We were not sure how this would go — but we seem to be building a following and have received good feedback.  So we are going to keep going for our second 100 posts.

I heard another great story on Marketplace radio.  The story, titled “What prices really mean,” (links to a listen and transcript) is an interview with William Poundstone, author of the recently published “The Myth of Fair Value.”  The author describes psychological research in the area of pricing — and how marketers manipulate perceptions of price and value.  It sounds interesting — I have the book on order, I will let you know what I think.

UPDATE, January 25, 2010.  BusinessWeek favorably reviewed the book as well, “Why the Price is Rarely Right” (January 21, 2010).

People have long predicted that online shopping and home delivery of groceries would change the market.  Another wrong prediction (see Webvan go down in flames) — and of course they said no one could sell shoes online (tell that to Zappos).  Anyway, I digress.  This January 14, 2010, Wall Street Journal article, “In France, a Drive-Up Grocery Takes Off” (subscription may be required - for “back door” see here) describes a French retailers hybrid version — online order then pick-up.  Would this model work in other cultures?  Or is it uniquely French?

Looking for a nice example of differences in consumer behavior across cultures?  I learned something today about consumer behavior in China.  Apparently many Chinese consumers value the bargain — maybe not so culturally unique.  But they go about it in an interesting way.  Many Chinese shoppers go on a group bargain hunt — realizing that they might get a volume discount.  I heard about this on the American Public Radio show, Marketplace (January 22, 2010) “China’s next export:  group shopping?“  Click through to read or listen to the story — I have embedded a video of group shopping below. [Note:  click through to the story to see the video, at first my embedding the video worked, but now it does not.]  I know we have at least a few Chinese readers. Can you add a comment with more insight on this practice?

We have posted earlier on Hyundai’s award-winning marketing program from 2009.  For an update, see this NPR story “A Year After Program, Under 100 Hyundais Returned.”

This radio story, from All Things Considered on National Public Radio, examines extended warranties. While many consumer experts advise against buying these warranties, they continue to sell very well. NPR’s story “Peace Of Mind Drives Buying Of Extended Warranties,” includes an interview with Dan Ariely (marketing professor at Duke University, author of the book Predictably Irrational and blog of the same name) who explains the psychology behind this less than rational purchase  We discuss warranties in the first of our two product chapters.  The story also deals with consumer behavior and perceptions of risk.

Update 1-11-10:  I found another article on this topic, see “Don’t Worry, Be Happy:  The Warranty Psychology,” from the New York Times, November 6, 2009.