Consumption Junction

ACSI Retail Report 2014 examines customer satisfaction for top retailers, both traditional and online, including popular department or discount store chains; dollar stores and wholesale warehouse clubs; office suppliers and home improvement; electronics, clothing, book retailers; supermarkets, drug stores, and Web retailers.

Most eight-year-olds are familiar with cooties: an imaginary infectious disease spread through proximity to children of the opposite sex. We eventually outgrow the silly idea.

But when it comes to the world of consumer products, fear of associating with the opposite sex, at least for some, never really goes away.

“You would be amazed to find how often we mislead ourselves, regardless of how smart we think we are, when we attempt to explain why we are behaving the way we do,” Dichter observed in 1960, in his book “The Strategy of Desire”. He held that marketplace decisions are driven by emotions and subconscious whims and fears, and often have little to do with the product itself. Trained as a psychoanalyst, Dichter saw human motivation as an “iceberg”, with two-thirds hidden from view, even to the decision-maker. “What people actually spend their money on in most instances are psychological differences, illusory brand images,” he explained.

At a time when national companies were aggressively jockeying for position among Americans—a suddenly cash-happy and acquisitive bunch—Dichter promised a way to influence consumers' brains. If shopping was an emotional minefield, then strategic marketing could be a gold mine for companies.

Between the late 1930s and 1960s Dichter became famous for transforming the fates of businesses such as Procter & Gamble, Exxon, Chrysler, General Mills and DuPont. His insight changed the way hundreds of products were sold, from cars to cake mix. He pioneered research techniques such as the focus group, understood the power of word-of-mouth persuasion and earned startling fees for his theories. By the late 1950s his global business reached an annual turnover of $1m ($8m today), and he enjoyed a reputation as the Freud of the supermarket age.

Being a small-business owner has its ups and downs. When times get tough, try these 6 tactics to pick yourself back up.

A July 2014 study indicates that reading printed circulars at home is the most popular way US grocery shoppers save cash. Half of all respondents did so before their last supermarket trip. Comparably, only 4.0% of shoppers found a promotion on social media.

eBay sellers know more than anyone the kind of rough year eBay has been having, and third-quarter financials released on Wednesday revealed slow growth in eBay's Marketplaces business. eBay auctions fell 7% globally in the third quarter compared to the same period last year, while fixed-price listings (which make up 79% of total sales) grew 15%.