In a series of five studies, we examined the grocery spending of hundreds of shoppers around the United States, where three out of every four people affiliate with a religion.
After controlling for county characteristics, such as median age and household income, we found that for each 20% increase in the number of religious adherents in a county, annual grocery sales per store decreases, on average, by about $125,000.
Additionally, we examined individual-level grocery spending data from Point of Purchase Advertising International, which surveyed 2,400 grocery shoppers in 2011 and 2012 at 35 stores across 10 states. The results showed that shoppers living in more religious U.S. counties spent less money on groceries and also made fewer impulse purchases.
Testing this general finding in the lab, we had more than 800 participants engage in a hypothetical grocery shopping task. The results showed that with each moderate increase in religiosity, participants’ spending tendency decreases by 5%.
In another lab experiment, we used the same shopping task to examine how participants’ willingness to spend changes when they are reminded about God. This time, we asked them to imagine they saw a special issue of their favorite magazine just before they finished “shopping.” Those who had watched a video of a speaker talking about God’s omnipresence were willing to spend about 10% less on the magazine than those who watched an unrelated video.
Why might being told about God’s presence affect spending? To find out, we repeated the prior lab experiment, this time offering college students the opportunity to spend real money (provided by the experimenter) on a pack of candy bars at the end of the shopping task. Students who watched the video about God reported a higher level of frugality than those in the control group. Greater frugality in turn lowered students’ willingness to spend on the candy bars.
The effect of religiosity on consumer spending has implications for store promotion strategies. Getting a good deal, particularly on an impulse buy, is likely to alleviate shoppers’ heightened frugality.
Retailers may also allay religious shoppers’ concerns about being frugal by offering deals that demonstrate respect for their values, such as promising to donate a percentage of revenue from a particular product to a local charity.
A final note: While we focused on theistic, God-centered religion to test our hypothesis, people obviously practice many forms of spiritual engagement, from nontheistic religions to mindfulness meditation. No doubt these practices also influence consumption behavior.
(Didem Kurt is an assistant professor of marketing at the Questrom School of Business, Boston University.)
