The Strong Power of Weak Anchors

Academic literature on the effect of anchors on consumer behavior lacks of studies on moderate or weak anchors, and of realistic experiments in which consumers are observed in a natural setting without time pressure or task assignment. After reviewing the literature, this paper presents three studies aimed at assessing if a weak anchor, i.e. a moderate inconsistency or violation in the scene of the assortment within a brick-and-mortar store, exerts an effect on browsing the store and on actual purchases. Our empirical context is given by bookshops and we manipulate blurbs on books to test our research questions. The results of the first study show that blurbs are weak anchors. The results of the second study (a field experiment) show that the manipulation affect browsing behavior within book stores. The results of the third study show a strong effect of weak anchors in the local area of the manipulation within the store and an overall weak effect on purchase patterns.