Consumer Mourning and Coping With the Loss of Strategic Rituals: the Case of Marshall Field & Co.

By exploring consumers’ reactions to the rebranding of Marshall Field & Co. as Macy’s, this paper explores consumer mourning and coping with the loss of a cherished retail store, one responsible for creating or co-creating strategic rituals (those designed to enhance customer relationships and profit) throughout consumers’ lives. By conducting depth interviews with fifteen consumers, we explore three research questions: 1) What cherished rituals did Field’s create or co-create with consumers? 2) What benefits of these rituals do consumers miss the most? 3) How do consumers cope with the loss of these strategic rituals?



Citation:

Cele Otnes, Jenny Yang, Behice Ece Ilhan, and Nicole Tami (2009) ,"Consumer Mourning and Coping With the Loss of Strategic Rituals: the Case of Marshall Field & Co.", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 36, eds. Ann L. McGill and Sharon Shavitt, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 688-688.

Authors

Cele Otnes, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Jenny Yang, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Behice Ece Ilhan, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Nicole Tami, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA



Volume

NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 36 | 2009



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