The Prospection and Retrospection of Experiential Purchases as More Meaningful Memories: Social and Affective Implications

Consumers can spend their money on material or experiential purchases with important affective and social implications. Consequently, the present study had two objectives, to examine the influence of the type of purchase, experiential versus material, on the construction of meaningful memories prospectively and retrospectively; and to examine the positive influence of this interpretation in terms of anticipated social connection and nostalgia and reliving intentions. Four experiments were conducted. The results of study 1 showed that experiential purchases were interpreted prospectively as more meaningful memories, and were positively related to social connectedness. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that experiential purchases and special experiential purchases were interpreted as more meaningful memories and were positively related to nostalgia. The last experiment showed that special purchases were interpreted as more meaningful memories, leading to greater nostalgia.