Avoid following individual shopping time habit to promote new products: Evidence from a randomized field experiment

Prior research suggests that marketing activities should follow consumers' shopping time habits, as it has been proven that consumers obtain higher satisfaction and exhibit greater revisit behavior when the timing of shopping follows their habits. This article calls into question the applicability of this strategy to the recommendation of new products. Through a randomized field experiment conducted in collaboration with a renowned fast-moving consumer goods company in China, we find that consumers targeted with recommendations following their shopping time habits exhibited heightened passive resistance, which is more pronounced among those with greater experience purchasing similar products. This study ventures further into the exploration of how the mechanisms of information acquisition and processing, inherent in shopping habits, exert influence on consumer passive resistance to innovation. The findings offer valuable insights for marketers leveraging shopping time habits in their activities or seeking to improve the success of a new product.