Chain Stores
It is hard to run a small business. There are lots of decisions you have to make from scratch. One bad year or a downturn in the local economy can wipe out years of hard work, not to mention a lifetime of savings. Big companies have an advantage, bad sales at one location can be absorbed as long as sales remain strong in other locations.
But there is an element of psychology in the success of chain stores as well.
A paper started with an interesting hypothesis. Americans prize individuality, but they also prize mobility. We cherish the opportunity to move to a new city or a new state to advance our careers or just to get a change of scenery.
The researchers suggested that when people move frequently, they may end up attaching themselves to chain stores. The anxiety of moving may lead people to prefer familiar stores over the unique businesses they would have encountered.
Researchers asked a broad question using census and corporate data. If people tend to prefer chain stores more strongly when they move around a lot, then states in which people move frequently should have more chain stores than states where people move less often.
They found that the amount of mobility really did predict the number of outlets of chains in a given state.
You can't experimentally assign people to move a lot or to stay in one place.
Researchers induced a feeling of mobility to look at its influence on preference for familiar things.
Participants were exposed to a number of unfamiliar faces five times. Research on mere exposure has found that people quickly come to prefer things they have been exposed to compared to those that are unfamiliar. After seeing these faces, participants rated how much they liked a series of faces. Some were ones they had seen before, while others were new faces they had not seen before.
The independent lifestyle that we often lead in the United States creates great freedom. But that freedom comes at the cost of our connection to community. When we move from place to place, we disrupt our connections to family and friends. We also force ourselves to adapt to a new house and a new environment.
In those times, we tend to attach ourselves to things that are familiar as an anchor. Many things can substitute an anchor. One of them is the places we shop. Shopping at a familiar chain store after moving provides a sense of balance to counteract the chaotic feelings we might have as we try to re-root ourselves in a new home.
Psychology Today
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