Cat and dog ownership can provoke consumers into shopping more and spending more money

Retail therapy can come from pet companionship wellbeing. 

Retail therapy can come from human wellbeing gained through cat and/or dog companionship. - MikeB interpretation of the study

The finding as stated in the title to this article, comes from a Japanese study. The basic process, as I understand it, is that when you live with a pet, a companion animal, it enhances your life and so you feel better and when you feel better it can induce the desire to spend money in the form of retail therapy which makes you feel better as well. 

It seems to me that this is a triggering process. When you feel better because of your companion animal's presence, you seek more pleasure. And you achieve that by buying something in a shop.

pet ownership—subjective well-being—impulsive purchases.

In the words of the study authors led by Yahui Liu, "Pet ownership evokes consumers to shop more, buy more products, and spend more money" and "The pet ownership effect is induced by individuals’ enhanced subjective well-being associated with owning a pet, further increasing pet owners’ impulsive hedonic purchases."

They concluded that the emotional support provided through pet ownership - and we mean cats and dogs - "positively affects consumers' subjective well-being, thus leading to more increased purchases".

I think it's a kind of mild addiction. Addiction to feeling good. We all want to feel good and we cuddle our cat or play with our dog and we feel good. In feeling good you want to find other ways to feel good so you decide to go and buy something in a shop which gives you instant gratification. 

That's my interpretation reading the highlights to the study is published on the Science Direct website; specifically the Journal of Business Research. This is the link to the study: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2024.114838

The objective of the study was to "estimate the effect of pet ownership on consumers' purchases". And, as mentioned, they found "that pet ownership increases purchases". The effect is "induced by enhanced subjective well-being". This boosts "impulsive hedonic purchases".

They say they are the first to "empirically examine how pet ownership affects consumer purchases". I can agree with that because I've never read a study or a report which connects pet ownership with retail therapy as I would call it.

Retail therapy is very common in the world. The desire to spend money to possess a new item to give a short term increase in pleasure. It's very similar to pleasure eating. Another potential form of addiction.

The study summary says that their findings "offer valuable implications for retailers are incorporating pets into marketing". That's a good point. I believe what they're saying there is that you can include companion animals into advertising of products to enhance the advert.

I also believe that the presence of shops' cats encourages purchases. And that's a very good point. There are some people who say that cats in shops and public houses are bad for health reasons. They argue they transmit disease to people. That's rubbish I'm afraid. Recently I wrote about a pub in England where the administrators decided to get rid of two cats who liked to stay in the pub all the time.

These cats were popular with customers and enhanced the business. It is just silly senior management who get it consistently wrong. 😊😎

Think of Bodega cats in New York. They are famous and very good for business.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.