Athletic Looking Sales Personnel: Do Men Buy More from Men?
Athletic Looking Sales Personnel: Do Men Buy More from Men?

Summary/Abstract: Purpose – This empirical study explores the influence of physical prominence of t he sales personnel on the purchase behavior of male customers at health supplement and nutraceuticals retail stores. The researchers carried out a first-hand study to investigate the impact of advertisements featuring models “with six-pack abs holding dietary supplement boxes” on customer purchases. Design/methodology/approach – The experimental research method with the observational technique of data collection was employed to study how subjects respond to various stimuli. The data collected through this technique was analyzed by using IBM SPSS 21. The data was collected by applying the area sampling technique at 12 dietary supplements retail stores in different cities and villages in India from 1 November 2019 to 15 January 2020. The sample consisted of 24 male employees of dietary supplement retail stores and 40 male customers who purchased dietary supplements. Findings – This research study empirically explores the positive influence of physical prominence (salesman with six-pack abs working at health supplement and nutraceuticals retail stores) on male customer purchase behavior. Its findings support the fact that there is a statistically significant difference between preference levels of customers in the presence and in the absence of advertisements showing models “with six-pack abs holding dietary supplement boxes”. Limitation – As the research area was restricted to India only, a larger sample may provide clearer data for an assessment. There may be other variables to be considered in further empirical research studies because the role of a significant influence of other factors cannot be ruled out. Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there has been no research to date highlighting such customer behavior in India. This makes the present paper novel and useful for the scientific community working in this research field. Previous research studies have affirmed the impact of body shape of athletic looking female sales personnel on purchase patterns, but very little is known about the male-to-male sales interactions.

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