Retailer-brand collaborations: testing key strategies to increase consumers' urgency to buy

Purpose Retailer-brand collaborations (e.g. Target–Lilly Pulitzer) attract media attention and generate excitement, and may encourage buying the product right away rather than waiting until a sale. To clearly establish factors that contribute to consumers' urge to purchase retailer-brand collaborations, the purpose of this study is to test the effects of: (1) collaboration duration (limited edition vs ongoing) and (2) perceived retailer-brand fit (high vs low) on consumers' urgency to buy. Design/methodology/approach Three experimental studies ( n = 499) manipulate and test the effect of collaboration duration (Study 1), perceived retailer-brand fit (Study 2) and the combined effect (Study 3) on consumers' urgency to buy. Findings Findings indicate that urgency to buy retailer-brand collaborations are favourable when products are offered as limited edition versus ongoing (Study 1), when there is high-perceived fit versus low-perceived fit between retailer and brand partners (Study 2) and when both conditions are true (Study 3). Practical implications To enhance consumers' urgency to buy retailer-brand collaborations, the partnerships should be limited in duration (vs collaborating in an ongoing fashion). Additionally brands and retailers need to strategically align with well-fitting partners. Originality/value Despite the prevalence and success of retailer-brand collaborations in industry, research on such collaboration is surprising scant. Additionally, while previous studies often measure purchase intentions as consumers' response, an understanding of factors that discourage consumers from delaying their purchase (i.e. factors that lead to urgency to buy) help to identify strategies to cultivate greater profits.