Market mavens′ purchase decision evaluative criteria: implicationsfor brand and store promotion efforts

The market maven is looked to by others for a wide variety of product, price, brand, and shopping information. The market maven scale and questions regarding the importance of various evaluative criteria applied when selecting brands and stores for a variety of consumer products was administered to 306 couples with husbands and wives responding independently. Demographic data suggested that mavens identified were similar to those found in other studies. Although the relationship varied by product and criterion, mavens generally ascribed more importance to evaluative criteria than did nonmavens. Mavenism was found to relate to the importance placed on brand and retail store evaluative criteria differently for men and women. Mavenism among women was associated with greater concern for both brand and store evaluative criteria while mavenism among men was generally associated with a greater emphasis on brand evaluative criteria.