Why does your shopping cart suddenly contain more than you planned? Why can buying a new smartphone feel like an existential necessity—while taking out supplementary dental insurance does not? And why does a brand sometimes convince us more than an objectively better product?

This book takes you into the world of consumer behavior—not in a dry way, but as it really is: contradictory, emotional, only occasionally rational, yet always fascinating and insightful. At the heart of its didactic concept are Lea and Ben, who accompany you through real-life consumer situations—from impulse purchases to luxury consumption. Their experiences provide a practical stage for theories, models, and empirical studies that explain consumer behavior.

You will learn

• how motivation, emotion, and cognition shape purchasing decisions,
• why the social, media, and physical environment subtly influences our behavior, and
• how these processes are reflected in different forms of consumption—from digital and sustainable to collaborative and health-conscious consumption, as well as luxury consumption.

This book helps you understand how consumer decisions arise—both in others and in yourself. Case studies, research findings, self-assessments, and digital content ensure that learning is not only informative but also engaging.

Prof. Dr. Stefan Hoffmann is Professor of Marketing at Kiel University (Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel).

Prof. Dr. Payam Akbar is a business psychologist and Professor of Marketing Intelligence at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences and Technology (HTW Berlin).