“Girl Math” and Consumer Conscience

“Are you aware of this ‘girl math’?” asks Swagata Chakraborty ’21, assistant professor at the University of North Texas’s Department of Merchandising and Digital Retailing. “Sometimes girls buy expensive products, be it makeup items or clothing items, and because it’s expensive, it gives us a guilty feeling—‘wow, we shouldn’t have spent so much’ and all that. But [through] girl math, although this clothing item is $80, if you wear it for at least 100 times or more, it essentially becomes free. You are getting more longevity, so long-term you’re saving money.”

As program coordinator for UNT’s Consumer Experience Management Program, Chakraborty studies retail phenomena like this and more to understand what motivates customer behavior, and how businesses can adapt to it. Her research explores the influence of human values on consumer perception and attitude, and covers topics such as message believability, company morality and even the influence of religion or spirituality on consumerism and self-conception.

“Girl math” demonstrates how consumers will use their own personal justifications—like spending more to earn free shipping, or treating costs under $5 as basically free—to guide which brands they choose.

This personalized outlook on retail goes beyond cost. The larger reputation of a brand now matters almost as much as its products, and outside factors or perceptions—fast-fashion waste, material durability, environmentalism—can make or break a company’s image. Marketing your product as eco-friendly may boost sales, but deceiving customers can have disastrous consequences and make it harder to regain their trust.

“There’s this term called ‘greenwashing’—consumers think a company is sustainable, when the reality is they are not,” said Chakraborty. “The packaging itself [may be] green in color to hint it’s environmentally friendly, but nowhere does it say it’s sustainably sourced. It’s creating an illusion in your mind without making an explicit claim.”

The list of accused “greenwashers” is surprisingly long, leading to “greenmuting” where companies keep silent on unsustainable practices. But companies like Patagonia devote large sections of their website to explaining their environmental impact through facts and figures, and as a result is viewed as exemplary of sustainable retail.

Transparency is limited to what companies share with the public, and misinformation in the digital age can spread like wildfire. For all retail businesses, and especially new ones, Chakraborty emphasizes the importance of establishing their own culture and a sense of authenticity that resonates with consumers.

“I think Coca-Cola does a great job in co-creating content. Every time it will do some co-creation of some advertisements, it will ask for ideas from the consumers, so that makes them feel more invited and included in the brand’s community,” said Chakraborty. “It’s important that the companies build a strong long-term relationship with the brand so that, if something goes wrong, they can get a second chance.”

Chakraborty developed a course called “Creating Consumer Experiences” to teach the various social and psychological theories in consumer behavior. Her students also complete a course on building their own AI-powered chatbots for major existing brands that can recommend products, track orders and file complaints.

Despite the relentless evolution of the industry, though, some aspects never change.

“At the end of the day, every company is trying to sell their products, and in order to sell their products, they have to make their consumers happy,” she said.

By Derek Herscovici ’14