With or without you: The positive and negative influence of retail companions

• The influence of a retail companion depends upon retail context.
• In general, joint retail experiences were associated with more positive outcomes than solo retail experiences.
• Depending upon gender and retail context, a joint retail experience can also be negative.

This study evaluates whether the influence of shopping with a companion is consistent across retail contexts with service components or between genders. An experiment asked participants to recall and evaluate their most recent solo or joint restaurant or shopping experience. Results demonstrate that for restaurant experiences, there is a positive influence of others on individual time spent, money spent, satisfaction, and attitude toward the act. For shopping experiences, however, these effects were either strengthened or reversed dependent upon gender. For (males) females, joint shopping experiences are linked to (increased) decreased amount paid, attitude toward the act, and re-patronage intentions.