Retail membership clubs: An exploration of belonging, membership and spending behaviours
Abstract
Retail membership clubs are an important yet under-researched area of scholarly research in retailing. This paper examines how shoppers belong to, and shop at, membership clubs. It situates membership clubs within the broader context of the human need for belonging, alongside recent trends towards greater social isolation. Using a largescale syndicated survey, the paper analyses self-reported behaviours related to membership clubs. It explores the social functions these clubs serve and examines how membership relates to shopper characteristics, marketing influences, happiness levels and other aspects of people’s lives. The results indicate that membership is strongly associated with being married, having children, higher income and higher overall spending levels. The most prevalent membership programmes are found to be Amazon Prime, Costco and Walmart+, with most members belonging to multiple clubs. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at http://hstalks.com/business.
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Author's Biography
Martin P. Block is a Professor Emeritus on the Integrated Marketing Communications programme at Northwestern University’s Medill School. He has taught graduate-level courses in marketing mix models, marketing research and analytical techniques, sales promotion, advertising management, direct marketing and entertainment marketing.
Frank J. Mulhern is Professor of Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University’s Medill School. He is the Director of the Retail Analytics Council, a research centre on retail technology, data and analytics. He specialises in research on retail marketing, the role of technology and analytics in retailing and e-commerce, and the integration of digital media and marketing.
Larry DeGaris is the Executive Director of the Medill Spiegel Research Center at Northwestern University’s Medill School. He has conducted more than 100 sponsorship measurement studies for many of the world’s leading firms, including Bank of America, Pepsi, Home Depot, UPS and others. His research champions an integrated approach to marketing measurement, focusing on developing and integrating direct measures of effectiveness for below-the-line marketing.
Citation
Block, Martin P., Mulhern, Frank J. and Degaris, Larry (2026, June 1). Retail membership clubs: An exploration of belonging, membership and spending behaviours. In the Applied Marketing Analytics: The Peer-Reviewed Journal, Volume 12, Issue 1. https://doi.org/10.69554/HTVN1806.
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