Abstract: In recent years, the rapid development of market economy and electronic commerce has greatly enriched consumers' product choices. However, the excessive information accompanied with the development increases the difficulty of making choices and the risk of irrational consumption. This paper examines consumers' trade-offs between desirability and feasibility. We propose that temporal landmarks affect the relative importance of desirability and feasibility, and consequently impact consumers' product choices. Across five studies, we show that the starting temporal landmarks increase the relative importance of desirability, leading consumers to prefer desirability-superior products over feasibility-superior products. In addition, we identify promotion focus as the underlying process and age of consumers as the moderators. Our research extends the literature on temporal landmarks, and provides important implications for companies to decide how to choose the right time for product promotion. It also helps consumers better understand the influencing factors of their decision making and make right choices at the right time.

Key words: temporal landmarks, promotion focus, desirability, feasibility