Even signs and restricted Wi-Fi access can’t curb territorial customer behavior
CHESTNUT HILL, MA (May 8, 2012) – Increasingly “plugged-in” customers are grabbing extra seats, counter space and table tops by using cell phones, laptops and cups of steaming hot coffee to shield others from seemingly public spaces, according to two marketing professors who’ve studied this latest consumer clash.

Just the act of purchasing a cup of coffee emblazoned with the café logo is enough to give customers territorial rights, which can lead to decreased space turnover and discouraged customers who can’t find a place to sit, the researchers found.

It’s a café conundrum, according to marketing professors Merlyn Griffiths, of the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, and Mary Gilly, of the University of California, Irvine, who report on the latest territorial consumer behavior in the latest issue of the Journal of Service Research.

Nowhere is the premium on space to sit and sip greater than...