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The effect of product variety on purchase probability

Heitmann, Mark ; Herrmann, Andreas ; Kaiser, Christian

In: Review of Managerial Science, 2007, vol. 1, no. 2, p. 111-131

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    Titre
    • The effect of product variety on purchase probability
    Auteur
    • Heitmann, Mark. Research Institute for Business Metrics and Audi Lab for Market Research, University of St Gallen, Gallen, Switzerland
    • Herrmann, Andreas. Research Institute for Business Metrics and Audi Lab for Market Research, University of St Gallen, Gallen, Switzerland
    • Kaiser, Christian. Risk Measurement und Management, Credit Suisse Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
    Type de document
    • Postprint
    Langue
    • Anglais
    Publié dans
    • Review of Managerial Science, 2007, vol. 1, no. 2, p. 111-131. Springer-Verlag
    Autre version électronique
    Identifiant OAI-PMH
    • oai:doc.rero.ch:311659
    Summary
    Regarding the effect of product variety on purchase probability, there exist findings which demonstrate a positive effect of variety for small assortments and a negative effect of variety for large assortments. Despite these results, little evidence exists about the causal mechanism of this effect. We conduct a field study among German consumer electronics customers to investigate the previously proposed constructs of anticipated product utility, anticipated regret and evaluation costs. The results suggest that anticipated regret and evaluation costs play a powerful role in explaining the negative link between variety and purchase probability for high variety assortments. Anticipated product utility on the other hand serves to explain part of the positive causality for low variety assortments. The results obtained give rise to recommendations for the planning of assortments