Research
Retailers determine the assortment for a mix of product categories in a particular space (e.g., the checkout aisle, end-of-the-aisle shelves, freezer space), and consumers often make their purchase decision when faced with such multicategory assortment. We examine whether the assortment of one category affects consumers’ purchase incidence in another category displayed in close proximity in a store. While findings from extant literature on the effect of product assortment are limited to a single category, this work serves as one of the first studies to document the impact beyond a focal category.
We made use of multiple analysis methods to identify the existence, the pattern, and the boundary conditions of cross-category effects of product assortment on a consumer's category purchase incidence. We applied the multivariate probit model of purchase incidence to estimate the effect using retail market data and conducted an online experiment to understand the role of display proximity as a trigger of the effect. Finally, an eye-tracking study provides a behavioral explanation for the estimated effects by measuring the consumer's attention to multicategory assortment.
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