Understanding Consumer Reactions to Assortment Unavailability

hypothetical stock-outs in a wide variety of product groups. In Chapters 3 and 4, we present
essays that study the effects of permanent assortment unavailability on variables such as category
sales, store sales, complaining behavior, assortment satisfaction, and perceived assortment
variety. In Chapter 3, we specifically address the situation in which a retailer delists one brand
within a category, whereas in Chapter 4 we focus on the situation in which a retailer cuts a
category assortment by 25%.
The current chapter continues with a general discussion of the Dutch supermarket channel,
which will give the reader a general understanding of the context in which the studies took place.
In section 1.3, we discuss the importance of assortment and other retail mix variables, such as
price and promotions, in the supermarket decision process of consumers. Next, we present the
main research question of this thesis and the research methodology used in the studies to answer
that question. We continue with a discussion of the scientific contributions of this thesis (section
1.5). Finally, in section 1.6, we elaborate on the managerial relevance of the studies presented
herein.
1.2 Developments in the Dutch supermarket channel
Because all the studies in this thesis are conducted with Dutch supermarkets, this section
provides a description of the structure and main developments in the Dutch supermarket channel
in the past decade. After reading this section, readers who might not be familiar with grocery
retailing in general or the Dutch grocery retail sector in particular should be able to understand
the research setting of the studies presented herein.
The total turnover in the Dutch supermarket channel was euro 26.2 billion in 2004
(ACNielsen 2005). Due to a severe price war, initiated in October 2003 by market leader Albert
Heijn, sales have been rather stable since that time. Also due to the price war, the net price level
of grocery products has declined by more than 5% during the period October 2003–September
2005 (EFMI 2005).
The number of supermarkets in the Netherlands is, similar to almost all western European
countries, gradually decreasing (see Table 1.1). In 2004, there were 4,592 supermarkets in the
Netherlands, down from 6,592 in 1995 (–30%). Small supermarkets (e.g., floor space less than
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