Understanding Consumer Reactions to Assortment Unavailability

Studies that apply exploratory designs (e.g., surveys) consider hypothetical stock-out situations.
In these cases, respondents are asked how they would react if a purchased item or brand were
unavailable. We expect that these differences in research design influence the OOS reactions of
consumers. For example, the “cost” of switching stores is obviously lower in surveys, because
consumers do not really have to perform this time-consuming activity.
With respect to the research design, the type of OOS also is important. Generally, two
types of OOS can be distinguished: item and brand. In the first case, a single item of a brand
(e.g., regular Coca-Cola) is OOS, whereas in the second case, all items of a single brand in a
product group (e.g., all Coca-Cola products) are OOS. As we might expect, the reported OOS
reactions differ. Moreover, in the case of brand OOS, an item switch (e.g., purchasing diet Coca-
Cola instead of regular Coca-Cola) is not possible. When different research designs are used, it is
difficult to derive empirical generalizations about the determinants of OOS reactions.
2.2.3 Research setting
Studies about OOS reactions have been executed in a variety of product categories. As a result of
their methodology, studies that consider actual OOS experiences (quasi-experiments) usually
measure reactions for most categories in the store. With respect to the type of brands studied, our
review reveals that some studies only consider high-share brands (e.g., Verbeke, Farris, and
Thurik 1998), whereas others consider manufacturer brands and private labels (e.g., Schary and
Christopher 1979). However, despite the consideration of a broad range of brands, OOS studies
usually do not regard the type of brand as an explanatory variable for OOS response. Finally, our
review of the research setting shows that studies are usually executed within stores of a single
retail chain, which limits the generalizability of their results.
2.2.4 Consumer OOS reactions
To define and measure OOS reactions, six main behavioral consumer responses usually are
distinguished. Ranked from relatively high to relatively low brand loyalty, these reactions are as
follows:
(1) Store switch: going to another store on the same day to buy the item that is OOS;
(2) Item switch: switching to another format or variety of the same brand;
(3) Postponement: postponing the intended buy until the next regular trip to the
supermarket;
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