Understanding Consumer Reactions to Assortment Unavailability

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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; 29
(4) Cancel: dropping the intended purchase completely or postponing it for a longer period of time; (5) Category switch: buying a substitute product from another product category; and (6) Brand switch: buying another brand within the same product category. Studies of OOS reactions typically do not consider these six reactions simultaneously. For example, Verbeke, Farris, and Thurik (1998) only focus on reactions 1, 3, and 6, whereas Campo, Gijsbrechts, and Nisol (2000) do not explicitly consider reactions 5 or 6. In addition, different definitions and measurement approaches are used by different researchers. For example, Campo, Gijsbrechts, and Nisol (2000) include a brand switch within the item switch reaction, though they differ significantly. Buying another item of the same brand can be considered an indication of brand loyalty; buying an item of another brand indicates the opposite. Prior studies also show that the frequency of cancel and category switch reactions is very small. In our empirical study, which we present subsequently, we also find small frequencies. Therefore, we focus on the four most common reactions—store, item, and brand switches and postponement—in our discussion of the antecedents of OOS reactions and the hypotheses that underlie our empirical model. 2.2.5 Antecedents of OOS response In Table 2.2, we provide an overview of the empirical evidence regarding the effect of possible determinants of OOS reactions. In line with prior research (Campo, Gijsbrechts, and Nisol 2000; Zinn and Liu 2001), we distinguish among the following clusters of antecedents: (1) product- related variables, (2) store-related variables, (3) situation-related variables, and (4) consumer- related variables. Product-related variables. The first group of variables relates to the specific product category, including the brands, for which the stock-out appears. Several studies have claimed that the perceived availability of acceptable alternatives is an important determinant of consumer response to OOS occurrences. For example, Campo, Gijsbrechts, and Nisol (2000) show that the availability of acceptable alternatives is negatively related to store switching and positively related to brand switching, and Emmelhainz, Stock, and Emmelhainz (1991) report that the risk consumers perceive with respect to the substitutes offered negatively affects brand switching. 30
Page 1 and 2: LAURENS SLOOT Understanding Consume
Page 4 and 5: UNDERSTANDING CONSUMER REACTIONS TO
Page 6 and 7: PREFACE (IN DUTCH) Begin 2001 schre
Page 8 and 9: TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface (in Dutch
Page 10 and 11: 3.7 Study 2 74 3.8 Hypotheses 74 3.
Page 12 and 13: CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIE
Page 14 and 15: Most supply chain-oriented reductio
Page 16 and 17: 400 square meters) are disappearing
Page 18 and 19: more. However, Aldi is known to be
Page 20 and 21: antecedents, such as the brand equi
Page 22 and 23: of assortment reduction responses a
Page 24 and 25: assortment benefits and assortment
Page 26 and 27: 2.1 Introduction Out-of-stock (OOS)
Page 28 and 29: other explanatory studies, we study
Page 32 and 33: Table 2.2: Methodological overview
Page 34 and 35: Situation-related variables. Situat
Page 36 and 37: As noted, consumers generally prefe
Page 38 and 39: 2.3.3 The interaction of hedonic le
Page 40 and 41: For example, supermarkets are usual
Page 42 and 43: were selected for further analyses.
Page 44 and 45: example, a key utilitarian benefit
Page 46 and 47: The mathematical formulation of the
Page 48 and 49: Table 2.6: Correlation matrix depen
Page 50 and 51: correlation between the hedonic lev
Page 52 and 53: 2.6 Discussion In this study, we in
Page 54 and 55: Following the literature on promoti
Page 56 and 57: consider this finding when they att
Page 58 and 59: Appendix 2A: Overview and definitio
Page 60 and 61: CHAPTER 3 UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT
Page 62 and 63: the Dutch food retailer Edah delist
Page 64 and 65: FMI (1993) conducts natural experim
Page 66 and 67: customers no longer or less frequen
Page 68 and 69: extent, comparable to the tendency
Page 70 and 71: Figure 3.1: Graphical display of as
Page 72 and 73: consumers evaluate assortments that
Page 74 and 75: Figure 3.3: Interaction effect of a
Page 76 and 77: SSI (H1). We expect that the brand
Page 78 and 79: 3.8.4 Store-related antecedents Fin
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among the 10 specified product grou
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Retail assortment-related anteceden
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Table 3.4: Average, standard deviat
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3.10.2 Store switching intentions W
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effects indicated in Study 1 (β =
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3.12 Managerial implications Retail
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Appendix 3A: Overview and definitio
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4.1 Introduction Since the early 19
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changes in assortment perceptions (
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Negative sales effects may occur be
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therefore might question the existe
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Table 4.2: Overview of separate ana
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analogously. The resulting complete
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changes in the price level do not i
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Table 4.4: Estimated parameters for
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Table 4.5: Estimated parameters for
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infrequently in the sample stores a
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Measurement. Following Hoch, Bradlo
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4.7 Discussion In this collaborativ
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into consequences at the customer l
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eduction occurs, and the type of st
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Manufacturers in hedonic product gr
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2. When retailers set priorities fo
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References Aaker, David A. (1991),
Page 128 and 129:
Broniarczyk, Susan M. and Wayne D.
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Franses, Philip Hans and Richard Pa
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Narasimhan, Chakravartthi, Scott A.
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Van Trijp, Hans C.M., Wayne D. Hoye
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de rol van het assortiment bij het
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die het out-of-stock niveau binnen
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Campbell, R.A.J., Rethinking Risk i
Page 142 and 143:
Langen, P.W. de, The Performance of
Page 144 and 145:
Slager, A.M.H., Banking across Bord
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