Multiple category decision making: Review and synthesis

• Main Authors: Russell, Gary J., Ratneshwar, S., Shocker, Allan D., Bell, David, Bodapati, Anand, Degeratu, Alex, Hildebrandt, Lutz, Kim, Namwoon, RAMASWAMI, Seshan, Shankar, Venkatesh H.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 1999
• Subjects: Multiple-Category Choice; Consideration Sets; Cross-Category Dependence; Product Bundling; Market Baskets; Business; Marketing
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/614; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/1613/viewcontent/MultipleCategoryDecisionMaking_pv.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

In many purchase environments, consumers use information from a number of product categories prior to making a decision. These purchase situations create dependencies in choice outcomes across categories. As such, these decision problems cannot be easily modeled using the single-category, single-choice paradigm commonly used by researchers in marketing. We outline a conceptual framework for categorization, and then discuss three types of cross-category dependence: cross-category consideration cross-category learning, and product bundling. We argue that the key to modeling choice dependence across categories is knowledge of the goals driving consumer behavior.