Abstract
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.
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Russell, G.J., Ratneshwar, S., Shocker, A.D. et al. Multiple-Category Decision-Making: Review and Synthesis. Marketing Letters 10, 319–332 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008143526174
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008143526174