Lecture: Retail Assortment, Inferences, and Competition between High and Low End Retailers
April 1, 2011
10:30am
Location: | SOM 112 (wheelchair accessible) |
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Contact: |
Professor Easwar Iyer, (413) 545-5667 , iyer@mktg.umass.edu |
Prof. Preyas S. Desai of Duke's Fuqua School of Business will be the guest speaker at this week's Marketing Seminar. All are invited to attend.
Abstract: How do retail assortment decisions affect patterns of competition between stores? In the real world, consumer choice is strongly affected by the stores that carry specific products, but this fact has not received sufficient attention in academic research on consumer decision-making. The core focus of our paper is on how choice of individual products is a function of the retailer carrying the product and how that retailer's assortment compares with the assortment of a competitor with different, yet malleable store image. We examine how changes in retailer assortments change patterns of intra-store competition among brands carried by a given retailer and inter-store competition between retailers.
We examine three mechanisms by which the retail context can affect preferences for merchandise from the upscale vs. downscale store. First, in the case of shopping at a single store without comparative information, we examine "discounting" or "devaluation" of alternatives that are particularly risky or uncertain at a store with that particular image for price and quality. Second, in the case of shopping across upscale and downscale stores, we show how product preferences are affected by the alignability of the merchandise at the two competing stores. Third, we examine how inferences about store price and quality mediate the effects of changes in a retailer's assortment on choices.
More information about this guest speaker.
