H Harmen Oppewal

Assessing the effects of assortment and ambience: a choice experimental approach

Abstract Elaborating on Betancourt and Gautchi, we formulate and test effects of consumption goal, retail assortment composition, and other distribution services on in-store purchase decisions. By using the extended logit model we explain the utility of an item as a function of assortment characteristics, which allows capturing substitution, complementarity and asymmetric dominance effects. A choice experiment manipulates assortment composition, prices, store ambience, competing store features, and purchase goal. In an application to florist stores we find that in-store purchase decisions are affected by the size and composition of the assortment, and by the presence of a competing store, but not by ambience. We find substitution effects between flowers of the same variety, but not for all varieties. Effects differ between consumption goals.

Residential Choice Behaviour of Dual Earner Households: A Decompositional Joint Choice Model

The residential location decision process has been studied for several decades with use of different approaches. One such approach that has received considerable attention in urban planning is the decompositional approach. This approach involves measuring individual preferences. Residential choice behaviour is, however, often the result of a joint decisionmaking process, especially in the case of dual earner households. In the present paper, the original modelling approach is therefore extended to a model of joint decisionmaking. The results of an empirical application in the context of residential choice behaviour in the Netherlands are described.

Modeling Consumer Perception of Public Space in Shopping Centers

This article presents a study of the effects of various shopping center design and management attributes on consumer evaluations of the public space appearance (or atmosphere) in shopping centers. Examples of such attributes are level of maintenance, area for pedestrians, window displays, street layout, and street activities. A model is estimated from responses to experimentally controlled descriptions of hypothetical shopping centers. This conjoint analysis or stated preference-based model is compared with a similar regression model estimated from a cross section of perceptions of existing shopping centers. The conjoint and cross-sectional models are tested for their external validity on a holdout sample of respondents. It is concluded that both models perform equally well, but that the approach using hypothetical alternatives allows more detailed insight in the effects of the various shopping center attributes.

Modelling the effects of shopping centre size and store variety on consumer choice behaviour

In this paper it is argued that models of consumer choice of shopping destination have included few attributes related to the selection of stores available in a shopping centre. The authors seek to develop and illustrate empirically a way to define the selection of stores in shopping centres, such that effects of various modifications to the available selection can be modelled by conjoint analysis (or stated preference of decompositional choice) methods. Profiles of hypothetical shopping centres are developed that describe the total size of centres as well as the marketing mix positionings of the individual stores within these centres. The approach is implemented in choice experiments, one on food shopping and one on shopping for clothing and shoes. Logit models are estimated and compared for these two product categories and for large versus small centres.

Group-based versus individual-based conjoint preference models of residential preferences: a comparative test

The conjoint preference approach, measuring individual preferences, has a long history in the study of residential decisionmaking processes. Residential choice behaviour, however, is often the result of a group decisionmaking process. In this paper we investigate whether conjoint preference models derived from group responses are different from and predict better than conventional conjoint models derived from the responses of individuals who do not interact during the data-collection process. In particular, we propose a new approach to modelling group preferences for residential choice alternatives that extends previous work of Timmermans et al. The new approach is illustrated in an application among 193 families with children. The results confirm that preference structures of individual family members differ from group preference structures and that the proposed group-based model predicts family preferences for new residential environments better than do conventional models.

CONTEXT EFFECTS AND DECOMPOSITIONAL CHOICE MODELING

This paper describes the application of the extended or universal logit model to decompositional or stated choice modeling in order to increase the scope and validity of such choice models. In this approach, choice experiments are designed that permit the estimation of utility functions that include the effects of context variables like choice set composition and decision background. The approach is illustrated with some simple calculated examples concerning consumer choice of shopping center, housing, and transportation mode.

Modeling Constrained Choice Behaviour in Regulated Housing Markets by Means of Discrete Choice Experiments and Universal Logit Models: An Application to the Residential Choice Behaviour of Divorcees

In present choice models, it is assumed that the composition of individuals choice sets does not affect their utilities. Preferences and choice behaviour are assumed to be independent of context. The constraints that individuals face are not modeled explicitly in the residential choice literature. In this paper we aim to propose and demonstrate how discrete choice experiments and universal logit models may be used to estimate choice models that permit one to measure and test the effects of constraints on housing choice behaviour and residential preferences. In particular, we wish to test whether preferences of divorcees are invariant with differential access to housing-market segments. The empirical findings obtained in the present study of residential choices of divorcees generally support the idea that access to particular segments affects the preference for other segments differentially. Estimated attribute effects were in anticipated directions, although not all were significant. The choice model, including the effects representing access to particular housing-market segments, outperformed the multinomial logit model at conventional probability levels, and odds ratios were shown to change dramatically as a function of the constraints on residential choice behaviour.

Modeling group preferences using a decompositional preference approach

This article examines an extension of the decompositional, conjoint, or stated-preference approach to model group decisions. In the conventional approach, only one member is chosen to be the groups representative and provide answers for the group as a whole. In this study, all group members are brought together and asked to jointly complete a conjoint preference experiment. The hypothesis is tested that this joint group approach predicts group behavior better than the conventional approach with representatives. The paper presents the estimated part-worth utilities of the group model and compares preference structures of individual group members and groups. Finally, group preference models are tested to determine whether they outperform representative-based preference models in terms of the ability to correctly predict the group preferences for new alternatives. These analyses are performed in the context of residential preferences of co-ops, which are groups of young people, usually not partners, who live together in owner-occupied houses.

A stated choice approach to developing multi-faceted models of activity behavior

Most existing activity-based models have been developed from revealed preference data. This paper introduces an approach to developing activity-based models from stated preference data. We focus on activity behavior as a multi-facet choice process to decide where and in what sequence to conduct activities, i.e., choice of destination and choice of stop pattern. A design strategy is developed to generate choice experiments that allow the estimation of multi-facet models of activity behavior. The results of an empirical application are reported. The experience and results obtained indicate that the proposed approach does provide a stated preference alternative to the revealed preference approach in developing multi-facet models of activity behavior.

Adaptive choice behaviour of motorists in congested shopping centre parking lots

Currently existing models of parking choice behaviour typically focus on the choice of types of parking spaces. Implicitly these models assume that motorists have a free choice in that spaces are available. The adaptive behaviour which they reveal when faced with congested parking spaces is not explicitly modelled. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the growing literature on parking choice modelling by developing and testing a stated choice model of adaptive behaviour of motorists who are faced with fully occupied parking lots. The findings of the analyses indicate that the model performs satisfactory as indicated by its goodness-of-fit and the fact that all significant parameters were in anticipated directions.