Russell S. Winer

A Reference Price Model of Brand Choice for Frequently Purchased Products

A brand choice model that incorporates both reference and observed prices is proposed for frequently purchased products. The model is composed of a probability-of-purchase component and a reference-price-formation component. Empirical testing of the model using coffee UPC scanner panel data demonstrates that for two of the three brands, the model predicts probability of purchase better than do standard demand models that utilize only current observed brand prices.

The Impact of New Product Introductions on the Market Value of Firms

Although many mechanisms exist for the evaluation of new products, none have specifically examined the role that financial markets can play in measuring the impact of new products on firms. Using traditional event-study methodology, the present research provides a financial market-based analysis of the impact of new product introductions on the market value of firms. Copyright 1991 by University of Chicago Press.

Dynamic Customer Relationship Management: Incorporating Future Considerations into the Service Retention Decision

The authors examine the influence of customer future-focused considerations, over and above the effects of satisfaction, on the customers decision to discontinue a service relationship. The authors find that expected future use and anticipated regret influence this decision. Understanding and managing these future-focused considerations is critical to successful dynamic customer relationship management.

The Interplay Among Category Characteristics, Customer Characteristics, and Customer Activities on In-Store Decision Making

The authors explore product category and customer characteristics that affect consumers’ likelihood of engaging in unplanned purchases. In addition, they examine consumer activities that can exacerbate or limit these effects. The authors employ a hierarchical modeling approach to test their hypotheses using a data set of in-store intercept interviews conducted with 2300 consumers across 28 stores. The results show that category characteristics, such as purchase frequency and displays, and customer characteristics, such as household size and gender, affect in-store decision making. Moreover, although the analysis reveals that the baseline probability of an unplanned purchase is 46%, the contextual factors can drive this probability as high as 93%. The results support the predictions that list use, more frequent trips, limiting the aisles visited, limiting time spent in the store, and paying by cash are effective strategies for decreasing the likelihood of making unplanned purchases.

Experimentation in the 21st century: The importance of external validity

Much of the consumer behavior literature is devored to what has been referred to as theory applications (TA) research in which the main focus is on laboratory experiments with student subjects and high internal validity. In this articlee, the author argues that external validity concerns should be given more attention, particulary in TA research. Three recommendations are made for implementing these concerns: (1) consumer behavior articles should be required to have a section indicating how increased levels of external validity can be obtained with other studies, (2) “joint ventures” between consumer behavior and marketing science researchers can be profitable and should be encouraged, and (3) analyses of electronic scanner panel data or other secondary data can be used to generate higher levels of external validity. Three examples are given from the marketing literature of how findings from experiments and scanner data can be combined to advance a stream of research.

An Empirical Analysis of Price Endings with Scanner Data

Several consumer behavior theories have been offered to explain the preponderance of prices that end in the digit 9. This study attempts to incorporate these proposed behaviors into the implicit utility function of consumer choice models, resulting in both a more accurate tool for managerial decision making and additional insights into how consumers actually behave toward price endings. An attempt is made to compensate for both level effects (those effects in which consumers may underestimate the value of a price) and image effects (those effects in which consumers may infer meaning from the right-hand digits). The models are estimated using scanner panel data for two frequently purchased products, tuna and yogurt. The results support the importance of accounting for the digits in consumer choice models, providing evidence for both image effects and level effects. Copyright 1997 by the University of Chicago.

A framework for the formation and structure of consumer expectations: Review and propositions

Abstract Expectations have been found to have an important impact on decision-making in a wide variety of consumption settings. In this paper, the concept of expectations of product attribute levels and purchase-related outcomes is discussed as an important but largely neglected area in consumer behavior research. Relevant works on the formation of expectations from consumer psychology, economics, and behavioral decision theory are reviewed, a general framework for the formation process is formed, and propositions for a research agenda are suggested.

The Influence of Purchase Quantity and Display Format on Consumer Preference for Variety

The authors propose that what consumers buy can be systematically influenced by how much they buy. They hypothesize that, as the number of items purchased in a category on a shopping occasion increases, a consumer is more likely to select product variants (e.g. yogurt flavors) that s/he does not usually purchase. They used yogurt scanner data to support this hypothesis. This study also revealed that consumers were more likely to select their regular brands when purchasing more containers of yogurt on a given occasion. A laboratory experiment showed that this reflects the combined impact of purchase quantity and product-display format (i.e., the by-brand display of yogurt in supermarkets) on consumer choice. Copyright 1992 by the University of Chicago.

Generating Website Traffic

ABSTRACT In this paper, we attempt to empirically determine the factors that drive traffic and brand equity in the internet space. Even in 2002 with the internet bubble burst, many companies are still turning to the web to interact with current customers and reach new markets. These companies need to know if the traditional theories linking advertising, store visits, and sales are still supported a they move online, using the technology-based internet as a primary marketplace.

Working Wives and Major Family Expenditures: Replication and Extension

This paper updates and replicates an earlier study comparing purchases by working wives (employed outside the home) and nonworking wives and the amounts spent for time-saving durables, other durables, and hobby and recreation items. Using a 1977 data base similar to one gathered a decade earlier, wifes labor force behavior was again found not to be significantly related to either purchase or expenditure decisions for time-saving durables, when income, stage of life cycle, and other situational variables were held constant.