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Byline: Terry Elrod (1), Gary J. Russell (2), Allan D. Shocker (3), Rick L. Andrews (4), Lynd Bacon (5), Barry L. Bayus (6), J. Douglas Carroll (7), Richard M. Johnson (8), Wagner A. Kamakura (9), Peter Lenk (10), Josef A. Mazanec (11), Vithala R. Rao (12), Venkatesh Shankar (13) Keywords: market structure analysis; competition; complementary products; product class definition Abstract: We consider customer influences on market structure, arguing that market structure should explain the extent to which any given set of market offerings are substitutes or complements. We describe recent additions to the market structure analysis literature and identify promising directions for new research in market structure analysis. Impressive advances in data collection, statistical methodology and information technology provide unique opportunities for researchers to build market structure tools that can assist 'real-time' marketing decision-making. Author Affiliation: (1) University of Alberta, Canada (2) University of Iowa, USA (3) San Francisco State University, USA (4) University of Delaware, USA (5) Knowledge Networks, USA (6) University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA (7) Rutgers University, USA (8) Sawtooth Software, USA (9) Duke University, USA (10) University of Michigan, USA (11) Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Austria (12) Cornell University, USA (13) University of Maryland, USA Article History: Registration Date: 05/10/2004

Byline: Gary J. Russell (1), S. Ratneshwar (2), Allan D. Shocker (3), David Bell (4), Anand Bodapati (5), Alex Degeratu (6), Lutz Hildebrandt (7), Namwoon Kim (8), S. Ramaswami (9), Venkatash H Shankar (10) Keywords: Multiple-Category Choice; Consideration Sets; Cross-Category Dependence; Product Bundling; Market Baskets 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. Author Affiliation: (1) University of Iowa, USA (2) University of Connecticut, USA (3) San Francisco State University, USA (4) University of Pennsylvania, USA (5) Northwestern University, USA (6) Penn State University, USA (7) Humboldt University Berlin, USA (8) Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong (9) Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong (10) University of Maryland, USA Article History: Registration Date: 14/10/2004

We employ the concept of goal-derived categories and examine when and why consideration sets might include alternatives from different nominal product categories. An experiment in stimulus-based choice was conducted wherein subjects were given a large, heterogeneous set of alternatives and asked to form consideration sets. A key finding was that across-category consideration was high when there was either goal conflict (i.e., a single product category could not deliver on all salient goals) or goal ambiguity (i.e., a lack of salient goals). However, goal-conflict and goal-ambiguity subjects engaged in across-category consideration for different reasons. Goal-conflict subjects potentially could have prioritized goals and eliminated entire categories prior to forming consideration sets. Instead, they formed mixed consideration sets in the service of salient goals and postponed conflict resolution to the final choice stage. Goal-ambiguity subjects, on the other hand, considered alternatives from different categories because they were influenced by extrinsic cues (e.g., leading brand names). Implications are discussed for consideration set formulation and product-market structure. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

The attraction effect refers to an inferior product's ability to increase the attractiveness of another alternative when the inferior product is added to a choice set. This article examines potential explanations for the attraction effect and its boundary conditions. The article reports several empirical investigations and suggests that the attraction effect may be moderated by such variables as stimulus meaningfulness and familiarity with the product category. The implications are relevant to research on context effects in consumer choice. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)