Alexander Kotouc

This research investigates how consumers form subjective judgments of what constitutes "a good grocery assortment". By conducting three exploratory focus groups and a field study, we develop a multi-item scale that reflects consumers' cue utilization processes in forming perceptions of a grocery assortment. Our findings suggest that consumers use only a limited number of informational cues to form perceptions about four higher-level assortment dimensions: (1) the assortment's pricing, (2) its quality, (3) its variety, and (4) its presentation. In line with the attitude theory, we found that consumers integrate these higher-level assortment dimensions into a summary evaluation of the grocery category's attractiveness. Accordingly, we derive the grocery assortment perception (GAP) scale as a second-order construct composed of four first-order factors. Significant positive relationships between the GAP scale and customer satisfaction as well as loyalty intentions provide empirical support for the scale's predictive ability and nomological validity. In the last section of this article, we discuss how the GAP scale will support category managers in their assortment decisions and provide directions for further research.

Given the increasing importance of Consumer Confusion as part of the everyday grocery shopping process, this study identifies a comprehensive inventory of triggers that support this phenomenon. The scale development is based on a two-step procedure. A qualitative study conducted by means of four focus groups revealed 26 potential items for confusion. The subsequent quantitative study - combined with environment shopping tests - exposed a six-factor scale that consists of stimuli variety, similarity, complexity, conflict, irritation and non reliability. The utility of the proposed scale is valuable both for future research and retail strategy.

The article focuses on consumer confusion related to the wide array of choices in modern society among diverse name brand products. The article focuses on research into how consumers make choices among competing brands and different types of products and services. While some business leaders and economists have termed the large number of choices "consumer democracy," others have identified the problem of "consumer confusion." The article presents research into both the number of choices consumers face and their emotional reactions to having to make a choice.