Understanding the Impact of Brand Delistings on Assortment Evaluations and Store Switching and Complaining Intentions

51 Pages Posted: 19 Jan 2005

See all articles by Laurens Sloot

Laurens Sloot

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Erasmus Food Management Institute

Peter C. Verhoef

University of Groningen - Department of Marketing & Marketing Research

Date Written: January 2004 1,

Abstract

Recently, retailers have begun considering which brands they can delist without reducing customer satisfaction, losing category sales, or increasing store switching behavior. Although several studies have considered assortment reductions, none has explicitly investigated the impact of total brand delistings. Therefore, the authors study the impact of brand delistings on assortment evaluations and store switching and complaining intentions. They execute both a controlled experiment and a survey and find that brand delisting mainly has negative consequences when the delisted brands have high equity, assortment size is limited, the assortment consists of a low proportion of high-equity brands, and the brand delistings take place in categories with high hedonic levels. The authors discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings.

Keywords: assortment reduction, assortment management, category management, retailing, brand equity, retail power, store brands

JEL Classification: M, C44, M31, L81

Suggested Citation

Sloot, Laurens and Verhoef, Peter C., Understanding the Impact of Brand Delistings on Assortment Evaluations and Store Switching and Complaining Intentions (January 2004 1,). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=650833

Laurens Sloot (Contact Author)

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Erasmus Food Management Institute ( email )

P.O. Box 1738
3000 DR Rotterdam
Netherlands
+31 10 408 1307 (Phone)
+31 10 408 9160 (Fax)

Peter C. Verhoef

University of Groningen - Department of Marketing & Marketing Research ( email )

Netherlands

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