Consumers' Extent of Evaluation in Brand Choice

Abstract

Brand choice models implicitly assume that consumers incorporate all relevant marketing information such as price, display, and feature for key brands on each purchase occasion. The authors examine whether consumers actively evaluate the brands on every occasion. They propose a multistate choice model with varying levels of evaluation and estimate the model with scanner data. In addition, the authors study the effect of household demographics, occasion-specific factors, as well as unmeasured household and purchase occasion factors on the extent of evaluation. The results indicate that consumers do not evaluate brands on all occasions. The authors discuss the implications of such limited evaluation. Copyright 1999 by University of Chicago Press.