The Impact of Age on the Relationship Between Assortment Size and Perceived Value

Abstract

The rapid growth of digital marketplaces such as Amazon, iTunes, and Google Play has increased the need for insights on how consumers react to large assortments. Many of these platforms aggregate large assortments under the assumption that customers assign more value to products chosen from a large assortment. Yet, academic literature on the topic remains controversial. Although some moderating factors have been examined in previous research, knowledge about the influence of individual differences remains limited. This study offers further insights into the moderating role of age that leads to diverse assortment size preferences. Particularly, we conduct an online experiment in online donations where participants make actual donations to charities that they choose from either large or small assortments. Our study affirms that older customers assign more value on options chosen from platforms with relatively larger assortments. Hence, this study contributes to the choice overload literature regarding perceived value by considering age. Managers of digital platforms can use the presented findings to match assortment with customer age.