Carroll Kathryn A, Samek Anya, Zepeda Lydia
Department of Nutrition and Family Sciences, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, AR 72035, USA.
Rady School of Management, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
Foods. 2022 Mar 27;11(7):973. doi: 10.3390/foods11070973.
Product bundling is a common retail marketing strategy. The bundling of food items has the potential to increase profits in the grocery sector, particularly for fresh produce, which often has lower profit margins. Although prior work suggests consumers prefer bundles because they require less cognitive effort to select, no study has yet experimentally manipulated cognitive load when food bundles are included in the choice set. To test whether bundle preference differs when cognitive resources are constrained, a grocery shopping experiment was conducted with 250 consumers in the midwestern U.S., in a laboratory that featured a grocery store display. Consumers who grocery shopped under cognitive load had a higher odds of selecting a food bundle even when the bundle did not offer a price discount. Results suggest food bundles may be preferred because they require less cognitive effort to process, which could benefit consumers by simplifying the grocery shopping experience. Additional factors found to influence food bundle selection included whether the bundled items were perceived as being complementary and hunger levels. Food bundles could help lessen cognitive effort associated with grocery shopping and may especially appeal to those who do not enjoy food shopping.
产品捆绑销售是一种常见的零售营销策略。食品捆绑销售有可能提高食品杂货行业的利润，尤其是对于利润率通常较低的新鲜农产品而言。尽管先前的研究表明消费者更喜欢捆绑销售的商品，因为选择它们所需的认知努力较少，但尚未有研究在选择集中包含食品捆绑商品时，对认知负荷进行实验性操纵。为了测试当认知资源受到限制时，对捆绑销售商品的偏好是否会有所不同，在美国中西部对250名消费者进行了一项食品杂货购物实验，实验在一个设有食品杂货店陈列的实验室中进行。即使捆绑销售的商品没有价格折扣，在认知负荷下进行食品杂货购物的消费者选择食品捆绑商品的几率也更高。结果表明，食品捆绑销售的商品可能更受青睐，因为处理它们所需的认知努力较少，这可以通过简化食品杂货购物体验使消费者受益。发现影响食品捆绑销售商品选择的其他因素包括捆绑销售的商品是否被认为具有互补性以及饥饿程度。食品捆绑销售有助于减少与食品杂货购物相关的认知努力，可能尤其吸引那些不喜欢食品购物的人。
