Satisfied and Well-informed Consumers

Expert consumers like to be surprised by unusual product presentation, while novices crave familiarity, so claims a new Pitt/USC study titled "Smart Subcategories: How Assortment Formats Influence Consumer Learning and Satisfaction," to be reported in the recent issue of "Journal of Consumer Research".

"How can retailers help consumers become more informed about the products they use while also making them happy?" write authors Cait Poynor, Pitt assistant professor of business administration in the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, and Stacy Wood, University of South Carolina professor of marketing. The answer seems to be in organizing products tailored to customers' knowledge levels. Their research indicates that simply organizing a store's existing stock in different ways can improve consumers' learning and their degree of satisfaction.

What works for one consumer may not work for another, however. The authors observed that highly knowledgeable consumers liked being surprised by product formats; conversely, novice consumers had an easier time when familiar with product groupings.

The data was collected from 123 undergraduate students who completed a two-part study as part of their course work. Both parts were carried out online where the presentation of information could be manipulated. The benefit of an online environment is the infinite number of ways Web sites can be organized, says Poynor.........