The Impact of Product Assortment on the Evaluation of Extremely Incongruent New Products

Abstract

Abstract:

Highly innovative products may offer consumers greater benefits than incrementally new products, yet they have a higher fail-ure rate. The current research addresses the challenge faced by new products that are extremely different from existing offerings by draw-ing on the theory regarding the evaluation of schema incongruity. The authors propose that consumers' positive evaluation of extremely in-congruent products will increase when firms use strategies that product assortment and thus the likelihood that consumers will be able to make sense of incongruent new products. The results of study 1 reveal that evaluation of visually extremely incongruent new products will increase when retailers display new product by substitute-based (vs. complement-based) assortment, whereas the conceptually extremely incongruent new products will be evaluated more positively by complement-based (vs. substitute-based) assortment. We use the E-Prime software to explore its underlying mechanism in study 2 and study 3. The underlying mechanism is that substitute-based (vs. complement-based) assortment can be processed more fluently and thus facilitate visually incongruity resolution, which leads to more positive evalua-tion. Whereas complement-based (vs. substitute-based) assortment can be processed more fluently and thus facilitate conceptually incongruity resolution, which leads to more positive evaluation. The current research contributes to the research on new product by finding that product assortment is considered to be one of the major factors of consumers' evaluation of new products. We believe this paper could provide useful implications to companies' strategic extremely incongruent new product promotion.

Key words: extremely incongruent new products, substitute-based assortment, complement-based assortment, processing fluency

Li Dongjin, Jin Huizhen, Zheng Jun. The Impact of Product Assortment on the Evaluation of Extremely Incongruent New Products[J]. , 2018, 30(9): 97-109,163.

References

[1] Jhang J. H., Grant S. J., Campbell M. C. Get It? Got It. Good! Enhancing New Product Acceptance by Facilitating Resolution of Extreme Incongruity[J]. Journal of Marketing Research, 2012,49(2):247-259
[2] Rindova V. P., Petkova A. P. When Is a New Thing a Good Thing? Technological Change, Product Form Design, and Perceptions of Value for Product Innovations[J]. Organization Science, 2007,18(2):217-232
[3] Noseworthy T. J., Trudel R. Looks Interesting, but What Does It Do? Evaluation of Incongruent Product Form Depends on Positio-ning[J]. Journal of Marketing Research, 2011,48(6):1008-1019
[4] Gourville J. T. Eager Sellers and Stony Buyers:Understanding the Psychology of New Product Adoption[J]. Harvard Business Re-view, 2006,84(6):98-106
[5] Wind J., Mahajan V. Issues and Opportunities in New Product Development:An Introduction to the Special Issue[J]. Journal of Marketing Research, 1997,34(1):1-12
[6] Ma Z. F., Gill T., Jiang Y. Core Versus Peripheral Innovations:The Effect of Innovation Locus on Consumer Adoption of New Products[J]. Journal of Marketing Research, 2015,52(3):309-324
[7] Meyers-Levy J., Tybout A. M. Schema Congruity as a Basis for Product Evaluation[J]. Journal of Consumer Research, 1989,16(1):39-54
[8] Hoeffler S. Measuring Preferences for Really New Products[J]. Journal of Marketing Research, 2003,40(4):406-420
[9] Noseworthy T. J., Cotte J., Lee S. H. The Effects of Ad Context and Gender on the Identification of Visually Incongruent Products[J]. Journal of Consumer Research, 2011,38(2):358-375
[10] Noseworthy T. J., Muro F. D., Murray K. B. The Role of Arousal in Congruity-Based Product Evaluation[J]. Journal of Consum-er Research, 2014,41(4):1108-1126
[11] Hoch S. J., Bradlow E. T., Wansink, B. The Variety of an Assortment[J]. Marketing Science, 1999,18(4):527-546
[12] Diehl K., Herpen E. V., Lamberton C. Organizing Products with Complements Versus Substitutes:Effects on Store Preferences As a Function of Effort and Assortment Perception[J]. Journal of Retailing, 2015,91(1):1-18
[13] Bezawada R., Pauwels K. What Is Special about Marketing Organic Products? How Organic Assortment, Price, and Promotions Drive Retailer Performance[J]. Journal of Marketing, 2013,77(1):31-51
[14] Lamberton C. P., Diehl K. Retail Choice Architecture:The Effects of Benefit-and Attribute-Based Assortment Organization on Consumer Perceptions and Choice[J]. Journal of Consumer Research, 2013,40(3):393-411
[15] Englis B. G., Solomon M. R. Using Consumption Constellations to Develop Integrated Communications Strategies[J]. Journal of Business Research, 1996,37(3):183-191
[16] Wisniewski E. J., Bassok M. What Makes a Man Similar to a Tie? Stimulus Compatibility with Comparison and Integration[J]. Cognitive Psychology, 1999,39(3-4):208-238
[17] Estes Z., Gibbert M., Guest D., et al. A Dual-Process Model of Brand Extension:Taxonomic Feature-Based and Thematic Rela-tion-Based Similarity Independently Drive Brand Extension Evaluation[J]. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 2012,22(1):86-101
[18] Noseworthy T. J., Finlay K., Islam T. From a Commodity to an Experience:The Moderating Role of Thematic Positioning on Congruity-Based Product Judgment[J]. Psychology & Marketing, 2010,275(5):465-485
[19] Yoo C., MacInnis D. J. Same or Different? How Distance and Variation Affect Similarity Judgments[J]. Psychology & Marketing, 2004,21(3):209-224
[20] Oppenheimer D. M. The Secret Life of Fluency[J]. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2008,12(6):237-241
[21] Newman C. L., Howlett E., Burton S. Effects of Objective and Evaluative Front-of-Package Cues on Food Evaluation and Choice:The Moderating Influence of Comparative and Noncomparative Processing Contexts[J]. Journal of Consumer Research, 2016,42(5):749-766
[22] 李东进,张成虎,马明龙. 脱销情境下消费者会购买相似品吗——自我建构视角的分析[J]. 南开管理评论, 2016,19(3):98-109
[23] Lee A. Y., Labroo A. A. The Effect of Conceptual and Perceptual Fluency on Brand Evaluation[J]. Journal of Marketing Re-search, 2004,41(2):151-165
[24] Cho H., Schwarz N. If I Don't Understand It, It Must Be New:Processing Fluency and Perceived Product Innovativeness[J]. Advances in Consumer Research, 2006,33(1):319-320
[25] Stapel D. A., Marx D. M. Hardly Thinking about Others:On Cognitive Busyness and Target Similarity in Social Comparison Effects[J]. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2006,42(3):397-405
[26] 何云,吴水龙,张媛,等. 时间距离与解释水平对赞助评价的影响研究[J]. 管理评论, 2013,25(10):138-146
[27] Zhao M., Hoeffler S., Dahl D. W. The Role of Imagination-Focused Visualization on New Product Evaluation[J]. Journal of Mar-keting Research, 2009,46(1):46-55
[28] Moreau C. P., Lehmann D. R., Markman A. B. Entrenched Knowledge Structures and Consumer Response to New Products[J]. Journal of Marketing Research, 2010,38(1):14-29
[29] 柳武妹,梁剑平. 选择红色还是蓝色——背景色彩影响视觉新产品评估的现象、中介及边界体制研究[J]. 南开管理评论, 2015,18(5):97-109
[30] Ma Z. F., Yang Z. Y., Mourali M. Consumer Adoption of New Products:Independent versus Interdependent Self-Perspectives[J]. Journal of Marketing, 2014,78(2):101-117
[31] Zhao X., Lynch J. G., Chen Q. Reconsidering Baron and Kenny:Myths and Truths about Mediation Analysis[J]. Journal of Consumer Research, 2010,37(2):197-206
[32] Preacher K. J., Rucker D. D., Hayes A. F. Assessing Moderated Mediation Hypotheses:Theory, Methods and Prescriptions[J]. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 2007,42:185-227
[33] Hayes A. F. An Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional Process Analysis:A Regression-Based Approach[M]. New York:Guilford Press, 2013
[34] Xu J., Jiang Z. X., Dhar R. Mental Representation and Perceived Similarity:How Abstract Mindset Aids Choice from Large As-sortments[J]. Journal of Marketing Research, 2013,50(4):548-559
[35] 冯文婷,汪涛,魏华,等. 孤独让我爱上你:产品陈列对孤独个体产品偏好的影响[J]. 心理学报, 2016,48(4):398-409
[36] 黄赞,王新新. 商品陈列方式、先验品牌知识与品牌选择决策——弱势品牌的视角[J]. 心理学报, 2015,47(5):663-678