Jack of All Trades or Master of One? Product Differentiation and Compensatory Reasoning in Consumer Choice

Alexander Chernev

Journal of Consumer Research, 2007, vol. 33, issue 4, 430-444

Abstract: This research examines consumer reactions to two common positioning strategies: a specialized-positioning strategy in which an option is described by a single feature, and an all-in-one strategy in which an option is described by a combination of features. The empirical data reported in this article demonstrate that a product specializing on a single attribute is perceived to be superior on that attribute relative to an all-in-one option, even when this attribute is exactly the same for both options. It is further shown that the observed devaluation of the all-in-one option can be mitigated by introducing another attribute on which the all-in-one option is inferior to the specialized option. (c) 2007 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

Date: 2007
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:jconrs:v:33:y:2007:i:4:p:430-444

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