Consumers' Preference Shifts Under the Deletion of Common Features with Varying Attractiveness: An Examination of Competing Explanations

摘要

When necessary, marketers might delete common features of apromotional package that have also been deleted by competitors.This research examined two hypotheses of how the deletion of com-mon features of varying attractiveness affects consumers' prior pref-erences. When participants were informed that a common feature oftheir available choices was unavailable, their preference decreasedrelatively for one alternative compared with another alternative.This effect was not contingent on the deleted feature's attractiveness.The findings reveal that the deletion of common features tends tomotivate consumers to disregard the overall utility of the priorpreferred option rather than to activate confirmatory reasoning forconsolidating a previous choice. Thus, by deleting common featuresof a promotional package, marketers risk altering consumers'prior preferences and may lose their advantage over competitors