Intuitive judgments effects when evaluating a product assortment

Overview & Synopsis

In this paper, we apply Intuition Theory to the understanding of consumer’s choice in stores. Using perceived time for choosing and expertise in the product category as proxies, we distinguish between system 1 and system 2, respectively intuitive and deliberative, and in the former, we further distinguish between intuition based on expertise and intuition based on heuristics. For each decision process, we then explore organization and variety influences on consumers’ attitude and purchase intention. Our results (504 observations in 3 product categories, n = 184) suggest that while consumer’s evaluation in system 2 or in system 1 based on heuristics relies more heavily on assortment’s organization than on the variety displayed, intuitive judgment based on expertise relies almost equally on both.