Reducing Assortment: An Attribute-Based Approach
Peter Boatwright and Joseph Nunes study an online grocer that cut the number of items sharply across nearly all of its categories, mostly low sellers. Looking at sales in the categories they examined, they found that sales rose on average, that most categories and most households spent more, and that customers welcomed the loss of redundant items. Category sales still depended on how many items were left and on whether the attributes that matter most, brand and flavour above all, stayed available. The paper was later cited together with a 2004 correction note, and a 2005 study reported its sales result as no significant change. It covers one grocer and one set of categories.
Peter Boatwright and Joseph Nunes study an online grocer that cut the number of items sharply across nearly all of its categories, mostly low sellers. Looking at sales in the categories they examined, they found that sales rose on average, that most categories and most households spent more, and that customers welcomed the loss of redundant items. Category sales still depended on how many items were left and on whether the attributes that matter most, brand and flavour above all, stayed available. The paper was later cited together with a 2004 correction note, and a 2005 study reported its sales result as no significant change. It covers one grocer and one set of categories.
Written from the crossref abstract read 2026-10-21.
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Boatwright, P., & Nunes, J. C. (2001). Reducing Assortment: An Attribute-Based Approach. Journal of Marketing, 65(3), 50-63. doi:10.1509/jmkg.65.3.50.18330