Retail Influence on Evoked Set Formation and Final Choice of Shopping Goods Available to Purchase

Investigates retailers′ relative influence on consumers′ sequential decision‐making process of forming evoked sets and then making purchase decisions from the evoked sets. Describes a study in which consumers report on 23 durable goods grouped into three product categories. Evoked set sizes were smaller than those for previously studied convenience goods but larger than those suggested by recent reports on consumer durable purchases. The findings indicate that the influence of the retailer is higher in evoked set development than in the final purchase stage of consumer decision making and that the influence of the retailer on product choice varies significantly across different categories of durable products.