Complexity, uniqueness, and similarity in between‐bundle choice

Abstract

When offering product/service bundles to customers, marketers must decide how best to configure the bundles such that consumers do not find the bundle‐choice particularly difficult. This paper examines perceived decision difficulty in selecting from a menu of bundles, where the bundles vary on the number of component services, the number of unique services between competing bundles, and their perceived similarity. It is found that larger bundles make decisions more difficult, more unique services between the competing bundles increases decision difficulty for small, but not large, bundles and similar bundles pose greater choice difficulty than dissimilar bundles. Implications of the results are discussed.