Between Simplicity and Holism

What happens when we intend to purchase a cell phone, a tennis racket, an energy drink? Regarding purchase choices, the marketing literature tells us that each product can be seen as a mix of attributes able to satisfy one or more needs and that the consumer makes his/her choices evaluating such a mix of attributes. For the cell phone, these can be the quality of the screen, duration of the battery, brand; for a tennis racket, the weight, convenience, the champions using it on the court etc.
In order to analyze the product evaluation process, conjoint analysis is the most widespread approach in marketing theory and practice. In short, conjoint analysis defines certain product configurations on basis of the various mixes of attributes, and then surveys a sample of consumers with selected configurations of a product, gathering their preferences along the process. Although important and widespread, conjoint analysis does not always manage to adequately represent consumer choice, because as with any analytical approach, there are assumptions and limitations hindering its applicability. New research approaches have recently emerged which try to represent more closely consumer choice, and they look in two directions: higher simplicity and higher complexity.
In fact, in certain cases consumers adopt "non-compensatory" criteria for their choices, that is, they do not trade off one attribute for another: for instance, they are not willing to consider a cell phone having a battery lasting less than 10 hours, or consider a beverage attractive just because it sponsors a women's sport event, no matter what their other attributes are. In other words, consumers often use simpler heuristics to assess their purchase options, which are then based on necessary and/or sufficient conditions.
Conversely, in other cases, the choice setting is so complex and the parameters so many (e.g. a tourist package) that the consumer is unable to identify and evaluate the single attributes, and anyway he/she would be at a loss weighing 30 or 40 product alternatives according to a conjoint logic, but what he/she perceives and assesses is the overall congruity of the various attributes. In these cases, the consumer "holistically" evaluates the purchase experience, and various configurations of attributes can turn out to be equivalent for purchasing intent. New approaches and models are thus required to identify the "suitability" among the many elements of a product.

The Bocconi Department of Marketing and its CERMES research center are focusing on these two research strands, by activating several lab- and field-type experimental projects and developing a partnership with the Kellogg School of Management for the creation of a global observatory on consumer spending.