ABSTRACT. Two consumer strategies for the purchase of multiple items from a product class are contrasted. In one strategy (simultaneous choices/ sequential consumption), the consumer buys several items on one shopping trip and consumes the items over several consumption occasions. In the other strategy (sequential choices/sequential consumption), the consumer buys one item at a time, just before each consumption occasion. The first strategy is posited to yield more variety seeking than the second. The greater variety seeking is attributed to forces operating in the simultaneous choices/sequential consumption strategy, including uncertainty about future preferences and a desire to simplify the decision. Evidence from three studies, two involving real products and choices, is consistent with these conjectures. The implications and limitations of the results are discussed.
Consumption of products often is separated temporally from the decision to buy those products. Hence, when making a purchase decision, consumers must predict their preferences at the time of consumption (Kahneman and Snell, in press; March 1978). The decision is complicated further if consumers want to avoid going to the store before each consumption occasion and decide to buy several items in a category for a number of occasions. For example, in one shopping trip a consumer might purchase a week's supply of yogurt. The research reported here examines the strategies consumers use when making multiple purchases in a product category for future consumption. The behavior of consumers who make multiple purchases in a product class for several consumption occasions is compared with that of consumers who purchase one item at a time before each consumption occasion.
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