GROUPING DURABLE GOODS

Modelling consumer preferences has a long history of interest in the literature. Several approaches that have been proposed consider consumer behaviour to be hierarchical: products are divided into groups and preferences within a group are modelled independently. An important question that arises in these efforts concerns the development of appropriate higher level groups. This paper replicates and extends an earlier study by Pickering et al. (1973) in which product groups were developed based on consumer perceptions of product attributes. We collect survey data on perceived product attributes and similarity ratings for a set of durable products. Multiple measures are thus used to test the stability and consistency of product groups. A matrix of product similarity values is constructed for each of these two survey based measures. Cluster analysis is then performed to develop a grouping scheme for these durable goods. Although differences are observed, the product composition of the resulting product groups are remarkably in agreement. Based on these findings, suggestions for further research are outlined. © 1990, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.