Asymmetric choice patterns across higher-quality and lower-quality brands

Existing research suggests that adding a dominated brand to a choice set benefits higher-quality brands more than lower-quality brands. For example, although adding a dominated brand to a choice set generally increases the choice share of the dominating or target brand (attraction effect; Huber, Payne, and Puto 1982), the added brand increases choice shares of higher-qualify targets more than choice shares of lower-quality targets (Heath and Chatterjee 1993). We report an experiment that investigates choices and relative preferences between a higher quality (higher priced) brand and a lower quality (lower priced) brand. The results indicate that (1) subjects choosing the higher-quality brand prefer their brand more than subjects choosing the lower-quality brand prefer theirs, (2) adding a dominated brand increases the choice share of the higher-quality brand but not the lower-quality brand, and (3) adding a brand dominated by the lower-quality but not higher-quality brand can increase the higher-quality brand's choice share if that brand is obviously superior to the added brand.