Adding consumer behavior insights to category management: Improving item placement decisions

Although practitioners attribute significant sales growth to category management, many believe more potential lies untapped. This paper suggests improvements through the use of consumer behavior research as a supplement to point-of-purchase scanner information. In particular, we outline several concepts and theories with special promise in six decision areas of category management, suggesting opportunities for both future research and industry application. An empirical demonstration of one such opportunity is presented showing how two consumer behavior concepts – context effects and categorization theory – reveal insights relevant to item placement decisions within category management that would not be revealed by scanner data.