Abstract

This study will evaluate if and in which way, the perception of numerosity of retail products on the shelf can be conditioned by supplying appropriate additional information, under the shape of Pop material. In two laboratory experiments, 382 participants had to order in terms of increasing numerosity of items, three different images depicting three different shelf displays. Each of these images had varying degrees of additional information. As theoretically predicted, our study shows that ("ceteris paribus", and in particular, in presence of an identical number of items characterizing each set) the estimate of product numerosity within the compared sets decreases monotonically when the amount of additional information on display increases. The introduction, and, a fortiori, the increase of additional information to certain products within the decision-making context is capable of generating an illusion of scarcity within these sets of products. Recent studies have shown that in certain circumstances within a product category, consumers choose the product characterized by a higher degree of shelf-based scarcity. Our study highlights that judgment of relative scarcity can be conditioned by using appropriate Pop material on display. Such material can be used in order to generate an illusion of scarcity within a category in correspondence with certain sub-categories. Similarly, within a sub-category, an illusion of scarcity could be produced in order to give certain brands advantages over others.