Journal article
Designing Retail Bundles: Should You BYOB?
International journal of research in marketing
05/2026
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijresmar.2026.05.001
Abstract
This paper develops new modeling approaches for analyzing build-your-own-bundle (BYOB) data in retail settings. While BYOB studies are intuitive and less burdensome for respondents, they present challenges such as sparse data, limited treatment of bundle-level attributes (e.g., quantity discounts), and difficulty capturing product interdependence and preference heterogeneity. To address these limitations, we propose the Aggregate BYOB-MVL model, which integrates product interdependence and a screening-based representation of consumer heterogeneity within a tractable, closed-form framework. We further extend this approach with the Enriched BYOB-MVL model, which incorporates rank-order preference data to enable segment-level analysis. Using an empirical study of power tool bundles, we show that both models yield aggregate insights comparable to choice-based conjoint (CBC) analysis, while the enriched model provides additional segmentation insights. Our findings suggest that BYOB approaches, particularly when augmented with preference rankings, offer a practical and flexible alternative to CBC for bundle design and managerial decision-making.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Designing Retail Bundles: Should You BYOB?
- Creators
- I. Shaine Chiu - University of Wisconsin–MilwaukeeGary J. Russell - University of IowaThomas S. Gruca - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- International journal of research in marketing
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.ijresmar.2026.05.001
- ISSN
- 0167-8116
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 05/2026
- Academic Unit
- Marketing
- Record Identifier
- 9985164631502771
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