Beyond bundles: Choosing product bundles increases shopping basket size

Abstract

Grocery stores are increasingly grouping complementary products into meal bundles, a tactic that warrants further investigation. This research explores the impact of presenting bundles on overall purchases. Three experiments, supplemented with two studies and a meta-analysis in a Web Appendix, show that incorporating bundles into the assortment and having consumers select these bundles increases overall purchases. This effect is driven by consumers perceiving the bundled items as a unified whole, which alters their perception of product complementarity and leads them to underestimate their total purchases, prompting them to buy more. These findings underscore the efficacy of product bundling to enhance shopping basket size, a critical determinant of retail success.