Advertising, consumer awareness, and choice: evidence from the US banking industry

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Honka, Elisabeth; Hortacsu, Ali; Vitorino, Maria Ana
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Los Angeles; University of Chicago; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Minnesota System; University of Minnesota Twin Cities
• 刊物名称: RAND JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0741-6261
• DOI: 10.1111/1756-2171.12188
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 611-646
• 关键词: limited information; consideration set; switching costs; search; MODEL; COMPETITION; endogeneity; QUALITY; welfare; demand

摘要

How does advertising influence consumer decisions and market outcomes? We utilize detailed data on consumer shopping behavior and choices over bank accounts to investigate the effects of advertising on the different stages of the shopping process: awareness, consideration, and choice. We formulate a structural model with costly search and endogenous consideration sets, and show that advertising in the U.S. banking industry is primarily a shifter of awareness as opposed to consideration or choice. Advertising makes consumers aware of more options, search more, and find better alternatives. This increases the market share of smaller banks and makes the industry more competitive.