A Study of Consumers’ Bracketing Purchasing Behavior under the Perspective of Vertical Differentiation

在市场环境中，诸如苹果(Apple)和耐克(Nike)等具备显著竞争优势的优质商家，与快时尚品牌及小型电子产品店铺等低质量商家共存。前者凭借卓越的产品体验或性能表现吸引消费者，但同时也面临着由高退货率引发的财务压力；后者则依赖于成本控制策略，即便退货率较高，其财务损失通常也相对可控。现有消费者包围式购买行为研究虽已取得一定进展，但在解释现实复杂性方面仍显不足。通过对相关文献的深入分析可知，现有研究多集中于消费者行为模式或单一卖家策略，鲜少关注高、低质量商家在应对策略上的差异及其作用机制。本文从垂直差异化商家视角研究购买策略，研究发现在大众消费者的环境下，高质量卖家在单一购买情景下的销售利润更高，而低质量卖家在包围式购买情景下的销售利润最大。研究结论为企业管理实践提供了策略优化方向：商家需基于产品市场定位与竞争环境特征，制定差异化的营销方案。具体而言，其中高品质卖家应关注质量服务成本的管控，而低品质卖家则可考虑采用组合定价策略来增强市场占有率。另外，研究结果在平台经济背景下对动态定价和退换货政策的制定同样具有重要的参考价值。In market environments, high-quality sellers with significant competitive advantages, such as Apple and Nike, coexist with low-quality sellers, including fast fashion brands and small electronics retailers. The former attract consumers through superior product experiences or performance but face financial pressures due to high return rates, while the latter rely on cost-control strategies to mitigate financial losses, even under comparably high return rates. Although existing research on bracketing purchase behavior has made progress, it remains insufficient in explaining real-world complexities. A thorough analysis of the extant literature reveals that prior studies predominantly focus on consumer behavior patterns or single-seller strategies, with limited exploration of the divergent coping mechanisms and their operational dynamics between high-quality and low-quality sellers. This paper investigates purchasing strategies from the perspective of vertically differentiated sellers. The findings demonstrate that in mass consumer markets, high-quality sellers achieve higher sales profits under single-purchase scenarios, whereas low-quality sellers maximize profits under bracketing purchase scenarios. The conclusions provide strategic optimization directions for enterprise management practices: sellers must develop differentiated marketing plans based on product market positioning and competitive environment characteristics. Specifically, high-quality sellers should prioritize service cost management, while low-quality sellers may enhance market share through bundled pricing strategies. Additionally, the research outcomes offer critical insights for formulating dynamic pricing and return policies in platform-based economies.