The Drivers of Consumer Value in the ECR Category Management Model

This paper critically evaluates the proposed structure and contents of a frequentlydiscussed Category Management (CM) model in the Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) context. Based on this we present an extensive empirical study where the datafrom a survey of 202 household representatives are merged with their actualpurchasing data taken from a consumer purchase panel (430,000 purchase observations). The results from an exploratory factor analysis and subsequentmultiple regression analyses show that the investigated CM model needs to be amended by personnel and point-of-sale aspects as they affect Consumer Value significantly. The investigated differences between the drivers of Consumers’ Value call for including both survey and consumer purchase data and consequently incorporating attitudinal and behavioural aspects into Category Management.