Purchase Cue Superiority: Sales vs. Stock Level

What it measures

Five items assess which of two informational cues — sales volume or remaining stock — consumers regard as the more diagnostic basis for evaluating competing products. Developed for a supplementary study appended to Study 1, in which MTurk participants were presented with two identically priced books differing only in their sales and stock-level figures.

Response format

7-point semantic differential (1=Stock level is a better indicator; 7=Sales level is a better indicator)

Scale items

• a better indicator of the popularity of each _____?
• a better indicator of the quality of each _____?
• more useful in forming your preferences of the _____s. [1=The stock level information is more useful; 7=The sales level information is more useful]
• more helpful in forming your preferences of the _____s. [1=The stock level information is more helpful; 7=The sales level information is more helpful]
• have more influence on your preference of the _____s. [1=The stock level information has more influence; 7=The sales level information has more influence]

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Item wording was modified from the version supplied by the first author to improve clarity and generalisability across product categories; blanks should be filled with the product type under comparison (e.g., 'book'). Poles for items 1–2 are 'Stock level is a better indicator / Sales level is a better indicator'; poles for items 3–5 use fuller sentence forms as shown in the items. Refer to the original article for the unmodified wording.

Citation

He, Y., & Oppewal, H. (2018). See how much we've sold already! Effects of displaying sales and stock level information on consumers' online product choices. Journal of Retailing, 94(1), 45–57.

Keywords