Modeling Joint Purchases with a Multivariate MNL Approach

Our research examines the hypothesis that products chosen on a shopping trip to a supermarket indicate the preference interdependencies of consumers between different products or brands. The bundle chosen on the trip can be regarded as an indicator of a global utility function. This function implies a cross-category dependence of brand choice behavior. We hypothesize that the global utility function related to a product bundle is the result of the marketing-mix of the underlying brands. The structure of the chosen products allows us to uncover the impact of certain marketing-mix variables and product bundle buying behavior.