As consumers we make decisions every day—about whether or not to purchase a product, which brand to buy, what price is appropriate, or what quantity is needed. People make decisions everyday of their life. In most circumstances, having more options to choose from is desirable. But what if we have too many alternatives to consider when we make a decision? In the present work we investigate how two aspects of a consumer decision, decision control and the number of alternatives, affect consumers. Two studies examine how consumers’ (a) decision control and (b) the number of alternatives affect consumers when they shop online. In Study 1 we find that the positive aspects of a decision (product attitude and purchase intention) can be enhanced by presenting consumers with control of the decision. In Study 2, we further explored how consumers can achieve more positive responses in a situation prompting potential choice overload. Two studies were held in a computer lab, where the participants could visit an online shopping mall website. The participants in study 1 had the goal of buying an MP3 player and in study 2, a USB security memory stick. An artificial online shopping mall was used to control for the possible influence of specific brand name. We found that all negative measures of the decision, namely regret, hesitation, and difficulty, were lower when an advertisement for the product was present during the decision and there were many alternatives to choose between. In addition to reducing negative reactions, the presence of ad also bolstered positive aspects of the decision. Satisfaction, purchase intention, and attitude toward the product all increased in the presence of ad when there were many alternatives. Increased positive feelings were also associated with the presence of ad in the condition with few alternatives, but generally to a lesser degree. Evidently when an ad is present, consumers tend to unconsciously simplify their decision process, thus decreasing the negative reactions and enhancing the positive ones. There are managerial implications. First, from the marketer’s point of view, it is important to ensure consumers have control. Second, although past research has studied how decision makers themselves invoke heuristics to simplify their decisions, the findings from the present work suggest a basis for how companies might install in consumers a proclivity to adopt a heuristic-based rather than a systematic approach to processing large quantities of product data. In order to improve this research, the following points should also be considered. First of all, the on-line purchase decisions conducted were only hypothetical in nature. Would shoppers respond the same way in a real purchase situation? Second, to fully understand when the presence of an ad would lead to heuristic processing, and when it would not needs more investigation. Furthermore, future studies should also control for factors such as consumers’ knowledge, and motivational factors should be considered as well as additional situational factors.

作为消费者，我们每天做决定，关于是否要购买产品，买哪个牌子，什么价格是合适的，或多少数量是必要的。为民作主的生活日常。在大多数情况下，有更多的可供选择的方案是可取的。但是，如果我们有太多的选择时要考虑我们作出决定？在目前的工作中，我们探讨如何的两个消费决策，决策的控制和替代品的数量方面，影响消费者。两项研究探讨消费者如何“（一）决定控制和（b）替代品的数量影响消费者网上购物时。在研究1我们发现，决定的（产品的态度和购买意愿）的积极方面，可以通过向消费者所决定的控制增强。在研究2中，我们进一步探讨消费者如何能实现在过载情况促使潜在的选择更积极的回应。两项研究分别在计算机实验室，那里的参与者可以访问一个在线购物商城网站。在研究1，与会者有购买MP3播放器的目标，在研究2，USB记忆棒的安全。人工网上购物商城是用来控制特定品牌名称可能产生的影响。我们发现，决定一切消极的措施，即后悔，犹豫和困难，当一个较低的产品广告是在目前的决定，并有许多替代选择。除了减少不良反应，对广告的存在也带动了决策的积极方面。满意度，购买意向和对产品的态度都增加了广告的存在时，有许多的选择。增加积极的情绪也与该广告中存在的一些替代品的情况，但一般在较小的程度。显然，当一个广告存在，消费者往往不自觉地简化其决策过程，从而减少不良反应，加强正面的。有管理的影响。首先，从营销的角度来看，重要的是要确保消费者拥有控制权。其次，虽然过去的研究已经研究了决策者自己调用启发式简化他们的决定，从目前的工作，研究结果表明公司可能如何安装在消费者倾向采用启发式的，而不是一个系统的方法来处理大型基础大量的产品数据。为了改善这种研究，有以下几点，也应考虑。首先，在网上进行购买决策，只有假设性。将购物者的响应情况，在实际购买同样的方式？其次，要充分认识的时候，广告的存在将导致启发式处理，当它不会需要更多的调查。此外，未来的研究也应控制，如消费者的知识因素和激励因素，应被视为额外的情境因素，以及。