Spatial Distance Effect in Shaping Perceived Similarity of Products in the Online Store

Purpose: Even though arranging images of products is a common practice in the online retail context, relatively little attention has been paid to the distance effect among alternatives, that is, how distance among displayed products can impact consumers’ responses. Drawing on contagion theory, the primary goal of the current study is to investigate how spatial distance between two products in a product display can influence consumers’ perceived similarity. Research design, data and methodology: This study used a 2(spatial distance: close vs. far) experimental design and collected data from undergraduate students in Korea through an online survey using Qualtrics. ANOVA was conducted to test the proposed effect, in which the dependent variables are the perceived similarity of usage occasion/purpose (Study 1) and the indexed differences of perceived brand statuses between two products (Study 2). Results: The results of both experiments indicated that the displayed products were perceived to be more similar to one another when products were presented close together (vs. far). Conclusions: The results help to fill a research gap and provide a better understanding of the role of physical distance in diverse marketing communications. This is especially useful when designing online shopping websites to form perceptions of brand images.