More Than Aesthetic: Visual Boundaries and Perceived Variety

Many online retailers use seemingly innocuous visual boundaries when presenting choice sets to consumers. In contrast to previously studied aspects of information presentation, visual boundaries do not alter underlying information structure. The authors argue that, beyond their aesthetic role, visual boundaries can systematically increase or decrease perceived choice variety but the impact of visual boundaries on variety perceptions depends on consumer cognitive load. Study 1 finds that, by-attribute (vs. alternative) boundaries increase (decrease) perceived variety under high but not low cognitive load. Study 2 further demonstrates that retailer intent moderates the interaction between visual boundaries and cognitive load such that, when cognitive load is high, effects of visual boundaries on perceived variety are strengthened when consumers believe that retailers use boundaries to aid consumer navigation but reversed when they believe retailers use boundaries to persuade consumers to make purchases. Finally, Study 3 rules out attribute order and number of attribute levels as alternative accounts for the effect and enhances generalizability through a different manipulation of cognitive load. This work advances understanding of how simple environmental cues affect consumer behavior, with implications for retail strategy.