We develop a model of within-firm sequential, directed search and study a firm’s ability and incentive to steer consumers. We find that the firm often benefits from adopting a noisy positioning strategy, which limits the information available to consumers. This induces consumers to keep searching but discourages some of them from visiting the firm. This occurs even though the firm and the consumers have in common an interest in maximizing the probability of trade. Because of such noisy positioning, an increase in the size of the product line further discourages consumers from visiting the firm—consistent with choice overload.

中文翻译：

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消费者搜索、引导和选择过载

我们开发了一个公司内部连续、定向搜索的模型，并研究公司引导消费者的能力和动机。我们发现，公司经常受益于采用嘈杂的定位策略，这限制了消费者可获得的信息。这会促使消费者继续寻找，但会阻止他们中的一些人访问该公司。即使公司和消费者对最大化贸易可能性有共同的兴趣，这种情况也会发生。由于这种嘈杂的定位，产品线规模的增加进一步阻碍了消费者访问该公司——这与选择过多是一致的。