Categorization influences choice
NYT: A Tool to Explain Affirmative Action: (requires a login) "If, for instance, a store arranges yogurt first by brand (like Dannon and Yoplait) and then by flavor within each brand, consumers will tend to select their flavors from the same brand.
On the other hand, the authors write, "If the products had been displayed with all the strawberry yogurts together, then all the lemon-lime yogurts, and so forth, consumers would most likely choose which flavors they wanted first, and then choose which brand name they would most like for that particular flavor."
Similarly, American supermarkets display meats by animal type - beef, chicken, pork, etc. - and then by cut. In Australia, by contrast, grocers arrange meats by the way they might be cooked, and stores use more descriptive labels, like "a 10-minute herbed beef roast." The result is that Australians buy a greater variety of meats.
How we classify goods changes how we make consumer choices."