Nelson (1970, 1974) proposes a classification of search and
experience goods based on consumers’ ability to discover
product quality before purchase. Although Nelson assumes
that experience leads to certainty about product quality for
experience goods, others argue that experience often provides
ambiguous information, and thus consumers may
remain uncertain about product quality even after gaining
experience (Ha and Hoch 1989; Hoch and Deighton 1989;
Hoch and Ha 1986). Notwithstanding extensions (Darby
and Karni 1973) and qualifications (Alba et al. 1997; Hoch
and Deighton 1989; Wright and Lynch 1995), the experience
versus search good classification remains widely
accepted in the marketing literature (Klein 1998).