LexiconChannels
Holdout group
مجموعة المقارنة
Definition
A holdout group is a set of comparable units deliberately left without an offer or campaign, so that its effect can be read as the gap between the two groups in the same weeks. In a branch network it means pairing branches alike in sales, neighbourhood and city, so that Ramadan, payday and weather fall on both equally.
In plain words
Branches that match the offer branches but get no offer, so you can compare the two results.
Also searched as
- control group
- holdout test
- holdout branches
- matched-market test
- مجموعة المقارنة
Origin and credit
The concept comes from Controlled field experiments, as used in the advertising research of Lewis and Rao and of Blake, Nosko and Tadelis. What the series adds is the application to Saudi multi-branch groups and the decision rule.
Original source
Where it is used
In the Channel Ledger
In Beneath Marketing
- The offer brought in sales… or would they have come anyway?Beneath Marketing · Episode 2 · The idea beneath the number
- The offer brought in sales… or would they have come anyway?Beneath Marketing · Episode 2 · The Sunday-morning question
- The offer brought in sales… or would they have come anyway?Beneath Marketing · Episode 2 · This week
Related terms
How to cite this definition
Alhajj, S. (2026). “Holdout group”. In The Revenue Engineering Lexicon, version 1.0. Riyadh. https://seiflden.com/lexicon/holdout-group/
For the concept itself, cite the original: Randall A. Lewis & Justin M. Rao, Quarterly Journal of Economics 130(4), 2015.