Is $8.8 per kilogram more expensive than $3.99 per pound? An investigation of the effect of measurement units on price perceptions.

  • Published In: Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.), 2023, v. 40, n. 4. P. 407 1 of 3

  • Database: Business Source Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Liu, Yonglan; Thakor, Mrugank; Chen, Rui 3 of 3

Abstract

Retailers often display prices in different formats to make them appear more attractive. In some contexts, they can also attach prices to different measurement units—e.g., cereal can be priced at $3.99 per kg or equivalently at $1.36 per lb. In five experimental studies, we show that consumers' perceptions of expensiveness and consumer spending are heavily influenced by the numerical magnitude of the price ("3.99") with insufficient attention paid to the measurement unit ("kg"), that this overweighting of numerical magnitude persists across different price formats, and that product price perceptions mediate the effect of measurement system on the price image of the store. Our findings have implications for policy makers as well as pricing practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

  • Source:Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.). 2023/12, Vol. 40, Issue 4, p407
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Science
  • Publication Date:2023
  • ISSN:0825-0383
  • DOI:10.1002/cjas.1709
  • Accession Number:174030719
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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