IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joepsy/v36y2013icp96-102.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do consumers prefer round prices? Evidence from pay-what-you-want decisions and self-pumped gasoline purchases

Author

Listed:
  • Lynn, Michael
  • Flynn, Sean Masaki
  • Helion, Chelsea

Abstract

Consumers selected round prices and/or sales-totals at greater than chance levels across two different pay-what-you-want situations and one self-pumped gasoline purchase. The differences among these situations suggest that the tendency to select round prices/sales-totals reflects a subjective preference (or liking) for round prices and not a variety of other potential explanatory processes. Discussion focuses on possible economic consequences of this revealed preference for round prices as well as directions for future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Lynn, Michael & Flynn, Sean Masaki & Helion, Chelsea, 2013. "Do consumers prefer round prices? Evidence from pay-what-you-want decisions and self-pumped gasoline purchases," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 96-102.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:36:y:2013:i:c:p:96-102
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2013.01.010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016748701300024X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.joep.2013.01.010?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mark Stiving, 2000. "Price-Endings When Prices Signal Quality," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(12), pages 1617-1629, December.
    2. Stiving, Mark & Winer, Russell S, 1997. "An Empirical Analysis of Price Endings with Scanner Data," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 24(1), pages 57-67, June.
    3. Sonnemans, Joep, 2006. "Price clustering and natural resistance points in the Dutch stock market: A natural experiment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(8), pages 1937-1950, November.
    4. Regner, Tobias & Barria, Javier A., 2009. "Do consumers pay voluntarily? The case of online music," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 395-406, August.
    5. Lynn, Michael & Jabbour, Patrick & Kim, Woo Gon, 2012. "Who uses tips as a reward for service and when? An examination of potential moderators of the service–tipping relationship," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 90-103.
    6. Eric Anderson & Duncan Simester, 2003. "Effects of $9 Price Endings on Retail Sales: Evidence from Field Experiments," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 93-110, March.
    7. Flynn, Sean Masaki & Greenberg, Adam Eric, 2010. "Does Weather Actually Affect Tipping? An Empirical Analysis of Time Series Data," MPRA Paper 25118, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Manoj Thomas & Daniel H. Simon & Vrinda Kadiyali, 2010. "The Price Precision Effect: Evidence from Laboratory and Market Data," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(1), pages 175-190, 01-02.
    9. Schindler, Robert M. & Wiman, Alan R., 1989. "Effects of odd pricing on price recall," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 165-177, November.
    10. Riener, Gerhard & Traxler, Christian, 2012. "Norms, moods, and free lunch: Longitudinal evidence on payments from a Pay-What-You-Want restaurant," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 476-483.
    11. Sopranzetti, Ben J. & Datar, Vinay, 2002. "Price clustering in foreign exchange spot markets," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 411-417, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kunter Gunasti & Timucin Ozcan, 2019. "The role of scale-induced round numbers and goal specificity on goal accomplishment perceptions," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 207-217, June.
    2. Cross, Jeffrey & Zhang, Guangli, 2024. "Focal points for giving," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    3. Bayer, Ya'akov M. & Ruffle, Bradley J. & Shtudiner, Zeev & Zultan, Ro'i, 2018. "Costly superstitious beliefs: Experimental evidence," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 30-43.
    4. ChihChien Chen & YangSu Chen, 2017. "The impacts of different types of cuisines and restaurants on gratuities," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 16(2), pages 154-173, April.
    5. Meng, Charlotte C., 2023. "The price paid: Heuristic thinking and biased reference points in the housing market," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    6. Hackl, Franz & Kummer, Michael E. & Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf, 2014. "99 Cent: Price points in e-commerce," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 12-27.
    7. Gerpott Torsten J., 2016. "A review of the empirical literature on Pay-What-You-Want price setting," Management & Marketing, Sciendo, vol. 11(4), pages 566-596, December.
    8. Kukla-Gryz Anna & Zagórska Katarzyna, 2017. "The effects of individual internal versus external reference prices on consumer decisions for pay-what-you-want payments," Central European Economic Journal, Sciendo, vol. 4(51), pages 1-17, December.
    9. Rabbanee, Fazlul K. & Roy, Rajat & Sharma, Piyush, 2022. "Contextual differences in the moderating effects of price consciousness and social desirability in pay-what-you-want (PWYW) pricing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 13-25.
    10. Jan Wieseke & Anika Kolberg & Laura Marie Schons, 2016. "Life could be so easy: the convenience effect of round price endings," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 474-494, July.
    11. Petrowsky, Hannes M. & Schweinsberg, Martin & Seitz, Lennart & Funk, Burkhardt & Loschelder, David D., 2023. "Deal or no deal? How round vs precise percentage offers and price-ending mimicry affect impasse risk in over 25 million eBay negotiations," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    12. Nicole Koschate-Fischer & Katharina Wüllner, 2017. "New developments in behavioral pricing research," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(6), pages 809-875, August.
    13. Damon Alexander & Christopher Boone & Michael Lynnb, 2021. "The Effects of Tip Recommendations on Customer Tipping, Satisfaction, Repatronage, and Spending," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(1), pages 146-165, January.
    14. Fay, Scott & Lee, Seung Hwan (Shawn), 2015. "The role of customer expectations in name-your-own-price markets," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 675-683.
    15. Marcial López-Pastor & Jesús García-Madariaga & Joaquín Sánchez & Jose Figueiredo, 2020. "Demand Impact for Prices Ending with “9” and “0” in Online and Offline Consumer Goods Retail Trade Channels," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 10(6), pages 58-78.
    16. Jeong, Ji Youn & Crompton, John L., 2017. "The use of odd-ending numbers in the pricing of five tourism services in three different cultures," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 135-146.
    17. Andreas Kramer, 2016. "Using Experimental Survey Designs to Support Pricing Decisions," Business and Management Horizons, Macrothink Institute, vol. 4(1), pages 22-38, June.
    18. Anna Kukla-Gryz & Katarzyna Zagórska, 2017. "The strength of the anchoring effect on Pay What You Want payments: Evidence from a vignette experiment," Working Papers 2017-14, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ashton, John K. & Hudson, Robert S., 2008. "Interest rate clustering in UK financial services markets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1393-1403, July.
    2. Ngobo, Paul-Valentin & Legohérel, Patrick & Guéguen, Nicolas, 2010. "A cross-category investigation into the effects of nine-ending pricing on brand choice," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 374-385.
    3. Cardella, Eric & Seiler, Michael J., 2016. "The effect of listing price strategy on real estate negotiations: An experimental study," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 71-90.
    4. Marcial López-Pastor & Jesús García-Madariaga & Joaquín Sánchez & Jose Figueiredo, 2020. "Demand Impact for Prices Ending with “9” and “0” in Online and Offline Consumer Goods Retail Trade Channels," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 10(6), pages 58-78.
    5. Macé, Sandrine, 2012. "The Impact and Determinants of Nine-Ending Pricing in Grocery Retailing," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 115-130.
    6. Jan Wieseke & Anika Kolberg & Laura Marie Schons, 2016. "Life could be so easy: the convenience effect of round price endings," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 474-494, July.
    7. Béatrice Parguel & Annalisa Fraccaro & Sandrine Macé, 2021. "Compromise pricing in luxury," Post-Print halshs-03503443, HAL.
    8. Snir, Avichai & Levy, Daniel & Chen, Haipeng (Allan), 2017. "End of 9-endings, price recall, and price perceptions," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 157-163.
    9. Levy, Daniel & Snir, Avichai & Gotler, Alex & Chen, Haipeng (Allan), 2020. "Not all price endings are created equal: Price points and asymmetric price rigidity," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue forthcomi.
    10. Snir, Avichai & (Allan) Chen, Haipeng & Levy, Daniel, 2022. "Zero-ending prices, cognitive convenience, and price rigidity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 519-542.
    11. Chen, Haipeng (Allan) & Levy, Daniel & Snir, Avichai, 2017. "End of 9-Endings and Price Perceptions," MPRA Paper 76342, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Ortega, Ana M. & Tabares, Felipe A., 2023. "Psychological pricing: Myth or reality? The impact of nine-ending prices on purchasing attitudes and brand revenue," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    13. Kleinsasser, Sabine & Wagner, Udo, 2011. "Price endings and tourism consumers’ price perceptions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 58-63.
    14. Zhenling Jiang, 2022. "An Empirical Bargaining Model with Left-Digit Bias: A Study on Auto Loan Monthly Payments," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(1), pages 442-465, January.
    15. Mohamed Didi Alaoui, 2020. "L’effet d’adéquation entre la forme de présentation du prix et de la distance temporelle sur les réponses du consommateur : une approche par la théorie des niveaux de représentation," Post-Print hal-02870097, HAL.
    16. Asmus Olsen, 2013. "The politics of digits: evidence of odd taxation," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 154(1), pages 59-73, January.
    17. Mitra, Debanjan & Fay, Scott, 2010. "Managing Service Expectations in Online Markets: A Signaling Theory of E-tailer Pricing and Empirical Tests," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 184-199.
    18. Fraccaro, Annalisa & Macé, Sandrine & Parguel, Béatrice, 2021. "The not-so-odd couple: Odd pricing in a luxury context," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 356-365.
    19. Annalisa Fraccaro & Sandrine Macé & Béatrice Parguel, 2021. "The not-so-odd couple: Odd pricing in a luxury context," Post-Print halshs-03503449, HAL.
    20. Banerjee, Prantosh J. & Tripathi, Sanjeev & Sahay, Arvind, 2016. "When less is better than more: Just-below discount in tensile price promotions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 93-102.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Consumer preference; Pricing; Round numbers;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:36:y:2013:i:c:p:96-102. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/joep .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.