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A cross-category investigation into the effects of nine-ending pricing on brand choice

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  • Ngobo, Paul-Valentin
  • Legohérel, Patrick
  • Guéguen, Nicolas

Abstract

Retailers largely adopt nine-ending prices and these prices have attracted greater attention from researchers in marketing. Despite this increased interest, very few empirical studies have tried to quantify the effects of nine-ending prices on consumer actual behaviors. Those who have studied the behavioral effects of nine-ending prices have produced mixed findings. In this article, we investigated the cross-category effects of nine-ending pricing on consumer brand choice at the SKU level. We distinguished between different types of nine-ending while controlling for the rounded prices and other marketing-mix variables. We conducted our analysis on over 11,000 SKUs in 102 product categories of two (2) grocery retailers. We find that the effects of 99 ending prices on the SKU's category choice are larger in concentrated and promotional categories but smaller in expensive categories. However, their influence on purchase quantity is larger in expensive categories but smaller in concentrated categories.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:17:y:2010:i:5:p:374-385
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2010.03.018
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    Cited by:

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    2. Snir, Avichai & Levy, Daniel, 2021. "If You Think 9-Ending Prices Are Low, Think Again," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 6(1 (Forthc).
    3. Macé, Sandrine, 2012. "The Impact and Determinants of Nine-Ending Pricing in Grocery Retailing," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 115-130.
    4. Verma, Pranay & Sharma, Anil Kumar, 2018. "Assortment satisfaction: The tale of online footwear sales," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 57-65.
    5. Gaston-Breton, Charlotte, 2011. "Consumer Preferences for 99-ending prices: the mediating role of price consciousness," DEE - Working Papers. Business Economics. WB wb110503, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía de la Empresa.
    6. Gaston-Breton, Charlotte, 2011. "Promotional benefits of 99-ending prices: the moderating role of intuitive and analytical decision style," DEE - Working Papers. Business Economics. WB wb113809, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía de la Empresa.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. Mirela Martinčić & Dijana Vuković & Anica Hunjet, 2022. "Consumer Responses to Selected Activities: Price Increases, Lack of Product Information and Numerical Way of Expressing Product Prices," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-19, June.

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