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Pick a card: Price ranges and gift card choice

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  • Carlson, Jay P.
  • Paul, Iman

Abstract

Gift cards are wildly popular with consumers. Vast assortments of gift cards are available at many regional and national retail stores (e.g., grocery, convenience, home improvement). The present research examines consumer reactions to price range amounts displayed on gift cards (e.g., $20-$100; $25-$250). Commonly affixed to gift cards to convey possible purchase loads, price ranges appear to serve as contextual information for a desired purchase load as a gift that can affect beliefs about the recipient's views of the gift card i.e., metaperceptions. Specifically, these metaperceptions tend to be more negative for a gift card displaying a price range when the desired purchase load is the lower bound rather than the upper bound. These beliefs can, in turn, affect gift card choice, but only when social risk is applicable. Four studies provide support for the theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlson, Jay P. & Paul, Iman, 2022. "Pick a card: Price ranges and gift card choice," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:65:y:2022:i:c:s0969698921004379
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102871
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jennifer Pate Offenberg, 2007. "Markets: Gift Cards," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 227-238, Spring.
    2. Otnes, Cele & Lowrey, Tina M & Kim, Young Chan, 1993. "Gift Selection for Easy and Difficult Recipients: A Social Roles Interpretation," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 20(2), pages 229-244, September.
    3. Gupta, Aditya & Eilert, Meike & Gentry, James W., 2020. "Can I surprise myself? A conceptual framework of surprise self-gifting among consumers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
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    5. Gunasti, Kunter & Baskin, Ernest, 2018. "Is a $200 Nordstrom Gift Card Worth More or Less Than a $200 Gap Gift Card? The Asymmetric Valuations of Luxury Gift Cards," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 94(4), pages 380-392.
    6. Jennifer J. Argo & Kelley J. Main, 2008. "Stigma by Association in Coupon Redemption: Looking Cheap because of Others," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 35(4), pages 559-572, July.
    7. Christina Kan & Donald R. Lichtenstein & Susan Jung Grant & Chris Janiszewski, 2014. "Strengthening the Influence of Advertised Reference Prices through Information Priming," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 40(6), pages 1078-1096.
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    Cited by:

    1. Septianto, Felix & Sung, Billy & Duong, Chien & Conroy, Denise, 2023. "Are two reasons better than one? How natural and ethical appeals influence consumer preferences for clean meat," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    2. Reshadi, Farnoush, 2023. "Failing to give the gift of improvement: When and why givers withhold self-improvement gifts," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    3. Huang, Yu-Shan (Sandy) & Dootson, Paula, 2022. "Chatbots and service failure: When does it lead to customer aggression," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).

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