PRICE TAG

Difference in The Time It Takes Women To Look At The Price Tag On An Item Of Clothing

Difference in the Time It Takes Women To Look At The Price Tag On An Item Of Clothing

Literature Review

Many women do believe that a price tag speaks volumes about the garment's perceived and practical worth. A garment's cost exercises a significant power over consumers. It is one of the key determinant's in assessing a garment's worth and ultimately, price does influence whether the customer will buy it or not. Price remains the number-one piece of information important to a garment purchase for an overwhelming percentage of women. In the fourth quarter of 2008, 79.7% of female respondents indicated price was of essential interest, far surpassing other factors like fabric content, laundering instructions and even designer name.

Tactical approaches

Considerable strategic effort has to be undertaken to make improvements in product quality and offer reductions in price (via cost reductions) in order to enhance perceived value. Tactical approaches, like presenting price information in a bundled vs. unbundled format and alternative forms of promotions (e.g. free options, conventional discounts and rebates), also influence perceptions of value and behavioral intentions (Grewal and Compeau, 1992; Compeau and Grewal, 1998). Therefore, marketers must consider both strategic actions that result in actual improvements as well as tactical acts that improve perceptions of value by presenting their products and promotions in the most favorable light.

Promotions and the price quality-value-purchase chain

The conceptual models of Dodds et al. (1991) and Grewal et al. (1998) provide the theoretical framework for the influence of promotions on price acceptability, quality, value and purchase intentions (see Figure 1). The model provides a framework for studying the effects of bundling and framing on perceptions of price, quality and value in addition to purchase intentions.

Figure 1. Role of promotional frames on the price-quality-value chaintci

Attractiveness of promotion

Price promotions can be developed and presented using a bundling (e.g. buy a hamburger and large drink and get fries for an extra $25) or unbundling tactic (item discounts provided). Even when the total amount of a discount remains constant, the format of the promotional discount can influence a variety of perceptions related to the attractiveness of the promotion. Bundled discounts aggregated into one large amount may be perceived as delivering a different level of value than those that are unbundled as several segregated discounts (Yadav and Monroe, 1993).

Price presentation cues (bundling vs. unbundling of discounts)

The value function developed by Kahneman and Tversky (1979, 1984; Tversky and Kahneman, 1981) provides the conceptual framework for understanding the impact of different levels of bundling of discount information on price perceptions. Three critical features are inherent within the value function. First, it is defined on deviations from a reference point, incorporating the notion that the value of a particular outcome is evaluated on the basis of gains and losses. Second, the value function is commonly S-shaped, generally concave for gains and convex for losses. This shape reflects the general tendency for people to be ...