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Ending prices with “.99” can backfire on sellers

It makes consumers less likely to choose pricey upgrades

Setting a price just below a round number ($39.99 instead of $40) may lead consumers into thinking a product is less expensive than it really is – but it can sometimes backfire on sellers, a new study shows.

Researchers found that this “just-below” pricing makes consumers less likely to upgrade to a more expensive version of the product or service, such as a bigger size or higher-end trim on a car. The just-below price that makes a product itself seem like a good bargain also makes the leap to the premium product seem too expensive, said Junha Kim, lead author of the study and doctoral student in marketing at The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business.

“Going from $19.99 to $25 may seem like it will cost more than going from $20 to $26, even though it is actually less,” Kim said. “Crossing that round number threshold makes a big difference for consumers.” Kim conducted the study with Joseph Goodman and Selin Malkoc, both associate professors of marketing at Ohio State. Their research was published yesterday (Aug. 26, 2021) in the Journal of Consumer Research.

https://news.osu.edu/ending-prices-with-99-can-backfire-on-sellers/

Are you going to upgrade to the larger cup of coffee?

Tricks for Making a Vacation Feel Longer—and More Fulfilling

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One tip: Don’t pack the trip with scheduled events

By Suzanne Oliver for The Wall Street Journal

It feels like we just got here. How often have we all said that when a vacation is coming to an end? We blinked and it’s the last day. And then when we get home: It’s like we never left.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/tricks-for-making-a-vacation-feel-longer-and-more-fulfilling-11629839864

Why Hyper-organisation Can Backfire

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Featuring Selin Malkoc’s research in the BBC’s WorkLife column by Aysha Imtiaz
 
We all want to be more productive. But research shows that schedules don’t suit some tasks – and can even make us enjoy them less. … Structuring our lives too temporally robs leisure of its innate spontaneity and enjoyment…Malkoc’s research has also shown that when people schedule roughly – by drawing lines outside the confines of the calendar grid, adding question marks or shading in large blocks of time, people perceive the activity to be just as fun as a spontaneous, impromptu one. Yet this doesn’t lend itself to the digital world; as Malkoc points out: “There isn’t a real way to schedule roughly in a calendar.”

Why vacations seem so short

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By Selin Malkoc, July 7, 2021

When people look forward to something, they usually want it to happen as soon as possible and last as long as possible.

A beach with sun loungers and palms on Saona Island in the Dominican Republic. (Nikolay Antonov/Dreamstime/TNS)
For many people, summer vacation can’t come soon enough – especially for the half of Americans who canceled their summer plans last year due to the pandemic. But when a vacation approaches, do you ever get the feeling that it’s almost over before it starts? If so, you’re not alone.
In some recent studies, Gabriela Tonietto, Sam Maglio, Eric VanEpps and I conducted, we found that about half of the people we surveyed indicated that their upcoming weekend trip felt like it would end as soon as it started….full article here.

Why a vacation seems like it will end as soon as it begins

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Vacation...it seems like it takes forever to get here, and then it is over before you know it.Time not only flies when you’re having fun – sometimes anticipating a fun event makes it feel like it will be over as soon as it begins, a new study suggests. Researchers found that people judge future positive events as being both farther away as well as shorter in duration than negative or neutral events. Combining those two elements has a strange effect when people look forward to a positive event like a vacation, said Selin Malkoc, co-author of the study and associate professor of marketing at The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business.

“The seemingly endless wait for the vacation to start combined with the feeling that the vacation will fly by leads people to feel like the beginning and the end of their time off as similarly far from the present,” Malkoc said. “In other words, in their mind’s eye, the vacation is over as soon as it begins. It has no duration.”

The study was published online recently in the Journal of Consumer Psychology …and on MSN and Daily Mail.

Material & Experiential Purchases: Meta-analysis and Podcast

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We talk with JCR editor Andrew Stephen about our recent research, a meta-analysis on the experiential advantage, and the journey to publication, including what we learned about publishing meta-analyses.

Evan Weingarten, Joseph K Goodman (2021), “Re-examining the Experiential Advantage in Consumption: A Meta-Analysis and Review,” Journal of Consumer Research,  47 (April), 855–877, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucaa047

True Hobbies

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Selin Malkoc on The Lisa Show. “When we say the word “hobby”, we often think of leisure time Image result for hobbydevoted to casually doing something we love in our spare time. …but when it comes to time spent relaxing (and nothing else), how can we truly maximize our relaxation and not feel the need to be in a busy mindset? Joining us is Dr. Selin Malkoc, a behavioral scientist and marketing professor at The Ohio State University. She’s here to talk with us about how to really maximize our leisure time.”

Listen to the show here.

Santa Claus Business Helping Brick and Mortar Stores

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…Ohio State University’s Chair of the Marketing and Logistics Department Joe Goodman says this is the way to win at retail. “The retailers that are providing an experience for their consumers areImage result for santa coca cola the ones that are driving in traffic and getting consumers in the door. Once they can get you in the door, chances are, you’re probably going to buy something,” said Goodman. Goodman says the key is offering experiences that you can’t buy online….

https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/news/2019/12/20/santa-claus-business-helping-brick-and-mortar-stores