Consumers' perceptions of promotional framing of price

This article focuses on consumer perceptions of transaction value when pres ented with deals that are equivalent on a unit-cost basis but worded differ ently. Through an experimental design setting, it examines the effect of th ree such frames: one, stated in terms of a straight price promotion ("50% o ff"), the second, as an extra-product or volume promotion ("buy one, get on e free"), and a third as a "mixed" promotion ("buy two, get 50% off"). Four typical supermarket categories are considered which permit the investigati on of the effect of two category-based moderating factors: stock-up charact eristic and price level. Results show that the nature of framing appears to differentially affect consumer perceptions of value from "equivalent" deal s. Also, perceptions of deal value from price versus extra-product promotio ns are moderated by the stock-up characteristic of the category. However, c onsumers' internal reference prices remain unaffected across one-time price and extra-product promotions. These findings provide some understanding of the role of deal framing on consumers' responses, and offer implications f or industry practitioners interested in communicating the maximum value in their deals. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.