Research Conversation with Marketing PhD Alum Siddharth Bhatt

Which non-conscious influences impact consumers’ evaluations of products’ prices?

When you go to shop in stores, you are non-consciously processing a lot of seemingly irrelevant cues in the store environment. Without your conscious awareness, these cues influence you. More specifically, as you look at prices of different products you believe that you consciously evaluate the price information and based on it decide to buy or reject the product. However, while processing the price information, you are anchoring on several cues in the store environment which influence how you feel about the price and this impact your decisions.

Non-conscious influences on pricing remains an important area of research in marketing. Findings from my research advance our understanding of how we evaluate prices, and of numbers in general. It provides retailers with strategies to influence consumers’ willingness to purchase their products. It also cautions consumers against certain influences that non-consciously impact their choices.