The impact of the measurement unit of unit price on consumer preference and choice

• Author(s): Silva, João Carlos de Paiva Coelho Machado
• Date: 2010
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/10289
• Origin: Repositório Institucional da UNL
• Subject(s): Unit price; Nominal value; Preference reversals; Consumer behavior
• Document Type: Master thesis
• Language: English
• Advisor(s): De Wilde, Els
• Contributor(s): RUN

Description

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

This project studies how variations in the measurement unit of unit price affect consumers’ preference and choice. Particularly, we contend that consumers’ relative preference for the same two option is different when options’ unit price is presented in a large measurement unit – per kg; than when options’ unit price is presented in a small measurement unit – per 100g. Moreover, consumers’ choice will shift more to lower unit price options when options’ unit price is presented in larger measurement unit – per kg. Two experiments confirmed our hypotheses. Implications and future research on the topic are discussed.