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The Effects of Recommended Retail Prices on Consumer and Retailer Behaviour

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  • Lisa Bruttel

Abstract

This paper presents results from an experiment on the effects of recommended retail prices on consumer and retailer behaviour. We present evidence that recommended retail prices, despite their non‐binding nature, influence consumers’ willingness to pay by setting a reference point. At a given price, consumers buy more the higher the recommended retail price is, and their demand drops at prices above the recommended retail price, even when it is entirely uninformative about the value of the product. Retailers in this study are subject to similar anchoring effects, but they do not anticipate consumers’ behaviour well and are thus not able to exploit their behavioural biases.

Suggested Citation

  • Lisa Bruttel, 2018. "The Effects of Recommended Retail Prices on Consumer and Retailer Behaviour," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 85(339), pages 649-668, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:econom:v:85:y:2018:i:339:p:649-668
    DOI: 10.1111/ecca.12218
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Haan, Marco A. & Heijnen, Pim & Obradovits, Martin, 2023. "Competition with list prices," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 502-528.
    2. In Kyung Kim & Vladyslav Nora, 2017. "Buyer Power and Information Disclosure," Working Papers 1707, Nazarbayev University, Department of Economics, revised Feb 2018.
    3. Hunold, Matthias & Werner, Tobias, 2023. "Algorithmic price recommendations and collusion: Experimental evidence," DICE Discussion Papers 410, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).

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