The effect of price fluency and duration framing in price advertisements

Abstract

We examined how the perceptual fluency of prices would interact with the time framing of discount durations and, thereby, affect consumer responses to price advertisements. We propose that consumers would perceive a fit or unfit from the relation between fluency and time framing because both concepts relate to consumer construal and consumer mindsets. Our two experiments supported the positive impact of fit on consumers, showing that when the discount duration was presented either in a small unit (i.e. days) or in an expansive time frame (i.e. anytime), participants showed a higher intention to buy the product if prices were fluent (vs. disfluent) to process. In contrast, when the duration was expressed in a large unit (i.e. week) or in a restrictive time frame (i.e. only), participants’ purchase intention was higher if prices were disfluent (vs. fluent). Moreover, in Experiment 2, participants experienced more positive emotions when a fit (vs. unfit) existed between price fluency and duration framing, leading them to perceive the product to be of greater value.