Room for Opportunity: Resource Scarcity Increases Attractiveness of Range Marketing Offers

Abstract

LINYING (SOPHIE) FAN XUENI (SHIRLEY) LI YUWEI JIANG Although marketing offers with flexible price options within a range of two endpoints (i.e., range offers) have been frequently used in various contexts, such as discount ranges, flexible pricing, and deal quotations, our understanding of how consumers react to this pricing strategy is rather limited. The current research suggests that consumers' reaction to range marketing offers may depend on their general sense of scarcity. Eight studies show that reminders of resource scarcity induce a promotion orientation among consumers, which consequently increases consumers' favorability toward range marketing offers. This effect is found to strengthen when the range of the offer becomes wider, and to weaken when the range offer cannot provide a better-than-reference outcome. These findings result in novel theoretical insights about the ways consumers react to range marketing offers. From a managerial perspective, this research offers tactics that companies can use to potentially increase the acceptance and effectiveness of range marketing offers.

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