Influence of price endings on price recall: a by‐digit analysis

Abstract

Although it has been proposed that recall processes play a role in the retail sales effects of 9‐ending pricing, substantial effects of price endings on the level of recalled prices has not been demonstrated. With an improved testing procedure, it is found that the level of a set of prices with low ending digits (such as 1 or 2 in the dollars place) is more likely to be overestimated in recall than the level of equivalent sets of prices with high ending digits (such as 6, 7, or 9 in the dollars place). The results of the study support the role of left‐to‐right processing of price information and point out some consequences for retailers of the use of low numbers in price‐ending digits.