Price-Framing Effect on the Purchase of Hedonic and Utilitarian Bundles

Marketers are increasingly offering bundles that combine cross-category, seemingly unrelated items. This articles examines the conditions under which framing a discount as saving on certain items of cross-category bundles is more effective for increasing bundle purchased. Three experiments show that the purchase of a cross-category bundle is more likely when the discount is framed as savings on the relatively hedonic component rather than as savings on the utilitarian component or on the total bundle. The authors explain the findings based on the notion that a discount provides a justification that increased the likelihood of hedonic purchases but has little impact on utilitarian consumption. The article concludes with a discussion of managerial implication of the findings.