A replication and extension of the Dickson and Sawyer price-awareness study

Abstract

This research presents a replication and extension of the Dickson and Sawyer study (1986, 1990) of point-of-purchase price recall. We study the coffee and soda categories and estimate a multivariate model of the determinants of price recall. We find, as did Dickson and Sawyer, that consumers spend an apparently short time at the point of purchase and that in the coffee category only roughly half of purchasers can recall the exact price of the item they have purchased only seconds after having purchased it. However, we also find, differently than Dickson and Sawyer, that price-recall accuracy is significantly related to promotion status of the brand and category purchase frequency of the consumer. In addition, we find that recall accuracy is related to consumer self-report of price-comparison activity and is not related to time spent at the point of purchase or to a behavioral measure of brand loyalty. We interpret these findings and discuss the implications for future research and for managers.