Analysis of price bundling and framing: the impact of availability and discount messaging

• Published in: Sport, business and management Vol. 11; no. 5; pp. 493 - 514
• Main Authors: Won, Misun, Shapiro, Stephen L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bingley Emerald Publishing Limited 06-10-2021; Emerald Group Publishing Limited
• Subjects: Accounting; Consumer behavior; Consumers; Cost control; Discounts; Hotels & motels; Influence; Perceptions; Professional basketball; Purchase intention; Soccer; Tournaments & championships; Willingness to pay; Discount framing; Consumer behavior; Mixed bundling; Price bundling; Ticket pricing; Spectator sport; Scarcity; Willingness to pay; Purchase intention
• ISSN: 2042-678X; 2042-6798
• DOI: 10.1108/SBM-09-2020-0093

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine consumer behaviors toward a bundle of tickets and lodging using two different message framing: (1) scarcity framing for a high demand event, the All-Star Game, and (2) discount framing for a lower demand event, an MLB mid-week game.Design/methodology/approachData were collected through two online surveys of 836 sport consumers in total on Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and were analyzed using a mix of analysis of variances (ANOVAs) and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).FindingsConsumers are likely to buy products separately in a scarce situation. When discounts are offered as benefits of choosing a bundle, consumers with high willingness to pay (WTP) have higher purchase intentions (PI) and perceived value toward cumulative discounts.Originality/valueThis is the one of few studies that investigate (1) price bundling of products from two disparate industries where consumer demands fluctuate, (2) the effects of scarcity in a bundle, and (3) all possible discount messaging in a bundle.