The Use of 9-Ending Prices among Modern Retail Chain Stores in Thailand

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the retailers pricing practice and the use of psychological pricing, particularly the prevalence of 9-ending prices, in a non-Western market. Prices, a total of 4,788 prices from 13 modern retail chain stores in Bangkok, Thailand, altogether with low-price cues, collected from retailers’ in-store promotional brochures are analyzed and tested for their relationships. Findings indicate that the use of 9-ending prices dominates the retailers pricing decision. The 9-ending prices are used to communicate lowprice appeal as the relationship between the use of 9-ending prices and discount claims is positive. However, not all low-price claims required the use of 9-ending prices, a negative relationship between 9-ending prices and reference prices is reported in this study. As several pricing research has been conducted in Western markets, this research expands our understanding of the retailer’s pricing practices and the use of 9-ending prices with different low-price cues in the Asian context.