Pricing
Tactic

Don't Bundle Cheap and Expensive Items

Customers focus on the average, rather than the sum.

$500 fitness gym being bundled with $5 fitness DVD

Overview

Cheap items detract value from expensive items.

Don’t bundle a $500 home gym with a $5 fitness DVD (Brough & Chernev, 2012).

Customers tend to average these values. By adding a $5 DVD, you're pushing the perceived value from $505 to $250. It's better economically, but it feels worse psychologically.

  • Brough, A. R., & Chernev, A. (2012). When opposites detract: Categorical reasoning and subtractive valuations of product combinations. Journal of Consumer Research, 39(2), 399- 414.