How Buyers Perceive Savings in a Bundle Price: An Examination of a Bundle's Transaction Value

Abstract

Although bundling, the selling of two or more products and/or services at a single price, has a history of economic research, marketing-oriented investigations have appeared only recently. This paper examines buyers’ perceptions of overall savings when they evaluate a bundle offer. Such perceptions of overall bundle savings may consist of two separate perceptions of savings, each with a different relative influence: (1) perceived savings on the individual items if purchased separately and (2) perceived additional savings on the bundle. Results of an experiment indicate that additional savings offered directly on the bundle have a greater relative impact on buyers’ perceptions of transaction value than savings offered on the bundle's individual items. The effect of each saving is also influenced by the magnitude of the other saving.