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The psychology of discounting
打折心理學
Something doesn't add up
就是算不對
How marketers can take advantage of consumers'innumeracy
且看營銷人員如何利用數學盲消費者
WHEN retailers want to entice customers to buy a particular product, they typically offer it at a discount.
零售商想吸引顧客購買某種特別商品時，典型做法就是打折促銷了。
According to a new study to be published in the Journal of Marketing, they are missing a trick.
但是，一項發表在《市場營銷雜志》的新研究則說明了他們并未統攬全局，掌握所有竅門。
A team of researchers, led by Akshay Rao of the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, looked at consumers'attitudes to discounting.
以明尼蘇達大學卡爾森管理學院的阿卡什·勞為首的調查小組研究了消費者對打折的態度。
Shoppers, they found, much prefer getting something extra free to getting something cheaper.
他們發現，購物者們更喜歡贈品勝過打折品。
The main reason is that most people are useless at fractions.
主要原因在于多數人對分數運算束手無策。
Consumers often struggle to realise, for example, that a 50% increase in quantity is the same as a 33% discount in price.
比如，消費者們常常很難意識到，加量50%就等同于折扣33%。
They overwhelmingly assume the former is better value.
絕大多人都以為前者更劃算。
In an experiment, the researchers sold 73% more hand lotion when it was offered in a bonus pack than when it carried an equivalent discount.
在一次實驗中，調查者們出售手霜，一種是帶贈品的，另一種是打折品，兩者價值相當，但是結果前者多售出73%。
This numerical blind spot remains even when the deal clearly favours the discounted product.
即便當買打折品明顯更劃算時，人們還是無法走出數字盲區。
In another experiment, this time on his undergraduates, Mr Rao offered two deals on loose coffee beans:
另一次實驗在本科生中展開，Rao先生出售散裝咖啡豆時提供兩種選擇：
33% extra free or 33% off the price.
贈送33%或者折扣33%。
The discount is by far the better proposition,
打折遠遠更加劃算，
but the supposedly clever students viewed them as equivalent.
但那些本以為十分聰明的學生們卻認為兩種促銷都是一樣的。
Studies have shown other ways in which retailers can exploit consumers'innumeracy.
根據學生們的反映，零售商們發現了其他方式來利用消費者對數字上的不敏感。
One is to befuddle them with double discounting.
比如利用二次折扣來迷惑他們。
People are more likely to see a bargain in a product that has been reduced by 20%, and then by an additional 25%, than one which has been subject to an equivalent, one-off, 40% reduction.
人們覺得一件商品如果先打8折再打75折，那肯定比一次性打6折要劃算。
Marketing types can draw lessons beyond just pricing, says Mr Rao.
Rao先生說，這不僅對營銷手段的價格方面有所啟發，其他方面也是如此。
When advertising a new car's efficiency, for example, it is more convincing to talk about the number of extra miles per gallon it does, rather than the equivalent percentage fall in fuel consumption.
比如，在宣傳新車效率時，引用每加侖汽油多跑的英里數要比引用減少的耗油量的比值要更有說服力。
There may be lessons for regulators too.
這對監管者也有所啟示。
Even well-educated shoppers are easily foxed.
即便是受過良好教育的購物者也很容易被騙。
Sending everyone back to school for maths refresher-courses seems out of the question.
我們不可能讓每個人都重新回到數學課堂。
But more prominently displayed unit prices in shops and advertisements would be a great help.
但如果商店和廣告上能更清楚地標明單價的話必定可以幫上大忙。
