Color Research and Application, Vol.43, No.1, 110-113, 2018
Do red prices also work online?: An extension of Puccinelli et al. (2013)
In a recent article, Puccinelli et al. examine the effect of the color in which prices appear in print flyers on consumers' perceived savings. Puccinelli et al. find that the effect is moderated by gender: unlike female consumers, men think they are being offered a better deal when prices are presented in red than when they are presented in black. The advertisements with prices in red also put men in a more positive state. This note replicates Puccinelli et al.'s main experiment in a different context (online vs. print) and in a different cultural setting (Belgium vs. the USA). In line with Puccinelli et al., we find that men perceive the online store with red prices as offering better value. But, intriguingly, it does not appear to make men feel more positively. One possible explanation is that red prices work differently online.