Submission 401
Smells like a Good Deal? Scent-Product Congruence Disproportionately Regulates Anchoring Adjustments
Posterwall-09
Presented by: Maria Nöken
The anchoring effect is a well-described phenomenon biasing participants’ numerical response towards the anchor, creating an abundance of opportunities to influence purchasing behavior (e.g., Epley & Gilovich. 2006). Given that scents also influence consumer perception (e.g., Mattila & Wirtz 2001), here we asked in how far anchoring interacts with scent congruency in a simulated negotiation paradigm relating to four food categories in a fictitious farmer’s market scenario. Specifically, we used the concept of the anchor zone to create an expected outcome range with an original price and a lower limit negotiation price. We kept original prices constant over the conditions while varying lower limits in two steps (large vs. small anchor zones), hence creating either more or less room for negotiation. In parallel, we manipulated scent-food congruency using a four-channel olfactometer. In a computer-based laboratory experiment, 47 participants evaluated 80 product-scent combinations and estimated the final negotiation price that they expected to agree upon with the seller. Our findings reveal significant main effects with both congruent scents as well as narrow anchor zones generating higher price estimates. Furthermore, scent congruence and lower limit of the anchor zone interact overadditively: The low negotiation outcome price of incongruent scents is particularly pronounced when co-presented with broad anchor zones. These findings demonstrate that multisensorial stimulation, precisely olfactory cues in combination with price anchors, has a pronounced effect on economic valuations. Regarding the underlying mechanism, we speculate that transaction utility increases with scent congruency and perceived negotiation success.