Canadians perceive food as cheaper when price is expressed as per pound rather than per kilogram: study
CTV
Researchers from Concordia University found in several experiments that consumers falsely believe products are cheaper when the price per pound is emphasized rather than the price per kilogram.
Do you know how to perform a conversion between pounds and kilograms in your head on the fly?
Grocery stores may be using conversion confusion to skew our perception of how pricey food is, according to a new study.
Researchers from Concordia University found in several experiments that consumers falsely believe products are cheaper when the price per pound is emphasized rather than the price per kilogram.
It could be one of the reasons why a perceived bargain in the produce aisle sometimes turns out to be less of one once you check your receipt.
“It’s a uniquely Canadian experience, because prices of produce here are displayed in pounds and kilograms at the same time,” Mrugank Thakor, a professor in the Department of Marketing at the John Molson School of Business, said in a press release. “But when you look at the receipt, all the prices are in metric (in kilograms).”
In Canada, the prices of certain goods, including some goods sold at the grocery store, are advertised by both the price per pound (lb) and per kilogram (kg).
Because a single pound is a smaller unit of weight than a kilogram — one kilogram is equivalent to roughly 2.2 pounds — this means the price per pound will always be smaller than the price per kilogram.
