Price reduction strategy Effect of consumers' price unfairness perceptions of past purchase on brand equity

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to address consumers' post-purchase perceptions toward the brand when it adopts price reduction strategy. The study specifically conceptualizes the effect of consumers' price unfairness perceptions of past purchase (PUPoPP) on customer-based brand equity (CBBE) with a moderating effects of elapsed time since purchase (ETSP) and magnitude of price reduction (MPR) in situations where consumers were aware of the reduction in price of the product that they had purchased earlier. Design/methodology/approach - A survey was conducted among consumers who were aware of the reduction in the price of the computer laptop which they had purchased earlier. A sample size of 214 respondents was utilized for the study. The hypotheses were tested by using partial least squares-structural equations modeling. Findings - The results of the study show that there is a significant negative impact of PUPoPP on CBBE and the ETSP was found to enhance CBBE and also weaken the negative effect of PUPoPP on CBBE. Furthermore, the MPR was found to strengthen the negative effect of PUPoPP on CBBE. Originality/value - The findings of this study are unique and contribute to both pricing and branding areas of research. While extant research in these areas has focused on price fairness perceptions in situations where the price of future purchase increases, particularly for frequently purchased non-durable goods, this study explored PUPoPP in situations where the firm reduces the price of a durable good such as a computer laptop.