Factors affecting consumers' internal reference price choice in purchasing decision

Consumers use some price standards to evaluate an offer. These standards, called as reference prices in the literature, have a critical role in consumers? judgements of prices they encounter on a purchasing context. Reference prices are defined in different ways in the literature therefore reference prices used for price evaluations by consumers vary among studies. In other words, different studies suggest different reference points that consumers use for their price judgments. The aim of the study is to investigate consumers? choice of the types of internal reference prices for three product categories and the variables affecting these choices. In this context, consumers? choice of fair price, lowest acceptable price, expected price, normal price, and unitized internal reference price which includes aforementioned reference price types, and the effects of brand loyalty, product involvement, price sensitivity, prior price experience, and purchase frequency on these choices were examined for sports shoes, mobile phone, and shampoo. The results indicate that the choice of the types of internal reference prices varies by consumer and product attributes, the antecedents investigated affects these choices, and these effects also vary by product category and the type of internal reference price.