Prior to a store visit, most consumers plan what products/
items to purchase [1] and form expectations about the prices
they would pay for those items. Price expectations are used
as reference points to help make final purchase decisions
[2]. Assume that two consumers, A and B, plan to buy a
particular brand of orange juice in the same store. Consumer
A expects to pay $7 and B $5 for the product, but both
find the store price to be $6. It is reasonable to predict that B
is less likely to buy it than A. There are at least two
behavioral explanations for this prediction. The first is that
B compares her prior expectation and the actual price of the
store. Her transaction utility (the psychological loss when
compared to a reference price) [3] is negatively affected
because the prior expectation is lower than the actual price.
Another explanation is that B defers until next purchase
occasion in a different store (or sometimes in the same store
at a later week) because she expects to pay a lower price
then.