1、毕业论文（设计） 外文翻译 一、外文原文 标题： Consumer Perceptions of Comparative Price Advertisements COMPARATIVE PRICE ADVERTISEMENT Most retail advertisements offer merchandise at special price. Often this special price is compared with a previous price, a manufacturers price, a rival sellers price, the price of simi
2、lar merchandise, or an area price. The general implication of these advertisements is the consumer can pay a lower than normal price for the merchandise if he/she will purchase it from the advertiser. The seller promotes a special price in the advertisement in the belief that more consumers will pur
3、chase the item if they believe the price is comparatively lower. Sellers Decision Problems The decision to promote a lower price produces two decision problems for the seller. 1. How much to reduce the price. 2. How to communicate the fact that the price has been lowered. The first decision problem
4、poses two additional concerns. If the price reduction is too small, consumers may perceive little price difference between the two offers and therefore may believe the price reduction does not warrant a purchase effort. If the price reduction is too large, consumers may perceive that the offer is no
5、t bona fide. For example, they may not believe the larger reference price is an actual price, or they may wonder about the quality of the sale item (Monroe 1979, p. 45). The second decision problem relates to the format the seller may use to present the comparative offer. Recognizing that too little
6、 difference in price may not stimulate purchase behaviour, the seller must communicate the value being offered. Often, therefore, the special price is compared with a usual or regular price, a manufacturers suggested price, or some other reference price. In addition, the reduction may be promoted wi
7、th a statement of either the relative savings (percentage) or absolute savings (dollars), or other words to connote a special (Berkowitz and Walton 1980). However, consumers may not perceive the comparative price advertisement in a way that reflects the true situation. Some advertisements appear des
8、igned deliberately to create misperceptions, and some advertisers unintentionally create misperceptions. Regardless of intent, buyers may be deceived (Federal Trade Commission 1964). Regulatory Considerations Because price advertisements may deceive consumers, the Federal Trade Commission adopted a
9、set of guidelines in 1958 entitled Guides Against Deceptive Pricing, referring specifically to comparative or comparison pricing. By 1962, the Commission was concerned with the possibility of many lawsuits arising because of the 1958 guides. Therefore, revised guides were prepared and adopted in 196
10、4 and are still in force. The 1964 guides are shorter (five in number), more general, and are written in a more conversational style. In 1974 the Commission published a proposed revision of the guides for comment. Action on this revision is still pending. Currently, little empirical evidence is avai
11、lable on how consumers perceive comparative price offers. Consequently, neither the seller nor the public policy maker has reliable evidence on how to formulate either pricing policy or public regulations on comparative price advertising. In 1978, the staff at the Federal Trade Commission proposed t
12、hat consumer perception and behavior studies be conducted to provide data for developing an enforcement approach for comparative price advertising. Such research has yet to be conducted. PERCEPTION OF COMPARA TZVE PRICES The two decision problems related to promoting a lower price can be analyzed in
13、 terms of perception psychology. That is, the consumers perception of a comparative price advertisement derives from his/her interpretation of the price differences and from his/her interpretation of the words used to connote the lower price. It is known that consumers do not evaluate prices singly,
14、 but rather judge prices in reference to standards that may be objective or subjective (Monroe 1973). Thus, a comparative price advertisement featuring both the offered price and a (higher) comparative price is an attempt to impose a reference or standard price for the consumer. Primarily the consum
15、er must judge whether the lower price is acceptable (believable) in relation to the higher reference price. To ensure that the consumer accepts the higher price as a standard, the seller includes such words as formerly, usually, and manufacturers suggested to describe the higher price. A seller can
16、use words in a variety of ways to ensure the consumer perceives the higher price, and some of these ways may lead buyers to perceive that an offer is better than it actually is. In public policy, the concern is whether the semantic effect of a comparative price offer deceives consumers into believin
17、g an offer is something that it is not. TYPES OF COMPARATIVE PRICING FORMATS The Federal Trade Commission has categorized the alternative comparative price advertising formats into three groups: former prices, comparative trade area prices, and comparative devalue prices. Trade Area Prices Trade are
18、a comparison advertisements compare the advertised price with prices of the same article sold by other retailers. Two general formats are used. In manufacturers suggested price advertisements the seller presents the price offered by comparing it with a higher price suggested (listed) by the manufact
19、urer, for example, XYZ Instant Camera-manufacturers suggested price $34.95, our price $25.95. Using the usually sold at XXX format, the seller compares the price offered with a usual price, either in the store or in the trade area. Generally, the offer is model specific, and the usual price is highe
20、r than the price offered. Former Price Comparisons In this type of advertisement the seller compares the price offered with the sellers former mgher) price. When former is used to refer to a price, the issue related to deception is whether the former price is true in the sense the seller did intenti
21、onally sell the item at the former price. Comparable Value Comparisons In advertisements of this type the seller compares the product and price with similar products and their prices either in the store or offered by other sellers. Although the sale item is not exactly like the referenced (higher-price) item, the
