Acquisition Value

What it is

It asks whether the item is worth the price to the buyer. Transaction utility asks the second question, whether the price is a good deal against a reference price, and two purchases at the same final price can match on the first and differ on the second.

In effect

In the article on transaction utility, it is used to set the worth of an item beside the pleasure of the deal. Bhatt and Pai found buy-X-get-X-free offers drew lower perceived acquisition value and lower transaction value than single-unit discounts at the same per-unit discount.

What it does not say

It is one half of a pair. It does not say that a bargain feeling is unreasonable, only that the feeling is a separate thing from what the item is worth to the buyer. The promotion study covered a limited set of offers.

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