Children’s price knowledge

Purpose – This research aims to evaluate young consumers’ knowledge of everyday product prices. Despite a large body of research on the child as consumer, few studies examine price. Design/methodology/approach – The study employs a quantitative methodology and administered questionnaires that target a sample of 224 primary school French children. Findings – The various employed measures help shed light on the pricing aspect of children’s consumption processes. In particular, the results show that although price recall is relatively weak, children become familiar with the order of price magnitudes and classify products according to their price level. Research limitations/implications – A future research could integrate that the children should be affected by internal reference price in the various tasks. Future studies could introduce other variables in the tests, such as children’s commercial experience and their experience with the stores they know. Practical implications – Firms should adapt their pricing strategies to the expectations of children, not only adults or parents, both for the products that directly pertain to them and for those they might recommend. This research offers managers additional insights into how to communicate about prices, taking into account current customer heterogeneity. Originality/value – Realized measurements reflect children’s capacities to react to the prices of mass-consumed goods and clarify whether the child is able to identify or reduce his consideration set among some alternatives of choice according to his price knowledge level.