Price, as a controllable strategic marketing factor, is given added importance through the
awareness of its nonfinancial component, p , in expression (1). In the same way that ordinary prices
are "set," so too should social prices be employed by incorporating into the marketing mix, those
considerations perceived by consumers to constitute their total contribution to the exchange
transaction and not just the cash component. This awareness could uncover new promotional
opportunities with such themes as "The time you save may be your own," and so on. The four price
categories outlined above also suggest dimensions for "price positioning" a product offering against
competing products, an exercise that could enhance the product planning process.
The concept has particular significance with respect to those exchanges falling within the domain
of social marketing. For example, advocates of social change are virtually unanimous about the
positive effects of participation in the planning process by those to be affected by rhe program (see
for example, Bradshaw and Mapp 1972). Yet such participation ordinarily means "payment" by
target consumers of all four types of social price described in this chapter. It seems plausible to
conclude that it is precisely because participation is so "expensive" that it is so desirable. People
want to feel that they have some control in the shaping of their destiny. They are willing to invest in
such control and indeed are uncomfortable if participation is not available to them for "purchase.”
Implications For Further InvestigationLike their financial counterparts, social prices can be psychological prices, that is, those perceived
by consumers to be surrogate measures of product quality -- the higher the price paid, the higher the
quality attributed to the product and conversely. This area has been well explored in connection with
monetary price and one may conjecture that conclusions ought to be quite similar with respect to
social price. Are we not more suspect of the quality of the food at a restaurant if on a Sunday
evening. there is no wait for a table?
Economic principles provide contexts within which social price may be further examined. One of
these is the notion of consumers' surplus. the excess of price that the consumer would be willing to
pay rather than go without a given product over that price actually paid. Another is indifference
curve analysis. The consumer is said to be indifferent as to which of many combinations of goods
are to comprise an optimum market basket subject to the constraint of a given monetary income. In a
similar vein, can one speak of an optimal bundle of adoptable concepts, subject to constraints of
available time, effort and so forth? It is hoped that such threads may be woven by interested
consumer researchers into meaningful extensions of concepts
awareness of its nonfinancial component, p , in expression (1). In the same way that ordinary prices
are "set," so too should social prices be employed by incorporating into the marketing mix, those
considerations perceived by consumers to constitute their total contribution to the exchange
transaction and not just the cash component. This awareness could uncover new promotional
opportunities with such themes as "The time you save may be your own," and so on. The four price
categories outlined above also suggest dimensions for "price positioning" a product offering against
competing products, an exercise that could enhance the product planning process.
The concept has particular significance with respect to those exchanges falling within the domain
of social marketing. For example, advocates of social change are virtually unanimous about the
positive effects of participation in the planning process by those to be affected by rhe program (see
for example, Bradshaw and Mapp 1972). Yet such participation ordinarily means "payment" by
target consumers of all four types of social price described in this chapter. It seems plausible to
conclude that it is precisely because participation is so "expensive" that it is so desirable. People
want to feel that they have some control in the shaping of their destiny. They are willing to invest in
such control and indeed are uncomfortable if participation is not available to them for "purchase.”
Implications For Further InvestigationLike their financial counterparts, social prices can be psychological prices, that is, those perceived
by consumers to be surrogate measures of product quality -- the higher the price paid, the higher the
quality attributed to the product and conversely. This area has been well explored in connection with
monetary price and one may conjecture that conclusions ought to be quite similar with respect to
social price. Are we not more suspect of the quality of the food at a restaurant if on a Sunday
evening. there is no wait for a table?
Economic principles provide contexts within which social price may be further examined. One of
these is the notion of consumers' surplus. the excess of price that the consumer would be willing to
pay rather than go without a given product over that price actually paid. Another is indifference
curve analysis. The consumer is said to be indifferent as to which of many combinations of goods
are to comprise an optimum market basket subject to the constraint of a given monetary income. In a
similar vein, can one speak of an optimal bundle of adoptable concepts, subject to constraints of
available time, effort and so forth? It is hoped that such threads may be woven by interested
consumer researchers into meaningful extensions of concepts
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