Why do text messages cost money while e-mails are free? Why do cereal packets keep getting smaller? Why do so many prices end in 9? In Priceless, bestselling author William Poundstone reveals how we perceive value and how businesses set the prices we pay. Rooted in the emerging field of behavioural decision theory, Poundstone reveals the secrets that multinationals - including Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Nestle, Nokia and Mercedes - are willing to pay millions for.
Priceless
and over 1.5 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £1.49
Trade in Priceless: The Hidden Psychology of Value for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £1.49, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Special Offer until June 30, 2013: Receive an additional £5 promotional Gift Card, when you trade-in at least £10 worth of books. Learn more
|
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Review
"Pricing is a richer subject than you might imagine. The smile that creeps onto your face when a shameless marketing gambit reminds you of something you read in Poundstone's book? Priceless. --Business Week
"Bright analysis of the psychology of pricing ... readable and revealing." --Kirkus Reviews
"Switched-on consumers may think that they are wise to the marketing strategies thrown at them, but they should think again. Poundstone is your savvy, witty guide to saving the pound in your purse." --The Times
"All about the hidden psychology of value, it is a truly eye-opening account of how the pricing of products affects how we think of them." --The Big Issue
"[The book's] remarkably engaging prose style kept me glued to the page. Fascinating and fun, and I definitely think you should buy it. 5/5" --BBC Focus
"Bright analysis of the psychology of pricing ... readable and revealing." --Kirkus Reviews
"Switched-on consumers may think that they are wise to the marketing strategies thrown at them, but they should think again. Poundstone is your savvy, witty guide to saving the pound in your purse." --The Times
"All about the hidden psychology of value, it is a truly eye-opening account of how the pricing of products affects how we think of them." --The Big Issue
"[The book's] remarkably engaging prose style kept me glued to the page. Fascinating and fun, and I definitely think you should buy it. 5/5" --BBC Focus
About the Author
William Poundstone is the author of more than ten bestselling non-fiction books. He has written for The New York Times, Psychology Today, Esquire, Harpers, The Economist, and Harvard Business Review. He has appeared on the Today Show, The David Letterman Show and hundreds of radio talk-shows throughout the world.
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
By P Newall
Format:Paperback
This is the latest in a long line of excellent popular science books by William Poundstone. Its topic is "behavioural decision theory", the study of how individuals make systematically irrational decisions in choice situations, risky gambles (where the probabilities are known), and uncertain gambles (where probabilities are unknown).
A lot of this field has focused on the latter two segments: decision making under risk and uncertainty. This was in some ways due to a methodological quirk, as these two scenarios were much easier to test with experiments, questionnaires, and real-life data.
Poundstone covers both these areas, but he also looks at how some companies are beginning to exploit consumers' common irrationalities. For instance, a fundamental axiom of rational choice theory is the "independence of irrelevant alternatives". Say you are choosing between good A and good B. Adding a third good to the choice menu -- good C -- shouldn't affect your original choice between good A and good B. Say you initially chose good A from the set {A,B}; then, the independence of irrelevant alternatives states that you shouldn't then choose good B from the set {A,B,C} (although you could choose C).
This axiom frequently gets violated in the real world, and clever marketers are wising up to this. Say you are choosing from two vacuum cleaners: a very cheap cleaner (A), and a more expensive model (B). In this case many people would choose A. However, the company can alter your choice by adding a third vacuum cleaner: an incredibly expensive state of the art model costing thousands of pounds (C).... Read more ›
A lot of this field has focused on the latter two segments: decision making under risk and uncertainty. This was in some ways due to a methodological quirk, as these two scenarios were much easier to test with experiments, questionnaires, and real-life data.
Poundstone covers both these areas, but he also looks at how some companies are beginning to exploit consumers' common irrationalities. For instance, a fundamental axiom of rational choice theory is the "independence of irrelevant alternatives". Say you are choosing between good A and good B. Adding a third good to the choice menu -- good C -- shouldn't affect your original choice between good A and good B. Say you initially chose good A from the set {A,B}; then, the independence of irrelevant alternatives states that you shouldn't then choose good B from the set {A,B,C} (although you could choose C).
This axiom frequently gets violated in the real world, and clever marketers are wising up to this. Say you are choosing from two vacuum cleaners: a very cheap cleaner (A), and a more expensive model (B). In this case many people would choose A. However, the company can alter your choice by adding a third vacuum cleaner: an incredibly expensive state of the art model costing thousands of pounds (C).... Read more ›
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Graham Jones
Format:Paperback
If you run a business you need this book. Simple as that. It is, as the title says, priceless. The reason is not that the book tells you how to calculate your prices. Rather it challenges your very thinking about pricing and the strategies and models you might use. Far too many businesses either use guesswork or fancy calculations on pricing that merely dress up that guesswork. This book unravels that methodology and with the help of some fascinating studies shows you what people really are prepared to pay for - and how much. The book goes beyond pricing, as such, and looks at the whole notion of value.
In addition to the great content of this book - all backed up with solid research and references - it is also immensely readable. Indeed, it is broken down into 55 short chapters, so you can read it in bit-sized chunks.
Priceless does not provide you with practical pricing advice, but it certainly makes you think and will definitely help you re-think your pricing models so you can gain more profit. That alone is priceless advice - yet you only have to pay £12.99 for it...!
In addition to the great content of this book - all backed up with solid research and references - it is also immensely readable. Indeed, it is broken down into 55 short chapters, so you can read it in bit-sized chunks.
Priceless does not provide you with practical pricing advice, but it certainly makes you think and will definitely help you re-think your pricing models so you can gain more profit. That alone is priceless advice - yet you only have to pay £12.99 for it...!
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By Bert
Format:Hardcover
As someone who works in pricing, a book on what constitutes 'fair' value got my immediate attention. The main message is that there is no such thing in absolute terms. What is considered fair will depend on the context, and this context can be manipulated to increase the perception of fairness. While the book does contain some ideas you could implement, it is not a pricing handbook.
The book gives an overview of the field of behavioural economics in so far as it relates to pricing/valuation. If you've read a bit on the work of Kahneman, Tversky, Ariely, Thaler, ... you'll already be familiar with most of its contents. The book's merit lies in the selection it makes within this broad area of knowledge and the author's own observations.
It is set up as a series of short chapters that deal with a specific concept (priming, anchoring, ...), a specific application (99 cent pricing, Free!, ...) or an exploration of influencing factors (intelligence, race, gender, ...).
It's written in an entertaining anecdotal style that doesn't require any previous knowledge on the part of the reader. Anyone interested in understanding how humans can be influenced to find certain prices more attractive will benefit from reading this book. Once you've read this book you'll never look at a restaurant menu in the same way again.
The book gives an overview of the field of behavioural economics in so far as it relates to pricing/valuation. If you've read a bit on the work of Kahneman, Tversky, Ariely, Thaler, ... you'll already be familiar with most of its contents. The book's merit lies in the selection it makes within this broad area of knowledge and the author's own observations.
It is set up as a series of short chapters that deal with a specific concept (priming, anchoring, ...), a specific application (99 cent pricing, Free!, ...) or an exploration of influencing factors (intelligence, race, gender, ...).
It's written in an entertaining anecdotal style that doesn't require any previous knowledge on the part of the reader. Anyone interested in understanding how humans can be influenced to find certain prices more attractive will benefit from reading this book. Once you've read this book you'll never look at a restaurant menu in the same way again.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Matthew Leitch
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
The great value of a book like this is in sparing us the chore of obtaining and reading a huge pile of academic journal papers, many of which are useless, in order to filter out the real nuggets. That's what the author has done and brilliantly. I even quite liked the little bits of personal information about some of the better known researchers.
This is one of those rare books that I read all the way through, and took notes from.
Some of the material can be, and has been, exploited by marketing and sales people to screw more profit from customers by taking advantage of our weaknesses. However, that and other material in the book can also be used to help us defend against such exploitation. I particularly appreciated the occasional nugget directed specifically at how to overcome our weaknesses.
This is one of those rare books that I read all the way through, and took notes from.
Some of the material can be, and has been, exploited by marketing and sales people to screw more profit from customers by taking advantage of our weaknesses. However, that and other material in the book can also be used to help us defend against such exploitation. I particularly appreciated the occasional nugget directed specifically at how to overcome our weaknesses.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Bhavini Shah
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I learnt a lot from this book but at times it did seem rather repetitive. I'm not sure who the book is meant to appeal to - I tend to read quite a lot of non-fiction (including economics) but it didn't feel like there was enough material in here to justify a whole book. It feels as if it is simply telling you the results of a number of different experiments with no conclusions to draw the whole thing together.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 42 reviews
3.9 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting ideas and psychology
I really enjoyed William Poundstone's previous books and this one was no exception. The subject of this book isn't as interesting as some of his others but the style is great and... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Jozxyqk
5.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining and informative review of pricing tricks and strategies
You might think you're a tuned-in consumer and immune to the tricks and gimmicks marketers deploy to get you to buy their products for top prices. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Rolf Dobelli
4.0 out of 5 stars
Buy one get one free
Two themes in this book are picked up in this book which together make it really most readable.
There is a bit of pop psychology that explains how people respond & expect... Read more
There is a bit of pop psychology that explains how people respond & expect... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Tastydogs
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great review of how customers are manipulated
This book discloses the secrets of how marketeers choose prices to maximise their income, and it's not simply raising prices!. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Hathorn
4.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely Priceless!
This book has really changed how I view mundane transactions such as ordering off a menu, house pricing, jury decisions and negotiating job offers. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Tess McGill
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent read - though provoking
Very interesting and though provoking book. A bit repetitive in parts but full of fascinating research on the psychology of how we view values, risk and make choices. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Sarah
2.0 out of 5 stars
None
I have just finished reading it. After purchasing I felt disappointed because it was very thoretical. Describing history of the research into the prices and buying patterns. Read more
Published 17 months ago by YoungCalvinist
4.0 out of 5 stars
Easy, well written, interesting introduction to the behavioural...
As a twitter buddy of mine pointed out, with a name like Bill Poundstone you'd be destined to write this book. Read more
Published 17 months ago by jonone100
2.0 out of 5 stars
hi brow
I thought this book would be a helpful sales tool. Unfortunately not. It waffles on, trying to establish how clever the author is, and rarely actually getting to the point. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Pulsesunreal
4.0 out of 5 stars
eye opener of a read
I'm not an economist or a psychologist; so at times I found this heavy going. However, I enjoyed learning the 'hidden' elements of pricing and valuing items. Read more
Published 23 months ago by N Price
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
