Priceless
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Priceless: The Hidden Psychology of Value for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
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
Product Description
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.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
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). Even if you will never buy this new vacuum cleaner (it is an irrelevant alternative), it can still alter your choice: by comparison it will make model B seem much less expensive than before, and will make A seem like a shoddy bargain basement model. The mere presence of C has shifted consumers into spending much more money on vacuum cleaners than they did before, even if nobody buys C.
This book is a lot of fun and well worth the read.
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). Even if you will never buy this new vacuum cleaner (it is an irrelevant alternative), it can still alter your choice: by comparison it will make model B seem much less expensive than before, and will make A seem like a shoddy bargain basement model. The mere presence of C has shifted consumers into spending much more money on vacuum cleaners than they did before, even if nobody buys C.
This book is a lot of fun and well worth the read.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
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...!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
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.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
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 1 month ago by Tastydogs
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 2 months ago by Hathorn
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 3 months ago by Tess McGill
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 4 months ago by Sarah
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 4 months ago by Imperator
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 10 months ago by Pulsesunreal
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 10 months ago by N Price
looks interesting
I bought this as part of my adult son's birthday present, he hasn't read it fully yet but, it is one that he thinks will be interesting,when he has I will read it and send another... Read more
Published 11 months ago by carol
Changing the way you think, about price
William Poundstone's earlier book Prisoner's Dilemma, gave an insight into Game Theory. His comprehensive coverage of Game theory and Biography is repeated in Priceless. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Brian McIver MBA
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
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.
|
