Bachelor Thesis Bachelor's Programme in International Marketing, 180 credits
Willing to shop like a (wo)man?
A consumer perspective on the perception of Pink Tax
Independent Project in Business Administration, 15 credits
Halmstad 2020-05-31 Elina Magnusson, Maja Eriksson HALMSTAD UNIVERSITY
Willing to shop like a (wo)man? A consumer perspective on the perception of Pink Tax
2020-05-31
Elina Magnusson & Maja Eriksson Handledare: Klaus Solberg Söilen Examinator: Ulf Aagerup
Preface
First and foremost we would like to thank our supervisor Klaus Solberg Sölien for the continued support for us to find information and experience the process of writing a thesis throughout the semester. We would also like to thank our examiner Ulf Aagerup as well as the opponents who have contributed to us finding the inspiration to continue our work. A special thank you goes out to our respondents, as this would never have been doable without you. Last but definitely not least, a big thank you to each other.
Halmstad 2020-05-19
Maja Eriksson Elina Magnusson
ABSTRACT
Title: Willing to shop like a (wo)man? - A consumer perspective on the perception of Pink Tax Subject: Bachelor thesis in business administration, 15 hp Authors: Maja Eriksson & Elina Magnusson Purpose: The purpose of this study is, therefore, to compare the perceptions about the Pink Tax between men and women in Sweden, including how the price influences the willingness to buy as well as perceived price fairness and perception of gendered products. Methodology: The study was conducted by qualitative interviews with a semi structured interview. 8 respondents within the ages of 20-25 were interviewed. Empirical findings: Swedish men and women both perceive Pink Tax as discriminatory and unethical. They also share an understanding of the potential consequences of the issue. Both men and women are heavily influenced by the gender specification of products and gender based marketing. Women have a more extensive awareness of the Pink Tax and the price discrimination it causes. Men however, understand the reasonings behind gender based pricing to a greater extent than women do. Women are more likely to purchase items marketed towards the opposite sex than men are. Lastly, men and women’s shopping behaviors are based on internal and external factors such as the involvement of products and personal values, rather than solely being distinguished by their gender. Limitations: Due to the limited time frame given, the respondents for the empirical study had to be limited, making it more difficult to generalize the results on the entire swedish population within the ages 20-25. Implications: Bringing attention to the unexplored issue of perception of the Pink Tax on the Swedish market is something this study aims to shine a light on. In the hope of stimulating the conversation of the Pink Tax, the society could become more aware of this subject, provoking action from companies as well as legislators in addition to increasing the knowledge among consumers. Key words: Pink Tax, price discrimination, gender based pricing, perception, pricing, purchases, gender, men, women and Sweden.
1. Introduction 1 1.1 Problem Background 1 1.2 Problem discussion 2 1.3 Research question 4 1.4 Purpose 4 1.5 Delimitations 4 1.6 Key words 5 1.7 Definitions 5
2. Frame of Reference 6 2.1 Price 6 2.1.1 Gender-based price discrimination 6 2.1.2 Price Sensitivity 8 2.2 Perception 10 2.2.1 Factors Affecting Perception 10 2.2.2 Attribution Theory 10 2.2.3. Dual Entitlement 11 2.2.4 Transaction Value 12 2.3 Gender 13 2.3.1 The self 13 2.4 Model of analysis 15
3. Method 16 3.1 General research approach 16 3.1.1 Abductive reasoning 16 3.1.2 Qualitative research 16 3.2 Literature study 17 3.3 Empirical study 18 3.3.1 Selection of respondents 18 3.3.3 Data collection 19 3.3.4 Method of analysis 19 3.4 Validity 20 3.5 Ethical considerations 20
4. Result 22 4.1 Women 22 4.1.1 Price 22 4.1.2 Perception 24 4.1.2.1 Scenario 1 24 4.1.2.1 Scenario 2 27 4.1.3 Gender 29 4.2 Men 30
4.2.1 Price 30 4.2.2 Perception 32 4.2.2.1 Scenario 1 32 4.2.2.2 Scenario 2 34 4.2.3 Gender 36
5. Analysis 39 5.1 Price 39 5.1.1 Gender-based price discrimination 39 5.1.2 Involvement 40 5.2 Perception 44 5.2.1 Factors affecting perception & Attribution Theory 44 5.2.2 Dual Entitlement 45 5.2.3 Transaction Value 47 5.2.4 Data analysis 48 5.3 Gender 50 5.3.1 The self 50 5.3.2 Female shopping behavior 52 5.3.3 Male shopping behavior 53
6. Conclusion, reflection, contribution and continued research 58 6.1 Conclusion 58 6.2 Reflections and limitations 60 6.3 Contribution 60 6.4 Continued research 61
7. References 63
8. Appendix 66 8.1 Appendix 1 - Interview Guide 66
1. Introduction 1.1 Problem Background The United Nations Development Programme is aimed to attain global sustainable development, where one of the most fundamental objectives to assure this is recognized is goal number five. Goal number five is to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls (UNDP, 2019). Gender equality stands for equal capabilities between men and women to shape and form society as well as their own lives. This includes issues concerning economics, health, education, integrity, power and influence. (Regeringskansliet, 2019)
It is well known that unequal pay is one of the major obstacles when it comes to obtaining The United Nations Development Programme’s goal of gender equality. Studies show that Swedish women on average have a higher education than men, in spite of this their average annual income is calculated to be lower than men’s and statistics show that differences between men and womens’ income have been relatively unchanging during the last three decades. (SOU 2015:50).
However, this is not the only aspect in which women are facing inequality. Having women pay for products classified as luxury products is another obstacle to obtain gender equality. This price setting can be referred to as Pink Tax, where women are often forced to pay more for the equal products compared to men. (United States Congress Joint Economic Committee, 2016). Pink Tax is a form of gender-based price discrimination (Rudin Center for Transportation, 2018). The name stems from a majority of the affected products simply being pink. However it is not just a term for the high literal tax for feminine hygiene products, but a tendency for women’s products to be generally more expensive compared to products marketed towards men. (Pink Tax, 2018)
Studies have shown gender-based price disparities on products in various industries. Prices may differ on products such as personal care, clothing, health care, toys and adult clothing as well as children’s clothing, and these are just a few of the examples. In some cases women do not only pay more than men for products but also for services. The one thing these products and services marketed to women usually have in common is the pink physical appearance. The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs conducted a study showing that American women on average pay 7% more than men for the same type of products, without a reasonable cause. (NYC Department of Consumer Affairs [DCA], 2015).
This price difference varies depending on what category of product you investigate. In some cases men are the ones who have to pay more, however the study proves that the female version of a product is more expensive in 42% of the cases, compared to men’s products being more expensive in only 18% of the comparisons. The biggest price gap is detected in the personal care category, where women on average pay 13% more than med for the same type of product (NYC Department of Consumer Affairs [DCA], 2015). As the Pink Tax is not in fact acknowledged as an intentional gender discrimination yet, the importance of changing the focus of the problem from unfair to illegal has become of great importance (United States Congress Joint Economic Committee, 2016).
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Although the Pink Tax has received medial attention in the United States of America over the past few years, the phenomenon seems to have gone by relatively unnoticed in Sweden and more specifically unknown to the sole consumer (Egelbäck & Nillroth, 2017). Research shows that part of the reason to the lack of awareness might be the fact that consumers tend to pay attention and evaluate the brands and products aimed towards them, naturally excluding the products marketed towards the opposite sex. (Worth, Smith & Mackie, 1992).
However, this conversation of the Pink Tax is starting to gain some momentum outside USA. With a legislation passed in end of February 2020 where the bill was voted 122 in favor and 0 against, Scotland is set to be the first country in the world to provide women with free sanitary products, otherwise classed as a luxury product with the high tax rate. Furthermore The E.U has pledged to remove all sales tax requirements on period products beginning in 2022. After that, it will be up to the individual member countries to determine whether or not to tax these products, as well as deciding how much to tax if they choose to. (Berger, 2020)
According to theories of perception, customers are more likely to have a larger price threshold for products which cater to a basic need. Furthermore, this means customers normally have a low price sensitivity to products which they find essential or hard to substitute. Perceptions are based on attitudes, motives, emotions, experience and expectations. (Augustyn, Bauer & Gregersen, 2019) This is an insight on customers’ price and purchase reasoning which is commonly exploited by companies through strategies and price settings such as Pink Tax.
1.2 Problem discussion Previous research has been centralized on (I) the overall effect Pink Tax has on all industries, (II) gender based pricing, (III) perception and price perception and (IV) awareness of the Pink Tax on the Swedish market Taking previous research into consideration we have discovered our research gap which is presented in (V) our research gap.
Regarding previous research on this subject most of the focus has been on the overall effect Pink Tax has on all industries (I). In a study executed by the The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) 794 products from 5 different industries and 91 brands were analyzed. The industries included clothing, personal care and hygiene, and products for kids and seniors. Although the products studied ranged from pads for seniors, clothing and shampoo, to kids toys and t-shirts, the results were distressingly similar. Most of the products had a price imbalance based on the gender they were advertised for. (NYC Department of Consumer Affairs [DCA], 2015)
Nonetheless, the study discovered similar pricing for a few products. Some prices were even identical. When investigating the pads for bladder control for seniors the price disparities seemed to be nonexisting between products marketed to men and women. However, at a closer look, a significant difference could be identified. The package marketed to men contained 52 whilst the one marketed to women only contained 39. This lead to a unit price difference of roughly 1 USD. Although it may have seemed as if the items were priced the same, the brand had taken advantage of the immense factor the packaging played in deceiving the consumer. The study is relevant and vastly meaningful to our study as it shows the palpable discrimination contributed to society through this marketing strategy. (NYC Department of Consumer Affairs [DCA], 2015).
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Gender based pricing (II) is an issue which has been widely researched over the years. Insurance, hairdressing and dry cleaning are only a few examples of industries where gender based pricing is prevalent. Ever since the 90s the legality of gender based price discrimination and gender based pricing in general has been discussed, and is only something that has been brought to its attention in EU the last couple of years. The discussion is not whether competition for companies is affected by gender based pricing, but rather if this kind of pricing strategy is simply a form of gender discrimination. Due to the negative stereotypes about both women and men, gender based pricing seems to convey, this has undoubtedly been heavily criticized in matching markets. (Trégouët, 2015)
Old Navy claimed the price discrimination on their products were because plus-sized women’s clothing required more special features that are not necessary in men’s plus-sized clothing, hence the major price difference. However, an online petition got nearly 100,000 signatures by enraged customers, despite their explanation. (Ferrell, Kapelianis, Ferrell & Rowland, 2016)
Trégouët (2015) mentions that in the United States of America, it is up to the states to address the issue of gender discrimination. This has resulted in great variation between the states regarding the acceptance of gender based pricing, where California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Maryland have ruled against this price discrimination. Other states have applied a case-by-case approach, where Michigan, Illinois and Washington are a few of these examples.
Perception and price perception (III) is the major reason as to why the Pink Tax is still not adjusted. By understanding how consumers perceive everything from a brand, to the product and the price, companies are able to adjust and please the consumer. The whole process of perception is an imperative activity which is shaped by a person’s life experiences. (Pierce & Gardner., 2002)
In 2018 the fast food giant Burger King released a video of a social experiment female customer being charged $3.09 for a box of chicken fries while male customers were charged $1.69. The women’s chicken fries were branded as Chick fries and were sold in a pink box equally as big as the regular version. In fact, the products were identical apart from the simple fact that the chick fries were sold in a pink box. This was an attempt to raise awareness to the issue of Pink Tax by demonstrating how irrational gender-based price disparities on products are. This social experiment also showed the perceptions women have of the Pink Tax when made aware of the actual evident price differences on the exact same products. (Judelson, 2018)
Customers estimate and evaluate product expectations together with price expectations when consumers go through with a purchase, matching it with their actual experiences. Other people’s experiences, personal knowledge as well as information from the store are factors taken into consideration when product expectations are formed. Consumers are more likely to be dissatisfied if the product falls short of the person’s expectations, perceiving the exchange as unfair. On the contrary, if it does live up or even exceeds the consumer’s expectations, the price as well as the purchase is viewed as fair. This might lead to repeat purchases, where the
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price will become the biggest factor in order to evaluate the fairness of a product. (Heyman & Mellers, 2018)
Although the Pink Tax issue is being recognized greatly in the United States of America the awareness of the Pink Tax on the Swedish market (IV) is just starting. In 2018 the Swedish organization Mensen started the campaign ‘’Mens utan moms’’ to bring awareness to the taxation issue for women’s hygiene products with the goal of urging politicians to lower the now existing 25% tax significantly. (Mensen, 2018) Another pharmacy, Apotek Hjärtat, lowered their prices on tampons, pads etc and started taking the burden of the feminine hygiene tax off of the customers. The campaign was called ‘’Har du moms eller?’’ and aimed to create awareness of the fact that politicians in Sweden have the legal right to lower the tax or to even eliminate it completely. It was successful in creating awareness to the issue but failed to initiate any larger change in Swedish politics regarding taxes (Apotek Hjärtat, 2018)
Different pricing and gender specific goods and services efficaciously converts into a tax for being a woman. (United States Congress Joint Economic Committee, 2016) Simply put: This is the cost for being born a girl. By understanding how consumers perceive products and its price, companies are given the opportunity to understand and even adjust in order to please as well as maintain a good relationship with its client base. (Pierce & Gardner., 2002) The gap the focus of this study will be put on are the differences in price, purchase and gender perceptions Swedish men and women have regarding the Pink Tax.
1.3 Research question What differences in price, purchase and gender perceptions do Swedish men and women in the age of 20-25 have regarding the Pink Tax?
1.4 Purpose To the writers’ knowledge, the topic of consumers’ perceptions of the Pink Tax has not been explored on the Swedish market. The purpose of this study is therefore to compare the perceptions about the Pink Tax between men and women in Sweden, including how the price influences the willingness to buy as well as perceived price fairness and perception of gendered products.
With the purpose of comparing men and women’s perception of the Pink Tax, the authors aim to contribute with insights and knowledge to companies, consumers and legislators in future discussions regarding the Pink Tax. Since this topic has not been researched in Sweden to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is crucial in order to shed light on the perception of this matter. For companies, this study will support discussions regarding pricing strategies for similar products who are marketed towards different gender. Legislators can use this study when the time comes to discuss the taxation on e.g period products in 2022 when it will be up to each country in European Union to decide the taxation rate for these products. The study also aims to give greater knowledge about the Pink Tax to the consumer.
1.5 Delimitations As the study aims to research the difference between Swedish men and women’s perceptions of Pink Tax, a number of limitations have been required in order to enable a succinct analysis
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with the clear focus on the purpose. Since the price perception is the primary focus in this study we will firstly base it off the price differences between the products, e.i the comparison between male and female products and the price differences. Attributes such as physical looks of a product will not be taken into consideration in this study, neither altered or changed since the purpose is to solely focus on price and perception.
The study will include manipulations of shopping situations, where the respondents will be shown a fictional shopping situation comparing two products, one marketed to men and one towards women. Since they will not have the opportunity to navigate on a website or browse in an aisle in a store no implications can be made whether or not this has an effect on the respondents’ perceptions.
As the phenomenon of Pink Tax could be considered an ambiguous phrase, a clarification of which definition this study aims to focus on is relevant. The phrase is used in reference to gender based price discrimination of women solely, ultimately all other interpretations of the Pink Tax are delimited from the study.
1.6 Key words Pink Tax, price discrimination, gender based pricing, gendered products, perception, pricing, purchases, gender, men, women and Sweden.
1.7 Definitions Pink Tax - Gender based price discrimination of women. The name stems from a majority of the affected products simply being pink, and is now used as a tendency for women’s products to be generally more expensive compared to products marketed towards men. (Pink Tax, 2018)
Price discrimination - A price strategy which effectively charges customers different prices for the same product or service (Cavefors-Svensson & Derving, 2008).
Gender based pricing - A price strategy which effectively charges customers different prices based on the customer’s gender (Trégouët, 2015).
Gendered or sex-typed products - gendered products, which means they take on masculine or feminine attributes, where consumers often associate themselves with one sex or the other. Marketers often perpetuate this kind of strategy (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2013).
Shopping behavior - a consumer’s general perception and evaluation for a product or service during the purchase which could result in a good or bad way (Shahzad, 2015).
Perception - the manner of which humans create and structure meaning from their surroundings. This is the organization, identification as well as interpretation of sensory information which enables the understanding of the presented information or environment (Pierce & Gardner, 2002).
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2. Frame of Reference In the frame of references different theories from previous research are presented. These are theories from previous research which will form a foundation for which this empirical study and its research interviews can be made. The frame of references is divided into three main sections; price, perception and gender.
Figure 2.1 Review of the Frame of Reference 2.1 Price
2.1.1 Gender-based price discrimination Companies which decide to comply with variable consumer pricing sell the same product at different prices to different consumers. This is possible through determining the varying sensitivity of prices between the customer segments. This segmentation can be done by dividing them into groups in a similar way to how they shape marketing strategies. For example, customers can be offered different prices for volume purchases or off-season buying. Not to mention, different discounts may be offered based on the age of the customer. It is not unusual for children, students or elderly to get discounts at amusement parks, public transportation and amusement parks. (Kotler et al., 2016) These sort of offers are normally socially accepted as they are made to benefit a financially vulnerable group of people. However, when the discriminating variable is gender the issue becomes more palpable. For example, it is not unusual for hair salons to charge for women’s haircuts compared to men's. Similarly, women are often paying more for dry cleaning of clothes than men are. (Heyman & Mellers, 2008)
The effect price discrimination has on economics can be divided into three categories; first degree, second degree and third degree. They all demonstrate the consequences gender based price discrimination can have in a national perspective rather than solemnly the perspective of the individual’s financial situation and purchasing decisions. At first glance, it may seem as if price discriminations are only made as a one-side beneficial method. Although with further investigation both positive and negative effects can be acknowledged (Cavefors-Svensson & Derving, 2008).
The concept of price discrimination is based on the fact that different consumers have different images of what one is willing to pay for a good or service. Most consumers are willing to pay more for a product than what the actual cost for this good or service is,
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resulting in a great profit for the company. The price discrimination occurs when the same company sell the same product or service to different prices depending on who the consumer is. Each market and each segment are assumed to have different price elasticities, which makes price discrimination possible. (Ferrell, Kapelianis, Ferrell & Rowland, 2016)
As mentioned above there are different types of price discrimination. First-degree price discrimination is demand-based, which means that a company assesses each individual’s willingness to pay for that specific product and adjusts the price thereafter. Ferrell et al. (2016) explains how this kind of price discrimination is rare since sellers more often than not have a hard time assessing the maximum amount of money each customer is willing to pay, there are simply not enough resources for a company to do that. However, some companies use these strategies where the customers can affect the price through negotiation when buying a car or by bidding on a good or service.
Second-degree price discrimination, on the other hand, occurs when groups of consumers purchase on a quantity or time-based related to the nature of the product. (Ferrell, Kapelianis, Ferrell & Rowland, 2016) We consider second-degree discrimination when a monopolist offers different prices to different customers. The customers have the same type of valuation system, but the seller takes different charges to the different segments (Chao & Nahata, 2015). Ferrell et al. (2016) says that customers might be willing to pay more to speed up a purchase or transaction as an example.
Third-degree price discrimination occurs when consumers are charged different amounts based on visible traits such as gender, location or age. This kind of price discrimination is often viewed as negative by consumers and public policy decision-makers, especially if there is a negative effect on social welfare. There are two reasons why this type of price discrimination is an important type of discrimination. According to Ferrell et al. (2016), the first reason is that the equal treatment norm among buyers vanishes, where products are prices based on demographics such as gender. However, it is not always easy to detect this type of gender-based pricing. Companies might claim that additional time or production costs are the reason as to why one gender has to pay more than the other. Even if this is a valid reason in a lot of cases, companies are often criticized when customers do not perceive this as a legitimate reason behind their pricing.
Old Navy claimed the price discrimination on their products were because plus-sized women’s clothing required more special features that are not necessary for men’s plus-size clothing, hence the major price difference. However, an online petition got nearly 100,000 signatures by enraged customers, despite their explanation. (Ferrell, Kapelianis, Ferrell & Rowland, 2016) This does not say that men never pay more for products because in cases they do. However, haircuts in addition to laundry and dry cleaning services are more universally required by all consumers and represent a meaningful share of a person’s budget The research done by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs showed that women pay more for their products than men in 7 percent of the time without a reasonable cause. The biggest difference was within the personal care department where women pay more than men in 13 percent of the cases. (NYC Department of Consumer Affairs, 2015).
This, in addition to the gender pay gap, gender-based price discrimination might cause serious consequences on welfare and economic equity of women. As mentioned above,
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research indicates that women pay more for personal care products such as deodorant, haircuts and dry cleaning. When businesses engage in this type of price discrimination, it can have a major impact not only on public welfare, but for everyone. (Ferrell, Kapelianis, Ferrell & Rowland, 2016)
2.1.2 Price Sensitivity Involvement Research shows that different factors can have an impact on customer price sensitivity. (Sirvanci, 1993). One of these factors is involvement. A customer’s involvement in purchasing decisions is influenced by the level of interest and investment they have in it. In other words, it is defined by the motivation which customers have to process information about the purchase. According to the theory of Conceptualizing components of involvement, customers’ involvement may be influenced by three different factors: personal, stimulus and situational. More specifically, their own personal values, interests, inherent needs, the importance of the purchase, differentiation of alternatives and the occasion can have an impact.
As customers intend on satisfying their needs they are more inclined to pay more attention to details such as pricing. However, a person may not be as observant or bothered to explore similar information if the product is not required in order to be able to achieve the goals aligned to their needs. For instance, a person might have a significant passion for the environment. Furthermore, this will increase their involvement as they value the importance of environmentally friendly production, transportation, packaging and so on. As this is critical to the customer, their motivation to have knowledge about the product affects their behaviour. They exert an increased cognitive effort to understand marketing such as ads and campaigns. In comparison, a person with a lack of care for the environment may not be as observant to this information. (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2013)
Figure 2.2, Conceptualizing components of involvement (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2013, page 204)
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As Figure 2.2 demonstrates, different antecedents can set involvement in motion. These factors are all based on a motivational form. They can be generated by something about the situation, the object itself or perhaps something about the person in question. When these are combined they have the power to determine the customers desire to gain knowledge concerning details of the product such as the price. Since the feminine hygiene industry provides products which satisfy an inherent need they would according to the theory create a substantial involvement for the customer resulting in a requirement to sell at low prices since the customer is more attentive of the pricing. However, one must take into consideration that most other alternatives which can be used as a substitute are set at similar prices, leaving the customer with little to no options to make a purchase or not. That is to say, the companies have a larger margin to raise prices. (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2013)
Weber-Fechner law The Weber-Fechner law refers to the connection of two laws related to human perception. Weber created a theory of how the scale of the increment threshold is a constant to the background intensity. For instance, if you are in a noisy room you will have to scream to be heard. However if you are in a quiet office you might only need to whisper to be heard. Meanwhile Fechner is responsible for the establishing of a relation between the intensity of stimulus and the corresponding response which could be calculated. Together these laws give base to the theory of the relationship between the perceived change and an actual change in physical stimulus such as hearing, taste, smell, vision and touch. (Augustyn, Bauer & Gregersen, 2019)
According to this theory price sensitivity is said to depend on both the customer and the product. Normally, customers have a low price sensitivity to products which they find essential or hard to substitute. The theory declares a hypothesis which insists the price has the bigger impact on the response of the customer. (Augustyn et al., 2019) Similar to the previous theory, customers are more likely to have a larger price threshold for products which are essential or cater to a basic need.
The Weber-Fechner law was created with the purpose of applying to psychophysical judgments much like the perception of loudness, heaviness of weights or the brightness of light. It is however applicable for other conditions and circumstances such as pricing. The theory gives base to price perceptions as it can be related to demonstrating how the magnitude of change can affect how people perceive price differences. When comparing prices the size of the perceived change is linked with the size of the numbers compared. For instance, the number 4 is 33% greater than 3 whilst the number 9 is only 13 % greater than 8. However the concrete and absolute difference between 3 and 4 is 1. The same goes for the difference between 8 and 9. This demonstrates that humans perceive the relative difference rather than the absolute difference. In a shopping scenario this would be illustrated by the increasing or decreasing of a price with 1 SEK on two different products. If one of the products was originally priced 2 SEK and the other 10 SEK, the perceived difference by customers would be greater for the cheaper product (Lin & Wang, 2017).
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2.2 Perception
2.2.1 Factors Affecting Perception Perception is described as the process by which humans create and structure meaning from their surroundings. This is the method used instinctively to evaluate and make decisions. Therefore the perceptions of different people are most commonly diverse. The whole process of perception is an imperative activity which is shaped by a person’s life experiences. These include surroundings such as the environment at work and the constant stimuli around us demanding our subconscious to pay attention and acknowledge it. (Pierce & Gardner., 2002) The five most significant factors which can affect a person’s perception of something are attitudes, motives, emotions, experience and expectations.
An attitude is a psychological construct which is based on a person’s experiences and forms their values and actions through their past and present. Meanwhile motives are humans reasoning behind their actions and intentions. It is a psychological force which drives and motivates humans and provokes action. Our expectations are formed through past experiences and our attitude (Johns & Saks, 2010). Human emotions are a mental reaction to something that has happened or is going to happen. In other words, emotions are feelings toward certain happenings or sensations. These are proven to have an immense impact on not only human perception, but overall decisions throughout life. In conclusion, attitudes, motives, emotions, experience and expectations all intertwine and shape an individual’s perception of other human beings, ourselves and other things. (Pierce & Gardner., 2002)
2.2.2 Attribution Theory Humans are made to be intrigued and interested in finding out what causes there are to their actions and decisions. The Attribution Theory explains this process and is relevant to the study as it might give an explanation to humans’ perceptions and thereby give meaning as to how and why the Pink Tax is perceived in a certain manner. (Robbins & Judge, 2009) The theory investigates internal and external factors which can give base to perceptions. There are three factors which determine the attribution, they are distinctiveness, consensus and consistency.
Furthermore, this theory presents the different ways in which humans’ manners and behavior can be explained to those observing. When judging other people’s actions we are thought to look for reasonings which may be internal or external. In other words, we assess the impact of which the person him or herself may have had on the situation they are in or of the way they behave. For instance, if a colleague shows up late for work one may assume it was due to the fact that they overslept because they were up late partying. In this particular interpretation the person in question is thought to act based on internal causes which could have been affected by themselves. However, another way to interpret the situation is to assume that there was plenty of traffic on the way causing the person to be late. This cause would be considered to be external which means the person is not believed to have been able to have any impact on the outcome. (Robbins & Judge, 2009)
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Distinctiveness can be described as how different the behaviour being observed is from the person’s usual patterns. If it fits into their habits it may be perceived as an internal practice and if they are acting out of their typical manners an external attribution may have had an impact. The consensus is the description of behaviour when different individuals act the same way. An example of this would be employees who take the same route to work, arriving late. If one employee’s actions, in this case being late, could be explained by unfortunate weather or a lot of traffic, it is assumed this was the case for all of them. Under these circumstances the consensus is considered high and their behaviour is believed to be caused by external factors. On the other hand, if any of the other employees managed to arrive at work on time the rest of the employees’ shortcomings are considered to be a result of internal factors such as sleeping in och losing track of time. These causes insinuate that the person could have had the capacity to affect the outcome of the situation. (Robbins & Judge, 2009)
Robbins et al (2009) explains that consistency is also taken into account when observing another person’s behaviour. If the person is changing a pattern of behaviour it is considered to be consistent. The more consistent the occurring situation appears to be, the more the behaviour is observed as a consequence of internal elements.
2.2.3. Dual Entitlement One economic theory regarding price perception is the Dual Entitlement Principle. The theory explains how consumers evaluate and perceive prices with the belief that while a company’s profit is taken into account, the consumer also has the right to a fair price. In the case of increasing women’s dry cleaning prices, this principle suggests while the dry cleaner is entitled to some price increase based on the work put into the task, the consumers should not be faced with exorbitant prices. (Tripathi, 2013)
Based on a national survey conducted in Canada, researchers found that a price increase is viewed as fair when a cost increase is a motive. For example, it is perceived fair for a firm to raise the price of a table if the cost of the raw materials is higher. However, it is viewed as unfair for a company to profit from excess demand. To increase the price of snow shovels from $15 to $20 after a snowstorm, or to auction off the last product to the highest bidder due to a shortage of supply is viewed as an unfair reason for a price increase. (Heyman & Mellers, 2018)
Kahneman, Knetsch, et al. (1991) describes that perceptions of fair prices could be described by the principle of Dual Entitlement. It has been supported in both surveys as well as experiments with financial incentives. The consumer feels entitled to a price as well as feeling like the firm is entitled to a reference profit. If companies raise prices in response to excess demand or a shortage of supply, they are acting unfairly.
Coca-Cola is an example of a company who violated the dual entitlement principle. In 1999 they decided to experiment with a vending machine, charging the customer different prices based on the weather. A Coke would be more expensive on hot days and cheaper when it was cold. The strategy was to turn this into increased profits without higher costs. As a consequence, consumers reacted angrily and felt exploited, perceiving the price difference as discriminating. (Heyman & Mellers, 2018)
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Consumers compare their product expectations along with price expectations when an exchange occurs, matching it with their actual experiences. Personal knowledge of other people’s experiences, as well as store-based information, are a few factors taken into consideration when product expectations are formed. Consumers are more likely to be dissatisfied if the product falls short of the person’s expectations, perceiving the exchange as unfair. On the contrary, if it does live up or even exceeds the consumer’s expectations, the price, as well as the purchase, is viewed as fair. This might lead to repeat purchases, where the price will become the biggest factor in order to evaluate the fairness of a product. (Heyman & Mellers, 2018)
2.2.4 Transaction Value Previous research has shown that consumers may perceive the price to be unfair if they become aware of a difference in pricing between two transactions of similar products. As the Dual Entitlement theory discusses the fairness of a price of a product, the transaction value is closely related to this matter. It is defined as consumers’ perceptions of the psychological satisfaction or pleasure from taking advantage of a price deal. A “bad deal” is typically perceived to be an unfair price whilst a “good deal” is not necessarily perceived to be the fairest price. (Xia & Monroe, 2010)
A large scale shopping survey revealed that 76% of the respondents agreed that “it would bother me to learn that other people pay less than I do for the same products”. 72% also disagreed that “if a store I shop at frequently charges me lower prices than it charges other people because it wants to keep me as a customer more than it wants to keep them, that’s OK” (Xia & Monroe, 2010). In addition to this, a study conducted by Stevens and Shanahan (2017) sought to understand why women are willing to pay a higher price than men for the equivalent product, or if they even were aware that they were paying one. Results explained that women perceive the Pink Tax is unfair. The more educated the respondent was in the topic, the more likely she was to find this pricing as unjust. Specifically, anger comes from a place where the consumer has a sense of unfairness, an emotion that has lead to negative behavioural intentions such as complaint and switching behaviour in the past.
In regards to the Pink Tax, a consumer perceiving the price as unfair is more likely to happen if the consumer has knowledge in the matter of Pink Tax due to prior purchases, essentially implying that the greater the familiarity - the greater the perception of unfair pricing will be. In addition to this, the greater the tendency is to compare prices as a woman, the more likely it is that the consumer will perceive the price difference as unfair. However, in some situations a consumer might be more willing to pay a higher price even if the price is viewed as unfair. As a female, a monetary sacrifice might be accepted in order to purchase feminine products and thereby express one’s femininity. Stevens and Shanahan (2017) implies that the greater the willingness is to pay a higher price for feminized products to highlight one’s femininity, the stronger the negative perception of the Pink Tax will be, a price that must be paid willingly yet unhappily.
This shows that there are multiple ways an outcome of a purchase can be evaluated. A consumer’s preference and liking does not necessarily implicate that they consider the price as fair. When evaluating a price, several different comparative factors can be taken into account. It may be another person, an organization or a class of people to only mention a few. The individual himself is also a factor, taking previous experiences into account when
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evaluating a price. However, studies show that having a higher price in comparison to another consumer triggers stronger unfairness judgments than seller, time or price setter differences. (Xia & Monroe, 2010)
Existing research has been focusing on the equity between buyer and seller when it comes to price fairness, with the theory of Dual Entitle principle is an example of this. What Xia and Monroe (2010) demonstrate in their study is that social comparisons between consumers as well as oneself have a crucial role in perceptions of fairness no matter if the pricing is advantageous or disadvantageous.
2.3 Gender
2.3.1 The self The differentiation by gender is visible throughout essentially all industries and starts at a young age. Even baby products are being promoted differently based on gender. Nappies for girls are commonly manufactured and packaged in pink whilst the boys’ are made in blue. Market research has revealed that the colour plays a huge roll in parents purchasing decisions as most of them refuse to buy pink nappies for their sons. However, as men and womens’ behaviours are evolving and growing to become more and more indistinguishable, there are other and possibly superior ways to segment customers into more accurate and favourable groups for both customers and companies. (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2013)
Customers choose some products because they think they are consistent with their actual self, whereas they buy others to reach some form of ideal standard. They often engage in a process of impression management, where they attempt to manage what other people think of them by strategically choosing clothing and other cues in order to put them in a good light. The ideal self refers to some sort of conception of how one would like to be, while the actual self refers to a more realistic appraisal of the qualities we have or lack. (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2013)
According to Solomon et al (2013), sexual identity is very important when it comes to a consumer’s self-concept. People often conform based on the culture and view of what is socially acceptable when it comes to how to dress, act, speak and so on. These certainly change over time and vary depending on the culture the consumer lives by, where some are more okay with deviating from the gender norm. In certain societies, it looks as if it is gender-equal, however, the inequalities are just under the surface. It is not always obvious or clear as to what role gender plays in the decision-making process and whether or not it is innate or culturally shaped - but they are certainly evident in consumption decisions.
Individuals purchase products with the goal of enhancing one’s self-concept, both in their own eyes but also in others (Worth, Smith & Mackie,1992). Research shows that not only does the products male and female buy differ, but also the way they shop. This regards both degree and kind, where it still appears that women involve themselves more than men when it comes to purchasing goods of the same type even when attitudinal, role-demand and trait-based explanations have been taken into account. Otnesa and McGrath (2001) further explain how in more recent interviews with both sexes showed that women have a more positive view of the shopping process than men, where the man still view shopping as
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unmanly and shops in a way where they see themselves fulfilling a need instead of doing it for pleasure.
A study conducted by Duesterhaus et al. (2011) suggests that a person’s identity is deeply rooted and is expressed even through the purchase of basic products and services such as razors, deodorant and hair cuts. In addition to the use-value of a product, it is also purchased to showcase its symbolic meaning, meaning a woman will buy deodorant with floral fragrance to highlight and feminize the body. In a largely masculine world, women are able to express themselves as feminine through buying these types of products, where Duesterhaus et al. (2011) argues for this being one of the reasons why services marketed towards men are priced less. Masculinity is not associated with an appearance to the same extent as femininity, although this is changing for some men. Nevertheless, women are faced with expectations from a society where women should be feminine and buy products which are marketed towards women as a response. By doing this, they fulfil the gendered expectations set by society. (Duesterhaus et al., 2011)
Even though men shop in order to fulfil a need instead of for pleasure as mentioned above, most men still tolerate shopping. Nonetheless, David and Brannond (1976) describe that men solely tolerate shopping if the purpose of the purchases can fulfil one of the four tenets of masculinity identified in their research. The first one being men completely dismissing anything remotely feminine while shopping - “No sissy Stuff”. Second,“The Big Wheel” which explains how men who see themselves as people who have “made it” will shop as a symbol of status to prove it Third, the self-reliant and quiet man who succeeds where less steely males have failed is referred to as “The Sturdy Oak” and lastly “Give ‘Em Hell” which endorses aggression. (Otnesa & McGrath, 2001)
By convincing women and men that the gendered products they are buying differ to such an extent that one separates the two segments so distinctively, marketers have successfully convinced consumers with this essentialist-based marketing strategy. By showing that men and women are biologically different most buy items which match their gender, no matter if it is perceived as affordable or expensive. (Duesterhaus et al., 2011)
A lot of products are also sex-typed, or in other words, gendered products, which means they take on masculine or feminine attributes, where consumers often associate themselves with one sex or the other. Marketers are often the ones perpetuating this kind of strategy, and this is where the Pink Tax comes into the picture. By sex-typing products such as princess telephones or different coloured bicycle helmets for kids, the gender seems to influence the instrumentality of the products we buy (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2013).
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2.4 Model of analysis The model of analysis has been created with its stand point in previous research as well as theories presented in the frame of reference. Our analysis aims to discover the differences in price and purchase perceptions the Pink Tax causes. Perception is the factor in focus when conducting this study, and by researching the difference in perceptions Swedish men and women have regarding the Pink Tax it will be possible to answer our research question. Our model of analysis (see figure 2.3) contributes to a comprehensive model for the themes and aspects covered in this study.
Figure 2.3 Our model of analysis
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3. Method 3.1 General research approach This study has been conducted with a qualitative research approach. This study has had a deductive research approach as a starting point where theories from scientific articles and studies have been processed and empirical data has been gathered through semi structured interviews. Once empirical data has been gathered and processed the study has subsequently had a strain of an inductive research approach. Based on the shift back and forth between the two research approaches, the authors therefore argue the study being conducted with an abductive research approach. This will be further explained in the following chapter, together with a motivation as to the choice of method as well as how the research will carry out.
3.1.1 Abductive reasoning The research study has used abductive reasoning in order to answer this study’s research question. By way of introduction, an up to date research subject was determined which had a practical, theoretical and empirical issue. A gap in the research, as well as a problem definition, was determined early in the study after obtaining information from scientific articles and studies. According to Jacobsen (2002), this research taking part in the early stages of a study is described as deductive reasoning where the process travels from theory to empirics. Due to the questions in the interview guide being based on previous research a solid theoretical foundation and knowledge when the empirical gathering of data commenced. Based on this, the study can furthermore be considered fully exhaustive. With the purpose of shedding light on perceptions, we argue that inductive reasoning is needed in this study since empirics will support and give a greater understanding of the chosen topic. Only using deductive reasoning means a risk of not gaining the whole picture due to previous research being the foundation for interviews, where potentially crucial questions to this study might be overlooked.
Inductive reasoning was valuable in the interpretation of the collected data in the study. Based on the answers from the respondents the authors wanted to further explore the perception of the Pink Tax in order to widen the knowledge in this matter. To alternate between these two instances results in an abductive research approach (Gustavsson & Lundgren, 2019).
3.1.2 Qualitative research In this study, a qualitative research approach is used. Because of its flexibility it is possible to adapt the research based on the situation as well as how to situation progresses, which is one of the benefits of a qualitative study. (David & Sutton, 2016) In addition to this, a qualitative study is further a resource due to the gap in the research, where interviews can add further value to the subject since there is a lack of information regarding our purpose. This also aligns with abductive reasoning as the study aims to elucidate the gap in the research (Jacobsen, 2002).
To conduct this study, the empirical study is done through semi structured qualitative interviews. This is the most common approach when it comes to qualitative research. (Bryman & Bell, 2013). The interview guide covers more questions for the interviewer to go
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through and will therefore cover a greater area of subjects compared to an unstructured interview. (Eliasson 2018). Since the study aims to research perceptions, semi structured interviews are therefor of the greatest value in order to answer our research question since the interest lies in the respondents experiences and views.
In addition to this, a comparative research approach will be taking place in this study. Since the goal is to compare men and women’s perception of the Pink Tax, a qualitative comparative design is relevant. This means the study will be conducted on two different groups, men and women in this case, in order to acknowledge differences as well as similarities between the two groups. According to Bryman and Bell (2013) a comparative research makes it easier to develop theories which will carry.
In respect to semi structured qualitative interviews, the interview guide has been divided in to the themes price, perception and gender which covers the research question where every theme consists of open ended questions which have been based on the frame of reference. In order to ensure we do not miss out on details, a series of more specific questions have been produced to ensure exhaustive responses. The interview was therefore opened up with the open-ended, broad questions in order to make sure the respondent felt comfortable and therefore, shared more personal and truthful answers (David & Sutton, 2016).
As the interview progressed, the respondents were faced with two shopping scenarios, making sure the interviewers were able to get a full picture of the respondents perceptions and views. The scenarios presented aimed to gain a greater knowledge about price perception, perception of gender as well as involvement and purchasing decisions based on the former items. The first scenario shown was a razor marketed towards men and one marketed towards women, and the second one showed electric toothbrushes (see appendix 1). The prices set were based on previous research, stating that the price difference in personal hygiene is 13% between the two products (NYC Department of Consumer Affairs, 2015). This strategy was set in order to gain a full and comprehensive result regarding the perception of the Pink Tax.
Since the purpose is to explore the Pink Tax, a relatively unknown phenomenon in Sweden, Bryman and Bell (2013) argues that an open-ended interview guide is beneficial for said purpose. The authors recognize the consequences of the interviewer effect as well as interviewer bias and have therefore had a discussion where instructions have been presented in order to make sure that the researchers’ way of actions and their background does not affect the interviewees responses to the questions (David & Sutton, 2016). In conclusion, the authors argue that an abductive research approach with semi structured qualitative interviews is the best approach in order to find out the differences in price, gender and purchase perceptions Swedish men and women have regarding the Pink Tax.
3.2 Literature study The literature study was conducted by gathering and processing previous research. The scientific articles has been retrieved from Google Scholar, Web of Science, SAGE and the University of Halmstad online library. The literature study essentially broad in order to get an understanding of the subject, where the authors were able to conduct a more subject focused literature study as the research progressed. Starting with researching the actual definition and topic of the Pink Tax, the authors gained knowledge in the subject and were able to take part of more detailed research regarding the topic. By exploring the references stated in each
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study, the author’s were exposed to the possibility of retrieving more research within the area. The search terms used in this study were Pink Tax, perception, price perception, gender based pricing, price discrimination, price sensitivity, gender and pricing.
The system of reference used in this study is APA, which stands for American Psychological Association. When using APA references are written within parentheses in the ongoing text with information about the author as well as the year of publication. The references are further presented in alphabetical order in the reference list of the thesis. (Mattsson & Örtenblad, 2008)
3.3 Empirical study
3.3.1 Selection of respondents
Alias Gender Age
Respondent 1 Woman 20
Respondent 2 Woman 21
Respondent 3 Woman 21
Respondent 4 Woman 22
Respondent 5 Man 21
Respondent 6 Man 22
Respondent 7 Man 24
Respondent 8 Man 22
Figure 3.1 Information regarding the respondents
Based on the population count of 2019, there are 587 699 people between the ages 20-24 in Sweden (Statistiska Centralbyrån, 2020). According to Williams & Page (2011), Generation Z include people born after 1994, valuing authenticity and realness above other things. Gen Z are focused on the “bigger picture” when it comes to attaining equality in society. (Wattpad Brand Partnerships, 2019). Products such as music, clothing, haircuts, cosmetics as well as video games are important in terms of peer acceptance, where this generation feels a strong urge to belong. Generation Z represents a major opportunity for sustainable business growth, where a lot of marketers put more focus on this segment in order to obtain early loyalty and a long lasting relationship (Williams & Page, 2011) .
Based on this reasoning, the selection of respondents were between the ages of 20-25. By obtaining an understanding as to what their perception of the Pink Tax is, this will be beneficial to companies in order for them to understand and create greater value for their main segment. The respondents have no relationship to one another nor were they aware of
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the topic of research prior to the interview, therefore ensuring that the responses are impartial and provide comprehensive responses.
3.3.3 Data collection In order to answer the research question primary data has been collected. It has been collected through qualitative interviews done with carefully chosen respondents. This approach was chosen as the purpose of the data collection is to describe and explain relationships between different factors and processes within the limitations of the subject. As the respondents speak Swedish as their native language, the interview was given in Swedish and the empirical data collected was later translated to English. This was done to obtain as full, comprehensive, detailed and accurate answers from the correspondents. This in turn thereby prevented the risk of receiving answers which were brief, limited, less in depth and possibly wrongfully interpreted.
To ensure the quality and validity of the data collection there are certain issues which are favorable to avoid. Therefore when designing the questionnaire and data collection method, three different issues where especially taken into consideration. (David & Sutton, 2011) These can be referred to as the survey effect, interviewer effect and context effect. They symbolize errors which shall be avoided at all possible times to the extent which is possible.
Due to the progression of COVID-19 in Swedish society, the respondents were given the option of doing the interview via Zoom or by phone if they preferred in order to ensure they were comfortable in the interview situation. 5 of the interviews were made remotely, where the authors were aware of the context effect during the interview. As the authors recognize that socially acceptable answers can cause systematic errors and lack of validity, the interviews were made separately instead of in groups. The interviews were designed to facilitate a beneficial and efficient way to analyze the collected data and thereby be able to provide truthful and useful information to the study. The interviews were recorded with the respondents’ consent. By recording the interviews the authors were able to fully focus on the respondent during the interview, making sure we were involved and attentive throughout the interview. As 6 of 8 of the interviews were made by phone or Zoom, this was extra beneficial in order to gain greater knowledge about their experiences as well as ensuring the responses were fully deplative. By recording the interviews the authors were able to cite the respondents, providing greater detail to the empirics. Prior to the start of the interview the respondents were given information about the handling of their personal information and informed that this would be kept anonymous. The interviews proceeded for 20-30 minutes, except for one interview which took 40 minutes.
3.3.4 Method of analysis The strategy to be used for the coding and analysing of data was carefully planned ahead to assure the data collection was processed and exploited in the most efficient and accurate way. In addition to our own model of analysis an additional qualitative data analysis was chosen, created by Gioia, Corley & Hamilton (2012). The encoding of data is the process of which the researchers practice coding of paragraphs of text in order to find similarities and differences (David & Sutton, 2011). Due to this study having a comparative purpose, the authors separated the empirics which was coded in to the studied groups men and women in order to elucidate the similarities as well as differences between the two groups.
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As a first way of analyzing the collected data, the authors identified mutual themes, words, expressions and meanings among the emerging categories. Based on the collected empirical data, a primary categorization of the respondents’ answers were made in order to further categorize the responses within a specific area in which match each other. This is a process which eventually will reduce to a number of manageable categories, which will make out the first-order concepts. The second-order themes will be based on the first-order concepts, asking whether emerging themes suggests concepts which might help and explain the subject of the conducted research. Once the themes and concepts are detected, an investigation is made in order to determine whether the second-order themes are able to distill further, creating the last line of condensed data, the aggregated dimensions (Gioia et al., 2012). Our method of analysis together with Gioia et al’s method made it possible to interlude responses to existing research while also contributing to further implications based on collected empirical data.
3.4 Validity Qualitative researches must be carefully reviewed in order to be considered reliable (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2014). Both internal and external validity has a significant function in this research. By choosing a qualitative interview approach and an abductive method the likelihood of a high level of internal validity is increased. This is due to the fact that the researchers are given a better insight to the respondents’ lives and beliefs. In addition to this, they are able to achieve a deeper understanding by letting the respondents and their answers steer the direction of the research. (David & Sutton, 2011)
As the purpose of this study is to obtain further knowledge regarding the perception of the Pink Tax, and contribute with insights and knowledge to companies, consumers and legislators in future discussions, external validity is of importance. However, in order to ensure full external validity further research is possible, making sure the results fully and extensively reflects the perceptions of the male and female population of Sweden. External validity however, does not mean that researchers must interview as many as possible. Instead, the emphasis shall be put on the selection of respondents. The selected respondents of this research were chosen to, much like a mirror, reflect the reality of the whole population being studied (David & Sutton, 2011).
3.5 Ethical considerations When it comes to the research and writing of a qualitative study the acknowledgement of ethical considerations is of utmost importance. Careful deliberation and planning was made to assure that the study was carried out with the utmost awareness and respect for these. Throughout the designing and implementation of this research project, ethical implications and dilemmas were recognized and managed in regards to integrity amongst other matters Integrity can be referred to as the manner of storing and exploring the data collected. To assure this is carried out in a proper and honorable way, decisions concerning anonymity and confidentiality must be made beforehand. (David & Sutton, 2011).
To honor the integrity of all respondents, a consent must be given to confirm that the authors are granted access into the individuals’ personal sphere. (David & Sutton, 2016) Before each of the interviews were carried out the respondents’ were made aware of fact that this study would be made public, that the interview is voluntary and that it is their right to be
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anonymous. The audio and transcribed text from interviews were kept safe in private throughout the work process to ensure confidentiality. Another precaution which was made to ensure no wrongful conclusions were made in the analysis was ensuring the follow up questions assisted in receiving thorough and easily interpreted answers. The construction of these questions were important to make sure no causality errors were made. In other words, avoiding making conclusions of connections between two variables when in fact a third could be the affecting one.
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4. Result In this chapter the empirical result will be presented, where the data has been collected through qualitative interviews. The answers provided will later on be analyzed together with theories from the frame of reference. Based on the empirical data collected it will be presented by gender, focusing on the three topics presented in previous research: Price, perception and gender.
4.1 Women
4.1.1 Price Respondent 1 states that her price sensitivity is generally based on how useful and high quality the product claims to be. She also believes that she takes her need of the product into consideration before buying anything. However if the product is bought solemnly for entertainment she would pay more attention to the price of it and most likely be more attentive to if there are more affordable options.
“The things I compare prices with the most is electronics, phones and computers for example, even games for them. But with everyday things I do not check the prices as much before i buy it. I usually compare when it is more expensive products. Even if you know from before that a product can cost very differently, comparing between Willis or Coop for example. If I am in one of the stores and know it is cheaper to buy it in the other one I wait with buying that specific product until I am in the other store.
When it comes to these things the respondent says she always has a firm comprehension of what she reckons is an acceptable price. Therefore, she would be less likely to pay more than a satisfactory price for it.
Respondent 2 states that she compares prices and products often. Whilst other factors are considered, both consciously and subconsciously, she claims her price sensitivity is mostly based on her interest in the products. She gave the example that as she is not particularly passionate about hair products, she tends to want to spend less money on those types of products. This is also due to the fact that she does not think she has enough knowledge about functions, attributes or characteristics that may be desirable in hair products. Therefore she would not appreciate them and is less keen to pay any additional cost for it. However if she were to buy any type of makeup item she would not feel the same as this is something she is passionate about and has more knowledge of. Another reason for Respondent 2’s need to carefully evaluate options is the fact that she is a student and therefore has a limited budget as she does not have a fulltime job. When asked about comparing products she said:
“I guess you do that often, for the most part. Like, if you are buying a new foundation (I only talk about makeup) I’ll look at YouTube and then I look for dupes for that product so it contains the same attributes and then I’ll compare. When I know the price I make the decision whether or not the expensive one is worth it or if it is substitutable and that would be more worth it. I do that alot. When it comes to everything else I think i check and compare prices as well, with halloumi for example, it can vary greatly in price. I can’t really taste the difference so I’ll settle for the cheaper one, sometimes I check if it contains the same
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ingredients and sometimes I don’t. It depends on what it is. But food and stuff aren’t things I really care about, it doesn’t matter if it’s white cheese or feta cheese, it tastes the same so it doesn’t matter what’s in it. I’d rather same money by buying the cheaper one.”
As a student, respondent 3 explains that you can not always afford to spend an endless amount of money.
“Of course [the price] plays a big part, especially now when you are a student. You can’t really afford anything and everything. The price does not only decide whether or not you are willing to buy it, but sometimes it also equals quality. That you need a specific thing just because it’s trendy, it’s what other people buy, you see some influencers buy these things and it’ll cost 1000 kr where you’re like “well…” but you still feel kind of forced to buy it because that’s what everyone else has.”
Checking and comparing prices on Pricerunner is something Respondent 3 does frequently when shopping online, as she is able to see the prices of different websites and compare them. She says that she definitely compares prices and products before purchasing them, and even tries something on in store only to order it online if it is cheaper there.
Respondent 4 describes that when she sees a higher price she associates this with better quality. At the same time, she still prefers to pay the lowest price possible with the highest quality available, but adds that she never buys anything without checking the price. Branded products are more often than not things she can focus on comparing, as well as products carried by multiple retailers. She ends up explaining that the decisions made where the price really matter to her is when buying food.
“I guess it’s food, that’s where you want to buy the cheapest stuff. Coop carries the same products but they are more expensive.”
However, respondent 4 explains that when asked to explain how she thinks when buying deodorants or razors she does not involve herself too much into the purchase.
“If I’m buying a razor… I don’t think too much about it. I just go and smell [the deodorant] and grab the one that smells good. So no, I don’t do that alot. It’s just a purchase that goes on automation.”
The Pink Tax is not an issue Respondent 2 claims to have noticed often. As women typically consume more personal care products such as makeup, hairstyling and beauty products than men in general, it is hard to notice price differences. Respondent 4 notes that the one thing she can recall regarding a price difference between the genders is when purchasing clothes.
“It’s clothes. But that’s what you usually say, even guys say that it’s cheaper [for them] to buy clothes. So that’s where you notice the biggest difference.”
Regarding respondent 2, the only category of goods she has noticed a significant difference when it comes to pricing is hair products such as shampoo and conditioners.
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“ I haven’t really thought of [price differences] that often. It’s hard to compare with make up products and stuff like that since it’s mostly women who buy and use it. Shampoo and stuff like that can differ in my opinion. Guys often buy all in one which is cheaper while we might buy conditioner, shampoo and a hair mask just because us ladies need it. So there’s a consumption difference at least, but I don’t know how great the all in one products are. When it comes to skincare and stuff it seems like guys don’t really use or buy it so they don’t keep track of prices. Some can take a shower and then they’re done which is a big difference compared to how most women probably do.”
Respondent 3 continues by saying that in a lot of cases she sees that female products are charged a higher price than male, especially when it comes to beauty and hair products. She adds that she thinks it is extremely expensive and in addition to that one is expected to buy a wide range of products, which also affects her willingness to buy a product or not.
While she points out that she has not really contemplated it, she finds the Pink Tax irritating. When asked about if the Pink Tax is something respondent 3 notices in her every day life she responded with the following:
“I unfortunately don’t think you do that, but when situations like these appear and when you think about it it’s obvious that you get irritated and kind of disappointed in humanity. No, but… I am disappointed in myself for letting it happen because I don’t think a lot of people bring attention to it as much as it deserves. Sure, it’s not like we can’t pay 50 kr extra for a razor, but why should we have to? But no, I don’t think I think about it that much.”
4.1.2 Perception Women are often considered to be more choosy and forethoughtful, according to Respondent 1. An enquiry such as purchasing a face cream can involve weeks of consideration and research. Contrary to this, most men seem to just take a walk to the nearest pharmacy and buy one of the first face creams he sees. She admits that she believes women could just as well use this course of action, but insists that they are affected by the massive amount of alternatives on the market and the persuading marketing that comes with it.
Respondent 2 believes that women often have an enormous amount of options when it comes to personal care products whilst the men’s section is significantly smaller. She claims this can lead to women being already overwhelmed by an extensive amount of options and therefore prevented from looking even further over to the men’s section. According to her, this is one of the main reasons why women in their everyday life do not compare men and women’s products. Nevertheless, this is the way she personally often feels when shopping for products such as razors or shampoo.
4.1.2.1 Scenario 1 To further inspect how the participants perceive gender based pricing, they were given two different scenarios of products with price differences based on previous research regarding the Pink Tax. The first consisted of pictures of two different razor blades from the same brand.
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Figure 4.1 The first shopping scenario presented to the respondents
The physical appearances of the razors established an apparent distinction according to respondent 1. The most noticeable difference between the two of them was the colour. The razor blade marketed towards women was light pink, had white elements and soft shapes whilst the male version was black and had sharper edges. The blades were packaged in what she considered to be equally as differentiated containers. Respondent 1 found it to be clear that the two products were not marketed towards both men and women.
‘’Male razors’ packaging often have explosions or lightning to make men feel tenacious and tough. Women’s on the other hand, are usually supposed to have soft and neutral colours which apparently is considered more feminine.’’
This is something all four respondents agree with. Respondent 3 notes the same thing as respondent 1. She acknowledges that the first thing you note is the difference in packaging where you can see that the pink one is for women based on its color and clean design, whereas the black one has a packaging with a lot of colors and elements to it. She adds that the name of the products also separates the products as she says that the pink one has the word “female” in the product description, effectively eliminating any other gender from purchasing the product.
Respondent 2 agrees, where thinks the pink seems to be designed to look pretty and sensitive whilst the black razor blade gives more of a macho impression.
“The function looks the same, there are 3 blades and 4 razor heads in both packages. One of them looks alot more macho. I don’t really know exactly what makes me think that. It looks like it kind of radiates behind [the razor] and looks like “wow”. And then if you observe the actual blades, even they are shining, it’s supposed to look manly. The pink one seems like it’s supposed to look pretty and subtle.”
Respondent 1 believes she would have bought the male razor if given the option. The compelling factor is the price difference. Respondent 3 expresses how she probably would buy the pink razor because it is marketed towards women, but adds that she finds her own reasoning ridiculous since the male razor is both cheaper and better. What concerns respondent 1 and 2 about this reasoning, is that men’s razors are typically made for shaving
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facial hair. Without the argument of the women’s razor having a special feature such as being extra sensitive to the skin, they both feel that there is no acceptable justification for the price difference. Respondent 1 stated:
“I think it should be the same price actually. Because guys still only shave their face so they should have the one suited for that. And then girls shave their legs mostly so the pink one would fit better I believe. Based on that you think that the company who produces the product knows where the product will be used och should be more adapted based on where you shave, thereby the different functions of the products. But prices should be the same. I didn’t react too strongly at first but the more carefully I looked I noticed how minor the differences are, so they should be cost the same amount. I think it’s expensive for both actually. But when I see that one costs 150 SEK and the other one 200 SEK I wouldn’t have paid it more attention than just buying the one for 150 SEK. There’s too big of a difference between them. I think that you can see that they’re trying to entice with the package in order to raise the prices, so because of experience I wouldn't have bought the pink one. I already know from before what’s a reasonable price according to me and know approximately how much it can cost, I have subconsciously already decided how much I’m willing to pay even before I have gone shopping.”
Respondent 3 finds it deranged that one should have to pay more money for the same value only because you are buying something for women. She perceives the price difference as something crazy and adds that she does not see any major differences between the two products but the female one is priced higher as well as aimed for women. She explains that she prefers men’s razors to women’s as she believes they perform better and last longer.
“I don’t know, it’s super expensive with razors, but I don’t know how much the men’s cost if there’s a difference there, but you obviously want to choose the cheapest just because it costs so much but then you’ll get a bad product. So you have to buy the one which is - not that you’ll get ruined, it costs 250 SEK maybe - and it’s not that much fun to put money on a razor. So how I think when I buy it… if you are looking at deodorants I just buy what I always have, I don’t see that many commercials for it either. But then razors, I guess you take men’s razors because they are better.“
Respondent 4 expresses how she perceives the difference between male and female reasoning by saying that she does not believe men think about it. She acknowledges how she identifies their thought process as only seeing how products marketed towards men are cheap, whereas they do not spend any time thinking about if it is more expensive for women. However, she believes women think about this matter more, taking into account that a male razor is cheaper with a minimal difference between the two products.
Respondent 1 assumed that men usually do not have an overview of the women’s section. She believed that most women are more prone than men to purchase something marketed towards the other sex, they therefore have substantial overall knowledge of the men’s section’s product range. This assumption was based on the fact that women know of the price differences between men and women’s products and how trivial the packaging and marketing is to the product quality. She recognizes that consumption habits are certainly individual and not solemnly formed by gender, yet this is her experience from shopping for and with men such as her boyfriend or father.
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4.1.2.1 Scenario 2 The second scenario the participants were given consisted of two electric toothbrushes. They were both the same brand and the same model but in two different colours: black and pink.
Figure 4.2 The second shopping scenario presented to the respondents
The first thing respondent 3 notices about the products are the differences in pricing. In this scenario she prefers the black toothbrush and tells us that she believes that the pink one is considerably unappealing due to the color being brash. Regardless she finds it odd that a consumer would be charged a higher price for the pink toothbrush.
Respondent 1 is confident that the pink toothbrush is supposed to be for women and black toothbrush is made for everyone. However, she states that the only noticeable difference she is able to find is the colour of the product. She mentions that the performance and quality seem to be the same for the two products but debates whether the pink one might have a sort of extra feature. She bases this on the flashy colour which could indicate that it is a special edition or temporarily available version. The black one seems like the basic and neutral version. Respondent 2 on the other hand finds both the toothbrushes to be gender-specific.
‘’It’s the exact same toothbrush, just in different colors. It looks like they have the exact same function. The black one is probably for men and the pink one is supposed to be the female one, it’s so obvious that they are made for one gender each. The pink is so girly and pretty while the black one seems so manly and tough.’’
Just like respondent 3, respondent 1 states that she would have chosen to purchase the black toothbrush in this scenario, but is not sure why. According to her she believes she might find the pink one too tacky. In addition to this, she finds it ridiculous to pay another 90 SEK for the sole purpose of the colour. However if the black was blue instead, meaning the colours she had to choose from were pink and blue, she imagines picking pink one.
‘’Blue would be too masculine and it would feel wrong. It would truly feel like I was using a toothbrush clearly made for men.’’
Respondent 4 would also buy the black toothbrush, where she immediately says that in this situation she values the price higher than appearance. She discusses whether or not a higher production cost could be one of the reasons as to why the price is higher.
“I don’t know how expensive it could be to produce a pink one, that might be the reason for it being more expensive - having a pink color. But it’s the same function, it’s the same
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toothbrush just a different color and I think it’s weird that it’s more expensive. It might be because it’s more expensive to produce a pink one but I think that’s odd.”
Respondent 2 on the other hand, would have chosen the pink if it were not more expensive. Solemnly due to the price difference, she would choose the black toothbrush. She says that if the toothbrushes were priced equally she would have prefered the pink one. As Respondent 1 identifies the pink toothbrush as a special edition version, she figures this could be an explanation as to why the pricing could go unnoticed. She does however not believe it is justified as the pink toothbrush apparently does not in fact have any special features. This type of marketing is dishonest and misleading according to her. She finds it hard to understand how a product can cost more than another because of a colour change.
‘’It is weird how there can be such a big difference just because of the colour. I mean, I have a hard time believing that it costs more for a company to produce a toothbrush in pink instead of black so that can’t be the issue’’
When asked if she believes women and men perceive the price in different ways, respondent 4 says that she believes that men definitely will observe the price.
“I think men definitely will check the price, if it would be cheaper with a pink one, it kind of depends but some guys don’t care about what color it is so if it would have been cheaper with a pink one they might take the pink one. I think girls often want what looks more girly, so it totally depends on how you are. I would personally not go for the pink one just because it’s pink, but the one that’s cheaper in this case. But some girls needs it to be feminine and look girly and that means wanting pink.”
Respondent 2 finds it unbelievable that there actually are price differences on products which are the same beside from the colour. As she is merely given images of the products and not the packaging itself or the potential marketing and advertising around it, she imagines these things would create an even bigger gap between men and women’s toothbrushes.
‘’I suppose I would not even have noticed the price difference in the store. The products would probably not even be placed near each other because then the companies would never get away with these types of tactics.’’
Respondent 3 cannot comprehend how companies believe that women would pay more just because it is pink and aimed towards women. When shown the prices of the toothbrushes Respondent 2 reacted strongly. She felt that it was unfair and she could only imagine how upset she would be if she notice this kind of price disparity in a store. Respondent 1 and 2 both agree that they do not think men would even consider buying women’s products because they value their manliness too much. Respondent 3 elaborates on this as well and says that she does not believe that her boyfriend would even look at the pink products and only focus on the black one, not even realizing that there was a price difference between the two products, a situation she finds highly irritating. Respondent 2 said the following:
‘’It is absurd to me that companies are allowed to charge different prices for what seems to be the exact same product! The pricing is unreasonable. I don’t believe men would ever buy
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female products to save money because that would impinge on their integrity as manly and masculine men, so why should we have to buy men’s products? I don’t get it.’’
Respondent 3 believes that men care less about what they buy, they just base it off whatever they believe has a good quality and does not pay too much attention to the price, while women definitely put more effort into a purchase and researches the price more. Respondent 1 and 2 both suspect that most men are used to buying personal care items out of habit because they like what they are used to. Moreover, men would not be willing to own a pink razor or toothbrush which is fortunate since women are the ones affected by this price differentiation. Respondent 1 has a theory that men often choose what has a nice physical appearance and trusts that its quality is lives up to the same standard.
4.1.3 Gender When respondent 4 was asked about her perception of gendered products she expresses that she does not believe gendered products should be priced differently. In a society where the gender pay gap is favorable to men in addition to them paying a lower price for their products, she perceives this as something which should be adjusted.
As Respondent 2 stated before, she believes women have a significantly larger amount of options to choose from when it comes to personal care products. Men however, seem to have fewer options. She therefore thinks that this leads to men not contemplating as much what to buy as they do not have as many items to choose from and compare. This is something respondent 3 also brings attention to. She says that that there is a greater societal pressure towards women needing day creams, night creams, eye cream and so on. She believes that these factors reflects the price as well as expectations from each gender. Respondent 4 talks about how she feels about price differences between gendered products.
“I don’t think the pricing should be any different actually. Partly because men make more money for example, and that they are the ones paying less. /../ so I think girls should get it cheaper in that case. In today’s society the salaries differ between men and women, and I’d prefer it being the same, for it not to differ. But I think it’s weird that men get it for cheaper.”
This is a result of the unwritten rules and standards of society which give people the belief that it is reasonable and almost expected for women to spend more on self care products according to respondent 2. She believes women feel a generally bigger need for these items. Respondent 1 agrees and speculates that men do not spend as much time and effort on making decisions about these things. She believes they are for the most part satisfied with the products they are already using and therefore do not feel the urge to look for new or better options. According to her it is simple; men do not use as many personal care products and therefore they do not feel the same need to invest time in what to buy.
‘’I feel like there is some unwritten rule or stigma around men being feminine in any way. No one would care if a girl wears a blue shirt but for most guys it is a big step to be able to wear pink.’’
The Pink Tax is something men do not think about since they are the one in the advantageous position according to respondent 3. However, she does not believe that the Pink Tax is something women think alot about either due to them feeling used to the situation.
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Respondent 4 believes that in a way men will not take female products in to consideration unless he is making a purchase for a mother or girlfriend, which she also believes is the moment a man might notice a price difference.
“I believe that in a way, I think I said before that men are the ones who don’t think about [the price difference] but I believe that if guys are going to buy something for their mom or girlfriend, that that’s when they’ll go “shit that’s so expensive”, that they discover it that way.”
Respondent 2 explains further how she believes most men and women would not notice the price difference when they shop. This goes for both ecommerce and physical stores. The men and women’s sections are always so divided according to her. She believes that this creates a barrier which makes it harder to overcome the gender-marketing and actually purchase products made for the opposite sex.
Respondent 3 addresses her opinion on how the knowledge about the Pink Tax will affect her future purchases by saying that she will now start buying male razors as well as actually checking the men’s aisle when it comes to products which are equivalent for both genders. If the society would gain greater knowledge about gendered based pricing respondent 4 believes that consumers might refrain from buying pink products and buying the cheaper products instead. If the companies manufacturing these products and decides the price of them gain a greater knowledge of the subject this might lead to a change according to her.
4.2 Men
4.2.1 Price Respondent 5 is unemployed at the moment and therefore finds himself paying plenty of attention to prices. He is deeply aware of the prices of products before buying them as his budget is smaller than it used to be. Much like Respondent 1 he puts extra consideration into purchases such as electronics and technology as it is a product category in a higher price ranger. This is also what he reckons he spends the most money on. Before buying a new pair of headphones or a cellphone he likes to compare prices online using free price comparison services such as Pricerunner. When researching electronics he also prefers to study their differences in quality, performance and attributes. He is not as committed to comparing products when it comes to everyday things or clothing.
Much like Respondent 5, Respondent 6 prides himself on evaluating different options before purchasing any electronics. Electronics are generally in the high price range there can be an immense price difference depending on brands, retailers and their sales and memberships. In other words, larger savings can be made through simply choosing where to buy the product carefully. Respondent 6 states that he is devoted to comparing products no matter the product category. What is of most importance to him regarding any type of purchase is the quality. For him, it is essential that the price range and the quality of a product match. As cars is a huge interest of his, he has a considerable amount of knowledge when it comes to anything car-related. Therefore he finds that fuel and car components are what take up most of this spendings.
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When it comes to groceries and everyday things he Respondent 6 selects products from the basic range. He has found that does not really appreciate the higher quality enough to spend extra money on it. More often than not, he buys the same product from the same brand as he knows he will be satisfied with the purchase. Unlike Respondent 1 he buys the products on his shopping list no matter what store he visits instead of postponing the purchase of a product because it sells at a lower price in another store.
When asked about the importance of the price when he evaluates a product respondent 7 answered that consumption products is not something he really focuses on, but notes that a lot of others put a lot of thought into those kind of purchases.
“I can’t say that I’m a typical saving kind of guy, I like spending money a lot more so when it comes to those smaller purchases I almost never care, if it’s below 100 kr and the price difference is 2-3 kr i don’t even put any effort into it, I just grab whatever pleases the eye and what looks the best.”
Normally respondent 7 thinks that something with a higher price has better quality, and how that is one of the reasons as to why he does not put a lot of effort in to the everyday articles. However, if the purchase is more meaningful to him he will involve himself more in the purchase and focus a lot on the price, explaining that the price becomes more meaningful the more expensive it gets. Respondent 8 points out that his price sensitivity depends on the product.
“I guess that’s where my price sensitivity lies, but you generally want to get away with the cheapest deal. It’s not like you go to the bar with the cheapest beer, I’m more sensitive to prices when it comes to more expensive products than smaller purchases.”
Stating that he does not have a go-to store for specific products, Respondent 8 is not loyal to a brand regarding where he purchase products, where he’ll go to a different store in case it’s cheaper there. Generally he will be more sensitive to the price when it exceeds 500 SEK, prefering to research the cheapest store as well as finding any ongoing promos or sales in order to find the best deal. However, he adds that if the purchase is below 100 SEK he is more insensitive to the price, where he does not really care if it costs 90 SEK or 80 SEK.
He continues by explaining that in addition to this he finds it frustrating when you have to pay alot for products you do not feel are worth the money but you still need it. He remembers a time when looking for outdoor furniture he perceived the price as unnecessarily high in regards to the value you get, where your willingness to buy a product varies depending on perceived value for the money spent.
Neither of respondents 7 or 8 have ever really thought about the Pink Tax while shopping. While respondent 7 claims that the Pink Tax obviously has had a positive effect on him not being the one exposed to third-degree price discrimination, he understands that this kind of pricing strategy can upset women.
“I can imagine that the price difference is big enough that people will find it annoying that it is more expensive for women. I can’t really relate to it myself, I honestly haven’t even thought about the fact that it would be more expensive.”
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Clothing is the only thing respondent 8 has noticed being priced differently, however he explains that he thinks men’s clothes are more expensive. Clarifying that when you are the one paying the cheaper price you often do not think about it, but when buying clothes he often find himself thinking “it would have been nice with more options”.
Respondent 5 believes women have a better overview of the Pink Tax and the extent of this issue. He recognizes that they are the ones most affected by it and therefore most likely have more awareness of it.
4.2.2 Perception Respondent 6 does not believe men generally care a great deal about the Pink Tax as the women are the ones facing the consequences. He comes to this conclusion by reflecting on his own shopping behavior and the consumptions habits of men in his surroundings. Lately he has been trying to keep the issue in mind when he visits a store as he realizes awareness and a change shopping patterns can eventually create a change. For instance, he compares men and women’s items if he is buying something for his mother or female friends
4.2.2.1 Scenario 1 To further inspect how the participants perceive gender based pricing, they were given two different scenarios of products with price differences based on previous research regarding the Pink Tax. The first consisted of pictures of two different razor blades from the same brand.
Figure 4.3 The first shopping scenario presented to the respondents
If given the demand to choose which one two buy, all 4 respondents would have chosen the razor blade marketed for men without a second thought. All things considered, Respondent 5 is relatively certain that the colour of the packaging is not a prominent factor in the making of these decisions. Instead, he believes the subconscious trust in companies is what affects him. The respondents’ reasonings are similar; aside from the fact that it is more affordable, it looks like it has been designed for men. As they trust the companies producing the products, they are convinced there must be a feature to the products that make them gender specific.
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Therefore they would not contemplate purchasing a men’s razor for their girlfriends or mothers either. Their belief in the company persuades them to believe that there are differences in the products which makes them more useful to either men or women.
Respondent 7 believes that the main reason why there is an existing price difference between the two products is due to the design, where he states that the female razor is perceived as a better razor according to him. He asks himself why he would not consider buying a razor he believes is better and comes to the conclusion that he is not sure why. He does however state that the product is for women and that is the reason why he will not change his mind about the purchase.
As Respondent 5 contemplates whether he would consider buying the women’s razor if the price differentiation was reversed, Respondent 6 claims he would not have purchased the pink razor even if it were more affordable as he probably would not have noticed. They both anticipate that there may have been situations where they could have benefited from the awareness of female and male price differences. Having said that, they are confident that it would not have been possible to know without carefully examining both the female and male departments in stores. Respondent 6 clarifies:
‘’Men and women’s razor blades are rarely placed next to each other in stores. They are more often than not divided into different sections based on which sex they are designed for. Therefore it would not really matter if one of them were cheaper, I still would not have noticed since I only check the men’s department.’’
If the circumstances were different and the price difference was reversed so that the women’s razor blades were cheaper than the men’s, Respondent 5 and 6 both agree that the price difference would have to be relatively large for them to buy the razor made for the opposite sex. They claim this is due to the fact that they would prefer to buy products made for men and the price of a razor is just not an issue consequential enough. Therefore they would not want to spend too much time or effort in changing their consumption habits when it comes to razor blades as there simply is not a great deal to save. Respondent 6 however, states that he would not mind owning a pink razor or other personal care products. If he were to be asked by friends why he has a pink razor for instance, he would simply reply that it is cheaper.
Respondent 8 believes that the price difference is not something he would have acknowledged due to him not perceiving the difference being that big, and continues to discuss the value of what he pays for. Classifying the razors as a wear and tare kind of product, he does not feel like the price paid for the product delivers desired value. As respondent 8 perceives the razors as luxury products, he believes that paying alot for these types of products is something that adds up in the end and will not be worth the price.
Respondent 5 figures that there must be some sort of difference when it comes to features or function between the two razors as one of them is more expensive. If this is not the case he thinks charging customers different because of gender is unethical.
‘’It’s strange and really wrong. There should be more noticeable differences between them for the price to differ this much. As a customer you simply trust that if there is a difference in price there is a difference in performance, but in this case they seem to be just the same!’’
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Respondent 8 believes that the pricing for both products is expensive when asked about his opinion. When asked about his thoughts about the difference between male and female perception of the pricing he states that he believes that even though it is more expensive for women he thinks that women are more willing to pay a higher price for beauty products.
Finding it hard to believe that one of the razors would be more expensive unless there is any additional feature, respondent 6 states that his mind is so set on this being impossible, it makes him looks for reasons why there would be different pricing as he does not want to believe people could be charged different without a reasonable cause. As a consumer he did not think it was possible for companies set prices in this manner as it is discriminating. Respondent 5, 6 and 8 all agree that the only acceptable reason for a price difference like this would be if the razor was made of another material, had more features or delivered higher quality.
Respondent 7 believes that the price difference between the two products is big enough for people to find it bothersome. The respondent himself cannot relate to this being an issue since he never really thought about a price difference actually existing.
It is not uncommon for women to have a better perception of price differences overall according to Respondent 6. He comes to this conclusion by looking at his surrounding friends and colleagues. Women are more thorough with collecting information and comparing. Men however are usually happy buying the first male product they see as long as it looks manly and will get the job done. Both Respondent 5 and 6 strongly believe that men want to identify with the products they use. Therefore the barrier to be overcome to purchase products marketed towards the other sex becomes even higher for men than for women. Male products need to have certain characteristics which are considered stereotypical manly whilst women’s products sometimes are a little more neutral. This is a standard that has been entrenched into our society according to them.
4.2.2.2 Scenario 2 In the second scenario the participants were given consisted of two electric toothbrushes. They were both the same brand and the exact same model but in two different colors: black and pink.
Figure 4.4 The second shopping scenario presented to the respondents
Apart from the price difference, respondent 8 finds no major difference between the two products in this scenario except for the color. He states that the black toothbrush was
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preferable in this situation, party because it was cheaper but mostly because of the color. He continues by saying that if the roles were reversed he would still consider buying the black toothbrush due to its design.
“I guess I’m boyish in that regard, I think it looks better. It just fits me better… it’s interesting, even though the pink one would be cheaper and fills the same quality i would still have gone with the black one when there’s a 90 SEK difference, I would have gone with the design and would have been willing to go up in price even though the design is the same. If the situations would have been reversed.”
Respondent 5 and 6 agree that there is no significant difference to be found. Other than the colour, there is no feature, function, quality or additional characteristic that sets the toothbrushes apart. Respondent 6 thinks it is evident that one of the toothbrushes is made for men and the other one for women. He claims that women’s products often are pink whilst men’s have darker, colder colours and designs that make them look a little cooler.
Both Respondent 5 and 6 state that they would choose the black toothbrush over the pink one. They think it would be foolish to buy a toothbrush just because of a colour so his decision is mostly based on the price. They do however find the black one more appealing and admits that he subconsciously bases his decision off of this too. They believe they would have chosen whatever colour was more affordable no matter if he did not like its physical appearance. Respondent 5 figures he would buy it even if it were pink as this would not affect any of the quality or performance of it. Respondent 6 agrees and states that he personally would not mind having a pink razor or toothbrush if it were more affordable or had a better quality. He believes people should always choose the more affordable option as it is irrational to buy a personal care product because of the colour.
Respondent 7 cannot imagine a difference in its use, according to him it is the same products. The machinery is perceived the same, however the outside is different. He perceives the price as a bit overpriced for the pink product, and bases this on the belief that the specific product might be a limited edition which makes the price increase valid. What respondent 7 also brings to attention is the comparison to purchasing a car, so even if it was not an exclusive version the price increase would not be something he frowned upon due to the fact that cars with colored enamel paint is prices higher than the basic colors.
When looking at the prices Respondent 5 quickly noticed the price difference of the two products. They appear to be the exact same product in different colours, yet the price is much higher for the pink one. He believes it is strange that the same type of toothbrush could have two different prices. Respondent 6 also has a hard time comprehending how the pink toothbrush could be more expensive than the black one.
‘’I don’t understand it. It’s the exact same product. I truly hope and believe that a mistake has been made. Maybe the products have been given the wrong pricing when they were put on the website.’’
After thinking about it for a while Respondent 5 comes to the conclusion that he probably would not have noticed the price difference if he was buying a toothbrush. He bases this assumption on the fact that the only way for him to acknowledge it would be if they were
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placed next to each other. Even though the toothbrushes are from the same brand and are the exact same model they would most likely be separated into different sections. Unless they were placed right next to each other and had similar packaging, Respondent does not believe a regular consumer would notice. He states that he does not think customers would notice this even if they were sold online as the products would most likely be divided into categories such as ‘’dental for women’’ and ‘’dental for men’’. Therefore customers would have to rather extreme lengths to detect the price difference. Both respondent 5 and 6 reckon that they still would not be convinced that the products were actually the same and therefore be hesitant to buy the one marketed towards the opposite sex in fear of it having a type of gender specific feature or function.
Respondent 7 is completely convinced that women feel discriminated by this pricing. He believes that the pink toothbrush is better used by women, but does not think that is the reason for the price increase. He states that the reason he believes the price is higher is due to the pink toothbrush being more fun in its colors, however it is perfectly acceptable for women to purchase a different color if they prefer. Based on this, respondent 7 sees no reason as to why women need to feel discriminated by this pricing. Similar to how he reacted to the razor blades in the previous scenario, respondent 6 would like to believe that a mistake has been made in the process of putting the toothbrushes up for sale.
‘’I truly hope there has been some sort of miscommunication or typing error. Otherwise this is just a devious sales tactic which seems really unfair.’’
He adds that if the pink toothbrush had additional features toothbrushes such as higher speed, better grip or a gentler toothbrush head the higher price would be justified. Respondent 5 presumes that there is quite a significant difference between how women and men perceive these types of price discrepancies. He imagines he would have wondered why the black is more affordable if he were a woman since there does not seem to be any palpable reason for it.
‘’I think the situation is different for women. Society is okay with women wearing and using gender neutral or even manly products.’’
Imagining that a consumer would put more focus on the price instead of the design, respondent 8 says that a black product is more gender neutral which is a reason why he thinks most consumers would be more prone to buy the black toothbrush. Pink is a color which is more out there according to him, or a color which is associated with the female gender.
Respondent 5 and 6 both believe that consumers are too accustomed to things being gender specific. This could be causing them to miss unethical discriminations such as these. They share the opinion that a lot of people would probably not detect how inconsequential the differences between men and female products are.
4.2.3 Gender When asked regarding gender-based marketing respondent 7 addressed how he believes it is understandable that companies use this approach. He also adds that it does not close you off from buying whatever product one prefer. Even though a product is marketed towards a
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specific gender, respondent 7 states that every consumer has the choice to buy whichever product they want.
Both Respondent 5 and 6 state that they would not mind having pink or female personal care products. Respondent 6 also mentions that he imagines that he does subconsciously define himself through the product he buys and uses, but when it comes to as trivial things as the colour of a razor it has gone too far. They both believe women might not notice the price difference on the toothbrushes. They also add that they think most women still would choose the pink one as they would prefer that colour more.
Respondent 8 cannot recall the Pink Tax affecting him, and states that the reason for that is one often do not acknowledge the price difference if you are the one paying less for it. The one time he can recall actually taking note of a price difference between the products marketed toward the two genders were when shopping for clothes, however he was the one finding himself paying more. Respondent 5 can not recall any particular moment where has been affected by Pink Tax or given it much consideration. He can not think of a scenario where he has had to pay more due to the fact that he is a man. On the contrary he thinks this is an issue women are more familiar with:
‘’I believe women may notice this more since they seem to be the ones affected by the price discrimination. I think they are more attentive than us men when it comes to pricing in the beauty department. This is probably because they are used to unfair prices so they have to be more observant.’’
Respondent 8 assumes that gender-based pricing is something which is accepted in society due to the fact that he never thought about it before. The reason for acceptance lies within the perception of the products, since his own perception is that people will believe that gendered products are distinctive enough for consumers to perceive it as two completely different products instead of substitutes, making customers more willing to pay different prices.
Respondent 6 claims to have known about the issue of Pink Tax for a while. He states that many of his friends and colleagues and on social media, although he does admit that he was not aware of the extent of the issue. He has heard women in his surroundings talking about how they do not understand why items have to be more expensive just because they are pink. He says that he sincerely hopes that the Pink Tax is not a loophole which wealthy and powerful men have discovered and choose to take advantage of in the management of their organizations. As he recognizes that women are sometimes paid less than men, he understands that this creates an even bigger gap between the sexes which should be considered a step backwards in the fight for equality. He does however deeply believe that this sort of price strategy is not made to have this effect, it is just a result of the greediness of many companies:
‘’People want to earn money in every way there is. Since they’ve discover that this strategy works, they want to exploit the situation as much as they possibly can.’’
A price based on demand is the major reason as to why there is a price difference, where a high demand for female products will lead to companies being able to charge a higher price
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according to respondent 7. However, he sympathizes partly with women and can understand that they feel provocated by the Pink Tax.
Respondent 6 explains that he believes that the burden of the issue just happens to be carried by women as they are the ones who are more easily deceived in these types of shopping situations. Both Respondent 5 and 6 disapprove of the price discrimination that occurs on the market. They do however understand the many benefits of marketing and dividing products by gender for both companies and customers. As a customer it is sometimes easier to know in exactly which department to look for certain things. In most cases they believe women want personal care products to be feminine and men want theirs to be masculine. They explain further how smells, features and textures can differ in a way that is logical and beneficial for consumers.
Respondent 5 explains that he understands and agrees somewhat with the logic of customizing and marketing products by gender but disapproves of the different pricings of products which are equivalent for the sexes. Respondent 7 believes that the pink products are in higher demand and stand out from the crowd, which is one of the reasons as to why companies take advantage of the demand for these specific products.
He later on addresses that he believes that it is wrong to put it in a way where it looks like women always have to pay more, and continues by saying that a customer is not obliged to buy a pink product in any way. Respondent 7 says that while he believes that men do not even think about the fact that female products would be more expensive and while he will not change his own way of behavior, he understands that this is an issue women are faced with daily, provoking them. According to Respondent 5 he is glad this issue was brought to his attention. As he predicts his own purchases are mostly not affected by the Pink Tax he does not believe his newly obtained awareness of the matter will change his consumption habits. He does however imagine that he will be more cautious when buying personal care products for his girlfriend. In addition to this he will try to not let the gender specification intimidate him from buying items marketed towards the opposite sex.
Respondent 8 says that he understands that he cannot affect the prices alone, which makes it easy to fall into the same consumption patterns which would boost this type of pricing. The one thing he believes could make a difference is if new players entered the market and disrupted the pricing pattern and lowered their prices for the greater good. Overall respondent 5 believes that if everyone put in a little extra effort and thought into what they buy instead of being a slave to their habits, this sort of duplicitous price injustice would be easier detected and therefore harder for companies to get away with.
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5. Analysis In this chapter the analysis of the data collected is presented. The collected data and theories which have been processed in the theoretical framework is analyzed in order to make comparisons, identify possible patterns and create purpose. The structure of the analysis is made of divided into three chapters in accordance the frame of reference. The three chapters are 5.1 Price, 5.2 Perception and 5.3 Gender.
The procedure and result is demonstrated in figure 2.3 aims to provide an insight to the reader of how the analysis has been performed in assistance of the chosen analysis method. Furthermore the results will be presented through the Gioia methodology to answer the the gap of the study and its research question.
5.1 Price
5.1.1 Gender-based price discrimination Three of the female participants mentioned that they understood the advantages of gender-segmentation. As mentioned in the theory of gender-based price discrimination, segmenting customers into groups can be beneficial as it helps companies reach their target audience through accustomed marketing and product designing (Kotler et al., 2016). However, when it come to companies giving different pricing based on gender the acceptance from the female participants was lower. This sort of price discrimination can be referred to as Third degree price discrimination and is commonly hard to detect. There might be a valid reason for price differences between products sometimes, but often it is not demonstrated clearly giving the perception of a non-existing cause of action. Companies often claim that additional time or production costs is the underlying reason (Ferrell et al. 2016). In accordance with this model, the female respondents felt anger towards companies as they saw no legitimate reasoning behind the differences in pricing. Respondents 1, 2 and 3 all recalled situations were women were charged more for products such as personal care. Respondent 4 did however reckon that men’s clothing is often more expensive.
Two of the male respondents suggested that customers can also benefit from gendered marketing as it assists in providing the right products for the right consumer. They reckoned that as a customer it is effective to have products divided and adjusted to segments to facilitate simpler shopping for both men and women. In alignment with the theory by Duesterhaus et al. (2011) the male participants agreed with gender-segmentation as they recognize that it is based on the fact that men and women in general want and need different attributes in products. As theorized by Xia & Monroe (2010) they perceive a price as unfair if customers were given different prices and therefore reckoned that for a price difference between the segments, a sort of special feature to the products is required. For instance, respondent 6 mentions the assistance an aloe vera strip on a razor head could give in providing a smoother shave. This would be considered a legitimate reason for a price to be higher similar to the situation according to him.
Two of the male respondents mentioned that they understand that the issue of third degree price discrimination can not be affected by one sole customer. Therefore they hoped that companies with new and fair price strategies would enter the market whilst customers make
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an effort to improve their consumption habits and see past the gender-specification of products. They suggested that this would create more awareness making unjust price settings more easily detected and leading to companies having to change their pricing strategies.
Respondent 7 stated that he understood the disservice third degree price discrimination engenders and how provocative it must be for women to have to face it. He did however figure that the are no rules when it comes to which products men or women are allowed to buy, customers are free to purchase whatever they want. He explained this further as although the issue is unfair, female customers can avoid facing it by purchasing products made for men. As he felt the issue could be avoided, he believe it should not be seen as an enforcement for women to pay more as they have the ability to buy whichever product the store sells.
The common denominator between the male respondents was their strong belief that they would not notice a price discrimination between men and women’s products as they rarely explore the women’s section. Men and women’s products such as personal care are seldomly placed next to each other, thus, they considered it unlikely they would observe the potential price differences.
The collected data suggests that regarding the eight participants in the study, there was no significant difference in their opinion of gender-based marketing, they all recognized the benefits and disadvantages of gendered segmentation. However, all participants disapproved of the occurrence of price discrimination. They believed it was egregious and that there can be huge societal consequences much like Ferrell et al. (2016) describes. What is noticeable regarding the difference between the two genders is that third-degree price discrimination was something the female participants were more aware of. Only one of the male respondents mentioned that he was aware of the Pink Tax prior to the interview, where in comparison three out of four female respondents explicitly stated that they knew about Pink Tax prior to the interview. Third degree price discrimination leads to the elimination of equal treatment between genders in shopping environments and all of the participants recognized the negative effects this tactic could have on the social welfare in accordance to the theory of Ferrell et al. (2016).
Respondent 7 stood out as he mentioned that women are not forced to buy women’s products and also not prevented from buying men’s products. There were no female respondents who made any such statement. One female respondent did however mentioned that the word female was put in the product description which effectively eliminated the opposite gender from purchasing the product. A marking like this could intimidate and avert customers of the opposite gender from buying it as it condemns genderfree decision making. This could indicate that, contrary to what respondent 7 argues, customers are not as liberated and independent in their purchasing decisions.
5.1.2 Involvement In alignment with the theory of involvement (Sirvanci, 1993) respondent 2 stated that her price sensitivity was based on her interest in the product. Whilst low-cost purchases such as groceries created less involvement for most of the participants, she felt the opposite. The massive differentiation of alternatives in grocery stores and her unwillingness to spend money on groceries lead to a higher involvement in these purchases. Her involvement in the purchasing of cheese for instance had an impact in her perceived differences in product
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attributes, the relative importance of the product class and the preference of a particular brand. Subsequently, she prefered to evaluate similar options and possibly pass on quality to save money whereas most the other participants found food to be a category worth spending on. Respondent 4 also explained that she also attempts to save money buying affordable groceries.
In accordance with the theory, respondent 2 speculated that interests are a crucial part of people’s price sensitivity. As customers intend on satisfying their needs they are more inclined to pay more attention to details such as pricing. However, a person may not be as observant or bothered to explore similar information if the product is not required in order to be able to achieve the goals aligned to their needs. (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2013) When respondent 2 spent money on things outside of her passions, her price sensitivity was higher and her decisions were mostly made without much research. She allowed products for her hobby such as mascaras to take up a bigger part of her spendings as she had more knowledge about the different product attributes and also had a preference for particular brands. Her high involvement in these purchases also allowed for more research of options and substitutes.
In accordance with the theory of Solomon et al. (2013) three of the female respondents were not particularly devoted to comparing prices when it came to everyday purchases such as personal care. The female respondents also claimed that their general price sensitivity was largely based on the quality and use of a product. One of the antecedents of involvement presented in the Involvement theory is how personal factors such as level of need plays a huge roll as this affects a person’s motivation to find out more information of the product. (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2013) If a product is solemnly for entertainment people are more likely to be more price sensitive and less inclined to research alternatives. This was coherent with the answer respondent 1 provided about her price high sensitivity when it came to the purchase of products for the purpose of enjoyment. All female respondents stated that basic needs products meant a low involvement and a slightly larger price threshold in accordance with Augustyn et al. (2019).
Three of the male participants’ price sensitivity was greatly based on their interests, whilst they also pointed out that high-cost products also created more involvement in the purchase. According to a theory of involvement, interests have a major impacts on a customer’s involvement (Sirvanci, 1993). This meant that they spent less time deliberating alternatives and had a lower amount of information concerning products they did not feel particularly passionate about. Two of the male respondents shared the habit of comparing prices online using a price comparison tool such as Pricerunner, whilst the other two were particular about comparing prices in store. Much like the female respondents, the male respondents believed that a higher price had to be justified with higher quality for them to perceive it as fair.
Sirvanci’s (1993) theory regarding involvement demonstrates that different people make different purchasing choices based on personal values, stimulus and situational factors. Although factors such as income and surroundings seemed to play a huge roll in each of the participant’s budgets and consumption habits, the importance of products and personal values are what mostly distinguished their shopping behaviors. The Involvement theory covers how these factors can affect the perceived relative importance of the product class, differences in product attributes and preference for a particular brand. These differences were all
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demonstrated by the participants contrasting choices and priorities. Similar to the female respondents, the men in the study felt less of a need to research and involve themselves when it came to basic needs such as personal care and their threshold for price was larger as theorized by Augustyn et al. (2019).
Contrary to the other respondents, respondent 2 and 4 were sensitive to the pricing of groceries. The collected data demonstrates how different the respondents all answered regarding which products created involvement in purchases for them. This indicates that gender did not massively influence which product category created greater involvement for the respondents. They did however find that their interests and the price range had a major influence in their level of involvement.
There were other similarities as well, six out of eight responded that they put the least involvement into decisions of purchasing personal care products. Respondent 3 stood out as she believed clothing was the product she put the least involvement into when purchasing. Another similarity between the genders was the habit of using online price comparison sites which was shared by both two male and three female participants. Respondent 6 enjoyed comparing fuel and car components’ prices whilst respondent 1 and 5 often used these sites to examine differences in price and attributes when buying electronics. All respondents associates high prices with high quality. If they perceived a product as expensive they would assume it is high quality rather than low quality, in most cases. All respondents agreed that for a price to be higher than another, there has to be added features or higher quality as it indicates higher production costs (Heyman & Mellers, 2018).
As mentioned in the frame of references, according to the Weber-Fechner law the size of stimulus perceived is based on the environment. This gives base to respondent 2’s suggestion that women might have had more easily noticed gender-based price discrimination if the women’s section contained fewer alternatives. The Weber-Fechner law is applicable to this as it demonstrates to what extent the environment indeed does have on stimulus. Perhaps if the supply were smaller it would be more apparent to the customer if companies were price discriminating. For instance, if there were only 5 options of deodorants for men and women each, there would be a bigger chance of a price discrepancy being noticed by either genders. This suggests that customers would more easily identify which products were similar or even made from the same brand and therefore with less effort, notice a price discrimination between the genders.
Much like the female respondents, two of the male respondents believed that the issue of higher or unfair prices may go unnoticed as women have such an enormous amount of options to choose from. They believed women focus on the massive offer of items in their section, causing them to be too distracted to even think about comparing them to male options as that would only make for a greater amount of options leading to an even more difficult decision. The male respondents theorized that if only a small number of companies took advantage of the Pink Tax issue by pricing women’s products higher, they would stand out from the crowd more prominently if there were few substitutes rather than many. According to the Weber-Fechner theory, people perceive the relative difference between two numbers is bigger than the absolute difference. This means that men and women perceive the difference between two prices as greater if the prices were originally low rather than high. The price of the male razor was 149 SEK whilst the female was sold at 169 SEK. This lead to
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an absolute price difference of 20 SEK. The toothbrushes were priced 699 SEK and 789 SEK, meaning the absolute price difference between the male and female toothbrushes was 90 SEK. Thereby the relative difference for the razors was approximately 13,4 % and the relative difference between the toothbrushes was 12,8% (Lin & Wang, 2017). The lower the relative price difference is, the less motivated customers are to process the information of prices as the potential savings or losses are considered smaller.
What did have an impact however was that they did not perceive the discrepancy in features and functions between the toothbrushes to be as great as between the razors. This meant that three of the participants perceived the pricing of toothbrushes as even less acceptable than the difference between the razors. Three of the female participants agreed. This also aligns with the Involvement theory as all respondents stated that they would put little to no effort into purchases of personal care products. If the toothbrush were to be considered a high price range product such electronics due to its electric feature, respondents 1 and 5 would put especially more effort into the toothbrush purchase.
The chart below demonstrates an accumulation of the male and female participants’ responses regarding involvement and sensitivity when it comes to prices.
Extra attentive Purchases with the Purchases with the Tool for price Acceptable reason Gender Alias to prices of highest involvement least involvement comparison for higher price these products
Female Respondent 1 Personal care Electronics Everyday purchases Entertainment Pricerunner High quality Clothing
Female Youtube High quality Respondent 2 Make-up Hair products Food Google Added feature
Female Pricerunner Respondent 3 Make-up Clothing Make-up Comparing stores in High quality real life
Female Deodorants Branded items Comparing stores in Respondent 4 Food High quality Razors Computer case real life
Deodorant High quality Male Respondent 5 Electronics Schampo Clothing Pricerunner Added feature Razor
Gas High quality Male Respondent 6 Paper towels Deodorant Gas Pricerunner Added feature Electronics
Male Everyday purchases Comparing stores in Respondent 7 High-cost products Clothing High quality Deodorants real life
Male Electronics Deodorants Comparing stores in Respondent 8 TV Electronics High quality Shampoo real life Clothing
Figure nr 5.1 Collocation of the respondents’ answers regarding prices
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5.2 Perception
5.2.1 Factors affecting perception & Attribution Theory A person’s perception of something is their way of creating meaning to surrounding and is affected by five factors. (Pierce & Gardner, 2002). These are attitudes, motives, emotions, experience and expectations. In accordance with this theory Respondent 1 mentioned that her actions are heavily influenced by her previous experiences. Her attitude towards purchasing female razor blades was based on her experiences and impacted her values and actions as she preferred to buy the razor marketed towards men. (Johns & Saks, 2010) This decision was based on the knowledge she has gained from buying both razors in the past. She found the female razor to be of poor quality and the male one to perform well. Her previous experience of the razors also created expectations which indicates that her perception of the male razor could be affected if it ultimately does not live up to her expectations of it. (Pierce & Gardner, 2002)
The Attribution Theory assists in explaining human behavior to observers. It is essential in the process of attempting to find causes, both internal and external, to their behaviour and perceptions. The three factors distinctiveness, consensus and consistency came to be relevant in observing the participants perception patterns (Robbins & Judge, 2009) Although the female respondents perceptions of prices and fairness of pricing varied, there were similarities in their views of gender specification on products..Three of the female participants had previously obtained awareness of the Pink Tax issue and thereby gained knowledge of how little the gender-specification mattered.
Respondent 1 claimed to want to buy the male razor head partly because of her pleasant experience of it in addition to a less pleasant experience of the female version which suggests that her personal experience had more of an impact in her current purchasing decisions rather than the price difference. One could argue that in order to have that experience, she must have had a willingness to try or even purchase the men’s razor previously. Furthermore one could argue that this might not have happened if it were not for the higher price yet same or even lower quality. In conclusion, the Pink Tax might have had an impact on her current purchasing habits subconsciously.
As perception is created through attitudes which are based for current and past situations, this could suggest that the male participants’ purchasing decisions had been influenced by their experiences. These internal and external factors could have given base to the respondents’ perceptions. (Robbins & Judge, 2009)
Three out of four male respondents insinuated that they will not likely begin purchasing female products even if they were more affordable which indicates that no internal factor would affect the outcome of the situation. Unless an external factor such as a change in society or their surroundings were to occur, they would not feel encouraged to innovate their shopping habits. This statement insinuates that, much like the theory, an external factor would have to affect them in order for them to change their behavior. (Robbins & Judge, 2009)
Much like the theory of factors affecting perceptions mentions, as the process of perception is commonly diverse, the respondents’ perceptions of prices were different. Most likely due to
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their different life experiences, they had different perceptions. There were both students, unemployed and employed people partaking in the study whom had different spending habits, which suggests that the participants’ financial choices and involvement in purchasing decisions were greatly made off of their perception based on their attitudes, motives, emotions, experiences and expectations.(Pierce & Gardner, 2002)
Due to societal differences in life circumstances amongst other things, men and women are likely to have different perceptions because of their diverse attitudes, motives, emotions, experiences and expectations. There was however no clear indication that women had a certain perception of prices which differed to men’s. Neither did any of these particular factors prove to be more essential to any of the participants’ responses. Each individual had their own view of things which was seemingly created through these five factors. It is worth mentioning that there were distinctive differences between the genders’ views of the Pink Tax and these will be further investigated in the coming sections.
5.2.2 Dual Entitlement According to the Dual Entitlement principle, customers understand companies’ need to make a profit whilst still recognizing their own entitlement to a fair price. (Kahneman, Knetsch et al, 1991) This suggests that if customers identify significant differences in the products which could imply a higher production cost, they would reckon the price for the product could be higher. Much like this principle, the female respondents in the study felt that the products in the two scenarios needed added value through additional features for instance as it transforms into a higher manufacturing cost for companies. Heyman and Mellers (2018) argued that customers only perceive a price increase as fair if the costs for the company is higher than otherwise meaning they do not profit more from the increase. According to Kahneman, Knetsch, et al. (1991) a company acts unfairly if they respond to an excess in demand or shortage of supply by increasing prices. Such manner was frowned upon by the female respondents as they searched for reasons or the higher price for women. They did however suggest that if the quality of a product was high, the price can also be rightfully so. According to them, this factor could justify the price and thereby impact their perception of whether they would consider a price differentiation as fair.
Another reason the higher price of the female razor head could possibly be justified is, according to the female respondents, if the packaging contained a larger quantity of razor heads or blades. This could however be quickly dismissed by the observer as the text on the packaging clearly states the amount of blades it contains, proving that the two products are excellent substitutes. The awareness of other customers, in this case the opposite gender, paying a lower price leads to women perceiving the price as unfair price making the purchase a ‘’bad deal’’ as Xia & Monroe (2011) suggests.
Respondent 3 noticed that name of the particular model is stated on the packaging as ‘’Venus - Sensitive Divine’’ which suggests that the razor could be advantageous for the use on sensitive skin. The benefit the female respondents believe this would give is a smoother cut without accidental cutting. However, this reasoning was disproven as women’s razors are in general made for the use of the whole body whilst men’s are generally made for the use of the face. Respondent 1 and 2 both found that the skin of the face must be considered more sensitive than any other body part. This meant that the argument justifying the higher price of the female razor because of its gentleness, was invalid. Therefore they still considered the
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pricing to be erroneous as it differed between customers without reasoning as Xia & Monroe (2010) theorized they would.
The male respondents also considered the fact that the female razor could have benefits which were suited for extra sensitive skin which could justify the higher price. They reckoned that a higher quality would also qualify for a higher price. This theory was however quickly renounced by them as well. All male respondents were clear about what they felt had to differ between products for them to be priced differently. They mentioned that palpable characteristics which a product had to contain in order to rightfully be priced higher were better quality, higher speed, better grip or a gentler toothbrush head. This conclusion is drawn from the fact that they understand that additional features such as these, as respondent 6 mentions, may cost more for companies to manufacture. Thus, a higher price would be considered fair according to them much like Heyman and Meller’s (2018) theory.
When looking for plausible reasoning for the excessively different prices in the toothbrush scenario, both male and female participants reckoned that the pink toothbrush might be a special edition version. Respondent 1 and 7 believe they are given this misconception by the flashy colour of the product which leads them to believe it carries special features. Respondent 1 claimed the higher price of the pink toothbrush is rational and acceptable if this were the case, as it would translate into a more expensive manufacture for companies.
Furthermore, this suggests that this could be a leading cause as to why unfair pricing goes by unnoticed until customers take a more extensive look according to the respondent. Both respondents compared the situation to cars, where a price difference due to colour is not uncommon as their popularity varies quite greatly. While searching for other acceptable differences between the two razors, respondents succumbed to the perception that the pink razor may obtain the added value of a more advanced razor head. Whereas the black razor head simply seems to have a basic design. The female razor has a rounded head with a soft surface at the edge to provide a smooth cut.
To conclude, the respondents would only perceive the price difference as fair if they found a superior concrete feature of the pink versions. According to them, this would be the only acceptable reasoning for companies to charge the products different. Respondents of both genders also mentioned that they found it implausible for it to be more expensive for a company to manufacture products in one colour than another. If items were more expensive to produce in certain colours, they would find the pricing proper as they recognize companies are entitled to a margin of profit just like customers are entitled to fair pricing. (Kahneman, Knetsch, et al., 1991) As this was not the case, the respondents’ perception of the pricing was unfair.
None of the respondents found any acceptable reasoning behind the price difference of the razor heads or the toothbrushes and therefore perceived the price as unfair. These values are most likely created through logical reasoning from understanding that companies need to make a profit, whilst still recognizing customers’ entitlement to a fair price. (Tripathi, 2013) In conclusion, they would not consider the price to be fair if it was high whilst the quality was not.
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5.2.3 Transaction Value As previous studies have shown, most customers would be delighted to pay less due to them being a frequent customer for instance. They believe this is something many companies would benefit from and the customers would feel appreciated and deserving of the reward. On the contrary they believe they would be aggravated if they discovered that other customers were paying less for the same products they were buying. In the studies this would lead to complaints and eventually an end of consumption of products from these brands. Whilst the participants is this study did not mention going to any extreme measures, they considered themselves likely to replace female items with male substitutes (Xia & Monroe, 2010).
The scenarios the participants were given consisted of products which were apparent substitutes but had different prices where the women were charged more than men in both situations. This gave them the awareness of transactions with other customer groups and the ability to compare them easily. The perception the female participants had of Pink Tax was seemingly influenced by their awareness of the issue (Stevens & Shanahan, 2017). The greater previous knowledge they had, the more they perceived the pricing as unfair. This correlates with the theory of transaction value as it demonstrates the impact knowledge and awareness of a topic has on the perception of prices. The more educated customers are of an issue, the more unjust they find prices to be.
Contrary to this, customers might be willing to pay a higher price than other customers even if they find it unfair. As Stevens & Shanahan (2017) suggests, the women had a willingness to pay more for feminized products to some extent. In accordance with this theory, respondent 2 mentioned that women may feel obligated to make this sacrifice as a consequence of societal pressure. This was due to the fact that they experienced a sort of display of their own femininity through products and was confirmed by Respondent 4. She found that even if she knew of the unjust pricing, she still would have chosen a pink toothbrush over a black solemnly because she would prefer to own a pink one instead. In other words, a woman might be prepared to make the sacrifice of money to ensure her expression of femininity is securely expressed. This theory further suggests that women’s negative perception of the Pink Tax was exacerbated by this behavior as they were aware of the difference yet chose to pay the unfortunate price of the feminine characteristics of a product. This meant they were willing to suffer financially, yet they were unhappily obligated to do it.
One of the dominant triggers to the perception of unfairness when it comes to pricing, is according to studies when customers are forced to pay a higher price than another customer (Xia & Monroe, 2010) This theory came to be accurate to the empirical data collected. The men shared an extensive understanding that women would react and feel discriminated by it. They also mentioned that they would feel discriminated if the unfair pricing was opposite and therefore damaging to men instead. Much like Xia and Monroe (2010) mentions, respondent 8 also explained how he felt frustrated when he had to pay more for a product or service than what he considered it to be worth. The example he gave about buying outdoor furniture also suggests that the amount of money he was willing to spend in order to find a purchase acceptable was greatly influenced by his interest and involvement in the product category.
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His own theory was that the willingness to buy a product values on the perception one has of the value given for the money spent.
5.2.4 Data analysis
Figure 5.2 Table of Gioia coding for female respondents
Based on the data presented in the empirics, the Gioia methodology (2012) has been applied in order to summarize and identify common themes for each gender’s perception of the Pink Tax. Detecting the first-order concepts, common themes and phrases were put together in the second-order themes. The statements from the female respondents covered themes such as disappointment, unfairness and resentment towards the Pink Tax. However, even though the respondents expressed feelings of injustice, they also brought to attention that the subject of the Pink Tax was relatively new to them, resulting in second-order themes such as lack of awareness and feeling uneducated. Based on these themes, they have therefore discharged in the aggregated dimensions discrimination and unaware. In other words, the female respondents expressed their perception of the Pink Tax as something they are relatively unaware of but feel discriminated by when evaluating the situation.
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Figure 5.3 Table of Gioia coding for male respondents
Coding the male respondents’ answers, the first-order concepts led to the second-order themes of societal and female issues as well as feelings of discrimination. However, alot of the first-order concepts for the men covered how they do not really care about the matter or how men cannot relate due to them not noticing. When coding their thoughts of the Pink Tax, the themes detected was an understanding behind the reasoning for the Pink Tax as well as stating the reasons for this justification. Based on the second-order themes, the aggregated dimensions for the male respondents are therefor unfair, unbothered as well as reasonable.
The participants were all in agreement that they were upset by the gender based price differences. The respondents certainly reacted with different responses, however they were unmistakably in unity over their disapproval of the price discrimination. A feeling of unawareness was also something the men and women had in common, where the male respondents expressed that they rather cannot relate to it themselves or that men just no not care about The Pink Tax. The women expressed feelings of unawareness due to them feeling uneducated in the matter, or just have not really contemplated the matter. The major difference between men and women however, was the discussion of justification of the Pink Tax. While women do not address this in the same matter, male respondents elaborated on their understanding as to why the reasoning behind the Pink Tax is reasonable, as well as
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stating reasons when the pricing strategy is justified. This is the biggest difference between the genders, where the men seem to understand underlying reasons to a greater extent than women. What they all have in common though is the feeling of discrimination towards women, perceiving the Pink Tax as something unfair and discriminating.
5.3 Gender
5.3.1 The self When given the two scenarios of razor heads and toothbrushes, the female respondents all shared the willingness to purchase products marketed towards men if it meant a monetary saving. Two of the female respondents could however imagine buying the female razor or toothbrush even if it was more expensive. However, neither of them could find a solid explanation for their reasoning. This indicates that even through the purchase of products for basic needs such as personal care, their decisions were influenced by their want to express their identities. In accordance with Stevens and Shanahan (2017), the women were willing to pay a higher price even if they perceived it as unfair. Suggestively, the willingness to express their femininity lead to a monetary sacrifice.
Duesterhaus et al. (2011) study found that a person’s identity is deeply rooted and is expressed even through purchases such as razors and deodorant. Other than the use of the product, the customer receives the added value of a symbolic meaning. According to Solomon et al. (2013) one major factor when it comes to self-concept is sexual identity. Men and women feel a need to identify with their products and thereby express themselves through them. This theory could explain their willingness to purchase a product solemnly because of which gender it is marketed towards.
Throughout the interview the female respondents all mentioned the clear physical appearance differences the products from the scenarios had. They reckoned the products were without any doubt gender specified by the colours, shapes and overall branding. Respondent 3 also mentioned that the word female was put in the product description which effectively eliminated the opposite gender from purchasing the product. This statement could suggest that she no longer felt that the decision of which product to purchase was restricted and put in the hands of the companies instead of the customers.
Respondent 3 explained how she sometimes sees marketing for clothing and feels a pressure to purchase the item even though it is out of her price range. Her reasoning was that social media influencers and the stress of wanting what everyone else has in order to fit in, affected her willingness to buy it. This is accurate to the theory of The self as it demonstrates the real life scenarios women may experience where they feel the need to buy products which enhance their self-concept in the eyes of themselves and others.(Worth, Smith & Mackie,1992) Women such as respondent 3, sometimes give in to the temptation and buys products to reach some form of ideal standard. Much like Solomon et al. (2013) describes, her shopping behavior indicates that she strategically chooses clothing and other products to portray her as her ideal self instead of her actual self in an attempt to lift others’ perception of her.
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Duesterhaus et al. (2011) describes women’s willingness to purchase products which corresponds with the way the way they portray themselves to be caused by societal standards. From the data collected from the female participants, this seems to be truthful to reality. Respondent 3 reckoned that women feel a pressure to use and purchase several beauty items which men generally do not buy such as day cream, night cream and eye cream. She felt that there are expectations for women to do this. Another female respondent found that this standard has been made from unwritten rules and standards of society which convinces women that they have bigger need for personal care products. Nevertheless she was not aware of any solid difference between the biological need for these items between the genders.
Customers have accustomed to the fact that gendered products differ so much between the sexes that they are separated into two distinctive segments (Duesterhaus et al, 2011). The male respondents 5 and 6 both claimed that this confuses customers. Furthermore they believed that this technique leads customers to believe that the differences of the products are so massive that there is factual reasoning as to why they are supposed to be used by a particular gender. However, they found that more often than not, the gender specific items could be used by either sexes. Respondent 8 also suggested that the gender-specification of products is often so distinctive that customers perceive them as two completely different products instead of substitutes.
The same goes for all of the male respondents who revealed that they would most likely be willing to pay an extra amount just to have the product marketed towards their gender. As theorized by Stevens and Shanahan (2017), the male participants were sometimes willing to pay a higher price even if they perceived it as unfair.
As theorized by Duesterhaus et al., the male respondents believed gender-based marketing causes customers to miss unethical discriminations such as the Pink Tax. Similar to the study conducted by Xia and Monroe (2010) they understood that women feel provoked by the price discriminations and believed it was wrong for men to be paying less than women.
They shared the opinion that no matter how inconsequential the differences between men and female products may be, most customers would fail to recognize their insignificance. Respondent 5 described how his faith in companies leads him to believe that there must be a substantial difference between male and female products, otherwise they would not be marketed separately. This suggests that his confidence in the brand affects his purchasing decision process.
According to Solomon et al (2013), sexual identity is very important when it comes to a consumer’s self-concept. Contrary to the theory of The self, the respondents found other arguments which they considered more substantial; such as the price. What might have influenced their decisions is the fact that five of eight participants were students and therefore have a limited budget and less money to spend on personal care products than a full time worker potentially would have. This suggests that if they had a greater budget their approach to the price differences and level of awareness of the issue, could have been different.
However, when analyzing the obtained data deeper, there were similarities between the thought process of the men and women. Both female and male respondents found it outrageous to pay more for a product solely for the colour of it. In spite of this, there were
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several participants of both sexes whom chose products based on the fact that they wanted the products which were marketed towards their gender. They all seemed to be in agreement of how a monetary loss for this sake was foolish, yet when presented an actual situation two men and two women chose the opposite of what they had previously argued. Both female and male participants were considerably inconsistent with their opinions when it came to crossing the gender barrier and purchasing products aimed for the opposite sex.
In conclusion, all the respondents seemed to recognize the benefits of segmenting by gender largely based on the fact that men and women have different biological needs. However, the market is evolving and men and women’s behaviors are growing to be less and less distinguishable. This could suggest that there might be other more advantageous ways to segment customer groups, benefitting both companies and customers much like Solomon et al. (2013) believes. The respondents did not give any concrete suggestions as to how they reckon segmenting should be done instead of by gender but recognized that there certainly are other ways to do it. Furthermore this indicates that gender might play a smaller role in the future of market segmentation and marketing.
5.3.2 Female shopping behavior According to Duesterhaus et.al (2011), there are major differences in which products men and women buy and also in the way they shop. This was accurate as to how men and women described their own purchasing process and how they believed the opposite sex make purchasing decisions. Much like the mentioned theory, women seemed to involve themselves more than men in purchases even when factors such as attitude, role-demand and trait-based had been considered. The female respondents viewed their own purchasing manner as choosy and fore forethoughtful and gave examples of items such as personal care to likely create more involvement and research for women than men. One female respondent did however recognize the fact that women have the option of walking into the nearest pharmacy or supermarket and purchase the first item they see. Despite of this realization she insisted that societal norms have created a deeply rooted fabricated need for these products which bellwethers a demand for more involvement by women in theses purchases.
As theorized by Duesterhaus et al. (2011), the female respondents perceive women to be more caring about what attributes the product she buys has, needing it to look feminine or girly which would explain why they still are willing to buy a pink product in spite of a higher price. Solomon et al. (2013) describes this as the sex-typing of products which leads gendered to influence purchases.
In agreement with theory, the male respondents speculated that women would want to buy the female versions of products even at the expense of a monetary loss. They believed this is because women express themselves through feminine products and its features much like Duesterhaus et al (2011) argues. According to their theory a person expresses themself even through smaller basic purchases such as personal care. Two of the male respondents speculated that women to some extent want their products to be feminine whilst men want theirs to be masculine. Their conclusion was that women generally want their personal care products to smell femininely and have added features such as aloe vera strips on razors.
The male respondents speculated that women possibly have a better perception of price differences overall as they are more thorough and extensive when they shop. They believed
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that women are more prone to compare and research products in general. Respondent 5 believed that women have a more extensive perception of the issue of Pink Tax as they are the one mostly affected by it. As he figures that they are used to the unjust price differences, he suggested that they are likely more observant to pricing than men.
Two of the male respondents stated that they hope women do not fall victim to price discrimination by buying products solely for the colour. Although respondent 6 recognized that he subconsciously defines himself through his product purchases, he felt that the issue had gone too far if such trivial matters as the colour of a product play a role. The male respondents considered the possibility of women not noticing the price difference or even overlooking it solely to purchase the pink one. They found it senseless and foolish to pay more for products solely due to which gender it was marketed towards.
5.3.3 Male shopping behavior David and Brannond’s theory (1976) finds that men solemnly enjoy shopping for the purpose of fulfilling the four tenets of masculinity. The female participants in the study all reckoned that men to some extent, only shop for the purpose of the product use. One of them had a theory that men spend less time evaluating options when it comes to personal care products. She believed their strategy is to find a product which has a nice physical appearance and seemingly good quality. She mentioned that they do not use as many personal care products as women and as the market is accustomed to demand, men have a smaller supply to choose from and are less invested in these purchasing decisions.
Respondent 1 claimed that this was accurate according to her observations from shopping with men such as her boyfriend or father. However, contrary to David and Brannond’s theory (1976) of generalizing men’s shopping behavior, she suggested that consumption habits are individual and not solemnly conformed by one’s sexual identity. Contrary to the other female respondents, respondent 4 believed that men care less about colour and more about the price and would therefore be willing to purchase pink products given their was a monetary win by doing so.
The female respondents found men to be perfunctory when shopping for personal care as they seemed to make purchasing decisions with minimum effort. Contrary to women's purchasing manner, they believed that men seemed to simply choose the nearest store and buy one of the first options that grabs their attention. To substantiate their theory, two of the women explained that they had acknowledged this behavior through observing their boyfriends’ shopping manners. Similar to the theory presented by Otnesa and McGrath (2001), the female participants found women to have a more positive attitude towards shopping and men oftenly shop for the purpose of fulfilling a need.
All female respondents speculated that men are often less involved with smaller purchases and satisfied with the products they have, therefore they spend less time and effort trying to find substitutes or improvements. One female respondent also stated that she believes men’s lack of involvement in personal care products is based on the act that they do not use as many products as women.
In accordance with Solomon et al (2013), three of the female respondents mentioned that they do not think men would even consider buying women’s products because they value their
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manliness and masculinity. They all figured that the men in their surroundings most likely would not have noticed the existence of the price difference since they would never even contemplate looking through the women’s section. Respondent 3 elaborated on this and envisioned what the situation would look like if the tables were turned. She recognized that women are forced to buy men’s razors and toothbrushes to avoid the Pink Tax whilst men would never even consider buying products marketed for women. She reckoned men should consider themselves lucky that they are not the ones affected by this price differentiation.
The Pink Tax is something men do not think about since they are the one in the advantageous position according to respondent 3. However, respondent 1 predicts that the consequences would be severe for the male customers as their is a stigma around men being feminine which make it harder for them purchase female products than for women to purchase male products. The female respondents found that the reason women might have a better overview of the men’s section than men do of the women’s section, is because they have to. They reckoned that women need to compare prices and be aware in order to avoid the Pink Tax and are therefore more prone to purchasing male products.
Contrary to the study conducted by David and Brannond (1976), the pleasure men found in shopping was not entirely based on the will to fulfill a need. Despite of the female participants’ beliefs, the male respondents claimed to find some pleasure in shopping if the shopping concerned products they had any interest in. The theory presented by Otnesa and McGrath (2001) however, was extensively accurate to the way the male participants explained their shopping manner. The men reckoned that they did not insert much involvement in smaller purchases such as personal care. Respondent 7 mentioned that he likes spending money and is not particular about saving money when it comes to smaller purchases with minor price differences. Much like the female respondents reckoned, he claims to choose whichever product pleases the eye and what looks the best.
Much like the female participants’ belief, the men in the study reckoned they would not notice a price difference between male and female products as they have paid the issue much thought or ever been directly faced by it. Both respondent 5 and 6 that the gender specification of products prevents men and women from buying products marketed towards the opposite gender. Contrary from the belief of Duesterhaus et al. (2011), they found that men have a stronger urge than women to identify with their products. They argued that it creates a barrier which they consider to be higher for men. Their reasoning was that society has developed into giving women more freedom to show masculine sides, whilst there is still stigma around men being feminine.
The male respondent recognized the issue of Pink Tax but neither of them could recall a significant moment where they had noticed a price difference between two substitutes. Two of the male respondents claimed that their unawareness was based on the fact that the consequences of the issue did not fall on them but rather on women. All male respondents claimed that, if the tables were turned, they were unlikely to notice the occurrence of a price discrimination as men and women’s products are rarely placed next to each other in stores or online.
Contrary to the female participants’ belief and the theory of David and Brannond (1976)the men in the study did not mind owning products marketed towards women. They claimed that
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their primary reasoning for choosing male products is the price and the attributes of the product. However when both Respondent 5 and 6 argued strongly that men want to identify with the products they use. Therefore they stated that there would have to be a substantial price difference between a men’s product and the female substitute for them to consider buying the women’s product. As they find that they are not particularly price sensitive and involved with these purchases, the monetary loss would not bother them as the issue would not be considered consequential enough. They mentioned that they would prefer not to invest time and effort into changing their consumption habits as the repercussions are not serious enough.
This could be considered entirely as speculation as they have not experienced the consequences of price disparities such as the Pink Tax for men. One could argue that their potential chosen manner of dealing with an issue like this is only speculative since the long term consequences of it could amount to greater losses and therefore lead to different choices of action.
Much like the female respondents suggested that the men are less aware of the issue of Pink Tax, the men suggested that women have a more extensive view of it. In addition to this, in accordance with Stevens and Shanahan (2017), the participants seemed more prone to perceive the pricing as unfair and willing to make a change, the more educated she was on the topic.
The data collected demonstrated that customers’ purchasing decisions are made with the aim of enhancing one self-concept to some extent, however not exclusively (Worth, Smith & Mackie,1992). The respondents found that the decisions they make when shopping is partially influenced by the want of enhancing their self concept by buying products which can reflect their view of themselves and impact others view of them. As Solomon et al (2013) reckons, the sexual identity of a customer could have a great impact on one’s self-concept.
The empirical data suggests that the participants’ expectations were based on experiences from their family and friends as well as what they found society to consider socially acceptable. This also turned out to be accurate for how much the respondents were willing to deviate from the gender norm (Worth, Smith & Mackie,1992). The respondents felt a want to purchase the products marketed towards their gender and by doing this, fulfilling society’s gender expectations (Duesterhaus, Grauerholz, Weichsel & Guittar, 2011). Although, this want did not impact the decisions of all the respondents as they were not willing to make the monetary sacrifice for it.
According to Duesterhaus et al. (2011) masculinity is not connected to the expression of self concept to same extent as femininity is, although this is changing. The empirical data collected suggested that men value their masculinity deeply much like the female respondents reckoned. Two male respondents insisted that they would not mind owning the female version of a product. However the answers from all male respondents indicated that they would prefer to buy the products marketed towards men and found that there had to be a significant price disparity for them to choose female products instead.
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Both male and female respondents mentioned that what prevents them from purchasing products from the opposite sex’ department is the belief that the items hold specialized features or characteristics. Marketers take advantage of the undeniable fact that men and women are biologically different and therefore have different requirements and needs. (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2013) The respondents found that this creates an even higher barrier between the two departments which makes the crossing of it harder and less likely for customers. This deters men and women to purchase the items marketed towards the opposite gender regardless if they perceive the price as affordable or expensive.
The respondents were all seemingly aware of the strategies companies use to sex-type products. (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2013). Respondent 1, much like the other respondents, had an idea of male and female items being designed and marketed significantly different. They believed men’s packaging often was made in darker colours with symbols such as explosions or lightning to make men feel tough whilst the women’s usually had softer and neutral colours to look feminine. As all respondents quickly noticed the gender specification of the products and how it was portrayed, they believe this awareness lead them to not feel as influenced by it. However, their responses claimed otherwise.
The theory of one’s expression through gender specific products was accurate to the responses this study acquired to some extent. However, the empirical result also demonstrated that respondents were strongly influenced by other factors which weighed heavier in their decision making process. Whilst the empirical result of the study suggests that the expression of gender subconsciously plays a role in decision making, the price and a person’s involvement and personal factors also contributed.
When given the two different scenarios the genders had contrasting mindsets. The female respondents all chose whichever option was affordable, even if it in this case meant buying products marketed towards men. The male respondents however, were seemingly not as willing to cross the gender barrier. Three out of four claimed they would possibly consider purchasing women’s products if there was a significant price difference. However their answers suggested that neither of them had any interest in pursuing a purchase of any of the pink products.
The chart below demonstrates an accumulation of the male and female participants’ responses regarding purchase reasoning and decisions and based on gender.
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Willing to buy Productcategory Preference products Reason for with perceived Which Reason for Gender Alias of marketed willingness/ gender gender did it preference products towards opposite unwillingness discriminatory discriminate? gender pricing
Better quality Previous Female Respondent 1 Male Yes Skis and overalls Women and cheaper experience
Fear of Previous Female Respondent 2 Female Yes Hair products Women differences experience
Hair products Female Respondent 3 Male Better quality Yes Better quality Women Beauty products
Better Female Respondent 4 Female No Too masculine Clothing Men performance
Strong belief in Male Respondent 5 Male Cheaper Yes gender-specific None None features
Chooses Male Respondent 6 Male Cheaper Yes whichever is Beauty Women cheaper
Strong belief in Cheaper gender-specific Male Respondent 7 Male Good No None None differences in performance features
Save money if it Male Respondent 8 Male Cheaper Yes Clothing Men were cheaper
Figure 5.3 Collocation of the respondent’s answers regarding gender
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6. Conclusion, reflection, contribution and continued research In the chapter the conclusions made from the result of collected data is presented. The conclusions are based on the analysis made in chapter 5. The conclusions are subsequently followed by a reflective chapter describing possible limitations the study has been exposed to and potential consequences this might have had. These are recognized whilst proposals for approaches which could have improved the ability to generalize the results are given. In the following chapter the contribution of the study is demonstrated, meaning how and for whom the study has contributed. Lastly proposals for continued research are presented.
6.1 Conclusion In the introductory chapters of this study previous research was presented with conclusions made regarding price discrimination and men and women’s purchasing behavior. The research demonstrated the overall effect Pink Tax has on all industries, gender based pricing, perception and price perception. Based on previous research studies and results our research question was constructed:
What differences in price, purchase and gender perceptions do Swedish men and women in the age of 20-25 have regarding the Pink Tax?
After conducting the empirical study and analysing the collected data the following implications can be made:
(1) Swedish men and women both perceive Pink Tax as discriminatory and unethical. They also share an understanding of the potential consequences of the issue.
(2) Both men and women are heavily influenced by the gender specification of products and gender based marketing.
(3) Women have a more extensive awareness of the Pink Tax and the price discrimination it causes. Men however, understand the reasonings behind gender based pricing to a greater extent than women do.
(4) Women are more likely to purchase items marketed towards the opposite sex than men are.
(5) Men and women’s shopping behaviors are based on internal and external factors such as the involvement of products and personal values, rather than solely being distinguished by their gender.
The aim of the study was to gain knowledge of Swedish men and women’s perception of the Pink Tax through studying their shopping behaviors and perceptions of price and gender. The analysis of the collected data gives a slight indication that these conclusions can be generalized and accurate for all Swedish residents. For general conclusions to be made, more data would be required.
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(1) The results of the study demonstrated implications that Swedish men and women share the perception of the Pink Tax as discriminatory and unethical. As well as this, they shared the belief that price discriminations can be difficult to detect which suggestively engenders the lack of greater awareness of the issue. The empirical results of the study also implicated that men and women share an extensive comprehension of the societal consequences the Pink Tax induces. In accordance with the results previous studies have shown, the perception of pricing as unfair is largely influenced by the recognized cost of additional products features, quality and thereby manufacturing costs for companies as these expenses are effortlessly comprehended.
(2) As the study aims to demonstrate men and women’s perceptions as well as study shopping behavior, the knowledge of the impact gender specification and gender based marketing has on customers is crucial. The data collected gives indication that men and women are influenced by the gender specification of products and this is reflected in their purchasing decisions. The genders share the opinion that no matter how inconsequential the differences may be, customers decision are lead by their faith in companies and their alleged reasoning for separating products into different segments.
(3) The collected data recognized the differences and similarities between how the Pink Tax is perceived by both genders. The results of the study showed slight implication that women have a more extensive awareness of the Pink Tax and the discrimination it asserts whilst also experiencing further emotions of disappointment. Men’s shortfall of awareness initiated less knowledge of the direct consequences women face because of the issue. Both genders obtained a belief that women are more likely to notice price discrimination due to their comprehensive knowledge of products prices although they are affected by the myriad of alternatives in their section. Men however, had a greater understanding of the reasonings behind a gender based pricing to a larger extent than women.
(4) The collected data implied that the level of willingness men and women have to purchase products marketed towards the opposite sex is diverse. Both genders shared the aspiration to fulfill their self-concept through the expression of sexual identity in purchasing decisions. However the empirical data gave base for a slight implication that men’s willingness to purchase products aimed for the opposite sex was lower than women’s. Although the women’s choices of actions were not entirely consistent with their statements as they recognized the unfairness of Pink Tax, yet they were sometimes willing to compromise a monetary sacrifice for products marketed towards women disregarding the price difference. This gives slight implication that men and women’s perception is not comprehensive enough for them to initiate the urge of changing behaviors as a repercussion and could be of interest to further research.
(5) The study showed a myriad of implications that men and women’s shopping behaviors are based on internal and external factors such as the involvement of products and personal values, rather than solely being distinguished by their gender. The outcome of the study suggested that although gender played an extensive role in customers’ shopping behaviors, there were other factors which had a greater impact. The empirical data suggests that interests are an imperative factor in men and women’s shopping behavior as it is based on their levels of involvement.
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6.2 Reflections and limitations As the work has progressed some criticism and limitations has been noticed and should be shed a light on. Firstly, the number of respondents we were able to interview given our limited time frame is arguable. This brings up the question of how generalizable the results of the study are. When concluding our research, our result may be seen as an indication towards the research in question, however a greater population would be preferable to interview in future research if the goal is to be able to generalize on the entire Swedish population.
When pursuing the interviews the respondents chosen were within the ages 20-25, which could be argued to be a relatively narrow age span. However, this was based on research showing that generation Z represents a major opportunity for sustainable business growth, where a lot of marketers put more focus on this segment in order to obtain early loyalty and a long lasting relationship (Williams & Page, 2011). In order to be able to generalize on the entire swedish population, further research does once again need to fill in the gaps of the widely unexplored topic of the Pink Tax.
Another interesting factor is that five out of eight respondents were students, which could suggestively have had an effect on how their perception of the matter in question. As students generally have a limited budget, this has been taken into consideration while conducting the study. However this fact might have had an effect on how they as consumers perceive price as well as the product they ultimately would prefer to buy. Nevertheless, it is difficult to determine whether or not their economical status as students has had any influence on the perception of the Pink Tax or products chosen in the two scenarios during the interview. It does not necessarily affect the result of the study nor the validity of the research, but is important to acknowledge in order to detect possible biases due to financial status and lifestyle.
6.3 Contribution With the purpose of comparing men and women’s perception of the Pink Tax, the authors aim to contribute with insights and knowledge to companies, consumers and legislators in future discussions regarding the Pink Tax. Since this topic has not been researched in Sweden to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is crucial in order to shed light on the perception of this matter.
Practical implications which this study could contribute with is the conclusions made in this study which could benefit both consumers and companies as well as legislators. Furthermore, this study contributes to the publishing and declaring of several men and women’s perception of gender based price discrimination. This will be of service to any company seeking further information regarding the issue of pricing strategies from a consumer perspective. Bringing attention to the unexplored issue of perception of the Pink Tax on the Swedish market is something this study aims to shine a light on. In the hope of stimulating the conversation of the Pink Tax, the society could become more aware of this subject, provoking action from companies as well as legislators in addition to increasing the knowledge among consumers. The study will hopefully inspire and encourage customers to pay attention to these discriminations and take action to prevent companies from exploiting such tactics.
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The theoretical implications from this study is the conclusions drawn as well as the theoretical framework presented in the thesis. It properly fills a gap in existing research as well as answers the research question in this study. The theoretical framework could be of interest to further research of the subject as well as for customers and companies. The result of this study assist as observing behaviors and perceptions of consumers can be valuable in the forming of marketing strategies. The theoretical framework could also be of interest in order to attain the global goal of attaining equality in 2030.
6.4 Continued research Equality is a topical issue which encompasses many opportunities of future continued research. As this study was performed with the main purpose of studying Swedish men and women’s perception of Pink Tax, the authors recognize there are many other directions which should be explored in the fight for equal treatment for men and women in the marketplace. A complementary qualitative study would provide results which would be able to be generalized to a greater extent, where one could research a wider age group in order to collect data across multiple generations.
Much like the Weber-Fechner theory, a person’s financial status or level of education could have an impact on the perception of the Pink Tax. It would therefore be of interest to further investigate the Pink Tax in regards to both men and womens’ purchasing power. Examining income, education level and knowledge about the Pink Tax on the market, studies will be able to provide an exhaustive picture of the matter. Thus, they will have the ability to recognize how these factors may impact their awareness and perception of the Pink Tax.
A more extensive map out regarding what product categories the Pink Tax exists in on the Swedish market is also suggested in order to increase the practical relevance in the future. Differences in price, gender and purchase perceptions Swedish men and women have regarding the Pink Tax is something in which needs to be further investigated in order to gain full knowledge of the subject, especially in additional product categories than this study has brought attention to.
Considering the fact that we have taken the consumer perspective into account in this study, it would also be beneficial to research how companies’ price strategies and the awareness of the Pink Tax from a corporate perspective. The awareness of the subject Pink Tax is still in its initial stages, where further studies need to be conducted in order to gain greater knowledge about gendered products, why the prices are perceived as unfair and how consumers think when they shop. It may also be of interest to measure the dissonance between what the respondents say their perceptions or actions are and how it matches their actual decisions in given shopping situations.
One could argue that the Pink Tax issue is more extensive and will require to be faced instead of avoided in order to make a change. The approach needed for a change was discussed briefly by the participants. However avoidance and unawareness could be argued to have exacerbated the situation so far and therefore a myopic solution for a change as it does not consider the long term consequences. Further research regarding possible approaches against the Pink Tax could be of interest for the topic.
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Another perspective of research is to study the literal tax put on female products such as sanitary products and other essential commodities in order to gain greater knowledge about whether or not there is a justified reasoning behind the price increase based on tax laws in Sweden. It is also of great value to consider exploring that Pink Tax from a market standpoint, examining the Pink Tax and the purchasing of gendered products from a supply and demand standpoint.
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8. Appendix 8.1 Appendix 1 - Interview Guide Kort information och förklaring ges till respondenten angående vår studies syfte och hur respondentens svar bidrar i studien, samt hur personuppgifter kommer hanteras och att alla svar är konfidentiella.
TEMA: Prissättning 1. Hur stor roll har priset när du utvärderar en produkt? 2. Hur ofta jämför du priset mellan produkter innan du köper det och vilka varor gäller det oftast? 3. Vid vilken sorts köp spelar priset extra stor roll för dig? Varför? 4. Kan du ta oss igenom hur du tänker när du ska köpa till exempel rakhyvlar eller deodoranter? 5. Hur ofta och gällande vilka produkter uppfattar du prisskillnader mellan manliga och kvinnliga produkter idag?
TEMA: Uppfattning och attityder - 2 SCENARION SCENARIO 1:
6. Kan du förklara dina åsikter om produkterna du ser angående funktion, kvalitet och design? Vad ser du för likheter och skillnader? 7. Vilken av produkterna hade du köpt? Varför? 8. Vad anser du om prissättningen? 9. Hur reagerar du på prisskillnaden mellan produkterna? 10. Tror du det finns någon skillnad i hur kvinnor och män resonerar kring priset?
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SCENARIO 2:
11. Kan du förklara dina åsikter om produkterna du ser angående funktion, kvalitet och design? Vad ser du för likheter och skillnader? 12. Vilken av produkterna hade du köpt i denna situation? 13. Vad anser du om prissättningen? 14. Hur reagerar du på prisskillnaden mellan produkterna? 15. Tror du det finns någon skillnad i hur kvinnor och män resonerar kring priset?
TEMA: Genus 16. Prissättningarna i våra 2 scenarion är tagna från forskning som uppskattar att en prisskillnad på 7-13 % mellan herr-och damprodukter ofta förekommer. Hur medveten var du om att dessa skillnaderna fanns? 17. Vad tycker du om att företag använder genus i sina marknadsföringsstrategier? 18. Hur ser du på att företag tar olika betalt baserat på kön och tidigare nämnda marknadsföringsstrategier? 19. Hur märker du av detta i vardagen? På vilket sätt påverkar Pink Tax dig? 20. Kan du berätta om något speciellt tillfälle där du lagt märke till någon stor prisskillnad för män eller kvinnor? 21. I vilka situationer kan en prisskillnad mellan likvärdiga produkter vara rimliga? 22. Vilken tror du är den största skillnaden mellan hur män och kvinnor uppfattar Pink Tax? Varför? 23. Hur tror du att kunskapen av dessa prisskillnader kommer påverka dina framtida köpbeslut?
67 Elina Magnusson
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