Card-Contingent Discounts As Sources Of Customer Satisfaction And Dissatisfaction: An Exploratory Inquiry

Abstract

The reported exploratory study was undertaken to illuminate the effects of card-contingent discounts (CCDs) on customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction. CCDs are price reductions on certain items that are given only to customers who present a card issued by the seller. Results from our survey of 953 grocery store patrons indicate that shoppers tend to frame CCDs as price reductions to which they are entitled; denying discounts is judged unfair. Typical customers are content, rather than delighted, when CCDs are granted and are disappointed or annoyed when CCDs are withheld. CCDs, therefore, seem more likely to engender dissatisfaction than enhance satisfaction.