Marketers and retailers typically employ nine-ending prices (e.g., 4.99 dollars) to suggest value. In general, shoppers appear to interpret these prices as intended, perceiving products with nine-ending prices as being offered at a discount or special deal. However, research has uncovered that some consumers associate these prices with lower product quality and even as a sign that merchants are being misleading—by trying to trick consumers into thinking a 4.99 dollar product costs 4 dollars rather than 5 dollars, which is closer to the truth.
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Verbal·Craft and Structure·Text Structure and Purpose
hardWhich choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?
A
It accounts for a contrast between how retailers intend nine-ending prices to be interpreted and how consumers typically interpret them.
B
It explains negative responses to nine-ending prices that have led some retailers and marketers to shift their pricing strategies.
C
It highlights unintended interpretations of nine-ending prices that suggest that using such prices may not be uniformly effective.
D
It identifies how consumers tend to respond to nine-ending prices and acknowledges exceptions to that tendency.