A Tale of Two Pizzas: Building Up from a Basic Product Versus Scaling Down from a Fully-Loaded Product

Abstract

Consumers in the U.S. and Italy were asked to either build up from a consumable base product (pizza) by adding components or scale down from a fully-loaded product by subtracting components. In each country consumers ended up with significantly more ingredients, and a pizza for a higher cost, in the Scale Down Condition than in the Build Up Condition. Results are discussed in terms of the principle of "loss aversion" underlying phenomena such as "the endowment effect," marketing implications of this effect, and future research needs.