Penny-wise pound-fooling: a replication with extension of the left-digit effect to the context of shrinkflation

(Thomas and Morwitz Journal of Consumer Research, 32(1), 54–64, 2005) demonstrated the left-digit effect (LDE): nine-ending prices influence our perception of price magnitude, but only if they trigger a change of the leftmost digit. We present a replication and extension of the left-digit effect for content reductions in the context of shrinkflation or downsizing—manufacturers responding to inflation-driven increases of unit costs by reducing size, content, or quantity of an offer without proportionally decreasing the price. We also include a replication attempt of (Lin and Wang Marketing Letters, 28, 99–112, 2017) who find that the LDE is weaker for larger quantities. As a theoretical extension, we investigate a quantity property specific to product content. Content quantities are often anchored on fractions of higher order quantities (e.g., 750 ml as 3/4, 500 ml as 1/2, or 250 ml as 1/4 of a liter). We assess whether these standardized content quantities act as evaluation anchors for downsizing.