Price Match Guarantees: A Conceptual Examination

Given the theoretical importance and empirical evidence of price matching guarantees (PMGs), marketing researchers have paid close attention to the area. A price matching guarantee (PMG) is an efficient promotion strategy that many retailers use to signal to consumers that they have competitively lower prices. While some interesting academic research has been done on the general topic, an advantage of this proposed study is that it is one of the first to explore a comparison of online price matching guarantees (OPMGs) – those which match Internet competitor on-line prices – with the PMGs of traditional retail stores. At a time when traditional retailers are struggling to compete with on-line retailers, such as Amazon, this topic is of significant strategic importance. In this paper, the author conceptually examines PMGs and investigates through past research how PMGs affect both consumers and retailers. The author then concludes with a proposed empirical study that examines OPMGs and their effect on the marketplace.