But how do you apply this when the consumer is looking for a product and does not yet own anything? This anecdote explains how sellers apply this mechanism.
It was during the autumn holiday in Zeeland when I had just turned fourteen. I was with my parents and sister for a day in Goes and I was allowed to pick out a birthday present. There is a beautiful mountain bike path in the forest near our house in Burg-Haamstede, so I wanted a brand new mountain bike. In the bike shop my eyes were immediately fixed on a metallic grey Giant. After pressing the brakes 25 times, the salesman asked if I wanted to cycle a lap on it. I cycled 10 laps around the parking lot behind the shop and was immediately sold. This was my bike!
By letting me hold the bike and take it for a test drive, I already considered it partly my property, which made me not want to part with it. The car dealer also applies this strategy by offering test korean phone number whatsapp drives.
Example with shares
The endowment effect also occurs with people who own stocks. When stocks are at a loss, people have difficulty parting with the stocks. This is because we assign a higher value to the stocks we own.
The same goes for shares that increase in value, we sell them too quickly. Because if our shares are at a profit, and we assign too much value to them because they are our property, then we consider the profit they are at to be excessively high and we usually sell too quickly.
3. Mental accounting
Mental accounting is a process in which economic outcomes (profit or loss) are categorized and evaluated. Research by Thaler (1999) showed that in certain situations we prefer to add profits and losses together, while in other situations we prefer to process the amounts separately. Here too, prospect theory can be used to explain these mechanisms. Some example situations to explain the preferences:
A: You bought two lottery tickets. With one you won €50 and with the other €25.