A Longitudinal Test of Price Effects on Brand Choice Behavior William H. Motes, Stephen B. Castleberry, and Susan G. Motes, University of Alabama The introduction and withdrawal of marketing variable inputs at various intervals of time and the subsequent observation of their impact on buyer behavior provide an invaluable aid as to how certain promotional changes work. Results of the present longitudinal experiment using a consumer panel of 133 households provide further evidence that zyxwvutsrqpo for artificial brands, penetration and repeat buying can be influenced significantly by the introduction and retraction of a substantial price reduction. Yet, the effects on pene- tration are consistently greater than the effects on repeat buying. After-effects appear negligible. These results generally confirm prior research@ndings. Findings associated with a mixture of prior cross-sectional and longitu- dinal research [2,7-10, 171 lead to the expectation of a sales increase for many types of products and brands when the price is substantially reduced. Likewise, the prevailing view that significant price increases tend to have a negative effect on sales is also supported by prior research [ 131. Yet, beyond these general notions, what do we really know about the detailed effects of such changes? For example, do we know by how much sales will change? Will identical price changes produce similar results under varying market conditions, e .g . , for differ- ent products, for different time periods, for different price structures, etc.? Answers to such questions have yet to be finny established experimentally, let alone validated completely in commercial settings. Improving our understanding of how consumers react to various pricing strategies thus depends initially on a series of perhaps dozens of related experiments. The results of one such experiment are reported in this article. The study described is an extension and replication of prior research [2, 71. It is the third in a series of such field experiments. Of primary interest are the detailed effects of a significant price reduction on con- sumer repeat-purchase behavior over an extended period of time. Al- Address correspondence to William H. Motes, College of Commerce and Business Administration, University of Alabama, University, AL 35486. Journalof Business Research12,493-503 (1984) @ Elsevier Science PublishingCo., Inc. 1984 52 VanderbiltAve., New York, NY 10017 493 0148-2%3/84/$3.00