Assume Higher Anchors for Right-Side Items

Where you place items in relation to surroundings affects estimates of their prices.
     Show one group of shoppers an ad for a product, with the ad on the left-hand side of a newspaper page, but no price in the ad. Show another group of shoppers the same ad on the right-hand side of the page. Ask each consumer individually for an estimate of the product price.
     The group shown the ad on the right-hand side of the page will give higher estimates, on average. Similarly, showing a product on the right-hand side increases average estimates of package size, warranty length, and other quantitative attributes. Furthermore, the effect occurs not only with newspaper ads, but with store displays. Items displayed to the right of the visual field will—all else being equal—be estimated by shoppers to carry higher prices.
     Researchers at Chinese University of Hong Kong and Shanghai Jiao Tong University found two related explanations:

• Consumers familiar with the labeling on tape measures and graphs assume that numbers appearing to the right are of a higher magnitude than those appearing to the left. 
• With the exception of situations like announcing space launch countdowns, we count up. Those in cultures that read from left to right will, on average, mentally process an ad to the right later than an ad to the left, so will associate a higher number with it. 

     You can disrupt the effect:

• Immediately after the Hong Kong researchers thoroughly exposed study participants to clock faces, the effect was temporarily reversed. On a clock face, unlike a tape measure, larger numerals appear to the left of smaller numerals. When these clock-face consumers were shown a stapler and asked to estimate the price, those shown the product on the left-hand side of the display gave higher estimates than those shown the product on the right-hand side. 
• The effect is subconscious. It fades when pointed out to people and thoroughly discussed with them. 
• The “to the right means higher magnitude” is one of many considerations for the consumer in estimating price and other numerical measures. If a product with a brand name known for sterling quality is shelved to the left of one with an unknown brand name, the product on the left will probably get the higher estimate. 
• The effect doesn’t work reliably on the vertical: Items on upper shelves don’t get consistently different price estimates than those on lower shelves. 

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers

Click below for more: 
Set Price Anchors with Price Adjacencies 
Keep Your Eye on Merchandising to the Right 
Prime Your Shoppers Below Awareness