Learn English – Word for someone that pays more for the same thing

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Consider the following scenario:

In a given store, there are two shirts available for sale, shirt (A) and shirt (B).

Both are exactly the same, except shirt (B) is twice as the price.

Is there a word for someone who is willing to pay the premium for (B) even though it's exactly the same as (A).

I initially thought of the word over-priced, but that has more to do with the object itself.

Can anyone suggest a word that describes a person who willingly pays more for the same quality, or the ACT of paying more for the same quality?

Best Answer

While this might not be an exact fit, marketers often follow something known as the Goldilocks Principle:

The Goldilocks principle is derived from a children's story Goldilocks and the Three Bears in which a little girl found a house owned by three bears. Each bear owned a separate copy of many things, such as food, beds, etc. After testing each of the three, Goldilocks determined that one was always too much in one extreme (too hot, too large, etc.), one was too much in the opposite extreme (too cold, too small, etc.), and one was "just right".

Known as Goldilocks pricing in market-speak, this usually involves presenting the customer with three options: budget, standard/regular, and premium/prestige. While the product is seldom identical, it could well be that the three options differ only minimally. The customer is usually drawn to the standard product as it feels "just right". Customers who want to feel like they are being prudent and thrifty will go for the budget option. Premium, status-conscious, or prestige buyers, on the other hand, will opt for the high-end version of the product for any of a number of reasons: belief that it ensures the best quality, status, etc.

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