News Finding: The net result was no impact on revenues or profit.
Paper Finding: Relative to the standard discount treatment, the progressively deeper discounts drive quantity increases of 6.7%, 11.2%, and 44.9%, respectively.
News Context: Customers who made small and infrequent purchases tended to spend more when offered the largest quantity discounts, while customers who were already large buyers tended to spend less. The net result was no impact on revenues or profit. Data suggest some consumers who would have made small purchases were discouraged from doing so when faced with large quantity discounts.
Paper Context: The small differences in revenue across treatments disguise significant impacts on quantities purchased. Relative to the standard discount treatment, the progressively deeper discounts drive quantity increases of 6.7%, 11.2%, and 44.9%, respectively. (Consumers who respond to the discounts by buying larger quantities use the items they purchase quickly rather than saving them, even though the items are storable.)